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Real or fake? Resources for teaching college

students how to identify fake news

Ann T. Musgrove, Jillian R. Powers, Lauri C. Rebar & Glenn J. Musgrove

To cite this article: Ann T. Musgrove, Jillian R. Powers, Lauri C. Rebar & Glenn J. Musgrove
(2018): Real or fake? Resources for teaching college students how to identify fake news, College &
Undergraduate Libraries, DOI: 10.1080/10691316.2018.1480444

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2018.1480444

Published online: 06 Sep 2018.

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COLLEGE & UNDERGRADUATE LIBRARIES
https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2018.1480444

Real or fake? Resources for teaching college students

how to identify fake news
Ann T. Musgrovea, Jillian R. Powersa, Lauri C. Rebarb and Glenn J. Musgrovec
a
Department of Teaching and Learning, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA;
b
Information and Engagement Services, University Libraries, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton,
Florida, USA; cSocial and Behavioral Sciences Department, Broward College, Davie, Florida, USA

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Fake news has captured the world’s attention. Educational survey Received 26 March 2018
research has highlighted the difficulties students and adults have Accepted 21 May 2018
in determining how to identify valid sources. Psychology can
help us to understand why it is difficult to distinguish fact from KEYWORDS
fiction. The authors describe how to identify fake news from Association of College and
digital sources and ways faculty and librarians can teach informa- Research Libraries (ACRL)
framework; Fake news;
tion literacy skills using the Association of College and Research information literacy;
Libraries (ACRL) Framework, websites, LibGuides, worksheets, and psychology; social media
other resources shared in the extensive appendix.

Introduction
The validity of news and its associated sources has always been of the utmost
importance. The discovery of the truth has become more challenging as more
sources, often digital, have become available. Even adults with experience
with the interpretation of the facts can easily be led into the trap of fake
news. College students may be particularly vulnerable to fake news as they
are frequently getting information online via social media. University librar-
ians and faculty can help them to build solid information literacy skills to last
a lifetime. Solutions to help build critical thinking skills to combat fake news
take a multifaceted approach. This article offers tools to help teach critical
thinking skills needed to discover the real story. Some tools for these skills
include exploring the psychological heuristics behind the easy acceptance of
fake news, and the use of strong information literacy skills created by the
Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), and a list of websites
that were created to check the facts that includes lessons and worksheets.

Background
The term “Fake News” has become a mainstream, commonly used term by
individuals on all sides of the political spectrum, including the current

CONTACT Ann T. Musgrove musgrove@fau.edu Department of Teaching and Learning, Florida Atlantic
University, Boca Raton, FL 33431-0992, USA.
Published with license by Taylor & Francis ß 2018 Ann T. Musgrove, Jillian R. Powers, Lauri C. Rebar, and Glenn J. Musgrove.
2 A. T. MUSGROVE ET AL.

President of the USA, Donald Trump. A quick search for the term “Fake
News” on Twitter will yield a high number of results from many global
sources, highlighting the universal use of this term. Social media has
changed the information landscape from one of newspapers and magazines
to tweets and posts of happenings with no documentation or clue as to the
trustworthiness of the source. Psychological studies demonstrate how indi-
viduals can easily think that fake news is the truth. Just as it has been used
in the past, critical thinking is at the core of discerning fact from fiction.
The combination of understanding the psychological background in believ-
ing misinformation, teaching critical thinking skills, and instructing univer-
sity students in information literacy skills provides a way to combat the
phenomenon of fake news.

College students and web literacy

Most college students have never known life without the World Wide Web,
and information and communication has always been instantly available to
them. These students, called “digital natives” (Prensky 2001), and millenni-
als have been flooded with news from Internet sources all their lives. The
familiarity with digital environments has not helped them to become more
experienced in the identification of valid news sources. Research suggests
that college students are having difficulty in evaluating information deliv-
ered via social media, and that the line between truth and fiction has been
blurred. The Stanford History Education Group (Wineburg et al. 2016)
designed, field tested, and validated 15 assessments of online reasoning,
five each for the middle school, high school, and college levels. The assess-
ments were designed to measure each group of students’ abilities to judge
the credibility of information found online. The college level assessments
focused on open web searches and were administered online to students at
six universities. The universities in this study included Stanford University,
which admits only 4% of its applicants, as well as large state universities
that admit the majority of those who apply. A summary of the college level
exercises is listed in Table 1.
In the pilot study of the “Claims on Social Media” exercise as noted in
Table 1, 44 undergraduate students from three universities were presented
with a tweet from the liberal advocacy organization MoveOn.org
(Wineburg et al. 2016). Each student was asked to explain why it may or
may not be a useful source of information. The tweet read, “New polling
shows the @NRA is out of touch with gun owners and their own
members” (23). The tweet also included a graphic that stated, “Two out of
three gun owners say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate
who supported background checks” and a link to a press release from the
 COLLEGE & UNDERGRADUATE LIBRARIES 3

Table 1. Summary of The Stanford History Education Group’s college level

online reasoning exercises.
Exercise
Article evaluation
Research a claim
Website reliability
Social media video
Claims on social media
Based on information found at Wineburg et al. (2016).
Description
In an open web search, students decide if a website
can be trusted
Students search online to verify a claim about a
controversial topic
Students determine whether a partisan site is
trustworthy
Students watch an online video and identify its
strengths and weaknesses
Students read a tweet and explain why it might or
might not be a useful source of information

Center for American Progress (23). The results of the study indicated that
students struggled in evaluating the tweet. Only a few students recognized
that it was based on a poll by a professional polling firm. Fewer than a
third of the students surveyed were able to explain how the political agenda
of the organizations commissioning the survey or posting the tweet might
influence its content. Further, more than half of students did not click on
the link provided within the tweet. The researchers concluded that
“students need further instruction in how best to navigate social media
content, particularly when that content comes from a source with a clear
political agenda” (24).

