What is media literacy and how to improve it by doing great research?
Doing appropriate research is not only necessary for a professional journalist. It is also important for school assignments or day-to-day content consumption.
Media Literacy
In combination with good research comes media literacy. Which is the main topic of the International Media and Information Literacy Week (24/10). Media is everywhere if it’s online, on paper, on screens or even performed in a theatre. Therefore, it is necessary to analyse or at least think a little about the content that we are consuming.
If people would believe everything they hear and see this would create a world full of misunderstanding. This was also the case for the whole COVID pandemic, where people started to judge or attack each other. The reason: rumours and gullible people.
This is the reason why being properly informed is of high importance. Especially, during the last decades, where a mass of social media platforms have popped up from nowhere. These platforms are the best way of spreading information in seconds. As result, it can have positive but also negative effects on society.
Search vs Research
Human beings want to be informed and updated. Therefore, the best way to reach an adequate level of media literacy: know the difference between search and research.
Searching for something on Google is only the process of tipping the topic you are interested in and reading the first article.
Researching a topic goes deeper and needs more time and analysis to come up with the final response to a question.
It is the process of searching for a topic, finding keywords, comparing the topic with different searches and thinking critically about the content you have read or seen.
The process of researching can be dreadful and take a lot of time to conclude. Nevertheless, in the end, the result is more elaborated and insightful because of the comparison you have taken. Aaaand, the teachers or readers of your assignment are more convinced that you did proper work in the end.
Tips for future research
1. Start your research with the bigger picture in mind. The wise way how you can start the first steps of your research is by searching for the main topic of your assignment. It is also possible to use Wikipedia because it gives you ideas in which direction you can look into. BUT, never use Wikipedia as the main source in your citations or research. This can lower the credibility of your content. And, Wikipedia content is not written by professionals but by random people who love writing stuff.
2. Use different platforms or media for your research. We know it is easier to use search engines such as Google or Firefox to do your research. Still, if you research an essay or paper it is highly advisable to use different media such as documentaries, books or interviewing professionals. The different sources can also help to double-check what you have read and written down.
3. Not every source is credible. You have to be careful which source you are using for your assignments. Even though some of the sources seem trustworthy, these could contain subjective content. Those could be wrong or contain opinionated content. Therefore, it is a good idea to compare different sources and evaluate their importance.
4. Ask additional questions. Second questioning what you have read and written completes the assignment. Through the initial research, you can establish the first pillar of your content. Afterwards, it is advisable to read the paper again and ask further questions. These questions could be the reason to convince your reader of your paper.
5. Citation. It is relevant to mention the sources that you have used during your research. This gives the reader a overview which sources you have used so they can look them up. Moreover, if you are publishing online (ex.:Blog post), an article with sources has a higher credibility and will be mention more often in the search engines algorithm.
Sources:
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-improve-your-research-skills#6-tips-for-improving-your-researching-skills