An Exploratory Study of Student Perceptions of Media Articles in the Mainstream

The Internet has provided a large opportunity for an abundance of information to be produced and available with very little cost. One of the downsides of this free’ information is the credibility and legitimacy of the facts and the news source. One important goal of academia is to ensure that students are able to learn critical thinking techniques and be able to evaluate an author’s intention in material presentation, their qualifications, and most importantly the message imparted and whether or not that message is verified. This study seeks to evaluate how students obtain their news and research information as well as the current state of student’s perception and their evaluation of purported news articles available in the Internet. Fifty-eight students participated in an exploratory study where each student reviewed seven different articles and asked to respond to several questions regarding author role, motivation, credibility, as well as if information presented was perceived as factual or opinion. This study found that the websites that students were selected to utilize had an impact on their ability to accurately assess the credibility of articles on the Internet