News use across social media platforms

It is not just college students who use social media for gathering informa-
tion. Americans are getting more and more information from social media.
This is markedly different from the last generation who primarily used
newspapers and broadcast news as their information source. According to
a Pew Research Center survey, 62% of American adults get their news from
social networking sites (Gottfried and Shearer 2016). Other survey data
research from Gottfried and Shearer (2016) included:

70% of Reddit users, 66% of Facebook users, and 59% of Twitter users
get news from these platforms.

Facebook had the greatest reach of the social networking platforms
examined in the study, as 67% of American adults are users of
the platform.

This suggests that the two-thirds of adult Facebook users who get news
there amounts to 44% of the general population.

Social media can be the source of fake news but can also provide the
solution. Just as quickly as false information is spread, users often correct
4 A. T. MUSGROVE ET AL.

that false information. It is important to carefully consider the source and

if there is an agenda behind the source of information. An advantage of
social media is that during emergencies, news organizations that might
otherwise compete can work together and help spread good information,
banding together to call out hoaxes and fakes. This kind of coordination
can amplify the good information and help it rise above the fake and unre-
liable content that’s frankly more appealing from a sharing standpoint
(Silverman 2013).

Recent perceptions about fake news

Research suggests that American adults believe fake news is spreading con-
fusion. A recent Pew Research Center survey of 1,002 American adults
reported that 64% of participants indicated completely made up news sto-
ries cause “A great deal of confusion,” 24% “Some confusion,” and 11%
“Not much/no confusion at all,” about the basic facts of current issues and
events (Barthel, Mitchell, and Holcomb 2016, 3).
Despite a strong consensus that confusion is being spread by fake news,
the survey participants reported a fair amount of confidence in their ability
to detect it (Barthel, Mitchell, and Holcomb 2016). Barthel, Mitchell, and
Holcomb noted that 39% of the survey participants felt very confident and
45% felt somewhat confident that they could recognize news that was fabri-
cated. Furthermore, some of the survey participants (23%) reported having
shared a made-up news story themselves, with 14% of those sharing such a
story saying that they did so knowing it was fake at the time.

Psychology and fake news

Discriminating real from fake news is not easy. It takes thinking, and any-
time you ask people to think, cognitive biases come to the top. Classic
psychology tries to teach thinking, sometimes even critical thinking, and
warning people about the cognitive biases that can often affect individuals
when they try to think.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, the social media was flooded
with internet robots called “bots.” A bot is a piece of computer software
designed to automate a task; they are not new and are used for variety of
tasks. Search engines use bots to scan internet content and categorize it by
keywords and phrases. Social media bots are strategically placed and cre-
ated to amplify the volume of information, with high volume equaling
more believability. Sometimes this is done by simply retweeting informa-
tion. Other times fake personas are created that have characteristics of the
group they are trying to influence, and they create the message
(Ashbrook 2017).
 COLLEGE & UNDERGRADUATE LIBRARIES 5

Individuals tend to judge the believability of information based on famil-

iarity. That is, the more familiar it is, the more believable it is based on the
notion “I’ve heard about that,” without necessarily remembering whether
the source was legitimate or not. Jacoby et al. (1989) found that non-
famous names were mistaken as famous 24 hours later, as subjects uncon-
sciously used the “I’ve heard it before” heuristic to determine fame. When
bots flood the Twitter-verse with a story, it is easy to see how similar
unconscious processes might raise the level of credibility of fake news.
Another key heuristic involved in believability is the availability heuristic.
Things that are easily brought to the forefront of memory are given special
status (Tversky and Kahneman 1974). For example, many people believe
that air travel is especially dangerous, when in fact it is not (US
Department of Transportation 2017). Individuals can easily recall airplane
disasters from 9/11 compared to the more recent engine failure on
Southwest Airlines. The reality is that since 9/11 there have been only a
few US carriers involved in crashes that have included fatalities. Train acci-
dents in the USA are more common. More people have died or had inju-
ries in train accidents than air accidents (US Department of Transportation
2017), but people usually do not see trains as significantly more dangerous
than planes because of the availability heuristic.
Confirmation bias is another important issue to consider when question-
ing the validity of news. If one were to attempt to identify a single prob-
lematic aspect of human reasoning that deserves attention above all others,
the confirmation bias would have to be among the candidates for consider-
ation (Nickerson 1998). Confirmation bias is the interpretation of informa-
tion in a way that it fits with an individual’s existing beliefs and
expectations. It is often easy to believe facts that reinforce your beliefs.
Confirmation bias is certainly involved in identifying real and fake news.
This simple heuristic suggests that if the news article agrees with what you
think, then it is good, and if it disagrees with what you think then, it is
fake. The Trump White House seems to rely on this regularly, framing any
news “leak” that they do not like as fake news along with the suggestion
that people just ignore it (Savransky 2017).
One must be cautious, though, when using the content of the news story
to evaluate the veracity of that story. Many news stories, both real and
fake, involve some degree of ridiculousness. Some people are biased to say
“That’s crazy. It must be true, because nobody could make that up.” Others
are biased in the other way, saying that anything high on the ridiculousness
scale must be fiction, as something that crazy could never occur in real life
(Evans 1990). But, also remember, as we all “know,” sometimes truth IS
stranger than fiction (e.g. Florida Man Meme or the Darwin Awards), and
other times fiction looks surprisingly true.
6 A. T. MUSGROVE ET AL.

