SGIS S150 Seminar

What does it mean for a source to be credible? It's not always as simple as finding a .org  or .gov website, or having at least an author and date. In addition, different types of sources are useful for different purposes.

Examine 3 separate ways of learning about a recent publication on the effect of social media on the political process:

Persily, N., & Tucker, J. A. (2020). Social media and democracy: the state of the field, prospects for reform. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

The first source is the book itself, the second is a review in an academic journal, and the third is ​​a podcast. When looking at these sources, think about the question:

Where do you get information about a topic of interest? How do you evaluate that information?

You can consider the following subquestions: 

1. What is the topic?
2. Which of these three sources help you quickly understand the topic?
3. What perspective(s) does this source take toward your topic?
4. Who is the intended audience?
5. How does it add to your understanding of the topic?
6. If you were writing about this topic, how would you use this source in your work? 

• e.g. background/context, evidence, argument, method (method = model/perspective for understanding an argument).

Then, at the end of class, download a copy of the information consumption worksheet and complete it over the course of the following week. You will use it in the next class.