English 8th

Phase IV May 18 to June 5, 2020

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NPS Curriculum & Instruction

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Elements of a Good Research Question

• Require a judgment or evaluation to be made • Be researchable (it is possible to find relevant and credible sources) • Involve genuine points of ongoing debate • Invite engagement with alternative perspectives • Is simple and does not contain multiple, nested questions.

How to Develop Good Research Questions

• Ask open-ended “how” and “why” questions about your general topic. • Consider the “so what” of your topic. Why does this topic matter to you? Why should it matter to

others? • Reflect on the questions you have considered. Identify one or two questions you find engaging and

which could be explored further through research. How to Narrow and Focus Your Question

• What aspect of the more general topic you will explore? • Is your research question clear? • Is your research question focused? • Research questions must be specific enough to be well covered in the space available. • Is your research question complex? • Questions shouldn’t have a simple yes/no answer and should require research and analysis.

Things to Consider

• If you are making an argument, what will you say? • - Why does your argument matter? • - How might others challenge your argument? • - What kind of sources will you need to support your argument?

Research Question Examples Notice that the question closest to the center or considered a “hit” is more focused, clear, and complex.

Directions: Examine the questions below. Decide which ones are a miss (broad and vague), close (better but not quite specific enough, or a hit (clear, focused, and complex). Be sure to justify your answers.

1. A. What characteristics determine whether or not students will succeed in college? B. What kind of students do well in life? C. How good of a predictor is standardized testing for college academic success?

2. A. What effect does birth order have on children’s success?

B. Do first-born children end up more financially successful? C. Does birth order make a difference for children?

3. A. What is the environmental impact of plastic water bottles?

B. What is the impact of bottled water on the environment? C. How does trash pollute the environment?

Adapted from resources from colleague, Carrie Longworth, and https://sscc.libguides.com/c.php?g=18253&p=102734.

Conducting Your Own Research

Although you will be provided research articles, you will also be conducting research of your own by interviewing someone and doing an observation. All of this research will help you answer the research question below.

Research Question: How does the media shape our opinions of the "truth" of information we receive and local, state, or federal officials? How can we tell what is true and what is grossly biased?

Interview (in-person, online, via telephone)

Rules for Conducting Interviews

• Have a list of questions prepared.• Take notes of the interviewee’s responses.• Try to avoid “yes” or “no” questions, but if you have one of these be sure to ask a follow-up

question that offers the opportunity for the person to give reasons and explanations.• Do not ask questions that show your bias or lead the person you are interviewing in a specific

directions.

Biased: Don’t you agree that 14 year-olds should be allowed to drive?

Revised: Do you believe 14 year-olds should or should not be allowed to drive? Why? OR Whatdo you believe is an appropriate age for people to begin driving and why?

• Your questions should be clear and concise. The first four interview questions are provided foryou below.

• Ask one question at a time to give yourself time to record answers and the person you areinterviewing the wait time to really think about and answer your question.

Task: You must interview at least one person. You may interview more than one. Four questions have been provided for you. You should also create 3 to 5 questions to complete your interview.

Question 1: What is the definition of fake news?

Question 2: How do you determine if something you read or hear is real or fake?

Question 3: Can you give me some examples of when you have seen stories or details that contradict one another?

Question 4: What did you do to help you determine the “truth”?

Observations: (TV news source, videos, people)

Guidelines for Conducting Observations

• Write what you actually see or hear not what you think about what you see or hear. The goal is to be objective.

• Be descriptive and specific using adjectives to help describe what you are observing. • Focus on details that relate to your research question. • Describe what you see—images, colors, changes. • Write down specific quotes that you hear that really relate the question you are trying to

answer. • After you complete the observation, you should reflect on what you have observed and write

your thoughts and any questions you might still have.

Task: Choose something or someone to observe that will help you find information on your research question. Use the guidelines above to conduct your observation.

Suggestions for Things to Observe

• Watch the coverage of the same news story on FOX News and MSNBC or CNN. • Watch videos on FB or Instagram about news stories that are not directly connected to a well-

known news source. These could be related to COVID-19, politics, world news, celebrities, etc. • Observe how people around you talk about politicians (the President or the Governor or

Democrats versus Republicans) • Think of other things you can observe related to your research question.

Collecting Information from Reliable Sources When researching, you need to identify reliable sources (both print and digital) and be aware of where you’re getting your information from.

CRITERIA TO CONSIDER WHEN EVALUATING AN ONLINE SOURCE (OR ANY SOURCE)

THINK:

• What kind of text is it—a newspaper, an official website, a book, a magazine, a scholarly article in a peer-reviewed journal?

• Can you find who authored or published the work and when it was published? • If the source is more than five years old, you should verify if newer, more accurate

information is available.

Avoid Wikipedia or other sources that anyone can edit; however, Wikipedia articles often have credible sources listed at the bottom in their works cited.

THINK:

• Does the author seem to be an authority on the subject they’re writing on? How do you know this? What are their credentials?

• Is there evidence in the article to back up what the author is saying? • Does the source cite its sources?

THINK:

• What organization is the author or this piece associated with? Could it be written from a biased point of view?

• Does the author use a lot of loaded (or emotional) language? This often suggests bias, but depending on the goal of the text and where they got their information, the source may still be credible.

FACT: Norfolk Public Schools is located in southeastern Virginia. OPINION: Norfolk Public Schools’ teachers work hard to ensure their students are learning. PROPAGANDA: Students who do not attend Norfolk Public Schools do not receive a quality education, and will probably not be accepted into college.

THINK:

• Does the author use citations? Is it clear where the author has gotten their information?

WEBSITES TO BE CAUTIOUS OF OR EVEN AVOID

'

• For online sources, the domain name (or end of the URL) can sometimes provide a clue as

to the webpage's origin:

• .edu—sites associated with educational programs or institutions • .gov—sites associated with the U.S. government • .org—sites associated with organizations (non-profits) • .com—commercial sites (for profit, typically) • .net—network infrastructures • .uk, .fr, .jp—sites based specifically in countries outside the U.S.

WAYS TO FIND RELIABLE, CREDIBLE SOURCES

You must have a NPL Library Card Number to access the online resources here.