Why would anyone be interested in propagating fake news, anyway? One

reason would be to use fake news to gain attention for advertising pur-
poses. This phenomenon is called “click bait,” such as the ubiquitous
“Seventeen celebrities that have had botched plastic surgery … You won’t
believe number 11.” This is advertising plain and simple. A second reason
would be that the fake news was originally put on a recognized parody or
satire site, like The Onion, and then through one or two people who did
not get it, retweeted the story as real news with staggering indignation, and
the second life begins of a fake story began as real news. Once the story
has made a lap around the Internet, people will begin to recognize it, in a
“I heard about that,” but are experiencing source blindness. Source blind-
ness occurs when you remember the information but not where it came
from. Research has shown that individuals are much more likely to remem-
ber the story than remember where the story came from (Johnson,
Hashtroudi, and Lindsay 1993). Lastly, and this is the worst-case scenario,
fake news could be intentionally created to confuse fact and fiction.
Knowledge of these psychological processes helps us understand that
fake news is easily believable because it is either so prevalent, or seems to
fit with our beliefs, or just feels right.

Best practices for teaching students how to identify fake news

The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education
The ACRL presented its Framework for Information Literacy for Higher
Education in 2015, with formal adoption by the ACRL Board in January
2016. The Framework document has its foundation in the work of Wiggins
and McTighe (2005), using threshold concepts instead of standards and
learning outcomes to guide and support librarians in instructing students
in information literacy (IL). The ACRL Framework builds on the substance
of metaliteracy, asserting that it is “renewed vision of information as an
overarching set of abilities in which students are consumers and creators of
information who can participate successfully in collaborative spaces.
Metaliteracy demands behavioral, affective, cognitive, and metacognitive
engagement with the information ecosystem” (ACRL Framework for
Information Literacy for Higher Education 2016, 3). Information literacy
itself is then characterized as “the set of integrated abilities encompassing
the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how informa-
tion is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new
knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning” (ACRL
Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education 2016, 3). The
resulting six concepts that comprise the Framework each contain a central
IL concept, as well as a set of knowledge practices and dispositions which
 COLLEGE & UNDERGRADUATE LIBRARIES 7

encourages their use as guiding principles that can be adapted to multiple

learning situations. These frames, listed alphabetically, are:

Authority Is Constructed and Contextual,

Information Creation as a Process,

Information Has Value,

Research as Inquiry,

Scholarship as Conversation,

Searching as Strategic Exploration.

According to the ACRL Framework (2016), learners developing informa-

tion literacy skills “use research tools and indicators of authority to deter-
mine the credibility of sources, understanding the elements that might
temper this credibility” (4). This knowledge practice can be used by
students to identify fake news and supports the ACRL’s Authority Is
Constructed and Contextual frame, which is summarized as follows:
Information resources reflect their creators’ expertise and credibility and are
evaluated based on the information need and the context in which the information
will be used. Authority is constructed in that various communities may recognize
different types of authority. It is contextual in that the information need may help to
determine the level of authority required. (ACRL Framework for Information
Literacy for Higher Education 2016, 4)

The ACRL is proactive in encouraging that lesson plans designed around

the Framework and its concepts be shared with others. To this end, they
created the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Sandbox (2017) as
a “platform and repository for sharing Framework materials.” These resour-
ces can be searched using a variety of filters, including discipline, type of
institution, scope, resource type, IL frame(s) addressed, and various types
of licenses attached to the resources (ACRL Framework for Information
Literacy Sandbox 2017).
Each resource in the Sandbox is formatted as follows: brief title, short
abstract, posted date, contributor, resource types, information literacy
frame(s) addressed, and tags. Clicking on “Read More” for a specific
resource gives additional information, including access to many hyperlinks,
attachments, licensure, and information regarding if the resource was pre-
sented at a conference or other meeting, etc. (ACRL Framework for
Information Literacy Sandbox 2017). Some resources simply provide a
rubric, chart, infographic, slides, or online resource such as a LibGuide,
while others outline a lesson plan, a short activity, or some other assign-
ment to be used with students in either a general or subject specific con-
text. A companion resource to the Sandbox is the WordPress site for the
ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, which
8 A. T. MUSGROVE ET AL.

