STEP 1: Find a social media post or text about your approved topic, “The Psychological Toll of Law School Applications”. In this case, social media will be defined as any interactive site (one that allows you to comment, like, or share). Try to pick a post that is relevant to the part of your topic you are most interested in. For example, mental health during law school applications, how to mitigate any negative effects, anything about mental health during law school applications, etc.
STEP 2: Share a link or screenshot of your chosen social media post and then analyze this text or series of texts. Please write at least 250 words. I have provided some guiding questions for you, in order to help you write an effective analysis. Attached Below.
STEP 3: Pick a few claims (facts, statistics, arguments) made in the social media text and fact check that information. Find a reliable source that either confirms or disproves that information. If you want to use an old-school method, use this checklist Checklist to help make sure your source is reliable.
A). Share the link to the text you found as a result of your investigation (not the social media post, but the source or sources you used to fact-checked the claims). By using your checklist: Discuss at least one detail from your source that establishes each of the following: Authority; Purpose; Accuracy and Verifiability; Currency and Relevance. If you can’t establish all four of these criteria, consider using a different source.
B). Then explain what you found using these guiding questions:
What major claims from your social media post did you look up and what did you find? After your fact-checking, did the social media post include verifiable information or was the information false/misleading?
What context were you able to add to the conversation by reading another source? What would you not have known about the larger conversation or issue if you had not looked up this other source?
Did this exercise reveal a misconception about your topic? For example, was there something that you think that many people would be confused about when it comes to your topic, or a myth that’s commonly spread about the topic that you uncovered? OR, did your social media post and other source have different attitudes towards the subject that reveal something to you? Do you think the attitude/tone/stance reflected on the social media post in any way impacted its ability to participate in the larger debate or conversation on this topic?
Did the information in the social media post help you uncover some aspect of the topic that you did not know? Did this whole exercise help illustrate some aspect of this larger conversation that you did not know before? In other words, did you end up finding a new idea related to your topic that you didn’t know before? Did it help you find reliable information that you would not have found otherwise? Did you find it useful to start with a social media post?
What does this exercise reveal to you about the relationship between social media and academic research?