persuasive essays on media literacy

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What is media literacy, and why is it important?

The word "literacy" usually describes the ability to read and write. Reading literacy and media literacy have a lot in common. Reading starts with recognizing letters. Pretty soon, readers can identify words -- and, most importantly, understand what those words mean. Readers then become writers. With more experience, readers and writers develop strong literacy skills. ( Learn specifically about news literacy .)

Media literacy is the ability to identify different types of media and understand the messages they're sending. Kids take in a huge amount of information from a wide array of sources, far beyond the traditional media (TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines) of most parents' youth. There are text messages, memes, viral videos, social media, video games, advertising, and more. But all media shares one thing: Someone created it. And it was created for a reason. Understanding that reason is the basis of media literacy. ( Learn how to use movies and TV to teach media literacy. )

The digital age has made it easy for anyone to create media . We don't always know who created something, why they made it, and whether it's credible. This makes media literacy tricky to learn and teach. Nonetheless, media literacy is an essential skill in the digital age.

Specifically, it helps kids:

Learn to think critically. As kids evaluate media, they decide whether the messages make sense, why certain information was included, what wasn't included, and what the key ideas are. They learn to use examples to support their opinions. Then they can make up their own minds about the information based on knowledge they already have.

Become a smart consumer of products and information. Media literacy helps kids learn how to determine whether something is credible. It also helps them determine the "persuasive intent" of advertising and resist the techniques marketers use to sell products.

Recognize point of view. Every creator has a perspective. Identifying an author's point of view helps kids appreciate different perspectives. It also helps put information in the context of what they already know -- or think they know.

Create media responsibly. Recognizing your own point of view, saying what you want to say how you want to say it, and understanding that your messages have an impact is key to effective communication.

Identify the role of media in our culture. From celebrity gossip to magazine covers to memes, media is telling us something, shaping our understanding of the world, and even compelling us to act or think in certain ways.

Understand the author's goal. What does the author want you to take away from a piece of media? Is it purely informative, is it trying to change your mind, or is it introducing you to new ideas you've never heard of? When kids understand what type of influence something has, they can make informed choices.

When teaching your kids media literacy , it's not so important for parents to tell kids whether something is "right." In fact, the process is more of an exchange of ideas. You'll probably end up learning as much from your kids as they learn from you.

Media literacy includes asking specific questions and backing up your opinions with examples. Following media-literacy steps allows you to learn for yourself what a given piece of media is, why it was made, and what you want to think about it.

Teaching kids media literacy as a sit-down lesson is not very effective; it's better incorporated into everyday activities . For example:

• With little kids, you can discuss things they're familiar with but may not pay much attention to. Examples include cereal commercials, food wrappers, and toy packages.
• With older kids, you can talk through media they enjoy and interact with. These include such things as YouTube videos , viral memes from the internet, and ads for video games.

Here are the key questions to ask when teaching kids media literacy :

• Who created this? Was it a company? Was it an individual? (If so, who?) Was it a comedian? Was it an artist? Was it an anonymous source? Why do you think that?
• Why did they make it? Was it to inform you of something that happened in the world (for example, a news story)? Was it to change your mind or behavior (an opinion essay or a how-to)? Was it to make you laugh (a funny meme)? Was it to get you to buy something (an ad)? Why do you think that?
• Who is the message for? Is it for kids? Grown-ups? Girls? Boys? People who share a particular interest? Why do you think that?
• What techniques are being used to make this message credible or believable? Does it have statistics from a reputable source? Does it contain quotes from a subject expert? Does it have an authoritative-sounding voice-over? Is there direct evidence of the assertions its making? Why do you think that?
• What details were left out, and why? Is the information balanced with different views -- or does it present only one side? Do you need more information to fully understand the message? Why do you think that?
• How did the message make you feel? Do you think others might feel the same way? Would everyone feel the same, or would certain people disagree with you? Why do you think that?
• As kids become more aware of and exposed to news and current events , you can apply media-literacy steps to radio, TV, and online information.

Common Sense Media offers the largest, most trusted library of independent age-based ratings and reviews. Our timely parenting advice supports families as they navigate the challenges and possibilities of raising kids in the digital age.

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Digital Media Literacy  - Recognizing Persuasive Language

Digital media literacy  -, recognizing persuasive language, digital media literacy recognizing persuasive language.

Digital Media Literacy: Recognizing Persuasive Language

Lesson 10: recognizing persuasive language.

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Recognizing persuasive language

Persuasive language can make any type of media more engaging and convincing. However, its ultimate purpose is to win your trust and influence how you think . This is why it’s important to recognize common types of persuasive language so you can look beyond the rhetoric and think for yourself.  

Watch the video below for more on recognizing persuasive language. 

Telling stories

Whether it's a feature-length film or a 30-second commercial, telling stories through media makes it easier for you to agree with a particular message. But while it’s easy to be charmed by a good story, ask yourself: Is the tale fair and unbiased , or has it sacrificed factual accuracy for the sake of serving the message?

Presenting evidence

Presenting evidence can have a tremendous influence on how you perceive a message. However, just because the media includes evidence doesn’t mean it's being completely honest. Sometimes facts will be mixed in with half-truths and exaggerations to make the message seem more credible. Take care to examine all evidence before accepting a message as trustworthy. 

Attacks can point out the faults of the competition, and they often provoke an audience’s fears or anger, especially in political media. The next time you see an attack, keep in mind that it’s trying to rile your emotions to convince you of a specific idea. It may also embellish facts or take a skewed perspective, so try not to pass judgment before investigating the truth. 

Flattery has long been a reliable persuasion method, particularly if the media wants you to feel good about a specific product or idea. But how sincere can mass-produced praise actually be? Do your best not to be lured in by kind words, and consider if the media is just telling you what you want to hear. 

Inclusive language

Inclusive language frames a message in terms of us and we and our , giving the impression that the creator of the media and the audience are on the same side. However, this can come off as false and hollow, especially if it appears that the creator doesn’t actually have anything in common with you.

Whether it’s used to reinforce the truth or hide a lack of substance, don’t let persuasive language be the only thing that sways your opinion. Always look beyond the rhetoric and seek out the facts behind any claims.

/en/digital-media-literacy/the-blur-between-facts-and-opinions-in-the-media/content/

Media and Information Literacy, a critical approach to literacy in the digital world

What does it mean to be literate in the 21 st century? On the celebration of the International Literacy Day (8 September), people’s attention is drawn to the kind of literacy skills we need to navigate the increasingly digitally mediated societies.

Stakeholders around the world are gradually embracing an expanded definition for literacy, going beyond the ability to write, read and understand words. Media and Information Literacy (MIL) emphasizes a critical approach to literacy. MIL recognizes that people are learning in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom through information, media and technological platforms. It enables people to question critically what they have read, heard and learned.

As a composite concept proposed by UNESCO in 2007, MIL covers all competencies related to information literacy and media literacy that also include digital or technological literacy. Ms Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO has reiterated significance of MIL in this media and information landscape: “Media and information literacy has never been so vital, to build trust in information and knowledge at a time when notions of ‘truth’ have been challenged.”

MIL focuses on different and intersecting competencies to transform people’s interaction with information and learning environments online and offline. MIL includes competencies to search, critically evaluate, use and contribute information and media content wisely; knowledge of how to manage one’s rights online; understanding how to combat online hate speech and cyberbullying; understanding of the ethical issues surrounding the access and use of information; and engagement with media and ICTs to promote equality, free expression and tolerance, intercultural/interreligious dialogue, peace, etc. MIL is a nexus of human rights of which literacy is a primary right.

Learning through social media

In today’s 21 st century societies, it is necessary that all peoples acquire MIL competencies (knowledge, skills and attitude). Media and Information Literacy is for all, it is an integral part of education for all. Yet we cannot neglect to recognize that children and youth are at the heart of this need. Data shows that 70% of young people around the world are online. This means that the Internet, and social media in particular, should be seen as an opportunity for learning and can be used as a tool for the new forms of literacy.

The Policy Brief by UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education, “Social Media for Learning by Means of ICT” underlines this potential of social media to “engage students on immediate and contextual concerns, such as current events, social activities and prospective employment.

UNESCO MIL CLICKS - To think critically and click wisely

For this reason, UNESCO initiated a social media innovation on Media and Information Literacy, MIL CLICKS (Media and Information Literacy: Critical-thinking, Creativity, Literacy, Intercultural, Citizenship, Knowledge and Sustainability).

MIL CLICKS is a way for people to acquire MIL competencies in their normal, day-to-day use of the Internet and social media. To think critically and click wisely. This is an unstructured approach, non-formal way of learning, using organic methods in an online environment of play, connecting and socializing.  

MIL as a tool for sustainable development

In the global, sustainable context, MIL competencies are indispensable to the critical understanding and engagement in development of democratic participation, sustainable societies, building trust in media, good governance and peacebuilding. A recent UNESCO publication described the high relevance of MIL for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Citizen's engagement in open development in connection with the SDGs are mediated by media and information providers including those on the Internet, as well as by their level of media and information literacy. It is on this basis that UNESCO, as part of its comprehensive MIL programme, has set up a MOOC on MIL,” says Alton Grizzle, UNESCO Programme Specialist. 

UNESCO’s comprehensive MIL programme

UNESCO has been continuously developing MIL programme that has many aspects. MIL policies and strategies are needed and should be dovetailed with existing education, media, ICT, information, youth and culture policies.

The first step on this road from policy to action is to increase the number of MIL teachers and educators in formal and non-formal educational setting. This is why UNESCO has prepared a model Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Teachers , which has been designed in an international context, through an all-inclusive, non-prescriptive approach and with adaptation in mind.

The mass media and information intermediaries can all assist in ensuring the permanence of MIL issues in the public. They can also highly contribute to all citizens in receiving information and media competencies. Guideline for Broadcasters on Promoting User-generated Content and Media and Information Literacy , prepared by UNESCO and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association offers some insight in this direction.

UNESCO will be highlighting the need to build bridges between learning in the classroom and learning outside of the classroom through MIL at the Global MIL Week 2017 . Global MIL Week will be celebrated globally from 25 October to 5 November 2017 under the theme: “Media and Information Literacy in Critical Times: Re-imagining Ways of Learning and Information Environments”. The Global MIL Feature Conference will be held in Jamaica under the same theme from 24 to 27 October 2017, at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston, hosted by The University of the West Indies (UWI).

Alton Grizzle , Programme Specialist – Media Development and Society Section

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Teenagers and Misinformation: Some Starting Points for Teaching Media Literacy

Five ideas to help students understand the problem, learn basic skills, share their experiences and have a say in how media literacy is taught.

By Katherine Schulten

In a sense, every week is Media Literacy Week on a site like ours, which helps people teach and learn with the news. But Oct. 24-28 is the official week dedicated to “amplifying the importance of media literacy education across the United States.” We are delighted to help.

Here are some ways teachers and librarians can teach with the extensive reporting The New York Times has done recently on misinformation and disinformation, whether your students are just beginning to understand the problem, or whether they are ready for deeper inquiry.

1. Get the big picture: What is media literacy education? Why do we need it?

If you have time for just one activity, this one, based on the Times article “ When Teens Find Misinformation, These Teachers Are Ready ,” can provide a broad overview and help frame future work.

To start, share the statements in italics, all adapted from the article. You can do this as a “ Four Corners ” exercise in which you read each line aloud and ask students to position themselves in the room according to whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree. Or, you can hand out the PDF version and have students mark each statement “true” or “false” based on their own experiences, then discuss their reactions — and the experiences that informed those reactions — in partners or small groups.

Here are the statements:

It’s easy to look at stuff on social media and take it as it is and not question it.

Older adults are more likely to struggle to recognize fake news than young people and are also the most likely to share it.

I have come across misleading and false narratives about the upcoming midterm elections online.

I have come across misleading and false narratives about the Covid-19 pandemic online.

If it’s gone viral, it’s probably true.

A .org domain makes a website trustworthy.

Media literacy is a necessity for everyone because of the way we live online today.

Some young adults share misinformation because they think it is true.

Some young adults share misinformation impulsively, because they are too busy to verify the information.

Most young adults talk to their parents and guardians about what makes media sources trustworthy.

TikTok is a primary information source for people my age.

Social media often reduces complex issues to one-sentence explanations.

A lot of young people are politically polarized at a very young age, and are angry at anyone who believes differently than they do.

Media literacy education should start in middle or even elementary school, when children are just beginning to venture online.

The way media literacy is taught needs improvement.

After your students have finished the exercise, discuss as a class what you discovered. On which statements was there broad agreement? On which was there disagreement? Why do they think that was? What personal experiences would they like to share that helped inform how they feel about the subject of “media literacy”? What, if anything, do they think schools, teachers and librarians should do to improve how they teach about these topics?

Finally, have them read “ When Teens Find Misinformation, These Teachers Are Ready ,” perhaps annotating to note their reactions as they go. You might then ask:

1. What jumped out at you as you read? Why?

2. This article describes many ideas, including curriculums, games and even legislative initiatives, that have been tried in recent years to support media literacy in public schools. Which of these, if any, were familiar to you? Which, if any, do you wish our school could adopt?

3. What problems with teaching media literacy did this article identify? Do you think our school has experienced any of these struggles? If so, what should we do about them? Why?

Then, to take the discussion further, you might continue to some of the exercises below.

2. Have students share their experiences and opinions — and offer adults advice .

What don’t adults understand about teenage life on the internet?

How, if at all, can schools help?

Via our Student Opinion column , we ask teenagers a new question every school day based on something in the news, and thousands of young people from around the world post comments in reaction every month.

For Media Literacy Week, we have published a forum that invites teenagers to answer questions like the two above , and encourages them to share experiences and opinions about what it’s like to navigate their digital lives in 2022. We ask them about their media literacy education so far, and invite them to offer adults advice for how to make it more relevant, interesting and useful.

If your students have thoughts about any of these topics, we hope they’ll join the conversation, either by posting a comment, or by replying to comments from others.

3. Learn from teen fact-checkers.

The video above is from the MediaWise Teen Fact-Checking Network , which publishes fact-checks for teenagers, by teenagers. According to the site, the network’s “fact-checks are unique in that they debunk misinformation and teach the audience media literacy skills so they can fact-check on their own.” Here is a collection of some recent fact-checks they have done, but you can see more on Instagram , YouTube , Twitter and Facebook . You can also find a related “toolkit” of lesson plans to help.