gives up-to-date news on the Framework, tweets, videos, and links to the
Framework listserv and RSS feed to the WordPress site (2017).
Within the ACRL Sandbox (2017) and WordPress sites (2017), contribu-
tors share assignments and activities that they have created and used suc-
cessfully with students, with handouts, rubrics, and other essential
materials available for others to recreate these experiences in their own
classrooms. The malleable concepts contained in the frames allow for their
presentation with a wide range of approaches. They can be used to build
upon one another, leading students in a natural progression of personal
and academic growth in information evaluation and giving them tools and
strategies to become engaged participants in critical thinking and scholar-
ship. Other materials within these sites have been created especially for use
with faculty, so they too can be knowledgeable about the concepts and be
partners with librarians in the pursuit of student information literacy
(ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Sandbox 2017).
Another valuable resource for academic librarians is the Community of
Online Research Assignments, or CORA (Loyola Marymount University
Library 2017), hosted by Loyola Marymount University Library. This open
access site includes searchable assignments, using filters for information lit-
eracy concepts, discipline, ability level, keyword search, and whether the
assignment is applicable for a group or individuals. In addition to searching
for the ACRL Framework concepts that have been associated with each
assignment, CORA includes searchable IL concepts from The Society of
College, National and University Libraries (Society of College, National and
University Libraries (SCONUL) Working Group on Information Literacy
2011) and The Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information
Literacy (ANZIIL) (Bundy 2004). A blog and Teaching Toolkit are add-
itional components of the CORA website, showcasing rubrics, databases,
projects, presentations, and websites of interest to faculty and librarians.

LibGuides and information literacy

LibGuides are a web-based application and content management system
used to create and organize electronic guides. The tool is easily embedded
in course and library Web sites and accessible to students online. An
example of a LibGuide that can help students to develop their abilities in
this frame is the “Fake” News guide created by librarian Eric Novotny
(2017) at The Pennsylvania State University. The guide describes different
types of fake news, including satire, bias, junk science, rumor mills, and
clickbait (Novotny 2017). It also challenges students to consider why they
should care about the issue of fake news while presenting statistics, figures,
and a video clip about how false information is spread through different
 COLLEGE & UNDERGRADUATE LIBRARIES 9

media. A number of fact checking sites are provided to help students to

verify the credibility of news stories and their claims.
The Online Satirical News LibGuide by Ed Koltonski (2017) from Kent
State University is a tool that teaches students to identify fake news
presented as satire. The guide provides students with information about
satire, electronic resources, a list of satirical news Web sites, and a skill
check where students can test their ability to identify satirical news.
A list of additional LibGuides that can be used to help students to
develop the informational literacy skills needed to identify fake news is
presented in Appendix A. Powers, Musgrove, and Rebar (2017) previously
identified LibGuides that aligned with each of the six ACRL frames.

Worksheets for information literacy

One of the basic components of evaluating information is the use of critical
thinking skills. There are several sets of guidelines or worksheets available
to help students to assess the information in front of them. One of these,
developed by California State University, Chico in 2010, is well known, and
is recognized by the acronym CRAAP, standing for Currency, Relevance,
Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. In contrast, the evaluative process
promoted by the The Global Digital Citizen Foundation (2015) takes a
“Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How” approach to critical thinking.
Their Ultimate Cheat Sheet for Critical Thinking (Global Digital Citizen
Foundation 2015) worksheet can be used to help engage students by using
its prompts and questions to generate group discussions or individual
consideration of information.

Websites for evaluating sources of information

With the development of critical thinking skills and information literacy
proficiency, students will wish to consult reliable resources to help validate
or refute news claims. They may choose from among several excellent web-
sites for checking truth, including FactCheck.org (https://www.factcheck.
org/), Hoax-Slayer (https://www.hoax-slayer.net/), Snopes (https://www.
snopes.com/), and Politifact (http://www.politifact.com/). These and other
sites are detailed in Appendix A, each with a brief description of their con-
tent. While all these sites may be used for fact checking, each one may
excel in assessing statements from a specific viewpoint (political), specialize
in evaluating certain formats or sources of information (Snopes and Hoax-
Slayer), or attempt to be otherwise unbiased in their review of facts
(FactCheck.org). The result for fact checkers is a matrix of authoritative
information sources that can be used confidently.
10 A. T. MUSGROVE ET AL.

Recognizing good journalism

Another aspect of recognizing fake news is understanding that those
involved in publishing real news abide by the Society of Professional
Journalists’s (SPJ) Code of Ethics (2014). The SPJ includes many elements
relevant to Fake News including:

Take responsibility for the accuracy of work.

Verify information before releasing information and use original sources
whenever possible.

Identify sources clearly. The public is entitled to as much information
as possible to judge the reliability and motivations of sources.

If the Washington Post breaks a big story on some political scandal, they
not only need it to be true, lest they lose credibility, but they will have their
byline on the story, so you know the Washington Post was the source that
broke the story. When students have identified how to determine which
news sources are reliable and other credible sources of information, they
can develop sustainable methods of doing their own fact-checking.

