Prompt #4: Who Do We Trust?

Everyday we read and see things that give us new information, whether that information is about our government, schools, a story on the news, a product, a new study, or even the weather, how do we know that it is valid info?   I found two sources, both which have to do with elementary literacy.  The difference between the two is that one is an article written by a man which the audience knows nothing about and the other is also an article but it is from The Elementary School Journal and is written by three professionals in education.  

The first article was written by Paul Riismandel and it's focus is Video Literacy.  If you view his article you can just see from the site it does not look like it would contain valid information.  The article starts out asking what skills students need to excel in life, then Riismandel goes on saying how important video literacy has become and how students should learn these skills.  The problem is he doesn't elaborate on why it is so important or how to go about incorporating video literacy into schooling.  His only reasoning for video literacy is the fact that our society is "media-saturated", but what is the real benefit to students?  There are not studies or information backing up his idea of media literacy, therefore why would readers trust this source?  The style and delivery of this article may make readers unsure about the legitimacy of what they are reading.  Not only is there no proof or research backing the article up, but the reader also has not idea who the author is, if he is a professional in the field of education or just someone promoting video skills with no background information.  All of these factors must be taken into consideration if you want your readers to listen, no one wants false information.

The second article (Literacy Study) was written by three scholars, all from prestigious universities, whom are all professionals in the field of education.  This article is on a study that was done in nine first-grade classrooms to find what kind of literacy instruction was the most effective with students.  This was a much longer article being about twenty pages in length, but for the right audience the length would not matter; for example, parents with struggling children and teachers for sure would be very interested in this article and the findings from the study.  Everything throughout the article is cited, and there is a list of references at the end reassuring the reader that this is solid, valid information--unlike the other article that contained no sources.  This is a trustworthy source, you can tell it is legitimate just looking at the website and are then are minded again it is true information by the authors, the research and studies, and the fact that it is published by The University of Chicago Press. These are all things making this article much more informational and valid information than the previous article on video literacy.

When looking up information on anything make sure you know and understand where the information you are reading is coming from.  In education this can be especially important for parents searching for information concerning their children's education and other things where it is crucial that the facts you're receiving are correct.  To get an even better understanding on the differences between these two articles the links above will take you straight to the articles.  Thanks for reading!