What skills do these students use? Among others, they have mastered lateral reading, a quick and effective method mentioned in the article students read above.

Mike Caulfield, a digital literacy expert, explained the rationale for that method in a 2021 interview with Charlie Warzel, a former Times opinion writer. In “ Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Hole ,” Mr. Caulfield argues that the way we’re taught from a young age to evaluate and think critically about information is fundamentally flawed and out of step with the chaos of the current internet:

“We’re taught that, in order to protect ourselves from bad information, we need to deeply engage with the stuff that washes up in front of us,” Mr. Caulfield told me recently. He suggested that the dominant mode of media literacy (if kids get taught any at all) is that “you’ll get imperfect information and then use reasoning to fix that somehow. But in reality, that strategy can completely backfire.” In other words: Resist the lure of rabbit holes, in part, by reimagining media literacy for the internet hellscape we occupy. It’s often counterproductive to engage directly with content from an unknown source, and people can be led astray by false information. Influenced by the research of Sam Wineburg, a professor at Stanford, and Sarah McGrew, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, Mr. Caulfield argued that the best way to learn about a source of information is to leave it and look elsewhere , a concept called lateral reading .

Invite your students to read the full piece. In it, they will learn how Mr. Caulfield has refined the process fact-checkers use into four simple principles:

1. S top. 2. I nvestigate the source. 3. F ind better coverage. 4. T race claims, quotes and media to the original context. Otherwise known as SIFT.

To go deeper, students might first watch a Crash Course video about lateral reading, then learn how to put it into practice via Stanford’s Civic Online Reasoning site . You might then invite them to practice it with information they come across in their social media feeds. What are the benefits of this approach? What are the limits? How well does it arm them to navigate information on their own, outside of school?

Finally, they might either revisit the Teen Fact-Checking Network to identify where they see those skills in action or, if they are ready, produce their own videos that fact-check the information they find in their feeds.

4. Invite students to investigate your school’s media literacy offerings and make recommendations.

Does your school have a media literacy program? How effective is it? Invite your students to investigate and make recommendations, perhaps by starting with questions like these, and involving your school librarian or media specialist:

What is our school doing to teach media literacy?

Is it working? How can we measure that?

Does it teach students skills they will actually use to evaluate information they come across in their private lives as well as at school? Does it work for all the places and ways students access information, or does it need broadening or updating somehow?

Identifying the problem is, of course, a lot easier than solving it, but your students’ next step might be to learn about what has been effective elsewhere. Articles like the one we recommend in Step 1 include ideas for how schools and regions in the United States are tackling the problem, and this Opinion piece further details ideas from Finland and Estonia.

What additional ideas can your students find by researching? Which might work for their school? Why? If they were to write up a set of recommendations to share with school leaders, what would those recommendations include?

5. Help students “access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act” with these additional resources.

One of the winning videos from The Learning Network’s 2018 “ News Diet Challenge ” for teenagers.

The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) defines media literacy as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication.”

Here are ways to do that — via The Learning Network, The New York Times and some trusted outside sources.

Apply Key Media Literacy Questions to Information of All Kinds

How credible is this and how do I know?

Is this fact, opinion, or something else?

Can I trust this source to tell me the truth about this topic?

Who might benefit from this message? Who might be harmed by it?

How does this make me feel and how do my emotions influence my interpretation of this?

How might different people understand this message differently?

Is this message good for me or people like me?

Those are the questions that NAMLE suggests students ask when evaluating media , and you can find similarly useful information and questions in their short guides to how to access , analyze , create and act on media. Invite them to practice answering them as they apply the information that crosses their screens, whether articles in The New York Times, advertising, memes on social media, or anything else. To help, we have posted all the questions on this PDF.

Use The Learning Network’s Journalism and Media Literacy Collection

All of our daily and weekly features — including multimedia activities like What’s Going On in This Picture? , our lesson plans and our many annual student contests — are focused on media literacy and help young people “access, analyze, evaluate, create and act.” But our Journalism and Media Literacy page collects resources that are especially focused on helping students understand how the news is created, and how it can be safely consumed.

For example, here are some things you can find:

An idea from a teacher-reader: News Groups: A Simple but Powerful Media Literacy Idea to Build Community

A lesson plan tied to a student contest: Improving Your ‘News Diet’: A Three-Step Lesson Plan for Teenagers and Teachers

Tips for students from Times journalists: Want to Write a Review? Here’s Advice From New York Times Critics.

A writing prompt: Do You Think Online Conspiracy Theories Can Be Dangerous?

Keep Up With Times Reporting on Misinformation and Disinformation

The New York Times has an entire team of reporters covering misinformation and disinformation.

For instance, do your students know that the qualities that allow TikTok to fuel viral dance fads are also making it a “ primary incubator of baseless and misleading information ”? The articles below explore how:

For Gen Z, TikTok Is the New Search Engine

On TikTok, Election Misinformation Thrives Ahead of Midterms

TikTok Is Flooded With Health Myths. These Creators Are Pushing Back.

Toxic and Ineffective: Experts Warn Against ‘Herbal Abortion’ Remedies on TikTok

TikTok Is Gripped by the Violence and Misinformation of Ukraine War

Snorting Crushed Porcelain, Face Reveals and a TikTok Lawsuit

Wasn’t TikTok Supposed to Be Fun?

Find Additional Resources Through These Media Literacy Organizations

The description below each link was taken from the sites themselves.

The Stanford History Education Group’s Civic Online Reasoning Curriculum

Students are confused about how to evaluate online information. We all are. The COR curriculum provides free lessons and assessments that help you teach students to evaluate online information that affects them, their communities and the world.

National Association for Media Literacy Education

The association aims to make media literacy highly valued and widely practiced as an essential life skill. It envisions a day when everyone, in our nation and around the world, possesses the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create and act using all forms of communication. Media literacy education refers to the practices necessary to foster these skills.

The News Literacy Project

This nonpartisan education nonprofit is building a national movement to advance the practice of news literacy throughout American society, creating better-informed, more engaged and more empowered individuals — and ultimately a stronger democracy.

KQED’s Above the Noise

A YouTube series for teens, Above the Noise cuts through the hype and dives deep into the research behind the issues affecting their daily lives. The series investigates controversial subject matter to help young viewers draw their own informed conclusions, while inspiring media literacy and civic engagement. Teachers can also find related lesson plans.

Media Literacy Now

This group leverages the passion and resources of the media literacy community to inform and drive policy change at local, state and national levels in the United States to ensure all K-12 students are taught media literacy so that they become confident and competent media consumers and creators.

The Media Education Foundation

The foundation produces and distributes documentary films and other educational resources to inspire critical thinking about the social, political and cultural impact of American mass media.

Common Sense Education

This organization provides a variety of media literacy resources including courses and curriculum, research on media literacy, a news and media literacy resource center as well as a list of other media literacy organizations worth exploring.

News Decoder

This site partners with schools around the world to teach media literacy and journalistic skills that enable students to create and consume media responsibly.

Find more lesson plans and teaching ideas here.

Katherine Schulten has been a Learning Network editor since 2006. Before that, she spent 19 years in New York City public schools as an English teacher, school-newspaper adviser and literacy coach. More about Katherine Schulten

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16 The Psychology Underlying Media-Based Persuasion

Robin L. Nabi, Department of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA

Emily Moyer-Gusé, School of Communication, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

• Published: 28 January 2013
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Attempts at persuasion are as ubiquitous as the media often used to disseminate them. However, to explore persuasion in the context of media, we must first consider the psychological processes and mechanisms that underlie persuasive effects generally, and then assess how those strategies might apply in both traditional as well as more innovative media. This chapter overviews three dominant frameworks of persuasion (cognitive response models, expectancy value theories, and emotional appeals), along with three more subtle forms of influence (framing, narrative, and product placement) to explore how psychological theory and media effects research intersect to shed light on media-based persuasive influence.

Introduction

Attempts at persuasion are as ubiquitous as the media often used to disseminate them. Given that decades of persuasion research has documented just how challenging it can be to alter the beliefs, attitudes, and especially the behaviors of others, it is unsurprising that media strategies have evolved in response to emerging technologies to help overcome barriers to persuasion, thus yielding the modern persuasive forms of, for example, infomercials, product placement, and viral videos. But ultimately the psychological theories of how people process such messages are relatively indifferent to the messages’ particular forms. That is, despite the rapid changes in media forms and modes of transmission, the theories used to understand their effects remain largely unchanged. Thus, to explore persuasion in the context of media, we must first consider the psychological processes and mechanisms that underlie persuasive effects generally, and then assess how those strategies might apply to both traditional as well as more innovative media, with an eye toward useful avenues for theoretical advancement. Given the vastness of the topic of persuasion has been well-addressed in volumes previously (e.g., Eagly & Chaiken, 1993 ; Dillard & Pfau, 2002 ; Perloff, 2010 ), we will not attempt to offer a comprehensive review of the extant psychological research on persuasion here. Rather, we focus on the theoretical frameworks most directly linked to current research in media effects, how these theories have been applied in media contexts, and issues that might prove fruitful for future examination.

Although many definitions of persuasion exist, they tend to share several common elements. Persuasion is typically understood as a process whereby a message sender intends to influence an (uncoerced) message receiver's evaluative judgments regarding a particular object. Given media effects research tends to emphasize the unintended and often negative influence of media content on receivers, we wish to be clear that this chapter focuses exclusively on intentional effects at persuasion rather than the incidental social influence that might occur as a result of mass media exposure.

There are a number of classes of persuasion theories that focus on a range of psychological mechanisms driving influence that might be applied to the study of media effects. However, there are three theoretical orientations that have received substantial attention from media effects scholars interested in more direct and obvious attempts at persuasion, such as advertisements or public service announcements: cognitive response models, expectancy-value theories, and emotional appeals. Further, there are three additional frameworks that have been given particular attention in the context of more subtle, although arguably more powerful, forms of media-based persuasive influence: framing, narrative, and product placement. This chapter reviews the literature in each of these areas, with particular attention to how such research might evolve in response to the ever-changing media environment.

Theory Underlying Mediated Persuasive Appeals

As noted, a plethora of theories and models have been applied in media contexts, but three stand out as guiding the discussion of media influence: cognitive response models, expectancy-value theories, and fear appeals. We address each one in turn.

Cognitive Response Models of Persuasion

Cognitive response models of persuasion assume that the thoughts people have during message exposure drive their subsequent attitudes. As such, message recipients are viewed as active participants whose cognitive reactions mediate the influence of a persuasive attempt. Most notable among these models is Petty and Cacioppo's ( 1986 ) elaboration likelihood model (ELM) of persuasion, which suggests two possible routes to persuasion—central and peripheral. If sufficient processing motivation and ability are present, central processing is expected to occur during which the receiver will give thoughtful consideration to the arguments and information presented. The ratio of favorable to unfavorable cognitive responses generated about the message is then expected to predict persuasive outcome. If either processing motivation or ability is impaired, the receiver is expected to engage in peripheral processing during which simple, though not necessarily relevant, cues present in the persuasive setting will influence attitudinal response.

Petty and Cacioppo ( 1986 ) note that because greater message elaboration is expected to generate more thoughts that are then incorporated into cognitive schema, attitude change based on central processing is expected to be more stable, enduring, and predictive of behavior than attitude change based on peripheral processing. The nature and valence of the cognitive responses generated during central processing may be guided by a range of factors, including initial attitude, prior knowledge, personality factors, and mood. Moreover, they acknowledge that biased processing may occur to the extent various factors, particularly initial attitude, influence motivation or ability to process the message, resulting in more or less favorable thoughts about the object than might have been expected otherwise.

The ELM has been tested in numerous lab studies, the results of which tend to support its predictions (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993 ). However, several important theoretical and empirical criticisms have been launched against it, including the dichotomy between central and peripheral processing, the tautological definition of argument strength, and the inability to specify a priori whether particular message features will be processed centrally or peripherally (Stiff, 1986 ; Stiff & Boster, 1987 ; and responses by Petty, Cacioppo, Kasmer, & Haugtvedt, 1987 and Petty, Kasmer, Haugtvedt, & Cacioppo, 1987 ; also, see Eagly & Chaiken, 1993 ). The ELM has not been appreciably modified in light of these criticisms; however, the notion of thought confidence influencing outcomes was introduced in the early 2000s, suggesting that confidence in one's thoughts about the message intensifies their effect (i.e., confidence in favorable thoughts enhances persuasion and confidence in unfavorable ones detracts) (Petty, Brinol, & Tormala, 2002 ). However, this element of the model has seen little additional attention in the extant research since its introduction.

Chaiken's heuristic-systematic model (HSM) of persuasion offers a similar, although more clearly specified dual-processing approach. The HSM suggests that accuracy-motivated people may assess message validity through two types of message processing—heuristic and systematic—which may operate concurrently depending on the receiver's judgmental confidence threshold for a particular issue (Chaiken, 1980 , 1987 ; Chaiken, Liberman, & Eagly, 1989 ; Eagly & Chaiken, 1993 ). As cognitive misers, individuals are expected to base decisions on heuristics if they can be sufficiently confident in the accuracy of those decisions. If sufficient confidence cannot be reached using simple decision rules, individuals are expected to then also engage in the more effortful systematic processing. Although the HSM's systematic processing and the ELM's central processing are essentially the same, heuristic and peripheral processing differ in that the former is conceptualized as only cognitive and rational, whereas the latter is believed to encompass any cognitive or affective processes other than close message scrutiny. Research testing the unique aspects of the HSM has offered some evidence consistent with the model's propositions, particularly that of concurrent processing and the attenuation of heuristic effects by systematic processing (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993 ). Further, the model has been elaborated by identifying multiple motives for message processing (i.e., accuracy, defensive, and impression motivations). However, research has not directly targeted the sufficiency threshold construct, thus limiting insights into the factors that might move the threshold higher or lower, which would have implications for the information needs of the audience.