Recommendations
Librarians and college faculty members are in a unique situation by the val-
idation of their position in the education environment to help students of
all ages to develop information literacy and critical thinking skills. A good
starting point is to teach students to verify the facts by questioning the
source and potential motives. Students should be skeptical of information
and be familiar with the common psychological strategies used to propa-
gate fake news.
It is also suggested that college librarians and faculty teach students to
check questionable material with online fact checkers such as Snopes,
FactCheck, Hoax-Slayer, or some other reputable fact-checking site (see
Appendix A). In doing so, students should be taught to consider the source
of the information.
College librarians and faculty also need to teach their students to be cog-
nizant of the source of information. If the story has no source, that should
cast immediate suspicion. For example, if the story is from the “San
Antonio Ledger,” the student can quickly search and determine that the SA
Ledger DID once exist as a newspaper but has not been published since
1859 (Federal Writers’ Project, Texas. 1938). If the source of the news story
is The New York Times, the student should recognize that it is a much
stronger authority because it is a newspaper that is currently published.
 COLLEGE & UNDERGRADUATE LIBRARIES 11

Finally, librarians and faculty can teach college students to use the
resources available from the ACRL including the Framework, the Sandbox,
along with other similar sites like CORA, ANZIIL, or SCONUL to facilitate
gathering materials and strategies that have been tried and then shared
with the library community. With the wealth of news reported on social
media, there is an ample supply of rumors to check using the CRAAP test
or other worksheets or rubrics. The bottom line regarding the evaluation of
the truth of a news story is not in the story itself, but rather in the verisim-
ilitude of the given source.

Conclusion
The incidence of fake news has become a major problem in the current
landscape of online news sources. Research indicates that students’ abilities
to discern between real and fake news is frequently not very good. As more
people get their news from social media websites, it is important that those
social media websites also be part of the solution to the fake news problem
by illuminating unsubstantiated content. Psychological variables can help
students to understand why fake news is so easy to believe. The ACRL
Framework is proposed as a way of teaching information literacy as well as
the Information Literacy Sandbox and many LibGuides on this topic. Other
techniques for teaching information literacy include the CRAAP worksheet
as well as many reliable, fact checking websites. The source of the informa-
tion is always a good starting place to evaluate the validity of the story. An
extensive appendix is included to provide tools to teach students the skills
of information literacy.

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Powers, Jillian, Ann Musgrove, and Lauri Rebar. 2017. “Creative Applications of LibGuides
to Teach Undergraduate Students Information Literacy Skills.” Proceedings of Society for
Information Technology & Teacher Education (SITE) International Conference, March
2017, 2017, 1407–1413. Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of
Computing in Education (AACE). http://www.learntechlib.org/p/177424/
Poynter Institute. 2017. “International Fact-Checking Network Fact-Checkers’ Code of
Principles.” http://www.poynter.org/fact-checkers-code-of-principles/
Prensky, Marc. 2001. “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1.” On the Horizon 9
(5):1–6.
Savransky, Rebecca. 2017. “Trump: Many Leaks are ’Fabricated Lies’ Made up by ’Fake
News’ Media.” The Hill. Accessed May 28, 2017. http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis-
tration/335453-trump-many-leaks-are-fabricated-lies-made-up-by-fake-news-media
 COLLEGE & UNDERGRADUATE LIBRARIES 13

Schulten, Katherine. 2015. “Skills and Strategies j Fake News vs. Real News: Determining
the Reliability of Sources.” New York Times. Accessed October 2, 2015. https://learning.
blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/skills-and-strategies-fake-news-vs-real-news-determining-the-
reliability-of-sources/
Silverman, Craig. 2013. “Since Twitter hasn’t Built a Correction Feature, Here are 3
Things Journalists can do Instead.” Poynter, May 29, 2013. http://www.poynter.org/2013/
since-twitter-hasnt-built-a-correction-feature-here-are-3-things-journalists-can-do-instead/
214484/
Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL) Working Group on
Information Literacy. 2011. “The SCONUL Seven Pillars of Information Literacy: Core
model- for Higher Education.” Accessed April 2011. https://www.sconul.ac.uk/sites/
default/files/documents/coremodel.pdf
Society of Professional Journalists. 2014. “SPJ Code of Ethics.” https://www.spj.org/ethics-
code.asp
Tampa Bay Times. 2017. “Politifact.” Accessed March 4, 2018. http://www.politifact.com/
truth-o-meter/
Tversky, Amos, and Daniel Kahneman. 1974. “Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics
and Biases.” Science 185 (4157):1124–1131.
US Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics. 2017. “2017
Pocket Guide to Transportation.” 20th ed. May 2017. https://www.bts.gov/sites/bts.dot.
gov/files/docs/browse-statistical-products-and-data/bts-publications/202411/pocketguide
2017revised.pdf
Wiggins, Grant P. and Jay McTighe. 2005. Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA:
Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Wineburg, Sam, Sarah McGrew, Joel Breakstone, and Teresa Ortega. 2016. “Evaluating
Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning.” Stanford Digital Repository.
http://purl.stanford.edu/fv751yt5934

Appendix A: A sampling of resources

Fake news or information literacy LibGuides
Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). 2017. “ACRL Framework
for Information Literacy toolkit.” LibGuide. http://acrl.libguides.com/frame-
work/toolkit
Cornell University Library. 2017. “Evaluating News Sources” LibGuide. http://guides.library.
cornell.edu/evaluate_news
Harvard Library. 2017. “Fake News, Misinformation, and Propaganda.” LibGuide. http://
guides.library.harvard.edu/fake
Indiana University East Campus Library. 2017. “Fake News.” LibGuide. http://iue.libguides.
com/fakenews
Koltonski, Ed. 2017. “Online Satirical News.” LibGuide. https://libguides.library.kent.edu/
satiricalnews
Loyola Marymount University William H. Hannon Library. 2017. “Keepin’ it Real: Tips &
Strategies for Evaluating Fake News. LibGuide.” http://libguides.lmu.edu/fakenews
Novotny, Eric. 2017. “‘Fake’ News.” LibGuide. http://guides.libraries.psu.edu/fakenews
University of Central Florida. 2017. “Fake News & Fact Checking.” LibGuide. https://
guides.ucf.edu/fakenews
14 A. T. MUSGROVE ET AL.

