LibGuides: WSU Reads 2017: The Influencing Machine: Faculty Resources

Teaching Resources

American Revolution Lesson: Using Balanced Sources
This lesson on EasyBib provides an example of a balanced and unbalanced source to help students understand the difference and better evaluate sources.
Discussion Questions by University of Maryland
Journalism Education Association
Lesson plan: Understanding news literacy
Library Guide by Ramapo Catskill Library System
The ten discussion questions on this guide were pulled from the list published by University of Maryland
The News Literacy Project
The News Literacy Project (NLP) is a nonpartisan national education nonprofit that works with educators and journalists to teach middle school and high school students how to sort fact from fiction in the digital age. NLP provides these students with the essential skills they need to become smart, active consumers of news and information and engaged, informed citizens.
PBS Newshour Extra
Lesson plan: How to teach your students about fake news

Media Literacy by Art Silverblatt; Nikole Brown; Donald C. Miller; Julie Smith
Call Number: e-Book
ISBN: 1440830924
Publication Date: 2014
Covering print, photography, film, radio, television, and new media, this textbook instructs readers on how to take a critical approach to media and interpret the information overload that is disseminated via mass communication. * Supplies clear explanation of media literacy theory and guidance on interpreting modern mass media from leading scholars * Represents a highly effective tool for achieving a key aspect of media literacy: enabling students to decipher information and independently reach opinions and positions without relying on the pervasive influence of the media * Provides critical examination of controversial, current topics such as violence in the media and the intersections of media and social change
News Literacy by Paul Mihailidis
Call Number: P96.M4 N5495 2012
ISBN: 9781433115646
Publication Date: 2011
News Literacy gathers leading scholars, educators, and media makers to explore new approaches to thinking about, examining, and evaluating news media and civic engagement around these fundamental questions: What are the most pressing issues in news, media, and culture in a converged, digital, and global media age? What are the best educational practices to foster media literate understanding, engagement, and expression across borders, across cultures, and across divides? The book will prepare future media practitioners (and citizens) to embrace new media environments that can simultaneously empower their craft and their civic voice. This means teaching not only about the various ways new technologies are used and to what end, but also how these tools can enable better engagement with audiences, more dialog with communities, and a more nuanced understanding of how information is processed through new media platforms. Such an approach can empower a more active, collaborative, and empowered information landscape for the digital age.
Not Just Where to Click (esp. Ch 15: "Fragmented Stories: Uncovering News Bias...")
Call Number: ZA3075 .N68 2015
ISBN: 9780838987162
Publication Date: 2014
Not Just Where to Click: Teaching Students How to Think about Information explores how librarians and faculty work together to teach students about the nature of expertise, authority, and credibility. It provides practical approaches for motivating students to explore their beliefs, biases, and ways of interpreting the world.

How America Lost Its Mind by Kurt Andersen
The Atlantic (Targeted News Service/USA), September 2017 issue, viewed online 2017-08-10
PASTE article by Roger Sollenberger
"How the Trump-Russia Data Machine Games Google to Fool Americans" published June 1, 2017
Product Highlights
LibGuides Helps You Fight Fake News (List of guides created by K-12 schools and academic libraries)
Real Journalists are being Tortured, Kidnapped and Killed to Give You #realnews By Craig Forman
McClatchy Washington Bureau (DC), August 14, 2017, accessed August 16, 2017
Astroturfing
Wikipedia article explains the practice of hiding the true sponsors of a message or organization

Questions can either facilitate or hinder discussion. Discussion leaders may want to ponder these questions, or it may help the discussion to ask them to the group:
What was your initial reaction to the book? Did it hook you immediately? Which part or story got you most interested in completing the book?
How did the structure of the graphic novel affect you? How would you have reacted to the book if it were in a different format?
Gladstone introduces herself by saying she likes it when people cry when they tell her stories. How did this make you feel? Why would this trait make a difference in a report?
Helen Thomas (p. 38) says reporters are public servants. Do you think most reporters see themselves as public servants? Which news outlets or agencies use or see reporters as public servants?
The author explains that the "Goldilocks number" (p. 49) refers to estimates that seem reasonable. Do you feel sloppy journalism is as bad as yellow journalism? What's the difference?
On p. 61 the author asserts that mainstream media quotes more conservatives than liberals. Do you agree?
The author asserts that the public trusts neither journalists nor politicians after WW I (p. 99). The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was formed by the Communications Act of 1934. do you think the FCC was formed to help networks gain the public trust, or were there other motives to create this agency?
The author asserts that 1949 regulations required broadcast networks to set aside time to present all sides of the issues they cover (p. 103). This was the Fairness Doctrine, which remained in place until it was eliminated in 1987. Why do you suppose the author did not use the proper name? What was going on in the world that might have prompted Congress to eliminate this policy in 1987? What have been the repercussions for eliminating this policy? Would (or how would) additional policies help combat fake news?
The author mentions biases on p. 117. Would knowing our biases help us make decisions, or would it prompt us to make decisions that are not true to ourselves? How could knowing our biases improve our path to self-actualization?
On page 129, the author explains that homophily reflects and reaffirms our perspectives of the world. Are you interested in expanding your world view? Do you actively seek out alternative viewpoints? How would one go about searching for stories that are opposite from our personal view?
Do you feel technology connects you more closely with people (p. 139), or helps you have meaningful conversations? Why or why not?
What is the central theme? Do you think this theme will be relevant in 10 years? 50?
Did the book make you feel hopeful, depressed, angry?

Common Reads Gallery

WSU Common Reads 2023 and 2024: My Broken Language

My Broken Language: A Memoir by Quiara Alegría Hudes is the chosen book for the 2023 as well as the 2024 WSU Common Reads programs.

Wichita State Common Read 2022: Notes From a Young Black Chef

Notes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir by Kwame Onwuachi and Joshua Stein is the selection for Wichita State Common Reads 2022.

Wichita State Common Read 2021: What the Eyes Don't See

What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City By Mona Hanna-Attisha is the selection for Wichita State Common Reads 2021.