Given that media effects scholars have generally adopted the view of audiences as active consumers of messages rather than mere passive information recipients, it is understandable why cognitive response models have been readily embraced by media effects scholars. Indeed, the ELM and HSM have been applied in numerous traditional advertising contexts, including those related to health (e.g., Wilson, 2007 ; Smith, Lindsey, Kopfman, Yoo, & Morrison, 2008 ), politics (e.g., Holbert, Garrett, & Gleason, 2010 ), and of course commercial products (e.g., Whittler & Spira, 2002 ). Generally speaking, such research tends to apply these theories to understand how various features of the audience (e.g., motivation) and features of the messages (e.g., arguments and cues) interact to lead to changes in attitudes, behavioral intentions, and behaviors.

There is a wealth of evidence supporting the tenets of cognitive-response models in advertising contexts. However, perhaps because they were developed with a focus on psychological mechanisms rather than message design, they are not particularly responsive to the complexities with which modern media messages may be presented. For example, whereas the majority of ELM-based studies are based on text-only messages, an overwhelming proportion of mediated persuasive messages contain visuals. According to Petty and Cacioppo's ( 1986 ) arguments, the persuasive impact of visuals would depend on whether the receiver is motivated and/or able to process the message. If motivated and able, the visuals will be taken as arguments. Otherwise, they will be used as cues and have ephemeral effects on attitudes. However, given visuals (unlike text) can be processed quickly with minimal cognitive effort, one might have low motivation and ability and yet still be greatly impacted by a particularly gripping image that can be processed nearly automatically and, in turn, result in long-lasting attitude change. Thus, the ELM, in its current form, seems somewhat insensitive to more modern persuasive contexts.

As the design of persuasive media messages evolves, some research will certainly continue to work within the typical framework of dual-processing cognitive response models, examining, for example, how innovative message features, like interactive social agents (e.g., Skalski & Tamborini, 2007 ) and online reviews (Lin, Lee, & Horng, 2011 ), influence processing motivation or serve as peripheral cues. However, given the ELM and HSM were developed largely in the context of more text-based, expository messages—a less typical form of media presentation in recent years—some fundamental assumptions about the nature of message processing as captured by these theories, may be challenged by newer media formats. For example, Cho ( 1999 ) articulated a modified elaboration likelihood model to address the processing of Web advertising, arguing for the roles of both voluntary and involuntary ad exposure as well as the mediating effects of repeated exposure, attitude toward the site, and attitude toward Web advertising, beyond the roles of processing motivation and ability as articulated by the ELM. San Jose-Cabezudo, Gutierrez-Arranz, and Gutierrez-Cillan ( 2009 ) also argue that how Web pages are presented influences the nature of the information processing that ensues.

In sum, cognitive response models have provided a very useful framework for understanding how media messages may lead to persuasive effects, and will surely continue to guide examination of unique media features in the coming years. However, newer media forms may bring to light limits of these theories developed in an era of less complex message design and thus ideally generate theoretical innovations sensitive to these technological changes.

Expectancy Value Theories

A second class of persuasion theories—expectancy value theories—also focuses on cognition, but these theories assume audiences are rational decision makers who weigh the pros and cons of their options. More specifically, they assume people have expectancies regarding whether an object has a certain attribute, and they ascribe a particular value to that attribute. In combining these assessments, one's attitude is formed. Indeed, it was the endeavor to understand the conditions under which stable attitude–behavior relationships could be found that resulted in the development of the most well-known expectancy-value theory—the theory of reasoned action (TRA) (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975 ), one of the more influential theories of social influence in the last 50 years.

According to the TRA, the best predictor of volitional behavior is behavioral intention (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975 ). Behavioral intentions, in turn, are based on two types of cognitive antecedents: (1) attitudes toward performing a particular behavior, and (2) the subjective norm surrounding that behavior. Attitudes are comprised of groups of salient beliefs regarding behavioral outcomes and evaluations of those outcomes. Comparably, the subjective norm is comprised of perceptions of important others’ attitudes regarding one performing the behavior and motivation to comply with their opinions. Under this conceptualization, other variables, like demographics, personality traits, and related attitudes, affect behavior only insofar as they affect the individual's beliefs, evaluations, or motivations to comply. A meta-analysis of TRA-based research supports the model's propositions that attitudes and subjective norms can accurately predict behavioral intentions and, in turn, behaviors (Sheppard, Hartwick, & Warshaw, 1988 ). In addition, a meta-analysis of 138 attitude–behavior correlations further supports the TRA's position that attitudes can have strong associations with behaviors across a range of topics (Kim & Hunter, 1993 ).

Despite the wealth of evidence supporting the TRA, its critics argue that its utility and predictive ability are limited by its intended applicability to: (1) volitional behaviors only, (2) stable attitudes and behavioral intentions, and (3) corresponding attitude and behavior measures in terms of target, context, time, and action (see Eagly & Chaiken, 1993 for a critical review). In fact, several individual and situational barriers have been identified as having a significant impact on the translation of attitudes and/or intentions into behaviors, including time, money, the cooperation of other people, and personal self-efficacy (Triandis, 1977 ; Ajzen, 1985 ; Ajzen & Madden, 1986 ; Madden, Ellen, & Ajzen, 1992 ). Indeed, the theory of planned behavior was developed to help address these limitations (Ajzen, 1985 ), and recently Fishbein and Ajzen ( 2010 ) have elaborated on the critical elements of the reasoned action perspective, including the origins of beliefs, the role of injunctive versus descriptive norms, and the determinants of perceived behavioral control. Still, within its self-identified boundaries, TRA-based research has generated evidence to demonstrate that under the appropriate circumstances, attitudes can reliably predict behavioral intentions and behaviors.

Applied to media-based persuasion, the TRA is most helpful in suggesting what message content, rather than message design features, might best produce persuasive effects. To the extent a behavior is more heavily influenced by attitudes, one might attempt to change already-held outcome–belief expectancies or the valuations ascribed to those outcomes. Or one might look to add new belief clusters to the attitude equation. If the subjective norm is more dominant in predicting behavioral intentions and behaviors, then producing messages that speak to perceptions of what others think, motivation to comply, or adding new important others to the equation may be effective. Moreover, one might also attempt to alter the weighting of the attitude relative to the subjective norm to affect shifts in behavioral intentions and behaviors. Although this framework is extremely useful in guiding conceptually what one might hope to achieve with a persuasive message, the TRA is silent on how one might actually implement those ideas in message design. Further, the TRA is very limited in its consideration of factors beyond “rational” beliefs. Most notably, the role of emotion is not incorporated into the model in any direct or meaningful way. Given emotion (as described in a later section) is a primary motivational force underlying behavior, this is a very notable limitation of the TRA.

As media message platforms shift such that persuasive messages may be easily avoided (e.g., fast forwarding through commercials or blocking pop-up ads on web sites) or alternatively hard to avoid (e.g., embedded in web sites of interest), it has become increasingly important to take into consideration how belief-based information is presented to capture attention. Yet, it is this very presentation that may shift audiences away from more rational and deliberative decision making (see discussions of emotion and framing that follow). Although Fishbein and Ajzen ( 2010 ) would likely argue that such message features (e.g., emotional presentations) act merely as background variables influencing behaviors only indirectly through the beliefs formed, the action tendencies associated with emotions generated from media presentations may actually serve to intensify the likelihood of action without full mediation through beliefs. Thus, important directions for future research will be to consider not just how various message features may influence the construction of attitudes and subjective norms via information salience, but also how the process of influence through to behavior is influenced by the psychological state the audience may be in because of those attention-getting contextual features.

Emotion and Persuasion

A third dominant framework for media-based persuasion research focuses on affective states. Most of the research here has centered around fear arousal and its effects on both message processing and persuasion-related outcomes (e.g., attitudes, behavioral intentions, and behaviors), although the persuasive influence of other emotional states is receiving increasing attention.

Fear Appeal Research

The fear appeal literature has cycled through several theoretical perspectives over the past 50 years (see Nabi, 2007 for more detailed discussion), including: (1) the drive model, which conceptualized fear as resembling a drive state, motivating people to adopt recommendations expected to alleviate the unpleasant state (e.g., Hovland, Janis, & Kelley, 1953 ); (2) the parallel processing model (PPM) (Leventhal, 1970 ), which separated the motivational from the cognitive aspects involved in processing fear appeals, suggesting that those who respond to fear appeals by focusing on the threat (cognition) would engage in adaptive responses, whereas those responding with fear (emotion) would engage in maladaptive responses; (3) the expectancy value–based protection motivation theory (Rogers, 1975 , 1983 ), which ultimately focused on four categories of thought generated in response to fear appeals—judgments of threat severity, threat susceptibility, and response and self-efficacy—and how they might combine to predict message acceptance; and (4) the extended parallel process model (EPPM) (Witte, 1992 ), which integrated the PPM and PMT, predicting that if perceived efficacy outweighs perceived threat, danger control and adaptive change will ensue. If, however, perceived threat outweighs perceived efficacy, then fear control and maladaptive behaviors are expected.

Although meta-analyses of fear research essentially suggest that the cognitions identified in the PMT, and later the EPPM, are important to fear appeal effectiveness, no model of fear appeals has been endorsed as accurately capturing the process of fear's effects on decision making and action (see Mongeau, 1998 ; Witte & Allen, 2000 ). Regardless, evidence does support a positive linear relationship between fear and attitude, behavioral intention, and behavior change. Thus, to the extent message features evoke perceptions of susceptibility and severity, as well as response and self-efficacy, fear may moderate persuasive outcome, although there are still important questions about the interrelationships among these constructs that remain unanswered. Further, questions about whether severity and susceptibility information should always be included in fear appeals or whether “implicit” fear appeals might be more effective have also been raised (Nabi, Roskos-Ewoldsen, & Dillman Carpentier, 2007 ). Thus, there is still much work to be done in linking the theory of fear appeals to appropriate message design.

Beyond Fear Appeals

There is growing interest, as well, in understanding the effects of emotions other than fear in the processing of persuasive messages (see Nabi, 2007 for a more extensive discussion), and emerging models attempt to examine those processes. For example, the cognitive functional model (CFM) (Nabi, 1999 ) attempts to explain how message-relevant negative emotions (e.g., fear, anger, sadness, guilt, disgust) affect the direction and stability of persuasive outcome based on three constructs—emotion-driven motivated attention, motivated processing, and expectation of message reassurance. An initial test of the model (Nabi, 2002 ) offered support for some, although not all, of the model's propositions, but as it awaits future tests, the CFM offers insight into the process through which a range of discrete emotions, not just fear, influences message processing, and outcomes.

In a similar vein, Nabi ( 2003 , 2007 ) posits an emotions-as-frames model to explain the effects of more general media exposure on attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. In this model, emotions are conceptualized as frames, or perspectives, through which incoming stimuli are interpreted. The model first notes the message features likely to evoke various discrete emotions. These emotional experiences, moderated by individual differences (e.g., schema development, coping style), are predicted to influence both information accessibility and information seeking that ultimately generate emotion-consistent decisions and action. Nabi argues that through this perspective we may develop a better understanding of the central role emotions may play in understanding how frames in a range of media messages, including those designed to persuade, might impact attitudes and behaviors.

Notably missing from this discussion thus far, however, is research on the persuasive effect of positive emotional states. There has been a fair amount of attention to humor; however, reviews of the humor literature have concluded that though humor may enhance message attention and source liking, it is generally no more persuasive than nonhumorous messages (see Weinberger & Gulas, 1992 for a more nuanced discussion). With the increasing popularity of political satire programs, such as the Daily Show and the Colbert Report , there has been an upswing in interest in examining the process through which humor may have persuasive influence. For example, Nabi, Moyer-Gusé, and Byrne ( 2007 ) argue that humor may not have immediate persuasive effect because although audiences attend closely to the message, they discount it as a joke that is not intended to persuade, thus minimizing the message content's effects on their attitudes. However, they also posit that this type of processing may lead to a “sleeper effect” such that the persuasive effect of humor may emerge after some time has passed (see also Young, 2008 ). Clearly, future research would benefit from closer examination of the persuasive effect of positive emotions like hope and pride and the processes through which such effects might emerge.

Beyond the types of emotions investigated, future research would also benefit from greater attention to issues such as the role of emotion in overcoming barriers posed by selective attention. In the cluttered media environment, garnering attention to one's persuasive message is increasingly challenging and yet a necessary (although not sufficient) step in the persuasion process. Emotional appeals may be particularly well-suited to this task. Of course, once attention is gained, it is critical that the rest of the message be structured appropriately for the target audience. Risk of boomerang effects due to psychological reactance (message resistance stemming from perceiving an unjust restriction on one's freedom to choose) (Brehm, 1966 ), denial, problem minimization, and the like persist. Understanding the delicate balance between gaining attention and harnessing it to intended effect has been an elusive challenge in the area of emotional appeals and persuasion, and future research would be well served by tackling this difficult message design issue.

Further, understanding in greater detail how the specifics of message content may relate to an audience's emotional state is a surprisingly understudied issue. For example, the assumption in fear appeal research is that people are scared by threats to their physical body, most especially thoughts of death. Yet fears of disability (e.g., paralysis, blindness) or disfigurement may prove equally, and sometimes more, frightening than death. Further, not all fears are rooted in physical well-being. Evidence suggests that younger audiences’ assessments of their likelihood of experiencing a range of health problems are characterized by the optimism bias, and compared with adults, teenagers minimize the perceived risk associated with the occasional involvement in health-threatening acts (Cohn, Macfarlane, Yañez, & Imai, 1995 ). However, given that teenagers and young adults are still forming their identities, threats to social acceptance may be far more salient and thus more frightening to such audiences than threats to physical well-being. Thus, social harm–based fear appeals may be more effective for young audiences than physical harm–based fear appeals. Future research would be well served by considering not simply a greater range of emotional responses, but also the matching of message content and features to the intended emotional arousal for particular target audiences and by continuing to explore the impact of discrete emotional arousal states on information processing and decision making.

Subtler Forms of Persuasion

In addition to the three dominant frameworks of persuasion that have been examined in media contexts, there are three other, subtler forms of persuasion that warrant close attention: framing, narrative, and product placement.

Framing theories generally posit that the way in which information is presented, or the perspective taken in a message, influences a range of audience responses. As Entman ( 1993 ) states, a message frame will “promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation….” (p. 52). As a result of the framing process, receivers notice, process, think about, and store information in a manner consistent with a particular message frame (Fiske & Taylor, 1991 ), which in turn may influence the information people use to form opinions (Price & Tewksbury, 1997 ). In essence, a frame is a perspective infused into a message that promotes the salience of selected pieces of information over others. When adopted by receivers, frames may influence individuals’ views of problems and their necessary solutions.

