Library Guides: Be Informed: Overview

Don't forget to cite and reference your sources. For help see the Junior School or Senior School referencing guides, and / or CiteMaker.

Resource Key

When accessing content use the numbers below to guide you:

LEVEL

Brief, basic information laid out in an easy-to-read format. May use informal language. (Includes most news articles)

LEVEL

Provides additional background information and further reading. Introduces some subject-specific language.

LEVEL

Lengthy, detailed information. Frequently uses technical/subject-specific language. (Includes most analytical articles)

Quick Links

Source: Black, S. (2020). Vector graphic courtesy of Vecteezy.

Where do you get your news, how do you stay informed, and how do you know what's fact and what's not?

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." -- Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Newsweek, 25 August 1986, p. 27.

Jump to: I n the news NOW | Background reading | What the world is searching on Google now

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Be Informed | Background Reading

Check out these resources if you want to know more about fake news, how information is channeled to you, and how information can be manipulated.

Fake News, Fake Data: How bad data and misleading graphs are fueling fake news. Staffers, C., & Hackett, J. (2017)
The article highlights how bad data and misleading graphs are resulting fake news. Topics discussed include rise in false articles with gripping headlines about everything such as Hillary Clinton's selling weapons to ISIS; challenges to distinguish between real news stories and sponsored content advertisement that look like news; and use of graph or mathematical data in fake news.
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Staffers, C., & Hackett, J. (2017). Fake News, Fake Data: How bad data and misleading graphs are fueling fake news. (cover story). Scholastic Math, 38(2), 8-11. Retrieved from https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=anh&AN=125158660&site=ehost-live&scope=site&authtype=sso&custid=mggsvic
Last year there were 8,164 fake news stories. (Borel, 2018)
The article reports on the plethora of misinformation, propaganda and fake news that exist on the Internet. Fake news is intentionally meant to mislead based on false, misinterpreted or manipulated facts. It can also be used by partisans to smear reputable legacy media outlets. Political scientists report that 1 in 4 Americans visited a fake news site in 2017.
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Borel, B. (2018). Last year there were 8,164 fake news stories. Popular Science, 290(2), 64-124. Retrieved from https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=anh&AN=127946282&site=ehost-live&scope=site&authtype=sso&custid=mggsvic
Seven studies about mis- and disinformation from 2017 (Dias, 217)
The year 2017 will go down as the moment when the study of mis- and disinformation on social networks took off. In 12 months, we went from learning of viral “fake news” in the US election to constructing a rich body of research about it. Thanks to this work, we have already made strides toward understanding how false and misleading content operates in our modern information ecosystems.
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First Draft is a project of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government – uses research-based methods to fight mis- and disinformation online. Additionally, it provides practical and ethical guidance in how to find, verify and publish content sourced from the social web.
Understanding and Addressing the Disinformation Ecosystem. (Singerman, 2018)
A collection of short papers prepared as part of a workshop bringing together academics, journalists, fact-checkers, technologists and funders to better understand the challenges produced by the current disinformation ecosystem
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First Draft is a project of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government – uses research-based methods to fight mis- and disinformation online. Additionally, it provides practical and ethical guidance in how to find, verify and publish content sourced from the social web.

Be informed | What the world is searching on Google now

Look at the following interactive graphic to see what the world is searching on Google at the moment. How many different languages can you see and recognise?