Navigating Media Literacy

Middle School
Did you find a website and cannot tell if it is reliable or correct? Use these 4 steps to navigate your media
sources.

1 Your first step is to STOP and

think.
 Is this page related to
your topic?
 What do you know about

2
this topic?
If you find yourself distracted by
information in the next steps
remember to stop.

Now that you know the article

relates to your topic, let’s look at the
who:

 Is there an author’s name?

 Is the author qualified to
write on the topic?
 Is there a publisher or
sponsor?
 Can you find information on
the author or publisher from
other sources?

4
3 When you are reading think of these
questions:
The final step is to laterally
 What is the purpose of this read.
site?
 What is my emotional  Can I find this
response to the site? information
 Are they trying to educate or somewhere else?
entertain me?  Are there links in the
 What type of language is used page that work?
on the site? (Over the top  Are there citations for
language) the information?
 Reference List

Caulfield, M. (2019, June 19). SIFT (The four moves).  Hapgood. https://hapgood.us/2019/06/19/sift-the-four

moves/.

Kohnen, A. M., Mertens, G. E., & Boehm, S. M. (2020). Can middle schoolers learn to read the web like

experts? Possibilities and limits of a strategy-based intervention. Journal of Media Literacy Education,

12(2), 64-79. 

Mignardi, D. (2021). Graduating information- and media-literate students. Knowledge Quest, 50(2), 8-14. 

Schrock, K. (2022, April 13). Critical evaluation of information. Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything.

http://www.schrockguide.net/critical-evaluation.html