Several prominent studies provide evidence supporting this claim in a variety of contexts, including how language choice influences risky decision-making (Kahneman & Tversky, 1984 ), how television news framing affects attributions of responsibility for both the causes of and the treatments for social problems (Iyengar, 1991 ), how political journalistic news norms help to define the ideas people express when talking about politics (Gamson, 1992 ), and how news coverage of political campaigns influences how the public thinks about political processes (Cappella & Jamieson, 1997 ). In sum, these research programs indicate that the way in which information is presented can influence how people understand, evaluate, and act on a problem or issue.

Regarding the cognitive processes through which framing effects occur, it is generally suggested that such effects are the result of information accessibility biases. According to Iyengar ( 1991 ), when fed a steady diet of one type of frame over another, individuals tend to recall and use the information consistent with the predominant frame when making a decision. Price and Tewksbury ( 1997 ) argue that such accessibility of applicable information from memory influences decision making in both the short and long term if those thoughts continue to be made accessible to the individual by repetitious exposure to certain frames over others. Cappella and Jamieson ( 1997 ) also argue that news frames stimulate access to certain information, beliefs, and/or inferences, making them increasingly accessible with repeated exposure. However, they further suggest that decision making is influenced by both memory-based and online processing rather than relying solely on memory-based influences.

There is great diversity in the rich extant framing literature in terms of conceptualization, operationalization, and context application, and the many calls for strong theory development to help make sense of this increasingly disparate area of influence have been generally unsuccessful. Still, there are helpful ways to view the framing literature that give it some clearer structure. In considering the various ways in which framing has been studied, Shah, McLeod, Gotlieb, and Lee ( 2009 ) identify two key dimensions—precision versus realism, and context-specific frames versus context-transcendent frames. Precision involves holding information content constant while manipulating only the way in which that information is presented, whereas realism allows for natural variation in messages (including their content) to allow for greater external validity. This is a critical distinction because framing effects based on precision can be argued to be solely a function of the presentation of the information, whereas framing based on realism, although perhaps more externally valid, conflates influence based on both content and style.

Regarding Shah et al.'s second dimension, context-specific research focuses on the frames that may exist within a certain topic that do not translate to other contexts or when applied to another context do not mean the same thing (e.g., an economic frame in health care is not the same as an economic frame in a political campaign), whereas context-transcendent views suggest that there are more generic forms of presentation that cut across contexts (strategy versus issue frames in politics or gain versus loss frames in health). These dimensions certainly highlight critical ways in which framing studies may vary, although the field still awaits more detailed theorizing building on these variations.

Given all media messages (and indeed all messages generally) involve selection and salience by virtue of their mere construction, framing is an inherent part of all persuasive messages. The question most central to this chapter, then, is what forms of media message construction result in what patterns of influence. As we look to the communication literature, framing is a central feature of research in both political and health communication. The political communication research tends to focus more on unintentional effects of the news media's presentation of issues, whereas health communication research considers more directly intentional efforts to influence audiences’ attitudes and behaviors, so it is on the latter area that we will focus.

The bulk of research on framing, persuasion, and health is rooted primarily in prospect theory. Prospect theory is a particular brand of framing theory developed to explain choices involving risk in which people often prefer options incompatible with the most rational choice (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979 , 1984 ; Tversky & Kahneman, 1981 ). More specifically, messages inviting risky decision making may present issues in terms of one of two basic frames: losses (e.g., disadvantages or detriments related to not engaging in an advocated behavior) or gains (e.g., benefits or advantages related to complying with an advocated behavior). In processing the framed options, message receivers subjectively evaluate them, assessing value based on whether they are expected to improve or impair the current situation. Importantly, this subjective perception is often at odds with the objective likelihood of experiencing an outcome.

Consequently, according to Tversky and Kahneman ( 1981 ), there are predictable shifts of preference depending on whether a problem is framed in terms of gains or losses. In general, people are more risk averse when faced with gain-framed messages. That is, if a person sees the current situation as good or certain, she or he will hesitate to engage in a behavior perceived as potentially interfering with the current status of certainty. Conversely, people are predictably more risk-seeking when exposed to loss framed messages. That is, if a person perceives the present situation as costly, she or he will feel there is little to lose by engaging in a behavior that involves some risk.

Prospect theory asserts that generally speaking, loss frames are more effective at influencing behavior (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979 ). However, Rothman and Salovey ( 1997 ) note that when assessing the impact of frame type in the context of health messages, the type of behavior (e.g., prevention or detection) is relevant. More specifically, they argue that health prevention behaviors (e.g., exercise, teeth brushing, sunscreen use) are generally viewed as less risky compared with detection behaviors (e.g., cholesterol screening, dental visit, dermatological skin check) because by nature they provide more certain and desirable outcomes, helping to maintain current health and inhibit unwanted health problems. Thus, Rothman and Salovey argue that gain frames, which also focus on a behavior's health benefits, can be more effective than loss frames in the prevention behavior context, as evidenced by research promoting regular exercise (Robberson & Rogers, 1988 ), intentions and behaviors to wear sunscreen (Rothman, Salovey, Antone, Keough, & Martin, 1993 ; Block & Keller, 1995 ; Detweiler, Bedell, Salovey, Pronin, & Rothman, 1999 ), and obtaining a plaque-fighting mouthwash (Rothman, Martino, Bedell, Detweiler, & Salovey, 1999 ).

Conversely, because of the potential to be informed of an undesirable health state, detection behaviors are often considered risky and anxiety-evoking (Rothman & Salovey, 1997 ). Because loss frames generally lead to greater adherence in risky situations, loss-framed messages are thought to be more effective in promoting detection behaviors (Rothman et al., 1993 ; Banks et al., 1995 ), such as breast self-examinations (Meyerowitz & Chaiken, 1987 ); getting a mammogram (Banks et al., 1995 ); and dental exams (Rothman et al., 1999 ; see Rothman & Updegraff, 2011 , for a current overview).

Although the relative advantages of the prevention-gain frame/detection-loss frame pairings are generally supported across individual studies, it is important to acknowledge critical potential moderators of these relationships. First, the predicted interaction is contingent on the targeted behaviors being perceived as relatively safe (prevention) versus relatively risky (detection). It is of course possible that objectively defined prevention or detection behaviors may be viewed as risky or safe, respectively, by specific audiences, thus disrupting the expected pattern of findings (Rothman & Updegraff, 2011 ). Second, a recent meta-analysis has called the strength of the detection-loss frame effect into question (O'Keefe & Jensen, 2009 ), suggesting the nature of the detection behavior itself (e.g., its ability to be cognitively or affectively engaging) may impact whether a particular frame offers persuasive advantage (see also Rothman & Updegraff, 2011 ). Third, personality traits or dispositions of the message receiver (e.g., promotion or prevention focus, approach or avoidance tendencies, regulatory focus) may influence the likelihood of framing effectiveness. For example, promotion-focused people, who are oriented toward growth and accomplishment (i.e., “wants”), may respond more favorably to gain-framed messages, whereas prevention-focused people, who are concerned with safety and security goals (i.e., “oughts”), may respond more favorably to a loss-framed message (Rothman, Wlaschin, Bartels, Latimer, & Salovey, 2008 ; Rothman & Updegraff, 2011 ). Further, additional audience factors, such as issue involvement, may influence frame effectiveness. Indeed, evidence suggests that issue involvement may lead to stronger framing effects (Maheswaran & Meyers-Levy, 1990 ; Rothman et al, 1993 ) perhaps because of closer information processing (Rothman & Salovey, 1997 ).

From a persuasion perspective, it is clear that the intentional framing of messages may have advantages to influencing attitudes, behavioral intentions, and behaviors regarding targeted health behaviors, and that a match between the audience's construal of the behavior and the message frame is critical to maximizing persuasive advantage. Understanding in more depth the factors relevant to such matching is obviously critical to harnessing framing for maximum benefit. Also greatly needed is a deeper understanding of the psychological process through which framing effects emerge (Rothman & Updegraff, 2011 ). Particularly overlooked, in our view, has been the role of emotion in these processes (Nabi, 2007 ). Apart from some general associations drawn between loss-framed messages/detection behaviors, gain-framed messages/prevention behaviors, and negative and positive feelings, respectively, there is little discussion of the role of emotion in framing effects. Deeper exploration into the ways in which specific emotions evoked within these contexts impact audience processing and decision making could be enlightening.

Also, with due respect to the extensive research on gain and loss frames in health messages, there are other forms of health message presentation that may be worth pursuing to better understand how message framing may influence health decision making. For example, as noted earlier, Nabi ( 2007 ) presents an emotions-as-frames model in which she argues that emotions themselves serve as frames to influence information accessibility and information seeking such that emotion-consistent behaviors result. Tests of these assumptions would help shed light on how different emotion frames, apart from or perhaps in conjunction with gain and loss frames, may influence health decision-making. Another context-transcendent frame set that might warrant greater attention is personal responsibility versus societal or environmental influence, in which the former frame may lead to more individual action, whereas the latter may lead to changes in public policy. Exploring the alternative ways in which health information may be presented, other than via gain versus loss, may allow for richer and more extensive applications of intentional message framing.

Finally we wish to make two additional observations. First, framing and health research tends to focus on how information is presented in text rather than how information might be presented visually or interactively. Research linking more innovative modes of information presentation to the framing literature may prove insightful. Second, there is little if any research or discussion on potential boomerang effects in the context of framing and health messages. Given the importance of understanding not simply when messages work, but also when they backfire, this line of inquiry, too, would be of great benefit, especially in light of the repeated exposure that is the goal of health campaigns.

Narrative Persuasion

Narrative persuasion offers a second common form of “subtle” influence. Although many definitions have been used, a narrative can be defined as a story with, “…an identifiable beginning, middle, and end that provides information about scene, characters, and conflict; raises unanswered questions or unresolved conflict; and provides resolution” (Hinyard & Kreuter, 2007 , p. 778). A narrative structure can offer some advantages over more overt persuasive appeals for several reasons. First, narratives are able to attract attention in a competitive media environment. Indeed, scholars have noted the unique potential for entertainment media to reach audiences compared to traditional persuasive messages or news media (Montgomery, 1990 ; Jin, 2006 ). Because entertainment narratives are appealing and engrossing, individuals are more likely to direct their attention to them, and by default, to the embedded educational message (Bandura, 2004 ). Second, stories featuring well-liked or attractive characters are well-suited for modeling behavior (e.g., Bandura, 1986 ). Third, narrative persuasion offers the unique potential to persuade without arousing traditional forms of resistance (e.g., reactance and counterarguing).

A growing body of research has examined how narrative media messages can influence viewers’ attitudes and behaviors across a variety of health or social issues. We begin our discussion first by elaborating on the primary context of the study of persuasion and narrative—entertainment-education—before discussing the theoretical foundations of the persuasive influence of narrative.

Entertainment-Education

One common application of narrative persuasion has been entertainment-education (EE). Generally speaking, EE refers to media programs that “entertain and educate, in order to increase audience members’ knowledge about an educational issue, create favorable attitudes, and change overt behavior” (Singhal & Rogers, 1999 , p. 9). Beginning with early programs developed in Mexico in the 1980s (Sabido, 1981 ), EE efforts have targeted a range of behaviors and topics, such as AIDS prevention, gender equity, condom use, sex education, and literacy (Sood, Menard, & Witte, 2004 ).

Generally speaking, evidence suggests that under the right circumstances, EE can be an effective form of persuasion (for review, see Singhal & Rogers, 2004 ). For example, one of the most successful documented EE efforts is “Soul City,” an entertainment media campaign in South Africa that, among other elements, features a prime time television drama series that addresses various health-related topics each year, including HIV prevention and control (Singhal & Rogers, 2001 ). Using pre- and posttest panel surveys, evaluations have shown that broadcasting of this program associated with increases in knowledge of HIV transmission and prevention, positive attitudes toward condom use, and increases in prevention behaviors (Singhal & Rogers, 2001 ; Soul City Institute, 2005 ).

Although International EE interventions are typically developed with specific health or prosocial goals in mind, in the United States, educational storylines are typically embedded into otherwise purely entertainment programming (Singhal & Rogers, 1999 ; Greenberg, Salmon, Patel, Beck, & Cole, 2004 ). Sometimes these storylines appear through the work of advocacy groups (Greenberg et al., 2004 ), whereas in other cases they are developed solely by television writers (Singhal & Rogers, 2004 ). Research generally supports the effectiveness of this sort of EE program on audience awareness and knowledge of various health issues, such as condom efficacy (based on an episode of the situation comedy Friends ) (Collins, Elliott, Berry, Kanouse, & Hunter, 2003 ), emergency contraception and human papillomavirus (based on a storyline from the prime time drama ER ) (Brodie et al., 2001 ), and HIV and cancer plotlines in various entertainment television programs (Beck, 2004 ; Hether, Huang, Beck, Murphy, & Valente, 2008 ; Wilkin et al., 2007 ). There is also evidence that EE efforts can influence viewer attitudes toward stigmatized groups, such as individuals with HIV (O'Leary, Kennedy, Pappas-DeLuca, Nkete, Beck, & Galavotti, 2007 ; Lapinski & Nwulu, 2008 ) or mental illness (Ritterfeld & Jin, 2006 ). Moreover, EE may influence viewers’ behavioral intentions. Specifically, viewers of television dramas featuring organ donation storylines were more likely to decide to donate if the drama explicitly encouraged it, particularly if viewers were emotionally involved in the narrative (Morgan, Movius, & Cody, 2009 ).

Exposure to an EE program can also prompt viewers to both seek out additional information about a topic, such as HIV (Kennedy, O'Leary, Beck, Pollard, & Simpson, 2004 ) or breast cancer screening (Wilkin et al., 2007 ), and inspire conversations about the topics embedded in the narrative (Valente, Kim, Lettenmaier, Glass, & Dibba, 1994 ; Papa et al., 2000 ; Sood, Shefner-Rogers, & Sengupta, 2006 ; Pappas-DeLuca et al., 2008 ). For example, a recent experiment showed that characters who model difficult conversations about safer sex can boost viewers’ self-efficacy and encourage them to engage in similar conversations in their own lives (Moyer-Gusé, Chung, & Jain, 2011 ). Thus, extant research supports the influence of EE efforts on a range of persuasion-related variables, including knowledge, attitudes, behavioral intentions, information seeking, and conversation.