Fact checking websites (a sampling)

FactCheck. http://www.factcheck.org/
In addition to current commentary, specialized sections appear on the right side of the
screen to guide the user to topic areas including science, politics, and Internet rumors.
Full Fact. https://fullfact.org/about/
A registered charity and independent non-profit company in the UK, this site strives to
be impartial in its reporting. In addition to fact-checking, they also “push for corrections
where necessary,” and offer The Full Fact Toolkit as a training tool to assist individuals
and schools with fact checking. Especially good for European and UK information.
Hoax-Slayer. http://hoax-slayer.net/
Combines educational guides and information about scams, phishing, malware, and
hoaxes, a search feature, and browsable categories in a newly launched and easy-to-
use website.
Kessler, Glenn. (2017). Fact Checker: The Truth Behind the Rhetoric. The Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/?utm_term¼.a243fd45d352
A fact-checking column for “statements of political figures regarding issues of great
importance.” See their “About” section for more information on their standards
and policies.
Politifact. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/
A project of the Tampa Bay Times and Poynter Institute, Politifact (and Punditfact)
offer scorecards for their fact-checking of claims made by members of the media,
including pundits, columnists, and political analysts. Perhaps best known for their
Truth-o-Meter and Trump-o-Meter, the site offers searching and browsing by articles,
people, promises, TV, radio, bloggers, newspapers, and more.
Snopes. http://www.snopes.com/
Founded by David Mikkelson in 1994, this is one of the longest-running fact-checking
sites. The site has earned two Webby awards, and permits searching by keyword or
URL, filters to scan by media types, and even includes a “random” section that displays
arbitrary posts on rumors.

Additional resources
Infographics
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). 2017. “How to
spot fake news.” Last updated August 13. https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/11174
Based on FactCheck.org’s article How to Spot Fake News from 2016, this infographic con-
tains eight simple steps. Downloadable in multiple formats and available in translations.
Global Digital Citizen Foundation. 2015. “The ultimate cheatsheet for critical thinking.”
https://i1.wp.com/globaldigitalcitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/ultimate-critical-think-
ing-worksheet.jpg?ssl¼1
An easy-to-use infographic combining the typical “Who, What, Where, When, Why, How”
questions to ask upon discovery of new information or to use in discussion with others.
Mitchell, Amy, Jeffrey Gottfried, Jocelyn Kiley, and Katerina Eva Matsa. 2014. “Political
Polarization & Media Habits: From Fox News to Facebook, how liberals and conserva-
tives keep up with politics. Trust levels of news sources by ideological group.” Table.
Pew Research Center: Journalism & Media, October 21. http://www.journalism.org/2014/
10/21/political-polarization-media-habits/pj_14-10-21_mediapolarization-01/
 COLLEGE & UNDERGRADUATE LIBRARIES 15

This is just one table from another Pew Research Center report. You might compare
this with the News Quality Bias Chart by Otero, listed below.
Otero, Vanessa. 2016. “News Quality.” Blog. http://www.allgeneralizationsarefalse.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/12/News-Quality.V4.jpg
The chart from this blog post went viral shortly after it was posted. The author wrote
another blog post with an updated chart, “The Chart, Second Edition: what makes a
news source “good?”” at http://www.allgeneralizationsarefalse.com/the-chart-second-edi-
tion/#comment-8048

Journalism and news media sites

Google News Lab. https://newsinitiative.withgoogle.com
Google News Lab is working collaboratively with journalists and entrepreneurs, includ-
ing First Draft News, Pew Research Center, and Poynter Institute, on combatting misin-
formation and data journalism. Explore their training site of courses and downloadable
information at https://newslab.withgoogle.com/training, or look at their programs,
resources and articles on a wide variety of news topics.
News Literacy Project. http://www.thenewsliteracyproject.org/
This site includes digital resources for students, teachers, and journalists, including their
Checkology Virtual Classroom. Although this is a “for fee” product, it is worth knowing
about this source of training for news literacy. Their free “Teachable Moments” section
combines personal views and background about news stories and news liter-
acy strategies.
Nieman Reports (Nieman Foundation at Harvard). http://niemanreports.org
An excellent resource for reports, lab, storyboard articles, and general articles about the
world of journalism, its participants, and the world around us. Subscribe for free to get
update emails or check their archives. A very timely resource.
Pew Research Center: Journalism and Media. http://www.journalism.org
Pew Research’s publications are well known, and this site includes publications, “State of
the Media” reports, and their “Fact Tank” which is full of statistics, links, and resources.
They feature interactives, including infographics, slideshows, and data visualization.
Their “Daily Briefing of Media News” is a substantive journalistic asset. Ongoing
research is one of its trademarks, making this a site to return to regularly.
Poynter Institute. http://poynter.org
Located in St. Petersburg, Florida, Poynter excels in training in journalism. Their website
also features ethics, fact-checking, innovation, leadership, and digital tool categories,
with lots to learn from them. Sign up for their free digital tools newsletter, view their
tool tutorials and attend free webinars. For digital tool tutorials, visit https://newsu.org/
resources/digital-tools.
Support Real News (News Media Alliance). http://newsmediaalliance.org/supportrealnews/
Some of the best parts of this site are their infographics, information, and links to
programs that evaluate news credibility, and their resources (editorial and other), and
other initiatives. Find links to Associated Press’ Not Real News, The Wall Street
Journal’s “The Face of Real News” short videos, and a list of Fake News news-
paper articles.
Witness Media Lab. https://lab.witness.org/
Specializing in “citizen video verification and curation resources,” Witness provides free
online library resources on using eyewitness videos and videos as evidence, plus guides,
and a downloadable curriculum entitled “Video for Change.”
16 A. T. MUSGROVE ET AL.

