SPCH 1315 (Online Public Speaking) Prof. M. Hampton

Informative Process Assignment

• Use the Internet to help you find four research sources.
  • Professor Hampton accepts the following Internet sources:
    • articles from credible, national news sites
      • some national news websites are less reliable than others
      • use the Media Bias Chart on this page to select accurate, balanced news sources
    • government documents (these sites' web addresses will usually end in .gov)
    • articles or information from college or university websites
      • these sites' web addresses will end in .edu
      • do not select articles written by students 
    • articles or information from major business or corporate websites
    • articles or information from major non-profits or organizations (some of these web addresses may end in .org)
      • don't assume that a .org web address indicates a reliable website
      • remember that anyone can buy a .org website, and some people and organizations buy them to mislead visitors
• View the Lateral Reading videos on this page to learn how spot misleading websites
• You will receive 10 bonus points if you provide a visual aid for this assignment, so look for one while you are browsing the Internet
• If you have trouble locating appropriate sources, ask an MCC librarian for help by stopping by the library or by using the links in the "Get Research and Citation Help" box on this page.

Individual Persuasive Policy Assignment

• Use the Internet to help you find four research sources.
  • • Professor Hampton accepts the following Internet sources:
      • articles from credible, national news sites
        • some national news websites are less reliable than others
        • use the Media Bias Chart on this page to select accurate, balanced news sources
      • government documents (these sites' web addresses will usually end in .gov)
      • articles or information from college or university websites
        • these sites' web addresses will end in .edu
        • do not select articles written by students 
      • articles or information from major business or corporate websites
      • articles or information from major non-profits or organizations (some of these web addresses may end in .org)
        • don't assume that a .org web address indicates a reliable website
        • remember that anyone can buy a .org website, and some people and organizations buy them to mislead visitors
  • View the Lateral Reading videos on this page to learn how spot misleading websites
  • You are required to provide a visual aid for this assignment, so look for one while you are browsing the Internet
  • If you have trouble locating appropriate sources, ask an MCC librarian for help by stopping by the library or by using the links in the "Get Research and Citation Help" box on this page.

Group Persuasive Assignment

• Use the Internet to help your team find six research sources.
  • • Professor Hampton accepts the following Internet sources:
      • articles from credible, national news sites
        • some national news websites are less reliable than others
        • use the Media Bias Chart on this page to select accurate, balanced news sources
      • government documents (these sites' web addresses will usually end in .gov)
      • articles or information from college or university websites
        • these sites' web addresses will end in .edu
        • do not select articles written by students 
      • articles or information from major business or corporate websites
      • articles or information from major non-profits or organizations (some of these web addresses may end in .org)
        • don't assume that a .org web address indicates a reliable website
        • remember that anyone can buy a .org website, and some people and organizations buy them to mislead visitors
  • View the Lateral Reading videos on this page to learn how spot misleading websites
  • Your team is required to provide a visual aid for this assignment, so look for one while you are browsing the Internet
  • If you have trouble locating appropriate sources, ask an MCC librarian for help by stopping by the library or by using the links in the "Get Research and Citation Help" box on this page.

When deciding which news sources to incorporate into your work, consider accuracy and bias. The Media Bias Chart creates a chart to help consumers understand how news sources rank on both. (Click the chart below to launch the online version of the chart.) If you have found a source and want to know if it's reliable, use the search box in the interactive chart to search for a specific media outlet by name.

Accuracy

Some news sources publish misinformation (mistakenly incorrect information) or disinformation (intentionally incorrect information). The chart measures accuracy vertically. More accurate sources appear near the top of the chart. Less accurate sources appear near the bottom of the chart. Avoid using inaccurate sources.

Bias

Some news sources have political agendas and attempt to convince people to support those agendas (often dishonestly). The chart measures bias along a horizontal axis. Balanced news sources appear near the center of the chart. The left half of the chart indicates left-leaning (liberal) sources, while the right half of the chart indicates right-leaning (conservative) sources. Unbalanced sources appears near the left or right borders of the chart. Avoid using biased sources.

Media Bias Chart image licensed from Ad Fontes Media

How to Find Reliable Online Sources

Your instructor accepts online sources, but they must be credible sources. If you need help determining whether a source is credible, check out the videos below. These short videos will teach you Lateral Reading--one of the most important skills you can have when conducting online research.

Watch the introduction to learn how a lack of lateral reading skills can lead anyone (even experienced historians) to select poor sources. Then watch the other three videos in the series to make sure you never make the same mistakes.

Why should you care whether information on the Internet is true? Check out this video of Mike Caufield to learn why it matters!

It's hard to tell whether you can trust the information you find on the Internet. The first step is to quickly check the trustworthiness of the website where you found the information.

This video will teach you how to investigate a website's trustworthiness in seconds.

Sometimes the same information is available from various sources on the Internet. When investigating whether that information is true, it's important to make sure you are investigating the right source.

This video offers quick tips for finding the original source of online information.

It's important to understand how to find trustworthy sites on the Internet and to have a list of such sites for fact checking.

This video how to create your own list of trustworthy sites.

Are you struggling to find research materials, use our library databases, or write citations and references? Our research librarians can help!

Just need a little help? Visit the Learning Commons' third-floor desk in the Learning Technology Center (LTC), or contact us via live chat or email. You can also call us at 254-299-8325.

Need a lot of help? Schedule a research consultation with one of our research librarians. It's their job to help you succeed!

Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Academic Support and Tutoring (AST) provides free tutoring to MCC students (including writing and citation assistance) and free support and tutorials for college-related software.

AST offers in-person support in the Learning Commons, located on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Learning Technology Center (LTC). You can also reach out to AST via phone, Zoom, or email.

Use the link above to learn more about AST and locate its contact information and hours. 

Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Cynthia Soll
Research Librarian
MCC Learning Commons
csoll@mclennan.edu
254-299-8343