Evaluating Sources from Social Media

The Lesson

Outcomes:

• SW evaluate the reliability and usability of a source by analyzing its rhetorical situation, features, and by performing a lateral search of the source.
• SW be able to discuss how this source could be used in an academic setting and to what extent.

Lesson:

1. Instructors may have students find a source through their own social media, provide to them a source, or assign a source in groups, depending on instructor preference.
2. Students will use the heuristic (see below) in order to evaluate the rhetorical situation, features, and reliability of the source.
3. Students can share through discussion board or in class how this source might be used and why. In their discussion, students should refer specifically to not only the rhetorical features of the text but also what their lateral search (searching on the web about the source and topic) revealed.

Assessment:

Students will show understanding of source reliability through discussion or written response (instructor discretion).