Professional code of ethics

Poynter Institute. 2017. “International Fact-Checking Network fact-checkers’ code of
principles.” http://www.poynter.org/fact-checkers-code-of-principles/
A code of principles for fact-checkers around the world who commit to be non-partisan
and fair in their reporting. See the lists of and links to verified signatories who have
committed to these principles in their reporting of information from social networks.
New York Times. 2017. “The Times issues social media guidelines for the newsroom. October 13.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/13/reader-center/social-media-guidelines.html
This article provides snippets and summaries of the new social media guidelines from
The New York Times. The documents from their Standards and Ethics page (https://
www.nytco.com/who-we-are/culture/standards-and-ethics/) and Journalism that Stands
Apart: The Report of the 2020 Group (January 2017) (https://www.nytimes.com/
projects/2020-report/) contribute insights and guidelines in journalism.
Thomson Reuters. 2008. “Reuters Handbook of Journalism.” April 2008. http://handbook.
reuters.com/index.php?title¼Main_Page
Handbook for Reuters journalists including standards and values, guide to operations, gen-
eral style guide, sports style guide, specialized guidance, and links. The specialized guid-
ance section deals extensively with fact checking.
Society of Professional Journalists. 2014. “SPJ Code of Ethics.” https://www.spj.org/ethics-
code.asp
The code of ethics contains hyperlinks to supporting position papers and explanations
of its various statements. Available in English and other translations. The website also
links to the SPJ Ethics Committee Blog and other accompanying resources and
applications.

Skills and strategies

Association of College and Research Libraries. 2016. “Framework for information literacy
for higher education.” http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/issues/infolit/
Framework_ILHE.pdf
The ACRL Framework document, with hyperlinks throughout its contents, is available
from this site.
Association of College and Research Libraries. 2017. “ACRL Framework for Information
Literacy Sandbox.” http://sandbox.acrl.org/resources
This repository for sharing ACRL Framework materials and resources. For each resource,
the type of resource is noted, its materials are linked to the corresponding frames, and it
is tagged for ease in locating resources. Use the Browse Resources to locate items by type,
frame, discipline, type of institution, scope, and license assigned to each resource.
Association of College and Research Libraries. 2017. “Framework for information literacy
for higher education.” WordPress site. http://acrl.ala.org/framework/
This WordPress site for the Framework is a combination of news, features, professional
development, discussion board, and Twitter feed. Check back regularly to see what’s
going on or subscribe via RSS feed and email.
Association of College and Research Libraries. 2017. “ACRL Framework for Information
Literacy toolkit.” LibGuide. http://acrl.libguides.com/framework/toolkit
Formatted as a LibGuide, this Toolkit comes with instructions, components, and strat-
egies for using the Framework to teach information literacy. A bibliography of resour-
ces, including webinars and slidecasts, and “essential links” is included.
 COLLEGE & UNDERGRADUATE LIBRARIES 17

