Vaccines, Social Media, and the Public Health+Popular Press Article Analysis

Description

Popular Press Article Analysis

Instructions

In this assignment you will find two popular press articles. One of the articles will contain legitimate claims based on sound science, the other may sound convincing but the claims are not backed up with sound evidence (aka it is bullsh!t).

When searching the web for information and guidance regarding personal health issues, it is important to remember that you can’t always believe what you read. Rather, it is imperative that you evaluate statements/posts/blogs critically to determine if the information is based upon research using the scientific method.

Thus far in this module you have worked with canned resources that moved you toward predictable outcomes. Now you are going to use what you’ve learned and apply it to the far-less-predictable popular press. Your assignment is to find two articles – one that uses pseudoscience to support a claim and another that uses science. These articles DO NOT have to be about vaccinations, nor do they even have to be on the same topic.

Analyze the articles using the results document. BE SPECIFIC! The following SciShow video discussing vaccines a bit more, but more importantly it breaks down biases which will help you with the final aspect of the analysis.