The narrative influence strategy typically used in EE programs is not without limitations. For example, because the underlying persuasive content in a narrative is less overt, viewers are free to actively construct its meaning. As a result, EE narratives can lead to misinterpretation among some viewers (Singhal & Rogers, 2001 ). Although evidence for EE effectiveness abounds, some studies have found that these narrative-based messages are effective at influencing only a subset of viewers and may lead to boomerang effects among others (e.g., Vidmar & Rokeach, 1974 ; Wilson et al., 1992 ; Moyer-Gusé & Nabi, 2011 ). Such findings highlight the need for greater understanding of the mechanisms by which narrative influence occurs.

Theoretical Foundations of Narrative Persuasion

One frequently cited explanation for the success of EE efforts is social cognitive theory (SCT) (Bandura, 1986 ). Social cognitive theory revolves primarily around the functions and processes of observational learning (Bandura, 1986 , 2002b). That is, by observing others’ behaviors, including those of media figures, one may develop rules to guide one's own subsequent actions. More specifically, Bandura ( 1986 , 2002b) argues that observational learning is guided by four processes, which are moderated by observers’ cognitive development and skills. First, attention to certain models and their behavior is affected by source and contextual features, like attractiveness, relevance, functional need, and affective valence. Second, retention processes focus on the ability to symbolically represent the behavior observed and its consequences, along with any rehearsal of that sequence. Production focuses on translating the symbolic representations into action, reproducing the behavior in seemingly appropriate contexts and correcting for any errors based on the feedback received. Finally, motivational processes influence which symbolically represented behaviors are enacted based on the nature or valence (positive or negative) of the reinforcement. Such reinforcement may come from the feedback generated by one's own behavior, the observed feedback given to others, or internal incentives (e.g., self-standards). As observational learning occurs via symbolic representations, the effects are believed to be potentially long-lasting.

Because of humans’ capacity to think symbolically, mediated narratives are especially useful vehicles to achieve observational learning and increase self-efficacy to perform given behaviors (Bandura, 2001 ). Drawing from the above theoretical explication, SCT suggests that, in essence, for mediated content to positively affect audience members’ behaviors, the audience must pay attention to attractive or similar models performing relevant behaviors. Models engaging in positive behaviors should be positively reinforced, whereas those engaging in negative behaviors should be negatively reinforced (Austin & Meili, 1994 ; Bandura, 2001 ). Thus, a character who is rewarded for his or her behavior serves to positively motivate and reinforce that behavior in the mind of the viewer, whereas behaviors for which characters are punished are negatively reinforced (Bandura, 2004 ). Bandura further argues that identification with a character (the process of temporarily taking on the role of that character) and perceived similarity may enhance this effect.

Beyond the potential for modeling, more recent theorizing in narrative persuasion has pointed to the ways in which narratives may reduce message resistance. First came the notion of transportation , or absorption into a story such that one loses track of the real world and experiences the unfolding events in the story (Gerrig, 1993 ; Green & Brock, 2000 ). Transportation is argued to minimize resistance to persuasion as the audience's focus on the plot reduces their motivation and/or ability to counterargue the message position. Building from this notion, Slater and Rouner ( 2002 ) proposed the extended elaboration likelihood model (E-ELM), which, although based on the ELM (described in a preceding section), was developed specifically to address how individuals process narrative messages. The E-ELM posits that, compared with more overt persuasive appeals, narrative messages foster greater absorption and identification with characters, both of which suppress counterarguing with the underlying persuasive subtext. This enhanced state of engagement is dependent upon the appeal of the storyline, the quality of production, and the “unobtrusiveness of persuasive subtext” (Slater & Rouner, 2002 , p. 178). In this way, using a narrative structure may lead to effective persuasion by reducing viewers’ motivation to generate counterarguments while viewing.

There is certainly evidence that transportation into mediated entertainment messages relates to story-consistent attitudes (e.g., Kennedy, Turf, Wilson-Genderson, Wells, Huang, & Beck, 2011 ; Murphy, Frank, Moran, & Patnoe-Woodley, 2011 ). And although some research supports the notion that the transportation-persuasion link is a function of reduced counterargument in the context of written narratives (Green & Brock, 2000 ), little is known about the relationship between absorption and counterarguing in the context of audiovisual media (Hinyard & Kreuter, 2007 ). Indeed, evidence on this point is mixed. Slater, Rouner, and Long ( 2006 ) found that watching a television drama about controversial issues (e.g., gay marriage, the death penalty) led to greater support for related public policies with very minimal counterarguing, whereas Moyer-Gusé and Nabi ( 2010 ) found transportation positively related to participants’ self-reported counterarguing of a television drama regarding teen pregnancy. Thus, the effect of transportation on counterarguing is still somewhat of an open question.

Most recently, building on the strengths of both SCT and E-ELM, the entertainment overcoming resistance model (EORM) (Moyer-Gusé, 2008 ) focuses on how different features of media narratives (e.g., identification, parasocial interaction, perceived persuasive intent) can overcome a range of sources of persuasive resistance. For example, the EORM contends that narrative messages may reduce psychological reactance by diminishing viewers’ perception that the message intends to persuade. Similarly, including characters with whom viewers have a parasocial relationship may make the underlying persuasive content feel less authoritative, thus also reducing reactance. Further, the EORM posits that a narrative message can increase perceptions of vulnerability to some threats via identification with characters, and thus motivate positive attitude and behavior change. Indeed, Moyer-Gusé and Nabi ( 2010 ) found evidence offering support for each of these claims, although the perceived vulnerability-identification association emerged only after some time had passed, which is consistent with other research on entertainment media and sleeper effects (e.g., Appel & Richter, 2007 ; Nabi, Moyer-Gusé, & Byrne, 2007 ; Moyer-Gusé et al., 2011 ). Further, evidence suggests that identification with main characters—another form of absorption into the narrative—reduced counterarguing with the underlying message (Moyer-Gusé & Nabi, 2010 ; Moyer-Gusé, Chung, & Jain, 2011 ). In sum, a few studies have tested portions of the EORM, finding support for several predictions of the model. By linking these message-based processes to various forms of resistance to persuasion, the EORM offers insight for message designers to reduce a range of barriers to persuasive success.

In sum, considering the unique ways in which narrative media messages can overcome various forms of resistance to persuasion appears to be a useful way to understand EE effects and perhaps persuasion effects more generally. Future research should continue to explore the mechanisms of narrative persuasion effectiveness. Specifically, given that most EE research has focused on dramatic narratives, the persuasive effects of other genres, such as comedy or mystery programming, should be considered. Entertainment-education research could also benefit from a focus on identifying the right balance of entertainment and education content to maximize the effectiveness of EE messages. As noted, one limitation of EE is the potential for misinterpretation, in part stemming from the underlying persuasive message being too subtle or open to interpretation. One way this has been addressed in practice is by including an epilogue to underscore the intended message. However, little is known about how this strategy may alter EE effects. Indeed, several of the propositions of the EORM as well as the EELM depend on persuasive intent remaining in the background. Future research should examine the message features necessary to ensure that the underlying persuasive message is clear without coming across as didactic or interfering with the narrative experience.

Product Placement

Finally, we wish to address one more instance of a subtle form of persuasion in the media: product placement. Although definitions vary across the literature, product placement generally refers to the purposeful inclusion of a brand within some entertainment media content (Karrh, 1998 ; van Reijmersdal, Neijens, & Smit, 2009 ). Typically, this placement is bought or bartered by an advertiser to gain attention for a brand or to affect brand selection, and can be classified along three dimensions: visual, auditory, and plot connection (Russell, 1998 ). The visual dimension refers to the visual appearance of the brand on the screen (e.g., the number of times the product is shown, the relative size of the product on the screen, the positioning in the foreground or background). The auditory dimension addresses whether the brand is mentioned in dialog (e.g., how frequently the brand is named, emphasis placed on the brand itself, which character refers to the product). The third dimension, plot connection, involves how well-integrated the brand is into the message's storyline.

Although product placement has become increasingly popular as an advertising tactic, the research on its effectiveness is still rather diffuse and disconnected (e.g., Karrh, 1998 ; Balasubramanian, Karrh, & Patwardhan, 2006 ; van Reijmersdal et al., 2009 ). This discussion highlights the major trends in product placement research, focusing specifically on the dependent measures used to assess effectiveness, their interrelationships, and the psychological mechanisms used to explain them.

Early product placement research focused primarily on explicit memory of the placed brand as a measure of effectiveness (perhaps because of the centrality of ad recall in the advertising literature.) Explicit memory refers to what a viewer can consciously recall seeing (Law & Braun-LaTour, 2004 ), and research suggests that explicit memory is enhanced by the prominence of the product placement within the entertainment message (Gupta & Lord, 1998 ; Law & Braun, 2000 ; Yang & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2007 ). For example, placements that are well integrated into the plot are more prominent and therefore more likely to be remembered than those that are tangential (Yang & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2007 ). Similarly, placements are more memorable when a brand is depicted visually and verbally as opposed to just one or the other (Law & Braun, 2000 ). In these ways, more prominent placements are more likely to be explicitly remembered by audience members.

Although prominent placements are more likely to be recalled, importantly, this does not necessarily enhance brand choice. For example, Yang and Roskos-Ewoldsen ( 2007 ) in examining three levels of prominence (background, used by main character, connected to plot) found that although the more prominent placements were more readily recognized afterward, they had no effect on brand choice. In fact, explicit recall for the placement can actually lead to more negative attitudes toward the brand. Similarly, Law and Braun ( 2000 ) found that product placements that were depicted visually but not mentioned (i.e., less explicit), had a greater effect on brand choice than those that were depicted audiovisually or those that were mentioned verbally (i.e., more explicit), even though the visual-only placements were least likely to be explicitly recalled. That is, the least memorable placement was the one that most influenced brand preference.

Similar results have been found regarding connection to plot and placement within highly liked programs. Russell ( 2002 ) found that when a placement seemed out of place (such as a verbal reference to a product that is not well integrated into the plot), it was more likely to be recalled but less likely to enhance persuasion, perhaps because such placements are perceived by the audience as unnatural. Relatedly, Cowley and Barron ( 2008 ) found that viewers high, but not low, in program liking experienced less supportive attitudes in response to product placement within that program, arguably because fans are likely to pay more careful attention to the show, making them better able to explicitly recall the placement and be more conscious of the persuasive intent.

Taken together, these results show that more memorable placements do not necessarily translate into greater persuasion and indeed may interfere with persuasive effect. This apparent disjuncture may be explained based on the constructs of awareness of persuasive intent and cognitive resistance. More specifically, a prominent placement is more likely to activate viewers’ cognitive defenses against persuasive messages. When a viewer notices a placement and elaborates on its persuasive intent, it may induce greater irritation and/or counterarguing, thus leading to greater resistance (e.g., Friestad & Wright, 1994 ). More prominent placements, because they are more likely to be noticed, can lead to this sort of elaboration and counterarguing. In other words, it is because the audience notices the placement that they are able to resist its influence. Conversely, if the audience is exposed to the product placement in more subtle ways (e.g., visual depiction only, brief screen time/mention, smooth integration into the plot), the product has been primed and thus made cognitively accessible to the viewer, but because of the limited awareness of the source of its activation, the viewer is less motivated and/or able to control its influence on their choices. Thus, by increasing the cognitive accessibility of a brand, more subtle product placements may increase the likelihood that it will be chosen. Indeed, research supports this notion that exposure to a placement increases brand accessibility (e.g., Yang, Roskos-Ewoldsen, Dinu, & Arpan, 2006 ; Yang & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2007 ).

In essence, more prominent product placements increase the likelihood that an audience member will be aware of the persuasive intent and thus be more motivated and/or able to resist in terms of product choice. Conversely, less prominent placements, although less likely to be recalled, can lead to greater product selection because of cognitive priming and accessibility. Future research would certainly benefit from comparing the relative effectiveness of product placement relative to traditional advertising forms. In addition, understanding more clearly the conditions under which product placement influences attitudes and behaviors would be useful. Further, it would be helpful to consider more directly the way in which media features and processes influence product placement effectiveness. For example, does transportation encourage or impede a product's perceived prominence within a story and thus, in turn, influence the persuasive impact of the product placement? Additionally, some research has shown that when brands are used by liked characters, they are evaluated more favorably (d'Astous, & Chartier, 2000 ; Yang & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2007 ). Given what is known about social cognitive theory, might liked characters’ use of products increase audience liking for those products such that product prominence in the message might turn out to be a productive, rather than counterproductive, factor? Similarly, does liking a movie translate into liking products placed within them in ways that undermine the resistance associated with awareness of product placement? In sum, considering more directly the media effects variables relevant to the entertainment context together with the psychological process associated with product placement should allow both lines of research to move forward in meaningful ways.

Clearly a wide range of psychological perspectives have been applied to the context of media-based persuasion. Some of these perspectives (e.g., cognitive response models, expectancy value models, fear appeals) capture quite well the influence process associated with overt persuasive attempts in a very wide range of contexts, whereas others (e.g., framing, narrative, product placement) help capture the subtleties associated with persuasive messages conveyed in more specific media forms or contexts. And combined, both sets of literature make it quite clear that understanding what is necessary for successful persuasion requires understanding (and avoiding) the conditions of resistance to persuasion. Thus, future research will benefit from attention to the structure and design of messages that foster attention without simultaneously triggering psychological resistance. Closer consideration of issues related to emotional arousal, visual communication, transportation, and identification across these various contexts, we believe, will be critical to understanding this delicate balance. Especially given the extraordinary technological developments that are now influencing the creation, conveyance, and receipt of mediated persuasive messages, it is essential that scholars consider more fully the ways in which message construction interacts with psychological orientation to impact information processing and decision making. The marriage of psychological theory and media effects has been a fruitful one to this point, and their continued interrelationship will be critical to understanding more fully persuasion processes in the new media age.

Questions for Future Research

How will the assumptions of the ELM and other cognitive response models hold up in light of new forms of persuasive message design and delivery?

How does the construction of media-based persuasive messages designed to capture attention influence expectancy value–based calculations?

Under what conditions are positive emotional appeals effective and how do they compare with the effectiveness of negative emotional appeals?

