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The journalistic model avoids the cognitive limitations of checklist-based methods and vague terminology by guiding students to apply six journalistic questions (what, who, where, when, why, how). The procedure is open-ended, discursive, and analytic, requiring attention to both the information-need context and a source’s likely use to support more reliable judgments.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-journalistic-approach-evaluating-web-sources-in-an-age-of-mass-disinformation/599235/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-journalistic-approach-evaluating-web-sources-in-an-age-of-mass-disinformation/599235.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"kopisore","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":8},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why is a new method for teaching web source evaluation needed?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The article argues that the internet contains increasing amounts of sources with questionable merit and motivation, creating an urgent need for effective information literacy instruction at multiple levels.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What distinguishes the journalistic model from checklist-based evaluation?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The journalistic model is presented as avoiding the cognitive duality and reliance on opaque terms typical of checklist approaches, instead using six journalistic questions to structure evaluation.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How should students apply the six journalistic questions?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Students should use what, who, where, when, why, and how to evaluate freely available web sources, treating evaluation as open-ended, discursive, and analytic rather than purely formulaic.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},599235,1792088395,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":8,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":56,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":143},962090880963,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","Communications in Information Literacy  \n\n| Volume 14  Issue 2 | Article 6 |\n| --- | --- |\n| 12-2020\u003Cbr>The Journalistic Approach: Evaluating Web Sources in an Age of Mass Disinformation\u003Cbr>Victoria Elmwood\u003Cbr>Loyola University New Orleans, [vaelmwoo@loyno.edu](vaelmwoo@loyno.edu)\u003Cbr>Follow this and additional works at: [https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/comminfolit](https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/comminfolit)\u003Cbr>Let us know how access to this document benefits you. |  |\n\nRecommended Citation  \nElmwood, V. (2020) . The Journalistic Approach: Evaluating Web Sources in an Age of Mass Disinformation. Communications in Information Literacy, 14 (2), 269–286 . [https://doi.org/10.15760/](https://doi.org/10.15760/)[ ](https://doi.org/10.15760/)[comminfolit.2020.14.2.6](comminfolit.2020.14.2.6)  \nThis open access Research Article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4 .0) . All documents in PDXScholar should meet accessibility standards. If we can make this document more accessible to you, contact our team.  \nThe Journalistic Approach: Evaluating Web Sources in an Age of Mass Disinformation  \nVictoria Elmwood, Loyola University New Orleans  \nAbstract  \nA new approach to teaching web source evaluation is necessary for an internet that is increasingly littered with sources of questionable merit and motivation. Initially pioneered by K–12 educational specialists, the journalistic model avoids the cognitive duality of the checklist and a reliance on opaque terms and concepts. Instead, it recommends students apply the six journalistic questions of what, who, where, when, why, and how when evaluating freely available web sources. This approach outlines an evaluative procedure that is open-ended, discursive, and analytic in nature as opposed to formulaic and binaristic. It also requires students to consider both the context of the information need and a source’s potential use as central to its evaluation.  \nKeywords: web source evaluation, information literacy pedagogy, library instruction, higher  \neducation, secondary education, primary education, lifelong learning  \nElmwood, V. (2020). The journalistic approach: Evaluating web sources in an age of mass disinformation. Communications in Information Literacy, 14(2), 269–286.  \nThe Journalistic Approach: Evaluating Web Sources in an Age of Mass Disinformation  \nAs digital media continues to be the primary means of distributing and accessing information in the twenty-first century, the urgent need to cultivate information literacy awareness and habits of consumption and use persists. This imperative to educate users at multiple levels subtends both the academy’s standards for what constitutes knowledge and, equally important, the urgent need for civic responsibility in a functioning democracy. The power of social media’s influence, the proliferation online of cleverly disguised paid content as well as mis-and disinformation, and the ubiquity of data mining and algorithms as determinants of how information and goods are distributed—all of these developments suggest an urgent need for effective, accessible methods of information literacy instruction. Though instructors have been teaching digital information literacy since the onset of widespread household internet use, the ways in which they teach it have become more sophisticated (Ostenson, 2014), and the need for pedagogical methods that respond to an evolving infosphere persists. This article responds to that need by proposing a versatile, simple instructional method that can be used on a broad range of audiences, from grade school children to lifelong learners.  \nMuch research on information literacy covers users’ perceptions oftheir own abilities, reallife user practices, and pedagogical approaches used by classroom instructors. We know, for example, that students consistently overestimate their own ability to discriminate between high-quality","cbCaibRVlH2PLiZG","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaibRVlH2PLiZG","pdf",169247,"English","# Abstract\n## Background and need for instructional change\n## The journalistic model and its six guiding questions\n## Open-ended, discursive evaluation procedure\n## Linking evaluation to context and potential use","[{\"question\":\"Why is a new method for teaching web source evaluation needed?\",\"answer\":\"The article argues that the internet contains increasing amounts of sources with questionable merit and motivation, creating an urgent need for effective information literacy instruction at multiple levels.\"},{\"question\":\"What distinguishes the journalistic model from checklist-based evaluation?\",\"answer\":\"The journalistic model is presented as avoiding the cognitive duality and reliance on opaque terms typical of checklist approaches, instead using six journalistic questions to structure evaluation.\"},{\"question\":\"How should students apply the six journalistic questions?\",\"answer\":\"Students should use what, who, where, when, why, and how to evaluate freely available web sources, treating evaluation as open-ended, discursive, and analytic rather than purely formulaic.\"}]","The Journalistic Approach - Evaluating Web Sources in an Age of Mass Disinformation | PDF",48]