Information for this resource was compiled and adapted from

https://www.schoolcraft.edu

https://www.miamioh.edu/hcwe/handouts/reliable-sources/index.html

owl.purdue.edu

Source Credibility Checklist

Positives: Assign one point for each statement that is true of the source

Sour

ce 1

Sour

ce 2

Sour

ce 3

Sour

ce 4

Sour

ce 5

An author is listed. The web address ends in .edu or .gov. The author does not use loaded, emotional language. The main purpose is to provide facts not opinions. The source is from the last 5 years. The source is from a scholarly journal or reputable news organization.

The organization supporting the source seems to be trustworthy. The author seems to have expertise in the field. The author references other research in the source. Total Points Negatives: Assign one point for each statement that is true of the source

The source is opinion-based. The source is biased. The source does ends in a .com or .org The source is from Wikipedia. The organization supporting the source seems to have an agenda or bias.

The source is from a blog or personal website. The organization supporting the source does not take responsibility for the comments of the writer.

Total Points Compare the number of positive statements to negative statements. If the source scored high in positive statements and low in negative statements, then is probably quite credible and reliable. If it scored higher in negative statements, it is either suspect or definitely not credible and reliable for research purposes. Write and CR for credible/reliable and an U for unreliable/not credible. Hint: 3 are reliable and 2 are not.

SOURCE 1: Factors influencing public opinion Environmental factors Environmental factors play a critical part in the development of opinions and attitudes. Most pervasive is the influence of the social environment: family, friends, neighbourhood, place of work, church, or school. People usually adjust their attitudes to conform to those that are most prevalent in the social groups to which they belong. Researchers have found, for example, that if a person in the United States who considers himself a liberal becomes surrounded in his home or at his place of work by people who profess conservatism, he is more likely to start voting for conservative candidates than is a liberal whose family and friends share his political views. Similarly, it was found during World War II that men in the U.S. military who transferred from one unit to another often adjusted their opinions to conform more closely to those of the unit to which they were transferred. The mass media Newspapers, radio, television, and the Internet—including e-mail and blogs—are usually less influential than the social environment, but they are still significant, especially in affirming attitudes and opinions that are already established. The news media focus the public’s attention on certain personalities and issues, leading many people to form opinions about them. Government officials accordingly have noted that communications to them from the public tend to “follow the headlines.” The mass media can also reinforce latent attitudes and “activate” them, prompting people to take action. Just before an election, for example, voters who earlier had only a mild preference for one party or candidate may be inspired by media coverage not only to take the trouble to vote but perhaps also to contribute money or to help a party organization in some other way. The mass media play another important role by letting individuals know what other people think and by giving political leaders large audiences. In this way the media make it possible for public opinion to encompass large numbers of individuals and wide geographic areas. It appears, in fact, that in some European countries the growth of broadcasting, especially television, affected the operation of the parliamentary system. Before television, national elections were seen largely as contests between a number of candidates or parties for parliamentary seats. As the electronic media grew more sophisticated technologically, elections increasingly assumed the appearance of a personal struggle between the leaders of the principal parties concerned. In the United States, presidential candidates have come to personify their parties. Once in office, a president can easily appeal to a national audience over the heads of elected legislative representatives. In areas where the mass media are thinly spread, as in developing countries or in countries where the media are strictly controlled, word of mouth can sometimes perform the same functions as the press and broadcasting, though on a more limited scale. In developing countries, it is common for those who are literate to read from newspapers to those who are not, or for large numbers of persons to gather around the village radio or a community television. Word of mouth in the marketplace or neighbourhood then carries the information farther. In countries where important news is suppressed by the government, a great deal of information is transmitted by rumour. Word of mouth (or other forms of person-to-person communication, such as text messaging) thus becomes the vehicle for underground public opinion in totalitarian countries, even though these processes are slower and usually involve fewer people than in countries where the media network is dense and uncontrolled. Interest groups Interest groups, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), religious groups, and labour unions (trade unions) cultivate the formation and spread of public opinion on issues of concern to their constituencies. These groups may be concerned with political, economic, or ideological issues, and most work through the mass media as well as by word of mouth. Some of the larger or more affluent interest groups around the world make use of advertising and public relations. One increasingly popular tactic is the informal poll or straw vote. In this approach, groups ask their members and supporters to “vote”—usually by phone or via the Internet—in unsystematic “polls” of public opinion that are not carried out with proper sampling procedures. Multiple votes by supporters are often encouraged, and once the group releases its

findings to credible media outlets, it claims legitimacy by citing the publication of its poll in a recognized newspaper or online news source. Reasons for conducting unscientific polls range from their entertainment value to their usefulness in manipulating public opinion, especially by interest groups or issue-specific organizations, some of which exploit straw-poll results as a means of making their causes appear more significant than they actually are. On any given issue, however, politicians will weigh the relatively disinterested opinions and attitudes of the majority against the committed values of smaller but more-dedicated groups for whom retribution at the ballot box is more likely. Opinion leaders

Opinion leaders play a major role in defining popular issues and in influencing individual opinions regarding them. Political leaders in particular can turn a relatively unknown problem into a national issue if they decide to call attention to it in the media. One of the ways in which opinion leaders rally opinion and smooth out differences among those who are in basic agreement on a subject is by inventing symbols or coining slogans: in the words of U.S. Pres. Woodrow Wilson, the Allies in World War I were fighting “a war to end all wars,” while aiming “to make the world safe for democracy”; post-World War II relations with the Soviet Union were summed up in the term “Cold War,” first used by U.S. presidential adviser Bernard Baruch in 1947. Once enunciated, symbols and slogans are frequently kept alive and communicated to large audiences by the mass media and may become the cornerstone of public opinion on any given issue. Woodrow Wilson Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Opinion leadership is not confined to prominent figures in public life. An opinion leader can be any person to whom others look for guidance on a certain subject. Thus, within a given social group one person may be regarded as especially well-informed about local politics, another as knowledgeable about foreign affairs, and another as expert in real estate. These local opinion leaders are generally unknown outside their own circle of friends and acquaintances, but their cumulative influence in the formation of public opinion is substantial. Bernard Baruch.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Complex influences