Center for Media Literacy. 2009. “CML’s five key questions and core concepts (Q/Tips) for con-
sumers and producers.” http://www.medialit.org/questionstips-qtips
The main Chart from the CML website is a Media Deconstruction/Construction
Framework (free download), available in several languages.
Center for News Literacy. 2017. “Digital Resource Center.” http://drc.centerfornewsliteracy.org/
Created by Stony Brook University, this resource includes lessons, a course pack, exam-
ples, training suggestions and more, including reference to other free courses and TED
talks on the topic.
Loyola Marymount University Library. 2017. “Community of Online Research Assignments
(CORA).” https://www.projectcora.org/
This open access site features assignments, teaching toolkit resources, blogs and a host
of resources for librarians and faculty.
Higgins, Eliot. 2015. “Searching the Earth: Essential geolocation tools for verification.” First
Draft, July 24, 2015. https://medium.com/1st-draft/searching-the-earth-essential-geoloca-
tion-tools-for-verification-89d960bb8fba
Basic information on tools and methods available to verify locations (geolocation),
including Google Earth, Yandex Maps, Yomapic, and EchoSec.
Kirschenbaum, Michele. 2017a. “10 ways to spot a fake news article.” Easy Bib Blog Posts,
January 4, 2017. http://www.easybib.com/guides/10-ways-to-spot-a-fake-news-article/
Similar to the CRAAP test, this short blog post briefly lists and discusses what to look
for to help determine if information you are reading is accurate and reliable.
Kirschenbaum, Michele. 2017b. “How savvy are your students? 7 fake websites to really test
their evaluation skills.” Easy Bib Blog Posts, January 10, 2017. http://www.easybib.com/
guides/7-fake-websites-to-test-students/
Need a list of some fake websites to use with your students? This blog post lists seven
fake websites and discusses both the lures and giveaways of these sites.
LeBlanc, Robert E., and Barabara Quintiliano. 2015. “Recycling C.R.A.P.: Reframing A
Popular Research Mnemonic for Library Instruction.” Pennsylvania Libraries: Research
& Practice 3 (2):115–121. http://palrap.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/palrap/article/view/105
As an alternative to using C.R.A.P. or C.R.A.A.P. to teach website evaluation or library
instruction, consider using C.R.A.V.E. for info lit. Details are in this article.
Meriam Library, California State University, Chico. 2010. “Evaluating Information –
Applying the CRAAP test.” Chico, CA: California State University, September 17, 2010.
https://www.csuchico.edu/lins/handouts/eval_websites.pdf
CRAAP, prepared by Cal State, Chico, has been used by many and has been changed by
many. Use this original handout from 2010 or try new charts, tables, and adaptations.
NewseumED. n.d. Accessed November 8, 2017. https://newseumed.org/
Educational programs and lesson plans, primary sources, case studies, and other tools
focusing on media literacy and first amendment rights.
Powers, Jillian, Ann Musgrove, and Lauri Rebar. 2017. “Creative Applications of LibGuides
to Teach Undergraduate Students Information Literacy Skills.” In Proceedings of Society
for Information Technology & Teacher Education (SITE) International Conference,
2017, 1407–1413. March 2017. Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of
Computing in Education (AACE). http://www.learntechlib.org/p/177424/
Written by two academic education professors and a librarian, this article explores the
use of LibGuides to teach information literacy skills to undergraduate college students.
This article was also the basis of a presentation at the 2017 SITE Conference and a pos-
ter session presentation at the Florida Library Association Conference 2017.
18 A. T. MUSGROVE ET AL.

Schulten, Katherine. 2015. “Skills and strategies j Fake news vs. real news: Determining the
reliability of sources.” New York Times, October 2, 2015. https://learning.blogs.nytimes.
com/2015/10/02/skills-and-strategies-fake-news-vs-real-news-determining-the-reliability-
of-sources/
Essentially an assignment in itself, the article combines a video and lesson plan from TEDEd,
resources from Edutopia, the Center for News Literacy and NewseumEd and an excellent
explanation of how to use this News Engagement Day (2015) resource. Also see their 2017
lesson, Evaluating sources in a “post-truth” world: Ideas for teaching and learning about
fake news located at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/learning/lesson-plans/evaluating-
sources-in-a-post-truth-world-ideas-for-teaching-and-learning-about-fake-news.html.
Silverman, Craig. ed. n.d.-a “Verification Handbook: An Ultimate Guideline on Digital
Age Sourcing for Emergency Coverage.” http://verificationhandbook.com/downloads/
verification.handbook.pdf
A resource for journalists and aid responders, giving guidelines and best practices on
how to assess and verify social media reports.
Silverman, Craig. n.d.-b “Verification Handbook for Investigative Reporting: A Guide to
Online Search and Research Techniques for Using UGC and Open Source Information
in Investigations.” http://verificationhandbook.com/book2/
In addition to step-by-step how-to information, this site contains several case studies
that can be used to show the results and relevance of investigating information.
Silverman, Craig. n.d.-c “Verification Handbook: Additional Materials: Additional Materials
to Verifying Digital Content for Emergency Coverage.” http://verificationhandbook.com/
additionalmaterial/
Focusing on verification and fact checking, this online book gives definitions, method-
ology, and examples to types of online fake media.
The University of Hong Kong, & The State University of New York (SUNY). 2017. “Making
Sense of the News: News Literacy Lessons for Digital Citizens.” Massive open online course
(MOOC). Accessed from Coursera site https://www.coursera.org/learn/news-literacy
A massive open online course, or MOOC, this 6-week for-free or free auditable class is
built to teach “how to evaluate the quality of news and journalism in order to judge the
reliability of information and make informed judgment.”
Whois Lookup. n.d. Accessed November 8, 2017. http://whois.domaintools.com/
This tool allows you to investigate the domain behind a website.

Resources with links for more information

Schulten, Katherine, and Amanda Christy Brown. 2017. “Evaluating Sources in a ‘Post-
Truth’ World: Ideas for Teaching and Learning about Fake News.” New York Times,
January 19, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/learning/lesson-plans/evaluating-
sources-in-a-post-truth-world-ideas-for-teaching-and-learning-about-fake-news.html
Valenza, Joyce. 2016. “Truth, Truthiness, Triangulation: A News Literacy Toolkit for a “Post-
Truth” World.” Blog. School Library Journal, November 26, 2016. http://blogs.slj.com/never-
endingsearch/2016/11/26/truth-truthiness-triangulation-and-the-librarian-way-a-news-literacy
-toolkit-for-a-post-truth-world/