What factors moderate the effectiveness of gain versus loss frames?

What entertainment message features link to what psychological states such that resistance to persuasion is minimized?

How does product placement effectiveness compare with the effectiveness of traditional forms of advertising?

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Yang, M. , Roskos-Ewoldsen, D. R. , Dinu, R. , & Arpan, L. ( 2006 ). The effectiveness of “in-game” advertising: Comparing college students’ explicit and implicit memory for brand names.   Journal of Advertising , 35 , 143–152.

Young, D. G. ( 2008 ). The privileged role of the late-night joke: Exploring humor's role in disrupting argument scrutiny,   Media Psychology , 11 , 119–142.

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ChatGPT for Teachers

Trauma-informed practices in schools, teacher well-being, cultivating diversity, equity, & inclusion, integrating technology in the classroom, social-emotional development, covid-19 resources, invest in resilience: summer toolkit, civics & resilience, all toolkits, degree programs, trauma-informed professional development, teacher licensure & certification, how to become - career information, classroom management, instructional design, lifestyle & self-care, online higher ed teaching, current events, media literacy includes teaching the power of persuasive language.

Recent news articles about fake news and “alternative facts” make it clear that media literacy is an essential skill we should be building in our classrooms.

Beyond figuring out what’s real or fake, students need to understand how persuasive language affects their media experience. That starts with helping them develop rhetorical insight on how word choice and tone affect an audience’s emotional reaction to the information they read. (After all, persuasive language aims to trigger a response.)

Understanding the emotional weight of word choice significantly improves students’ ability to engage media critically. This is the first step toward learning the power (and danger) of persuasive writing, which in turn helps them learn to use it properly in their assignments.

Denotation vs. connotation

As students learn to decode and compose writing, teachers focus primarily on denotation — the literal definition of a word. We ask ourselves: Do students understand what the word means and how to use it?

That’s an essential start, but as students begin to do research and employ persuasive language in assignments, they must take the additional step of learning connotation — what words imply aside from their literal meaning. Certain words have emotional associations, be they positive or negative, that help students see pathos or the emotional power of writing. Persuasive writing attempts to use this emotional response to move the reader to act. That’s what makes it so powerful, and why students need to understand how it works.

Teaching students about persuasion start with loaded language: words with such significant connotations that they unfairly skew a reader’s experience. The following lessons help students explore word choice and reflect on the persuasive language around them.

A simple start: word sort

Often students have an intuitive sense of whether words are good, bad or neutral, which helps set the stage for conversations about persuasive language.

For this lesson, give students cards or name tags with sortable words that carry positive, negative or neutral connotations. Enchanted Learning has positive and negative vocabulary lists that are helpful. For example, one meaning across the three categories could be: indistinct (neutral), soft (positive) and dull (negative). Once students have received their labels, have them self-sort into positive, negative and neutral groupings.

Request that the group come to a consensus on the people/words they include, and develop an explanation to share with the class. Start a group discussion of how/why words were included or excluded. Once students have finished, give a short reading to the groups and have them rewrite it using neutral, positive or negative language. Then have groups share their work with the whole class.

Experience and vision

This lesson helps students see the influence of individual experience on how people see and describe the world.

To begin, have students create an imaginary character, disposition, and mood. Sharing a mood chart or even an emoji keyboard can help them pick their character’s mood. Then show the class the image of a neutral landscape and ask them to spend 10 minutes writing a description of that scene from their character’s point of view without disclosing their adopted attitude.

Place students in groups of three or four and have them share their writing while withholding their character and mood. Have the rest of the group use the clues they find on word choice to guess the author’s character and mood.

After guessing, have the authors disclose their characters and moods, and encourage groups to help each author revise their writing to increase the persuasive descriptive language. If possible, display both the image and the student samples, so they have a visual reminder of the angle of vision and the influence of emotion on language choice.

Loaded language in multiple voices

For older students who are familiar with positive and negative tone and word choice, consider a more advanced assignment.

For this exercise, have students read one positive, one negative and one neutral article about a single event. Do not label the pieces as positive, negative or neutral. Assign this as homework, requiring students to annotate the pieces looking for similarities, differences, and potentially loaded language.

Ask them to circle words they believe carry emotional connotation. Splitting students into groups, assign one article to each group. Have them discuss their notes with each other and prepare to lead the class in a discussion of their article.

Once the class is finished, have each student write a brief reflection exploring how their understanding of the event was affected by reading all three pieces and how they may have been limited having read only one.

Consistency is key

However, students learn about word choice and tone, remind them to be vigilant in identifying positive and negative connotations in word choice. Outside of scheduled lessons, encourage them to examine word choice in their textbooks, lessons and even their own commentary.

Persuasive language is designed to get people to take action. Whether the language is positive or negative, readers need a deep awareness of how it reveals an author’s intent.

These conversations encourage students to consistently examine the emotional impact of word choice so their persuasive language can be effective but fair.

Monica Fuglei is a graduate of the University of Nebraska in Omaha and a current faculty member of Arapahoe Community College in Colorado, where she teaches composition and creative writing.

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Chapter 6: 21st-century media and issues

6.3.2 Media literacy in commercials (synthesis)

English 102, september 2020.

In today’s society it has become an everyday thing to see commercials and advertisements because of all the technological advancements that have been made throughout the past few years. Speaking from personal experience, I see some sort of advertisement that is trying to persuade me to buy something almost every single day. I think almost everyone else can also agree that they see advertisements around them as well on a daily basis. Whether it is a sponsored ad on some sort of social media, such as Instagram, or it is a billboard that you see driving on the highway, businesses are constantly trying to persuade people to buy their products. Therefore, media literacy is in everyday activities even if someone doesn’t realize it. This goes to show how important it is for people to have the knowledge and understanding of what businesses are trying to persuade people to do with these advertisements. Going from this, commercials play a huge role in today’s world and people need to be able to have media literacy to understand what they are trying to present to the public.

Because of the vast ever-changing world, businesses in the economy are constantly trying to make a profit and connect with the public by using commercials. There have been multiple studies that have been researched on how people are affected by commercials. In this specific research study, that is discussed in the article “Teaching Media Literacy Skills About Commercials: A Comparative Analysis of Media Literacy Instruction,”, written by Christina Love, eighth grade kids’ attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge about commercials were studied (Love,3). Those who were taught media-related terms and did the activities that helped them be aware of certain things within media literacy were in the end able to recognize when commercials use selling techniques, target their specific audience, and use social values along with stereotypes (Love,4). Later on, the article goes on to discuss how the findings within the research showed obstacles faced by the participants when learning media literacy. However, the first idea addressed is the influence commercials have on people. The media has an obvious and strong effect on how humans think and act. The study specifically refers to children being exposed to a wide variety of messages that are addressed by commercials (Love, 8). Throughout the study the researchers had to study the problems faced with media literacy education, the influence of commercials, the reasoning behind why the subjects were influenced, and the limitations that they found in their research(Love, 12). Before discussing the actual research done, the background of the problem is addressed, and the media literacy instruction is the first part of understanding someone who is media literate (Love 12). A media literate person is able to recognize the purpose of the commercial that is being shown and the message that is addressed. They are also able to tell what specific group the ad is trying to target and how the values in the advertisement are able to influence the viewer. They are also able to detect the different techniques and features that are used when designing the advertisements and how they are able to present an emotional appeal to the viewer that causes them to connect with the advertisement(Love 13). Recognizing that children see many commercials on television in a day is important when understanding how they are also influenced by these advertisements that they see on a daily basis. Because advertisements are played so often children are shown to be able to recognize brand names and logos. This is what advertisers want to happen. Their goal is to overplay these advertisements repeatedly so that they can be easily memorized by the viewers (Love 15). Their hope of overplaying these advertisements is so that they can later remember them in their adult lives. All commercials are constructed very carefully and are played repeatedly so that they can be easily remembered and are able to target a specific audience (Love 16). Overall, media literacy is crucial for understanding the point of what advertisements are trying to get across to viewers and how they target certain audiences to try and persuade them. Without media literacy it is easy for the viewers to be easily taken advantage of and influenced by the advertisers. This article isn’t the only one that discusses the influence that commercials have on children and later on in their lives.

Another article that addresses a study done to show the relationship between children’s advertisement literacy and how they are changed by commercials is “Development and Testing of the Advertising Literacy Activation Task: an Indirect Measurement Instrument for Children aged 7-13 years old”. It is important to recognize how children are affected by the things around them. Along with this, media literacy and knowledge about commercials and what they are trying to do for the viewers is important for children to have an understanding of. Throughout this article the study was aimed to “assess children’s advertising literacy activation” (Hoek, Rozendaal, van Schie & Moniek 2). Throughout the article it talks about how there were multiple studies done to research the specific things that go along with advertisement literacy, such as analyzing different types of media and how they were able to interpret them (Hoek, Rozendaal, van Schie & Moniek 2). One of the many things discussed about this topic is how right it is for commercials to be target younger children. Because of their lack of knowledge of commercials and advertising literacy they are more prone to be affected by the effects that commercials have on people. Compared to adults, children have less experience and knowledge of how advertisements are made to target people and the effects that they have. There are many concepts that go into how people are able to understand and interpret advertisements. One of them being “conceptual advertising literacy”, which is how someone’s knowledge develops throughout their life due to the more experiences that they have (Hoek, Rozendaal, van Schie & Moniek 3). Because of this their beliefs change which causes the advertisers to change their aim and persuasive techniques. The overall results of the study showed that by being taught about advertising literacy before shown an commercial, children with the knowledge had different attitudes and were able to notice different techniques used by the advertisers than those that had no knowledge on advertising literacy (Hoek, Rozendaal, van Schie & Moniek 8). Along with this article, there are others that discuss how important it is to be educated in media literacy and the effects that commercials have on other people.

There are other forms of advertising that aren’t so direct as commercials are. One of them being using video creators or other social media influencers, that young kids look up to and admire, to promote a product. Because of the large use of social media in today’s society, younger teens are often persuaded to follow these influencers. They are often seen as being “trendsetters” because of how popular they are (Sophia van Dam & Eva A. van Reijmersdal 1). These video influencers are sponsored by certain businesses to show off their brand and promote it. They are indirectly targeting teens to buy their product. Today’s adolescence thinks that because this highly respected and valued person that they don’t even know is promoting a certain product that means that they should follow them and get that product. A lot of stores do this to promote their clotheslines. Viewers often perceive the influencers that they watch as their friends and develop an attachment to them (Sophia van Dam & Eva A. van Reijmersdal 3). The article “Insights in Adolescents’ Advertising Literacy, Perceptions and Responses Regarding Sponsored Influencer Veidos and Disclosures” discusses how in order to “empower adolescents and help them understand the persuasive nature of sponsored influencers videos” it is crucial for them to have an understanding of advertising literacy within the videos (Sophia van Dam & Eva A. van Reijmersdal 2). In the study that is discussed in the article the participants were shown a video of a popular influencer that was sponsored by Doritos to promote their brand (Sophia van Dam & Eva A. van Reijmersdal 6). After the video the participants’ attitudes and moral judgments were observed (Sophia van Dam & Eva A. van Reijmersdal 8). Overall, they found that with advertising literacy teens are able to form their own opinion on a brand rather than just following and automatically agreeing with a certain social media influencer that they look up to and admire.

Throughout all three of these articles the main point that is discussed is how advertisements are affecting youngers kids’ actions and attitudes towards specific products. All three seem to come to the conclusion that it is crucial for adolescents to be informed and have an understanding of advertising literacy. Along with this the three articles discussed above also relate to Gee’s “What is Literacy”. Gee talks about “discourses” and “identity kits”. These relate to advertising literacy because teens are their own “discourse” and are expected to act and think a certain way (Gee 14). Their “identity kit” impacts how they are supposed to dress within their “discourse” (Gee 14). Advertisements can take advantage of this by persuading them to buy their “cool” or “trendy” product. Gee also talks about “Secondary Discourses” (Gee 15). When teens are taught more about advertising literacy, they are acquiring the skill of how to recognize what the advertisement is trying to get them to do. Along with this within the “secondary discourse” they are able to see who the advertisers are trying to target with the techniques they use within their commercial or indirect advertisement. Therefore, it is important for younger kids to have advertising and media literacy in todays’ society because they are exposed to everyday advertisements that can affect the way they act and think.

Dam, Sophia Van, and Eva Van Reijmersdal. “Insights in Adolescents’ Advertising Literacy, Perceptions and Responses Regarding Sponsored Influencer Videos and Disclosures.”  Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace , vol. 13, no. 2, 2019, doi:10.5817/cp2019-2.

Hoek, Rhianne W., et al. “Development and Testing of the Advertising Literacy Activation Task: An Indirect Measurement Instrument for Children Aged 7-13 Years Old, Media Psychology.”  Media Psychology , doi:10.1080/15213269.2020.1817090.

Love, Christa.  Teaching Media Literacy Skills about Commercials: a Comparative Analysis of Media Literacy Instruction . Library and Archives Canada = Bibliothèque Et Archives Canada, 2009.

Zamel, Vivian.  Negotiating Academic Literacies: Teaching and Learning across Languages and Cultures . Routledge, 2017.

Understanding Literacy in Our Lives by Molly is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Persuade Me in Five Slides! Creating Persuasive Digital Stories

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

After students have completed writing persuasive essays, they work to develop their technology skills by creating five-slide narrated presentations that visually and concisely summarize their essays.  The students share their presentations with their classmates and discuss their effectiveness.

Featured Resources

Microsoft Photo Story :  Students can use this free software program to make five-slide narrated videos.

PowToon :  This Web 2.0 tool that requires an e-mail address to create an account is another choice for making the presentations.  This option will allow students to work on their presentations outside of the classroom, too.

From Theory to Practice

McLaughlin and Allen believe for students to become active readers, they must be supplied with appealing opportunities to learn comprehension strategies.  This lesson includes two of the skills they have identified as important to increase student reading comprehension.  They suggest that students need to practice visualizing what is happening in a text; in this engaging lesson students visualize their arguments from their own writing and share their ideas through their selected five images for their five-slide presentation.  Also, McLauglin and Allen list summarizing, “extracting essential information—including the main idea and supporting details—from text,” as an essential strategy.  Students have the opportunity to practice this skill in this lesson as they concisely summarize their essays in the narration of the presentation.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
• 2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.
• 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
• 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
• 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

• Computers with Internet access
• One computer with LCD projector
• Completed persuasive writing essays
• Five-Slide Presentation Rubric
• Five-Slide Presentation Planner
• Image Websites
• Instructions for Microsoft Photo Story

This Web site is a source for images used in session one to discuss the power of connecting an image with a stance.