Because psychological makeup, personal circumstances, and external influences all play a role in the formation of each person’s opinions, it is difficult to predict how public opinion on an issue will take shape. The same is true with regard to changes in public opinion. Some public opinions can be explained by specific events and circumstances, but in other cases the causes are more elusive. (Some opinions, however, are predictable: the public’s opinions about other countries, for example, seem to depend largely on the state of relations between the governments involved. Hostile public attitudes do not cause poor relations—they are the result of them.) People presumably change their own attitudes when they no longer seem to correspond with prevailing circumstances and, hence, fail to serve as guides to action. Similarly, a specific event, such as a natural disaster or a human tragedy, can heighten awareness of underlying problems or concerns and trigger changes in public opinion. Public opinion about the environment, for instance, has been influenced by single events such as the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962; by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986 (see Chernobyl accident); by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s 1988 address to the Royal Society on a number of environmental topics, including global warming; by the accidental spill from the oil tanker Exxon Valdez in 1989; and by the Academy Award-winning documentary on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth, in 2006. It is nonetheless the case that whether a body of public opinion on a given issue is formed and sustained depends to a significant extent on the attention it receives in the mass media. Some changes in public opinion have been difficult for experts to explain. During the second half of the 20th century in many parts of the world, attitudes toward religion, family, sex, international relations, social welfare, and the economy

underwent major shifts. Although important issues have claimed public attention in all these areas, the scope of change in public attitudes and opinions is difficult to attribute to any major event or even to any complex of events. Public opinion and government By its very nature, the democratic process spurs citizens to form opinions on a number of issues. Voters are called upon to choose candidates in elections, to consider constitutional amendments, and to approve or reject municipal taxes and other legislative proposals. Almost any matter on which the executive or legislature has to decide may become a public issue if a significant number of people wish to make it one. The political attitudes of these persons are often stimulated or reinforced by outside agencies—a crusading newspaper, an interest group, or a government agency or official. The English philosopher and economist Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) saw the greatest difficulty of the legislator as

being “in conciliating the public opinion, in correcting it when erroneous, and in giving it that bent which shall be most favourable to produce obedience to his mandates.” At the same time, Bentham and some other thinkers believed that public opinion is a useful check on the authority of rulers. Bentham demanded that all official acts be publicized, so that an enlightened public opinion could pass judgment on them, as would a tribunal: “To the pernicious exercise of the power of government it is the only check.” Jeremy Bentham, detail of an oil painting by H.W. Pickersgill, 1829; in the National Portrait Gallery, LondonCourtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London In the early years of modern democracy, some scholars acknowledged the power of public opinion but warned that it could be a dangerous force. Tocqueville was concerned that a government of the masses would become a “tyranny of the majority.” But, whether public opinion is regarded as a constructive or a baneful force in a democracy, there are few politicians

who are prepared to suggest in public that government should ignore it. Political scientists have been less concerned with what part public opinion should play in a democratic polity and have given more attention to establishing what part it does play in actuality. From the examination of numerous histories of policy formation, it is clear that no sweeping generalization can be made that will hold in all cases. The role of public opinion varies from issue to issue, just as public opinion asserts itself differently from one democracy to another. Perhaps the safest generalization that can be made is that public opinion does not influence the details of most government policies but it does set limits within which policy makers must operate. That is, public officials will usually seek to satisfy a widespread demand—or at least take it into account in their deliberations—and they will usually try to avoid decisions that they believe will be widely unpopular. Yet efforts by political leaders to accommodate government policies to public opinion are not always perceived as legitimate; indeed, journalists and political commentators have often characterized them as pandering to public opinion to curry favour with their constituents or as being driven by the latest poll results. Such charges were questioned, however, by public opinion scholars Lawrence R. Jacobs and Robert Y. Shapiro, who argued in Politicians Don’t Pander: Political Manipulation and the Loss of Democratic Responsiveness (2000) that politicians do not actually do this. They found instead that by the early 1970s the accusation of pandering was being used deliberately by prominent journalists, politicians, and other elites as a means of lessening the influence of public opinion on government policy. This practice, they theorized, might have resulted from long-standing suspicion or hostility among elites toward popular participation in government and politics. In keeping with their findings, Jacobs and Shapiro postulated the eventual disappearance from public discourse of the stigmatizing term pandering and its replacement by the more neutral term political responsiveness. Although they rejected the charge of pandering, Jacobs and Shapiro also asserted that most politicians tend to respond to public opinion in cynical ways; most of them, for example, use public opinion research not to establish their policies but only to identify slogans and symbols that will make predetermined policies more appealing to their constituents. According to Jacobs and Shapiro, most public opinion research is used to manipulate the public rather than to act on its wishes.

Public opinion exerts a more powerful influence in politics through its “latent” aspects. As discussed by V.O. Key, latent public opinion is, in effect, a probable future reaction by the public to a current decision or action by a public official or a government. Politicians who ignore the possible consequences of latent public opinion risk setback or defeat in future elections. Government leaders who take latent public opinion into account, on the other hand, may be willing to undertake an unpopular action that has a negative effect on public opinion in the near term, provided that the action is also likely to have a significant positive effect at a later and more important time. Public opinion seems to be much more effective in influencing policy making at the local level than at the state or national levels. One reason for this is that issues of concern to local governments—such as the condition of roads, schools, and hospitals—are less complex than those dealt with by governments at higher levels; another is that at the local level there are fewer institutional or bureaucratic barriers between policy makers and voters. Representative government itself, however, tends to limit the power of public opinion to influence specific government decisions, since ordinarily the only choice the public is given is that of approving or disapproving the election of a given official.

Publication Information

Article Title: Public opinion Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Date Published: 17 March 2017 URL: https://www.britannica.com/topic/public-opinion Access Date: April 24, 2020

SOURCE 2: Thanks to social media, we are in a truth crisis

It’s up to each of us to vet what we post for truth.

We are in a truth crisis. Social media users are depending on their Facebook and Twitter feeds for news. Unfortunately, we don’t know what’s true and what’s not. Therefore, it’s up to each one of us, individually, to pay attention and check the facts.

Social media produces so many messages, we have become fatigued. We don’t have enough time or energy to fact-check every headline we see while skimming our newsfeeds. When you see inaccuracies repeated by politicians, by journalists trying to find the truth, and through social media messages, the lie eventually becomes the truth — not the Truth.

The Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics says journalists should “seek truth and report it.” I believe in journalists and their commitment to the truth. We need journalists to give us the facts and the real story behind the tweets. However, journalists and facts are under attack. Truth is becoming fluid.

To avoid becoming an arbiter of truth, Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said recently that Twitter no longer will accept political advertising on its platform. In contrast, Facebook said it will continue to accept political ads and will not fact-check the ones that come from candidates, only those from political advocacy groups and political action committees.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said he is worried about “an erosion of truth,” but he said it is not Facebook’s place to decide what is true and what is not, particularly when it comes to partisan political ads.

