1.4: Introducing the Notebook, Reflection Prompts, and In-Depth

Throughout this course you'll be asked both to do basic fact-checking activities and to think more deeply about the material presented. Here we introduce three things to help you with that.

Your Notebook

We ask that you keep a notebook of your fact-checking exercises in a text editor or a word processor like Notepad, Google Docs, or Microsoft Word. If you are taking this as part of a class, you will periodically be asked to submit the contents of your fact-checking notebook for feedback from either a teacher or peers. If taking it on your own, the notebook will still help you build skills more quickly.

The format of the notebook is simple. For each fact-checking assignment you will be given a heading. Write the heading in your document in all capital letters. Then hit enter and answer the questions you are asked to answer. Avoid any fancy formatting as you may have to post this in a format where the formatting will not carry over.

Here's an example of what your notebook might look like:

Reflection Prompts and Vocabulary

Reflection prompts are used to suggest questions for deeper exploration. Some teachers use them as prompts for classroom discussion or online forums. They look like this, and can be accessed by clicking on the arrow:

Questions for reflection

• Do you think media literacy could help some people avoid processes of radicalization? Or are the social drivers too strong?
• Are all conspiracy theories bad? Are all wrong? What do you think makes a conspiracy theory harmful? Do you hold beliefs that others would dismiss as conspiracy theory?
• Do you know anyone that has gone down the conspiracy rabbit hole on an issue? What have you learned from that experience about what drives conspiracy thinking?

Unless specified otherwise by your teacher, you do not need to put your answers to these in the notebook. But take a moment to think about your answers to them before continuing.

Vocabulary is shown in a similar way:

Vocabulary: claims, sources

• For the purpose of this course, a claim is a statement that purports to express something about reality. "The U.S. landed a space craft on the moon in 1969" is a relatively simple claim that is true. "The moon landing of 1969 was fake." is a simple claim that is false. "The mission to land on the moon was driven by Cold War fear more than scientific curiousity" is a complex claim one can have a range of opinions on, but is still, for a given context, either a well-supported claim, a controversial claim, or a claim lacking any real support.
• A source is the place where a claim or other information can be found. This course is a source of information about disinformation. Most claims can be found in multiple sources. You might find information about the moon landing in the Wall Street Journal, a website like Gizmodo, a textbook, a research paper, or a video recording of astronauts talking about the mission.

You are encouraged but not required to look at the vocabulary.

In-Depth

At the bottom of many pages will be a set of articles related to the subject of the page. These readings allow you to explore some of the topics more fully.

A screenshot of the In-Depth section at the bottom of some pages.

The articles presented there present a wide range of viewpoints, some of which are conflicting. Some articles are used to educate students on specific issues. Others are meant to provoke discussion, or raise important larger issues.

Contributors and Attributions

• Template:ContribNotionChkPleaseStarter