This Web site has effective ads to encourage safe driving. Students in high school can easily relate to these images that send strong messages.

Windows Media Player can be downloaded using this link.

Preparation

• Prepare the computers or tablets for the project.  If students are using Microsoft Photostory , download this program to the computers as well as Windows Media Player so that the completed videos will play.  If the students will be using PowToon , post the website address on a class wiki or website.  If neither option is available, be prepared to tell the students the address of the website.
• Use the websites listed to familiarize yourself with which option you have chosen for students to create their presentation.  These websites could also be posted for students to use as they learn the technology.
• Bookmark the Image Websites or post them to a class wiki or website. If those options are not available, print one copy for each student of the Image Websites .
• Make one copy for each student of the printouts Five-Slide Presentation Rubric and Five-Slide Presentation Planner .
• Persuasive Essay:  Environmental Issues
• Persuading the Principal:  Writing Persuasive Letters About School Issues
• A Case for Reading:  Examining Challenged and Banned Books .
• Look at the website Fifty Creative & Effective Advertising Examples and/or 10 Creative Safe Driving Awareness Ads .  Save to the computer with the LCD projector three to five images that illustrate persuasive arguments, such as encouraging organ donation or discouraging texting while driving.

Student Objectives

Students will

• analyze their persuasive writing.
• concisely summarize their writing.
• create presentations that visually reflect their writing to others.
• Their topic and their stance on the topic.
• The three most persuasive reasons for their opinion.
• Conclusion including call to action.
• Once students have completed sharing with their partner, project the images you have saved from Fifty Creative & Effective Advertising Examples and/or 10 Creative Safe Driving Awareness Ads . Discuss with the students how combining an image with an opinion strengthensfiv an argument and solicit other examples they have seen of effective advertising.
• Invite students to visualize their arguments and consider how they could make their own persuasive writing stronger by combining their points with images. Explain to the class that they will have this opportunity as they will create a five-slide presentation that illustrates their persuasive writing assignment in a concise manner.
• Because of the time limit of two minutes and thirty seconds, concise wording is extremely important.
• Because images will add to the argument, selection of thought-provoking images is crucial.
• Because music evokes emotions, selecting appropriate background music is important, too.
• Because students will listen to each other’s presentations, their recordings need to be clear and read with emotion.
• Hand out the Five-Slide Presentation Planner printout and together read the instructions. As students work, circulate through the room, checking for concise word choice and grammar.
• Assign students to complete the printout before the next session.
• Be sure that the authors’s stance on the issue is readily identified.
• Check that the last slide explains what action needs to be taken.
• Identify two examples of concise word choice in their partner’s writing.
• Suggest two places where their partner could improve their word choice.
• Read the sentences out loud to each other to check on time.
• Check that all sentences are grammatically correct.
• After students have completed peer editing, allow time for students to make revisions.
• Model for students to how to find five images for the presentation using the Image Websites . Demonstrate where students should save their images. Also consider giving students the option of taking photos outside of the classroom and help them move the photos into the chosen software.
• As students work, question them about the choices of their images. Ask what effect the students think the images will evoke and how the selected images support their arguments.
• Model for students the method you have chosen for students to create their presentations. Include adding their photos and recordings to their presentations. Also, demonstrate how to change the volume of the background music.
• Allow time for students to work on their projects. As students work, assist those who have trouble with technology.
• At the end of the session, model for students how to save their presentations so they can continue working in the next session.
• Provide students more time finish their presentations.
• As students finish their presentations, pair them up to evaluate each other presentations using the Five-Slide Presentation Rubric .  After evaluating each other’s presentation, allow students additional time to make revisions.
• After students have revised their presentations, model for them how to complete the final save of their projects.  If they used PowToon , students can e-mail links of their finished project that can be posted to a class website or wiki. Microsoft Photo Story presentations can be e-mailed, saved to the school’s network or saved to a flashstick so that presentations can be easily shown during the next session.
• Project each student’s presentation and allow time after each presentation for comments and questions.
• What made these presentations interesting?
• Which presentations persuaded you? Why were they more effective?
• In what type of situations outside of the classroom would showing a persuasive presentation help you persuade others? Why would this be an effective method for dealing with particular issues or problems?
• How could this project have been improved?
• What did you learn from making these presentations?
• Share the presentations with other classes in the school.
• Try making other five-slide presentations for other types of writing.
• This lesson could also be done with the iPad app SonicPics (not a free app).

Student Assessment / Reflections

Possible student assessment include the following:

• Observe student participation in the discussion about the project during the last session.
• Use the Five-Slide Presentation Rubric to assess students’ finished products.
• Ask students to explain the relationship between the images and music they choose for their arguments.
• Review students’ completed Five-Slide Presentation Planner printouts.
• Lesson Plans
• Strategy Guides
• Student Interactives
• Professional Library
• Calendar Activities

Students examine books, selected from the American Library Association Challenged/Banned Books list, and write persuasive pieces expressing their views about what should be done with the books at their school.

The Persuasion Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to map out their arguments for a persuasive essay or debate.

Students reflect on recent learning and the role digital tools and media have played in supporting or enhancing it.

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• Kindergarten K

Chapter 9: Media and Information Literacy

Oreva had nearly two dozen tabs up, showing various websites, videos, and journal articles on her research topic. At first, she was excited by all the information she was findings on the Mali Empire, a Western African Kingdom that flourished from about 1200 to 1600 ADE, that she wanted to present her informative speech on for class. However, as the night deepened, and it dawned on her that she might be pulling an all-nighter at the library, she became more and more despondent. Now, she just listlessly clicked from tab to tab, unable to concentrate on any source for long because there was just so much to read on the topic. A hand on her should startled her out of her reverie: “Hey, are you okay,” said a woman with glasses and brown hair, standing behind her and looking over her shoulder. “Wow, it looks like you have quite a lot of work ahead!” “ Tsh -yeah,” Oreva grumped. “I’m going to be here all night at this rate.” “Do you know how you’re going to organize all of those sources? Do you have some system?” “If you mean, ‘Do I have enough coffee to stay awake all night reading’ then yes,” Orevea joked. “Nah, I mean an actual system , ” the woman laughed. “Do you mind if I gave you some tips? ” “ Sure , but why are you being so helpful? To I look that clueless? ” Oreva asked. “ Oh goodness, no , ” the person reassured . “ I’m sorry, I should have introduced myself. My name’s Rebecca and I’m a research librarian. I’m here to help!”

Have you faced the same trouble as Oreva when looking for credible information? On the surface, it seems like it has never been easier to find material on any topic, whether on politics, fashion, science, relationships, or culture. To get this information, most people turn to search engines. Google search is the most used search engine on the internet, constituting nearly 92% of search engine market and processing nearly 9 billion requests per day (Mohsin, 2023). Although Google is an amazingly efficient search engine, as we talked about in Chapter Eight, it is a webcrawler program —meaning it picks up anything on the web that it detects is similar to your search keywords as well as other considerations such as advertisements and traffic. As such, search engines such as Google , Bing , Yahoo , or DuckDuckGo do not, and cannot, evaluate whether the information your search gets is necessarily factual, reliable, or credible, only what is related or paid for.

Another way that many people get their information from is their preferred social media platform. As Walker and Matsa (2021) found, Facebook still has the largest share of U.S. Americans who get their news from that platform (31%). However, for adults between 18-29, the preferred platforms are Snapchat (63%), TikTok (52%), Reddit (44%), and Instagram (44%) (Walker & Matsa, 2021). Collectively, approximately 79% of U.S. Americans reported getting news through social media websites. Much like the Google search engine, these searches may lead you to what is viral, popular, or trending, but not necessarily what is factual. Social media platforms also inhabit a grey area in media laws—on one hand they are not content producers of the news and have little legal obligation to ensure what is shown on their platform is credible information. On the other hand, they have enormous influence on how people interact with the news because it is the primary way people do engage with media content. Some social media companies have tried to—with varying degrees of success and effort—to combat misinformation , but since their revenue is advertisement generated, they have a monetary incentive to push information that promotes engagement (no matter the reason) not facts.

Unfortunately, there are many bad actors who take advantage of this weakness in search engines or social media platforms. For example, China’s “ Great Fire Wall ” serves to keep out content produced outside of their country while its 50 Cent Army (or wǔmáodǎng) amplifies pro-China propaganda abroad. Russia’s Internet Research Agency is a well-known troll-farm, spreading disinformation and propaganda in an effort to increase tensions, unrest, and dysfunction within enemy countries (including the United States) (Craig Silverman, 2023) while cracking down on Western internet traffic as it pursues its unjust war against Ukraine (Bandurski, 2022). Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter , has cut down on Twitter’s infrastructure to identify, track, and remove untrue, malicious, and unsubstantiated content (Drapkin, 2023) while Facebook has banned university professors studying the spread of disinformation on its platform (Bond, 2021). Entire platforms, such as The Parlor , Truth Social , 4Chan , and 8Kun pride themselves on having little or no content moderation, allowing users to spread everything from targeted hate campaigns to weird or malicious conspiracy theories such as QAnon .

Social media influencers use their vast networks to sell their products, generate advertisement revenue, and run morally and legally dubious operations, such as Stephen Crowder, Gwyneth Paltrow, or Andrew Tate. All of these problems, and more, are even more frightening in the context of research that has found that the top false news traveled through social networks faster and reach approximately 100 times more people than true news (Vosoughi et al., 2018). Your responsibility, as a content consumer and producer, is to make sure that you can identify, avoid, and create information that is rigorously made and vetted. In a democratic society, people make decisions, and their decisions can only be as good as the information they have to inform them. Spreading or consuming bad information (whether intentionally or not) makes it impossible to come to the best decisions for laws or policies for our communities.

Vetting Sources

The challenge of today is not finding information—it’s finding good information. Unfortunately, most people do not develop their information literacy skills and, instead, rely on mental shortcuts to make their decisions. For example, McGeough and Rudick (2018) found that students in public speaking classes made appeals to authority (e.g., “I found it in the library so it must be credible”), appeals to form/style (e.g., “The article was professionally formatted and in a print newspaper so I thought it was reliable”), appeals to popularity (e.g., “A lot of people use this source so it must be good”), and appeals to their own beliefs (e.g., “I am pro-guns and 2 nd Amendment, so I searched for information on ‘problems with gun control’”) when making their presentations. There are many reasons people rely on these shortcuts—lack of formal education, time constraints, stress, or unwillingness to develop ideas that are contrary to their important social groups (e.g., their religion or family). These shortcuts can influence how you vet, read, and use information for your presentations. Many times, students make decisions to choose their information sources because they have limited time (e.g., waiting until the night before an assignment is due) and cognitive bandwidth (e.g., they are stressed due to other class’s demands on time and attention). However, now is the time to develop these skills. If you do not know how to identify or create factual content, then you are more likely to make information choices based on convenience instead of rigor.

In this section, we offer one way that you can start to develop a stronger set of information literacy skills. We wish to be clear—this is not the only way to vet information, nor should this be the end of your journey on being a better information consumer or producer. You will need to routinely practice, revise, and update your skills. Doing so is especially important because internet trolls, online scammers, predatory corporations, and malicious governments are constantly updating their strategies for spreading misinformation and disinformation. Here, we’ll use the information literacy program SIFT to offer some guidance on vetting your sources (Caufield, 2017), informed by the best practices of the Association of College and Research Libraries .

The SIFT method has been found to an excellent way for students to begin learning information literacy skills because it encourages lateral reading (Brodsky et al., 2021). SIFT includes four moves: stop, investigate the source, find trusted coverage, and trace back to the original.

Before you even begin searching the Internet for information, STOP. What is your research purpose (e.g., to persuade, inform, or motivate)? What are you trying to do with the information you are looking at? Are you being open to competing or opposing viewpoints or have you searched using keywords that will automatically limit what kind of information you are going to get? Often, novice searchers have a vague idea of what they are looking for and then land on the first source that seems to connect to their topic. If you search this way, you are likely to land on information that has a particular viewpoint and then find yourself over focusing on it and excluding other information. Worst case scenario, you may find yourself in an echo chamber regardless of the credibility of information. Next, once you have found a source or a series of sources, STOP. Do you already think this source is credible, and if so, why? Relying on it because it is the first result of a search or because it agrees with your beliefs are poor reasons for relying on it. If you don’t know if it is credible or not, what criteria will you use to ascertain whether the source is worthwhile? Here, you should look at the reputation of the outlet (e.g., the news media corporation, academic journal, social media content producer, or individual expert or witness). Do they have a history of truth telling? Or, maybe they only have a history of reporting information that already affirms your beliefs or discounts/ignores competing views. If you don’t know if the source has a history of disseminating credible information, then you need to execute the next moves to ascertain its reliability.

Investigate the Source

If you have encountered a source that you never have before and/or if you don’t know if it is reputable or not, then you need to do some research on the outlet and/or author. What is their expertise and agenda? For example, many non-profit policy organizations such as the Heartland Institute , Heritage Institute , Cato Institute , Americans for Tax Reform , and the Family Research Council receive millions of dollars in donations from tobacco, oil, and gas industries or conservative religious groups. As result, a great deal of their policy downplays the harms of smoking cigarettes, hydraulic fracturing (i.e., fracking), climate change, and/or attacks LGBTQ rights and families. Many people might believe these are reputable sources because they are .org sites instead of .com sites, but .org simply means that it is an organization—there is no obligation on the part of that organization to give better information due to its .org status. This is not to say you should never visit these sources. There might be a need to know what a problem is or why it hasn’t been solved yet, and going to sources that promulgate bad information is a way to trace how untrue, harmful, or hateful content can negatively affect decision-making about a variety of issues. However, sources that are biased because of politics, faith, money, advertisement, or personal relationships must be approached with caution. By figuring out not just what a source says, but why it says it and who benefits from its advocacy, you can be a better content producer and consumer for your community.