I understand why Zuckerberg wants to limit fact-checking and censorship on his platform. We all want to protect the First Amendment right to free speech. But many television networks fact-check and reject political advertisements. If social media refuses to be more rigorous with fact-checking paid political advertisements, then what can we do to arm ourselves against the viral lies?

We must become our own fact-checkers. As we approach the 2020 campaign season, we must beware of the share. We cannot be passive social media users any longer.

Everyone should practice thinking twice before believing or sharing a social media story. Use Google to find the original source of a story. If a credible news agency did not report on the story, chances are you are reading a fake news story.

Also, when you visit a website, note whether the writing style is professional or if it’s filled with poor spelling and grammar. Finally, if news comes through your Facebook feed as a meme, chances are this is propaganda — a piece of information created for the sole purpose of spreading the lie.

ABC News recently aired video that it thought was Syrian battle video, but it actually was footage from a gun range in Kentucky. Certainly, if a news source like ABC News isn’t able to discern the truth, then our task is even more difficult. But we owe it to ourselves to do everything we can to discern what is fact and what is fiction.

The truth is under attack, and social media channels are not going to do the vetting for us.

Zuckerberg says he is trying to protect the First Amendment. I agree with that stance, but that means all social media users must protect themselves by implementing our own personal code of ethics. Vow to beware of the share and seek out the truth rather than confirm your beliefs.

Publication Information

By Janet Johnson 3:00 AM on Nov 16, 2019 Janet Johnson is a lecturer and researcher at the University of Texas at Dallas. She wrote this opinion column for

The Dallas Morning News

SOURCE 3: Six ways the media influence elections Ask Donald Trump and he’ll tell you journalists wield a lot of power over the U.S. political process. It’s true that the media have played an important role in politics since the First Amendment established freedom of the press as a cornerstone of American democracy. Voters need information to make educated decisions, and it’s journalists’ job to give it to them.

But can the media really alter the outcome of an election?

In addition to widespread voter fraud, which most experts agree would be impossible to accomplish, Trump is alleging the the election has been "rigged" through biased media coverage. Recent shifts in the media landscape have changed how the press interacts with candidates, campaigns and the voting public. And, at a time when trust in the media is at an all-time low, the fourth estate has come under fire from critics on both sides of the aisle for its coverage of the 2016 elections.

To find out what the research says about media’s evolving role in the elections process, we talked to three scholars from the UO School of Journalism and Communication.

1. To cover or not to cover

The first way journalists get involved in elections is by choosing which candidates to cover and how much. Those choices alone can have a huge effect on voter perceptions.

“As hard as it is to believe, the biggest thing that drives elections is simple name recognition,” said Regina Lawrence, executive director of the UO SOJC’s Agora Journalism Center and George S. Turnbull Portland Center. “Research has shown that some candidates can be literally left invisible because they can’t win enough interest from the media.”

Lawrence, a nationally recognized expert on political communication and the co-author of “Hillary Clinton’s Race for the White House: Gender Politics and the Media on the Campaign Trail” and “When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from Iraq to Katrina,” said this effect was most noticeable during the Republican primaries, when Trump generated an outsized proportion of the media coverage.

“He was able to get the equivalent of massive advertising buys without having to spend much money,” Lawrence said.

For the media, this disproportionate coverage was driven more by economics than political bias. In a competitive 24/7 news cycle, news organizations publish stories that will drive traffic. And, thanks to his preexisting fame and ability to generate controversy, those stories were often about Trump. Did all the free press make a difference? Because this year’s Republican primaries had such a large field, Trump’s ability to stand out in the crowd likely played a significant role in his nomination.

2. Bias, scripts and the polarization of America

Research reveals that many major media outlets attract partisan audiences, which reflects political biases in their coverage. Again, this phenomenon is motivated by business: Since today’s news consumers can get the basic facts from a quick internet search, many publications have differentiated themselves by shifting from straight news to context and analysis.

Unfortunately, the media’s growing political schisms seem to be driving polarization in the populace as well.

“Selective exposure is the tendency many of us have to seek out news sources that don’t fundamentally challenge what we believe about the world,” said Lawrence. “We know there’s a relationship between selective exposure and the

growing divide in political attitudes in this country. And that gap is clearly related to the rise of more partisan media sources.”

Aside from ideological bias, according to Lawrence, journalists across outlets also perpetuate biased views by distilling complex campaigns and issues into simplified “scripts.”

One popular election-coverage script is the “horserace” or “game frame” narrative. “We know from decades of research that the mainstream media tend to see elections through the prism of competition,” said Lawrence. “Campaigns get covered a lot like sports events, with an emphasis on who’s winning, who’s losing, who’s up, who’s down, how they are moving ahead or behind in the polls.”

The media also perpetuate character-based scripts. “For example, in 2000, the script for Al Gore was that he was a pompous bore, and the script for George W. Bush was that he wasn’t very smart,” said Lawrence.

In this year’s presidential race, the narratives that Clinton is a corrupt politician and Trump is a racist, misogynist outsider have dominated election coverage.

3. Social media: Echo chamber and direct line to the masses

According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 62 percent of Americans get their news via social media platforms. What they might not realize is that the news they see is heavily filtered.

“What we see on Facebook is dictated by algorithms that decide what you see based on what you like and dislike, what you comment on and click on,” said SOJC Assistant Professor Nicole Dahmen, who researches and blogs about visual communication and social media in politics. “Rather than getting a diversity of perspectives that contribute to political discourse, we see an echo chamber.”

On the other hand, social media gives users more direct access to candidates than ever before. “With social media, voters may believe they have an intimate relationship with a candidate they will probably never meet in person,” said Lawrence. And candidates have unprecedented control over the images they present. “Social media allow candidates a direct means by which to communicate with the voting public, thereby bypassing the news media as a gatekeeper,” Dahmen said.

4. A picture is worth 1,000 words

For most people, visuals carry an even more powerful impact than words on a page.

“Visual communication research has shown that images, especially of political candidates, convey emotions, actions, realism and credibility,” said Dahmen. “These images form a lasting impression in the mind of the voting public.”

The photos news organizations choose to publish and such factors as their size and layout can also influence voter perceptions — and reveal possible bias.

“Look at how different newspapers across the country presented the story of the nomination of Hillary Clinton as the first female candidate from a major party,” said Dahmen. “Some led with a dominant photograph of Hillary that positioned her in a favorable light. Some led with an image of her husband. And other newspapers led with an image of Donald Trump.”

Published images also become part of the permanent record preserved on the internet. “Trump may claim he didn’t mock a reporter with a disability,” Dahmen said, “but we have evidence in the form of a video and photographs showing that he did.”

5. Data journalism: Fact-checking, polls and the self-perpetuating cycle

Once considered the least glamorous part of a journalist’s job, fact-checking has come into vogue with help from new tools that make verification faster and more accurate.

“Organizations like PolitiFact and Factcheck.org are doing good-quality journalism that isn’t just following the new, shiny story of the day,” Lawrence said. “They’re asking tough questions about what candidates are saying and testing them against the available record. But because of selective exposure, research suggests fact-checks will not necessarily change somebody’s mind.”

While fact-checkers focus attention on the candidates’ stands on the issues, data analysis tools can perpetuate the media’s heavy attention on the horserace.

“One of the most notable developments in the data journalism space are tools to make predictions about the outcomes of elections,” said Damian Radcliffe, the SOJC’s Carolyn S. Chambers Professor of Journalism and co-editor of “Data Journalism: Inside the Global Future.” “The most prominent example of this is the work done by Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.”

Much of the data Silver crunches come from polls, one of the most common topics of election coverage. “Polls influence voter perceptions,” Lawrence said. “And we know that how candidates are doing in the polls can then influence the type of coverage they get.”

The media flock to the front-runners. And the more coverage those candidates get, the higher they tend to climb in the polls — a dynamic that can turn into a self-perpetuating cycle.

6. Watchdogs of democracy

As of this writing, the story of the 2016 elections is not yet complete — and neither is the media’s role in it.

“Given the claims Trump has been making about rigged elections, I expect journalists to watch voting very carefully,” said Lawrence. “Of course, that’s a very large task with so many polling places across the country.”

To face that challenge, ProPublica has launched Electionland to cover “access to the ballot and problems that prevent people from exercising their right to vote.” The SOJC is one of 13 J-schools nationwide participating in the project.

“Around 85 students have volunteered to participate in a special newsroom on Election Day,” said Radcliffe, faculty lead for Electionland. “We’ll be monitoring social media to find interesting stories of things happening across the West Coast. If we find issues people are talking about, we’ll try to verify. And if necessary, we’ll escalate them to the newsroom in New York to be explored in more detail.”

At least one thing hasn’t changed: Monitoring the workings of power to deliver the full story to the people is still the most important part of the journalist’s job description.

Publication Information

https://journalism.uoregon.edu/news/six-ways-media-influences-elections

Story by Andra Brichacek. University of Oregon

SOURCE 4: Study Shows How Media’s Influence On Public Opinion Varies By Country

LAWRENCE — An old adage in journalism research holds that the media can’t tell you what to think, but it can tell you what to think about. A first-of-its-kind study from the University of Kansas shows that despite a rapidly changing media landscape and ever-increasing globalization, factors that affect how people view media and important topics differ widely from country to country.

Agenda-setting theory has studied how media influence what people think about and how they view media since the early 1970s. The KU study, however, moved beyond studying a single country and conducted a big-data analysis of agenda-setting in 16 nations on five continents. They found that numerous factors contribute to how much people are influenced by media and how they view it.

“The central idea was that the effect journalism has on the public is a product of culture, economy and similar factors in a nation,” said Hong Tien Vu, assistant professor of journalism at KU. “Our findings provide empirical evidence that individual factors, such as age, education, living area and political ideology, and national macrovariables, including economic development and media freedom, are associated with the strength of such effects.”

The study, co-authored with Peter Bobkowski, associate professor of journalism, and doctoral student Liefu Jiang, both at KU, is forthcoming in the journal International Communications Gazette.

The authors used survey data collected by the International Social Survey Programme, which collected data from 33 countries. The authors used data from 16 of the countries chosen because they are geographically, economically and politically diverse: Argentina, Austria, Canada, Chile, Taiwan, Germany, Israel, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States. The authors worked with researchers who are either native speakers or fluent in the languages of each of the 16 countries and analyzed nearly 80,000 articles from 31 major newspapers across the countries.

The articles were scanned using a computer-assisted program to analyze how frequently words in public affairs categories were used. Those results were compared to the survey data in which respondents rated the importance of certain issues in their country, including health care, education, crime, the environment, immigration, the economy, terrorism and poverty, or “none of these” or “can’t choose.”

Scanning results showed which issues the newspapers covered most often, or the most salient media agenda. Analysis showed economy was the most salient media issue in 11 nations, crime the most salient in three, while health and education were most important in one each. Terrorism was the least salient issue in seven countries’ respective media, poverty least prominent in five, immigration least pressing in two and environment least salient in two as well.

The media agendas showed moderately high correlation with the issues the public deemed most important; however, only six nations showed statistically significant relationships between media and public agendas, including South Korea, Taiwan, South Africa, Philippines, Mexico and Chile. Results were analyzed on both a national and individual level and showed that four of five individual demographics — age, education, living area and political

ideology — predicted how distant people were from media agendas. Younger, more educated and politically liberal individuals were all less likely to be as influenced by media agenda. Residents of big cities were more influenced by media agenda than rural residents, and sex was the only individual factor not associated with issue distance, or how influenced individuals were by media agenda.

National results examined how factors including economic development and media freedom influence individuals’ agenda overlap with media agenda and found both were strong predictors of alignment. Specifically, economic development measures showed people from developed nations were more likely to sway from the national media agenda, while lack of wealth tended to show individuals in agreement with media on top issues.

“It’s possible people in more developed countries are more skeptical and the media doesn’t have as much influence on them,” Vu said. “However, when you have enough economic resources, you can think about things like the environment or gender equality. When you’re living in poverty, it’s hard to think about anything other than putting food on the table. Also, people in nondeveloped countries often have few media options or don’t have as much media contact.”

While increases in economic development showed an increase in distance between individuals’ and media agendas, the researchers found that in countries with little press freedom, as development increased, so did agenda overlap. Therefore, overlap between public and individual agendas was greatest in rich countries with little press freedom, such as Israel, and the least in rich countries with high press freedom, such as Switzerland.

The findings show that media can still influence what people think about, but several national and individual factors greatly influence how it happens. Effects are not the same from one country to the next or even from one person to the next.

The research “is among the few studies that investigated media effects in association with national macro factors,” the authors wrote. “It empirically corroborates the argument that examining the complex relationship between the media and the public in general needs to be conducted within the wider context of economic development, media systems and culture.”

The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. The university's mission is to lift students and society by educating leaders, building healthy communities and making discoveries that change the world. The KU News Service is the central public relations office for the Lawrence campus.

Publication Information

Mike Krings

The University of Kansas – KU News Service

https://news.ku.edu/2018/09/13/study-shows-how-media-influence-public-individual-opinions-varies-country-factors

SOURCE 5: Political importance of mass media and how mass media influence political decisions

In the era of the Internet, the relationship between organizations and public opinion has been influenced by new media.[clarification needed] New media include online newspapers, blogs, and social media. More people prefer new media over traditional media because of the limitations of traditional media, such as time limitation and space limitation. For people with a cell phone or computer, news can be obtained at any time in any location. As a result, new media has a greater impact on people.[citation needed] Politicians have also noticed new media is a more effective way to convey their message, and have begun to use it to attract supporters. For example, both Barack Obama and the White House have a Facebook page and a Twitter account. They can easily communicate with the public and gather them together, which can benefit their political activities.[further explanation needed] One study concluded that social media is allowing politicians to be perceived as more authentic, with a key finding showing voters feel politicians are more honest on social media compared to in interviews or on TV shows. This is the case especially among young voters, who predominantly use these type of media.[clarification needed] This opens up a new voter base for politicians to appeal to directly.[62] Public opinion also affects politics through new media. New media provides two-way communication which allows for greater interaction. People can directly send messages to the government and politicians can comment online.[63] If people are dissatisfied with the government, they can express their thoughts through social media and discuss them with other people online. Many comments of this type gathered together can draw public opinion to focus on the wrongdoings of the government. Since new media has a large user base, political activity is followed by more people than before.[citation needed] New media lets people better supervise government behaviour. Additionally, governments can know public opinion through new media as a reference for decision making. Although new media has both positive and negative effects on politics, it narrows the relationship between the public and politicians. The public is no longer solely a recipient of information. Through new technology, people can give their advice and opinions to the government.[64][better source needed]

Publication Information

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influence_of_mass_media

Quoting, Summarizing, and Paraphrasing

Quoting

Direct quotations are short passages of the original author’s exact words that you might pull from the source because the way it is written is essential or powerful.

Rules for Using Quotations

• Should be placed inside quotation marks (“”).• Each time you use a direct quotation it should be for a specific purpose such as:

o The author says something powerful that you cannot easily put into your own words.o Rewording would change the specific point the author is making and lose some of the effect.o Referencing a respected scholar or organization would add credibility to your argument.o Your readers would benefit from an outside example.

• All quotations should be introduced, surrounded by quotation marks, cited properly, and followed by yourexplanation of the quote's meaning to your argument.

• You can quote complete sentences or just a few words: SEE EXAMPLES BELOW

Stephen D. Cox questions why the sinking of the Titanic continues to resonate whenever disaster strikes: “It is virtually the only disaster that is perpetually remembered, commemorated, and even celebrated. The answer has to do with the drama of choice, not with the brute facts of the disaster itself.”

OR

Stephen D. Cox questions why the sinking of the Titanic “is perpetually remembered, commemorated, and even celebrated.”

Make sure, however, that direct quotations do not dominate your paper. Using a large number of quotations suggests that you did not understand the source or the topic and also takes away from what you as an author have to say.

Summarizing

Putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s).

Rules for Writing and Using Summaries

• Even though you are using your own words, because they are not your original ideas, you must still give credit tothe source by citing the source.

• Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material.• One of the best ways to summarize is to read and take notes on a source and then write summary statements in

your own words.• Summarize

o when you want to condense a large amount of information into a couple of sentenceso when you want to insert your own commentary directly into the summary itself.

• SEE EXAMPLE ON THE NEXT PAGE.

Original Paragraph “Hipster refers to a subculture of young, urban middle-class adults and older teenagers that appeared in the 1990s. The subculture is associated with independent music, a varied non-mainstream fashion sensibility, progressive or independent political views, alternative spirituality or atheism/agnosticism, and alternative lifestyles. Interests in media include independent film, magazines such as Clash, and websites like Pitchfork Media.”

Summary Hipsters are a group of younger individuals that try to draw inspiration from different eras, mostly in an attempt to appear different from the dominant society (Farmer 108).

Paraphrasing

Putting information into your own words and including essential details. Paraphrases are more detailed than a summary.

Rules for Paraphrasing

• Must include all of the essential detail.• Must completely restructure and reword the sentence(s).• Changing, moving, or omitting a few words from the original sentence or using the same sentence structure,

grammar, or word choice does not count as paraphrasing. Effective paraphrasing involves drastically rewordingthe original information.

• Keep the following standards in mind:• Combine multiple sentences, ideas, or facts into a brand new sentence.• Use your own words and sentence structure.• Maintain your own writing voice and style.• SEE EXAMPLES BELOW

Stephen D. Cox's “Why the Titanic Fascinates More Than Other Disasters.”

Original Text: About 1,500 people died that night. None of the rest survive today. But the Titanic disaster has never faded from the world's imagination.

Poor Paraphrase: Around 1,500 people died on the Titanic. All of them have since passed on. However, the Titanic has not yet left our minds (Cox).

Effective Paraphrase: Even after 100 years and the loss of its last survivor, the Titanic is still relevant and remembered with exhibits and museums around the world (Cox; Williams).

Adapted from https://www.miamioh.edu/hcwe/handouts/reliable-sources/index.html

owl.purdue.edu

Notice that the poor paraphrase begins basically the same way as the original and the information is organized the same way.

The effective paraphrase has a different focus for the beginning and even combines information from more than one source, yet says the same thing.

Taking Notes

Research Question: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Source Information: (author, article title, publishing info or larger group that supports the article, date it was published) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Directions: Take notes in the left hand column using short phrases to get the essential information that you need. If there are quotations that you want to use just as they are stated in the text, write them in the notes section and highlight or circle them. In the right hand column, combine some information from your notes column into either summaries or paraphrases. You must have at least two of each---direct quotation, summary, paraphrase.

Notes Summaries and Paraphrases

For the other two sources, make a notes sheet like this on your own paper.

Plagiarism and In-Text Citation

Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s words or ideas as if they were your own. It is the theft of property – just like stealing someone’s car and driving it around as if it were your own – only the property is not a physical object, but the verbal or written expression of thoughts and ideas. Plagiarism, whether you do it on purpose or by accident, is theft.

It is important for you to realize that plagiarism is a serious offence and there are consequences for being caught plagiarizing the work of others in high school, college, and beyond.

In high school…

• In most high schools, a paper that contains plagiarized material receives a ZERO. Since writing accounts for40% of your English grade, this one mistake can result in a failing grade, and a failing grade in English couldresult in a delay to your graduation.

• In most high schools, students who are caught plagiarizing will be referred to administration for disciplinaryaction.

• Many clubs or organizations will not allow students who have been caught plagiarizing to join. This couldinclude getting removed from sports teams or expelled from extracurricular activities.

After high school…

• Colleges will expel a student caught plagiarizing on a paper. No refund, no graduation, no degree.• Publishing someone else’s work as your own is against the law. The author your plagiarized can take you to

civil court and win a ridiculous amount of money.• In some cases, you could be fired from a job for plagiarism. This happened to New York Times reporter

Jayson Blair in 2003.• A Harvard student was recently sued when she plagiarized one page of a novel she published.

Pre-Test: Read each of the following. Is it an example of plagiarism or not? Highlight the examples of plagiarism.

1. You use a quote directly from a magazine article without citing the source.2. You include a well-known proverb in your paper and do not use a citation.3. You read and paraphrase an author’s ideas and do not cite the source.4. Your very nice mother writes the introduction of your essay and you turn it in.5. You copy and paste part of a paragraph from an online source without using quotation marks.6. You mention a well-known historical fact without citing a source.

What constitutes plagiarism?

Plagiarism occurs in a number of ways. Whether you intentionally plagiarize or accidentally plagiarize doesn’t always make any difference. You are responsible for it either way.

Direct Plagiarism: Copying the work of another author with no attempt to show that the words came from a source other than yourself. No quotation marks, no citations, no reference to another author.

Direct “Patchwork: Plagiarism: Copying from several different sources and “weaving” them together in an attempt to hide the fact that text has been copied.

Paraphrasing without Citation: A paraphrase is simply a rewording of someone else’s ideas, without the new author adding anything to it. Shifting the words around, or simply swapping out synonyms here or there, is still stealing that author’s ideas, and still constitutes plagiarism.

Insufficient use of Quotation or Citation: Using part of another authors text, but failing to adequately indicate what was quoted, or failing to indicate the source via citation. This usually happens when students try to paraphrase an author and slip into quotation without realizing it.

The above is adapted from Academic Integrity Tutorials at Norther Illinois University (https://www.niu.edu/academic-integrity/faculty/committing/examples/index.shtml)

How do I avoid plagiarism?

To avoid plagiarizing the work of others, you must make sure to do two things:

1. When you use the words written or spoken by another person, you must both (a) put those words inside ofquotation marks AND (b) provide a proper citation which gives credit to the original author/speaker.

2. When you paraphrase the ideas of another person, you must give a proper citation which gives credit to theoriginal author/speaker.

a. A paraphrase is a lightly reworded “summary” of another author’s ideas. If your “rewrite” of an author’sideas does not add any of your own thinking or synthesize those ideas with other ideas to createsomething NEW, then it is a paraphrase and must be cited.

Proper Citation in Text See also

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_in_text_citations_the_basics.html

Citing sources in text requires a few things.

First, you must have the basic bibliographic information about your sources. See the information on Work Cited pages.

An in-text citation goes inside parentheses at the end of the sentence before the ending punctuation.

An in-text citation contains two pieces of information.

1. When you reference a source in the text, you will use the first word(s) from the citation in the Works Cited page.Usually, this is the author’s last name. Sometimes it is the title of a web page or article.

2. If there is a page number for the quote or citation include it after the authors name without any punctuation.

Examples

Here are two sample entries in a Works Cited page. (They are fake.) They will be used below to demonstrate proper citation within a paper. The first is a journal article. The second is a web site.

Montague, Romeo. “Love words: the link between romance and poetry.” Verona Weekly, vol. 28, no. 2, Jan 2009, pp. 34-45.

“Love Poems Suck.” Mercutio’s Corner, Verona Chamber of Commerce, 3 Aug. 2016, www.mercutioscorner.com/

___________________________________________________________

Quote and Citation:

Some poetry is better than others at expressing romantic love. Many believe “the sonnet is the purest, clearest form of love poetry on the planet” (Montague 34).

Because the sentence does not mention the author, the citation includes both author and page number.

While this may be true, it is not the only opinion out there. Some find the sonnet to be “lovesick gibberish” (“Love Poems Suck”).

Because this is a webpage resource, only the page title is needed, even if the author is not mentioned.

Quote and Citation with Author Mentioned in the Sentence:

Montague says in his article, “rhyming couplets are a short, pithy way to express moments of love. They serve well as reminders that feelings of love and romance surface in the course of a day” (37).

Because the sentence mentions the author’s name, only the page number from the article is needed.

Mercutio makes his position on rhyming couplets quite clear when he calls them “trashy tripe not fit for the ears of any man with an ounce of logic, sense, or self-esteem in his brain” (“Love Poems Suck”).

Although the web page author’s name is mentioned here, it doesn’t change the citation, which still includes just the name of the page.

Paraphrase with Citation:

Although it may seem counterintuitive to some, the strict rules about form and meter and length of a sonnet actually add to its power as an expression of love. The act of being forced to control the language causes the writer to more effectively express their feelings (Montague 44).

This paragraph is a paraphrase of the original author’s ideas. The essay writer has not added anything to the idea, so credit must be given by citing the author and page number.

Practice Tasks: Take a look at each of the examples below. Determine whether the author has committed an act of plagiarism. Decide it is or is not plagiarism or not. If it is plagiarism, use the rules of proper quotation and/or citation to fix the example.

Task 1: Original Text:

Source: Tamaki, Jillian. Interview with John Green. New York Times Book Review. 10 October 2019,

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/books/review/john-green-by-the-book-interview.html.

I like to write for and about teenagers, because young people are thinking about so many important questions, about love and meaning and justice. And maybe in part because they are new to those questions, teenagers tend to approach them without much embarrassment or ironic distance.

Student Writing:

Young adult fiction is great because young people are thinking about so many important questions, about move and meaning and justice, and the fiction can help them think about answers.

Task 2: Original Text:

Source: “Global Warming 101.” The Natural Resources Defense Council. 28 April 2020. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-

warming-101.

In the United States, the burning of fossil fuels to make electricity is the largest source of heat-trapping pollution, producing about two billion tons of CO2 every year. Coal-burning power plants are by far the biggest polluters.

Student Writing:

There is little question about where the pollution comes from, since “the burning fossil fuels to make electricity is the largest source of heat-trapping pollution, producing two billion tons of CO2 every year.”

Task 3: Original Text:

Source: Sifferlin, Alexandra. “It’s the little things.” TIME Magazine. 187:6-7, 22 February 2016, pp. 76-86.

In the past couple of years, scientists have shown that sedentary behavior, like sitting all day, is a risk factor for earlier death. Several studies published in 2015 found that hours spent sitting are linked to increased risk of Type 2 diabetes and nonalcholic fatty liver disease – even if people exercised regularly.

Student Writing:

Everyone knows that exercise is good for you, but that doesn’t always mean you have to go out jogging or lifting weights. In fact, just getting up and moving round can help. According to scientists in 2015, “sedentary behavior, like sitting all day, is a risk factor for earlier death” (Sifferline 84).

How to Create a Works Cited Page

• Your Work Cited page is a list of ALL the sources that you pulled quotes or ideas from in your writing. If your LANGUAGE or INFORMATION is from someone else, you must give them credit.

• It is a separate sheet of paper attached to your research paper. • It is TYPED in Times New Roman 12 point font. Do NOT hand-write your Work Cited page! • Your sources are listed in alphabetical order by author’s last name or title (depending on the source). • Your sources are not numbered or lettered. • Entries must be formatted using a hanging indent.

o Type the full citation without hitting the enter key. When the entire citation is typed, hit enter. o Highlight all of your citations, click the arrow in the paragraph section of the HOME tab ( ).

Under “indentation” find the “Special” section and select “Hanging.” • Everything is left justified on the page; do not CENTER your entries.

How Works Cited Entries Should Look:

BOOK ENTRIES LOOK LIKE THIS (Punctuation included!) [see also https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_page_books.html]

Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of book. City where the book was published: Publishing Company, Year the book was published.

ARTICLE/ESSAY ENTRIES LOOK LIKE THIS (Punctuation included!) [see also https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_periodicals.html]

Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of article.” Name of magazine/journal. Volume: Number, Publication date, page numbers.

INTERNET SOURCE ENTRIES LOOK LIKE THIS (Punctuation included!) [see also https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html]

“Title of webpage.” Name of the Website. Company or Person who created or sponsors the website. Date you accessed the site. <Complete URL including http://www >.

LIVE INTERVIEW ENTRIES LOOK LIKE THIS (Punctuation included!) [see also https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_other_common_sources.html]

Interviewee’s Last Name, First Name. Personal Interview. Date of interview (Day Month Year).

PUBLISHED INTERVIEW ENTRIES LOOK LIKE THIS (Punctuation included!) [see also https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_other_common_sources.html

Interviewer’s Last Name, First Name. Interview with Interviewee’s Name. Name of publication, volume, number, year. Page numbers.

OBSERVATION SOURCE ENTRIES (videos, speeches, etc) LOOK LIKE THIS (Punctuation included!) [see also https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_other_common_sources.html

“Title of video/episode/etc.” Name of series from Source (website, radio station, etc), Date (day month year), <Complete URL including http://www >.

Works Cited

Dean, Cornelia. "Executive on a Mission: Saving the Planet." The New York Times,

22 May 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/science/earth/22ander.html? _r=0.

Accessed 29 May 2019.

Ebert, Roger. Review of An Inconvenient Truth, directed by Davis

Guggenheim. Ebert Digital LLC, 1 June 2006, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/an-

inconvenient-truth-2006. Accessed 15 June 2019.

Gowdy, John. "Avoiding Self-organized Extinction: Toward a Co-evolutionary

Economics of Sustainability." International Journal of Sustainable Development

and World Ecology, vol. 14, no. 1, 2007, pp. 27-36.

Harris, Rob, and Andrew C. Revkin. “Clinton on Climate Change.” The New York

Times, 17 May 2007,

www.nytimes.com/video/world/americas/1194817109438/clinton-on-climate-

change.html. Accessed 29 July 2016.

An Inconvenient Truth. Directed by Davis Guggenheim, Paramount, 2006.

Leroux, Marcel. Global Warming: Myth or Reality?: The Erring Ways of

Climatology. Springer, 2005.

Milken, Michael, et al. "On Global Warming and Financial Imbalances." New

Perspectives Quarterly, vol. 23, no. 4, 2006, p. 63.

Thomas, Myuncle. Personal Interview. 28 April 2020.

Newspaper article

Internet article

Journal article

Video (online)

Video (full video)

Book

Personal Interview

This sample Works Cited page can help you see how difference sources are listed. It was borrowed (and partially adapted) from https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_sample_works_cited_page.html

Research Scaffold

Research Question Hook What is interesting about this question? Hook your readers with an interesting fact that might make them curious about this topic.

Interview and Observation Review According to ________________________________ (person you interviewed), his/her experience with _________________________________(topic you interviewed them about) suggests that ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Additionally/On the other hand when observing ________________________________ (who or what you observed), it became obvious that ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Literature Review Using the three credible articles about your topic, list the relevant facts and ideas from each source that help support or develop the answer to your research question.

1. According to (author/source) (date ) the answer to the question about ____________ is ____________________________________________________________________________

. List facts or ideas from the source that support this answer (at least one must be a direct quotation, at least one must be a summary of ideas, and at least one must be a paraphrase of

Research Scaffold

ideas). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. In conclusion suggests

about the topic.

2. According to (author/source) (date ) the answer to the question about ____________ is ____________________________________________________________________________

. List facts or ideas from the source that support this answer (at least one must be a direct quotation, at least one must be a summary of ideas, and at least one must be a paraphrase of ideas). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The second author concludes _____________________________________________________________________________

________________ about the topic.

3. According to (author/source) (date ) the answer to the question about ____________ is ____________________________________________________________________________

. List facts or ideas from the source that support this answer (at least one must be a direct quotation, at least one must be a summary of ideas, and at least one must be a paraphrase of ideas). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Research Scaffold

In conclusion suggests

about the topic.

Analysis (Here, think about all the information you have read and create your best, complete answer to the research question written in your own words.) Based on the research, the best answer to the research question is ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Create a summary of the main ideas of the sources and explain how they are similar and different.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Conclusion While many people wonder if _______________________________________________________ (research question written as part of this sentence), research suggests that ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (shortened summary of the answer).

The most likely explanation seems to be that

Adapted by NPS April 2020

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