Find Trusted Coverage

Next, is their advocacy in line with other outlets and, if not, why? That is, you should go to websites that offer information on the same topic to see if there is broad consensus or disagreement about the topic. For example, maybe the source you are using is older than a more recent source, indicating that knowledge in this field has changed. Or, the author has a fringe or minority view within a field that has broad consensus about an issue. To be clear, we are not saying that information that is generally agreed upon is always correct. However, when there is broad agreement on a topic then it requires a greater burden of proof for those who advocate against the established position. For example, NASA reports that approximately 97 percent of scientists agree that climate change is occurring, is affected by human pollution, and will negatively affect people around the world. But, don’t just take NASA’s word for it— The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , the United Nations , World Health Organization , and hundreds of other governmental, corporate, non-profit, and academic sources agree on these propositions. To disagree with this, a person would need to demonstrate climate change is not occurring, that if it is occurring humans aren’t the cause for it, and/or that climate change will not harm people— an extremely high burden of proof given the number of sources that agree these things will occur or are occurring. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and refuting generally agreed on propositions is considered an extraordinary claim. All-too-often, people promote misinformation or disinformation by claiming to have insider knowledge that “they” (i.e., Big Government , Big Pharma , the Illuminati , the Lizard People , etc.) don’t want you to have. This type of discourse is especially useful on U.S. Americans because, culturally, most of our media and history is shaped by the idea that brave truth-tellers, patriots, or morally clear-eyed individuals are often a lone voice against a throng of the evil and ignorant. However, it is important to remember that real-life decisions should be based on facts and facts are something that can and should be agreed to and recognized by the majority of experts on a given topic (no, your uncle posting bad memes information from FreedomEagle.net/ patriotsforcoal is not an expert!). Those who cannot meet this burden of evidence only use this cultural idea to hide the fact that they simply cannot meet the evidential burden of their position and do not want you to draw on other sources that might disagree with their analysis.

Trace the Original

Finding the original source of information is more and more important as it becomes easier to share content and information across the Internet and social media. For example, in response to a medical study, news outlets reported: “Silent, not deadly; how farts cure diseases” (Burnett, 2018), “Sniffing your partners’ farts could help ward off disease” (Sun, 2017), and “Scientists say sniffing farts could prevent cancer” (UPI, 2014). However, tracing their claims to the original study reveals a much different picture. The study (Le Trionnaire, 2014) showed how hydrogen sulfide, compound associated with (among other things) the disgusting smell of rotten eggs or human flatulence, may be delivered to the mitochondria of cells to as a way to fight disease and cancer. The study did not say farts cured disease or cancer or even that the compound hydrogen sulfide did; rather, the report made the more limited claim that the compound may be used as a tool in fighting disease and cancer and its efficacy is promising. Pictures, video clips, tweets, reactions, and even (as we see in this example) full medical studies can be condensed into clickbait titles that are meant to provoke anger, frustration, laughter, or sadness—because in the world of social media algorithms all of those emotions translate into engagement which means more advertisement dollars. You must be able to trace information to its original source and then evaluate whether the information that you have read is accurately reported and credible. Otherwise, you may find yourself sniffing farts for no reason!

It is important to remember that no one, single study, article, podcast, or YouTube video proves or disproves anything. Rather, it is only in reading laterally multiple sources or studies published over years that a clearer picture of credible information emerges. Using SIFT, you can begin to develop the skills that allow you to see information claims as part of a wider network of efforts moving from ignorance to knowledge. For example, the non-profit group Center for Scientific Integrity that tracks retracted academic articles (i.e., articles that have been published but later removed because of research misconduct or fabrication) shows how some scholars have abused their responsibilities as researchers. In one case, Yoshitaka Fuji, a Japanese researcher in anesthesiology and ophthalmology, was forced to retract 183 published papers (Stromberg, 2015)!

On one hand, it is chilling to know how long Fuji was able to elude detection. On the other hand, catching errors (whether intentionally made or not) is exactly why scholars engage in lateral reading. Researchers may review the findings of a study against other studies to see if their findings agree with past work or conduct the same tests to see if they get approximately the same result. If they don’t, then it raises questions about the surety of the previous study’s claims, inviting scrutiny and changing knowledge claims as more evidence supports or doesn’t the original study—which is ultimately how Fuji’s research was found to be fraudulent.

All of this is to say, there is no magic bullet, no one good type of source that will ensure that you have good information. It is a constant practice and one that encourages you to not take mental shortcuts. Working to make sure you are informed, demanding that your sources provide factual information, and informing others with high quality information are the only ways that all of us live in a healthy information ecosystem. As the old saying warns, “Garbage in, garbage out,” or, when you consume bad information, you’ll likely produce bad decisions or conclusions. So, don’t settle for garbage!

Reading Journal Articles

You’ve found a variety of sources, used SIFT to test them, and feel confident that they offer a clear picture of the side or sides of an issue. Great! But, as you begin trying to read the journal articles, you find them to be incredibly dense and difficult to get through. Don’t worry—this is a common problem experienced by novice researchers. We find that one of the challenges of reading research articles is that novice researchers try to read the entire article from start to finish to ascertain if it is worth using or vetting. We wish to be clear—not all journal articles follow the format guidelines we explain here. Some articles are opinion pieces, reviews of books, arguments with fellow researchers, or creative pieces that aren’t easily captured in the type of organization we outline here. Therefore, we implore you to go beyond the advice we give here and develop a wide set of tools for reading a variety of research articles.

However, we do believe this approach to reading articles a great place to start and can provide the foundation for being a good researcher. Therefore, we encourage you to follow this order of reading your articles as you begin researching so you can reduce your time searching for articles, increase your comprehension, and utilize the most valuable knowledge in the manuscript. As you develop as a researcher in your area of study, you will most likely need to develop new skills until you reach mastery in your subject.

Title/Abstract

The title of a research article will contain the major concepts, ideas, theories, method of analysis, or insights from the study. For example, the study “ Highlighting the intersectional experiences of students of color: A mixed methods examination of instructor (mis)behavior ” by Vallade et al. (2023) describes the research participants (i.e., students of color), major concepts (i.e., intersectional experiences and instructor (mis)behaviors), and research methodology (i.e., mix-methods or a combination of quantitative and qualitative research). You should also read the study’s abstract, which appears on the first page of the article. The abstract is usually a 100–300-word outline of the study’s purpose, relevant literature, research method/design, major findings, and implications. By reading the title/abstract, you can get a good idea on whether the article connects to the topic you are studying or not. If not, go onto the next article and read its title and abstract. If so, then you need to proceed to the next step.

Introduction

The introduction of the article is usually not notated or labeled as such. Rather, it is simply the first part of the article, which proceeds from the very start to the first major section heading of the article. The introduction of the article should detail the research purpose, which usually contains two elements. The first is the ‘practical’ issue or the actual challenge, issue, or topic the article responds to. This information lets the reader know what problems they will be able to solve or mitigate by finding out what the researchers found. The second, is the ‘theoretical’ issue, which details the academic questions or gaps that the study tries to address. This content shows the reader how the researchers are building on past scholarship in this area and justifying the need for the present study.

Literature Review

The final section you should read is the literature review. Sometimes the literature review is named ‘Literature Review,’ but often it is not explicitly named. Instead, it is understood that the first major section heading after the introduction is the beginning of the literature review. The purpose of the literature review is to provide a summarization of all the past research that has been conducted in the past about the topic. The literature review should also show how the current research is meaningfully building on that information and should end with the hypotheses or research questions that the study will address. Remember, you should rarely, if ever, cite work from the literature review. Rather, when you find any important information you find in this section, you should find the literature being cited in the reference section and go read that particular study or source.

The method section will describe who (e.g., the participants and their demographic information) or what (e.g., the documents, speeches, or content) they got data from. It will also detail what procedures were used to gather data (e.g., surveys or interviews) or texts (e.g., documents, speeches, or content). For example, in a statistical report, it will show what survey instruments were used and how reliable they have been in past studies as a way to justifying their use in the present study. Finally, the section will detail how the researchers analyzed the data in order to come up with new insights. This could be the author or author team’s explication of their statistical procedures used to test a hypothesis. The method section is important to examine because even if the results and discussion are important, if the method section shows a poorly designed research project, then those insights showed be read with extreme caution.

Results/ Discussion

Now you are going to skip everything between the introduction and the section labeled ‘Results’ or ‘Findings’ and ‘Discussion’ or ‘Implications’ in the article. Novice researchers often think that the whole research article is something that can be cited from. However, information in the introduction, literature review, or method sections is often a summary of past research or information on the topic. In other words, it a secondary source, since you are relying on the author of the present article to understand and convey the information from past studies to you. The information in the results section should be the statistical tests, interview excerpts, or other information that is produced through the application of the research method. The discussion section should summarize what the findings or results of the research article were as well as detail (or, discuss) the implications of the study for the production of knowledge on the topic. Much like the introduction, the discussion will most likely explain the ‘practical’ and ‘theoretical’ implications of the study. In other words, it will describe how the knowledge produced through the research should inform peoples’ actions as they try to address the problems the research responds to (practical) as well as make a case for how it extends or challenges the existing research in that area for future researchers to build on in their own work (theoretical). The information in the article that is new, or is a primary source, is the information in the results and discussion. Therefore, if you find something in the literature review that is helpful, important, or worth noting, you should go to the reference list, find the source, and read the original source so you can cite it in your own work. If you don’t, and you cite information from the literature review in your own work, this is a form of academic dishonesty because you never actually read the original source.

We admit, sometimes research writing is needlessly difficult to read. We remember the first time we read an article that stated, “Due to the established lacunae in the field…” and were intimidated by the word “lacunae.” What does it mean? How important is it? It sounds so daunting! Lacunae, however, just means “gaps” or “holes.” The author, in establishing that there are missing answers to questions that were important to their field of study, used a word that immediately caused consternation and confusion from their audience. This word choice is an example bad writing because it needlessly confuses their audience, which should always be avoided! However, sometimes, technical jargon is necessary. The difference between a vein or artery, mitochondrion or ribosomes, verb or adjective, or discourse and rhetoric are important distinctions within their respective fields of study.

Often, we find that novice researchers, when encountering a new or unfamiliar word, just pass over the word in their reading and don’t use dictionaries to look it up because they: A) aren’t motivated to; or B) they feel like doing so is an admission of ignorance. However, if you wish to be able to consume and vet knowledge from a source, you will need to be able to understand what is written and that burden, ultimately, falls on you (the reader) to do the work to figure it out. Passing over a word, whether due to laziness or anxiety, robs you of a chance to grow your knowledge on a subject and eliminates the possibility that you can use or refute the information in a meaningful way.

Verbal and In-Text Ways to Cite Sources

After you have found a wide range of sources on the topic, winnowed them down to the ones that are the most reliable and credible, and mined them for information regarding your topic, it is time to put them in your speech or writing. We find that citing information can be some of the most anxiety producing work that students do. Often, they report getting incomplete, conflicting, or erroneous information about citing sources. As a result, many students put little effort into their citation practices because they think, “I’m going to get it wrong anyway, so why try?”

Conversely, some students rely solely on computer apps, such as EasyBib , BibTex , or Bib I t Now to do their citations for them. Relying on apps doesn’t build your information literacy skills. Doing so means you never bothered to learn how to do it correctly since there was an app that you thought would do it for you and, therefore, you won’t be able to tell if the program is producing a correct citation or not. As we’ll see later, these programs often incorrectly cite work. In short, you need to learn how to properly cite materials and practice those skills.

We cannot stress enough that properly citing your sources is an incredibly important practice in your work. Not only does it ensure that you are sharing information with others in a responsible way by letting them know where you got your information from, it also increases your credibility with your audience because they recognize your effort to keep them fully informed. Citation guides provide standardized system for reporting your sources so that your listeners or readers know exactly how and where to find your sources. There are a variety of ways to cite your information for your audience, but in this chapter, we’ll focus on the two most common styles: the American Psychological Association (APA) style guide and the Modern Language Society (MLA) handbook.

Verbal Citation

When giving a presentation, you need to verbally cite your sources so your audience can ascertain the quality of your sources. Failing to do so can make your audience to doubt or disagree with the content of your speech even if your information is correct. To avoid this, you need to verbally cite your sources in a way that supports your work while not being overly cumbersome to your speech and interrupting your flow. We suggest you use three pieces of information every time you cite something verbally: Name of Source , Credibility Statement of Source , Year of Publication . Here are a few examples of what you might say:

Dr. McGeough, who is a leading researcher in ancient Greek rhetorical philosophy, argued in a 2023 research article that…

In 2022, the World Health Organization, an internationally renowned inter-governmental body that studies health and medicine, reported…

In a research study spanning from 2015 to 2020, the internationally recognized data scientists at the Pew Research Center tracked voting habits of various groups and found…

Do you see the Name of Source , Credibility Statement of Source , Year of Publication in each of the examples? Although you can report the information in a variety of ways, each contains the information. Typically, you don’t have to give more information than this because doing so makes your speech awkward and filled with a lot of extraneous information. If your audience wants more specific information about your sources, they can ask for your written citations. You should have a “References” (APA) or “Works Cited” (MLA) paper or (if using a slideshow app such as PowerPoint or Google Slides) on the final slide. In those case, make sure to write out the reference information based on our advice below.

In- T ext Citation

There are two primary ways that you can cite information in text, or in the body of your writing. The first is called summary or synopsis . Luckily, we cite and report information the same whether it is a summary or synopsis. Let’s take the following passage that we might find in an academic journal article (sometimes called a periodical ): “After surveying 200 participants, the study found that people like dogs more than cats, hamburgers more than hotdogs, and cake more than pie.” Now, we’ll create a summary in both APA and MLA:

McGeough and Golsan (2023) discovered that people like dogs more than cats.

Researchers have discovered that people like dogs more than cats (McGeough & Golsan, 2023).

McGeough and Golsan discovered that people like dogs more than cats (1).

Researchers have discovered that people like dogs more than cats (McGeough and Golsan 1).

The sentences can be written either way, but both contain information that is specific to their citation style. Notice how in APA, the in-text citation shows the authors’ last names, the year of publication, and uses the ampersand symbol (“&”) whereas the authors last names, the page number the information was found on, and the word “and” was needed in MLA (we made up the year of publication and page number for the sake of the example). Also, notice how the summary focuses on one finding, even though the research found peoples’ preferences on three different things. If we had reported on all three findings, in our own words, then it would have been a synopsis. We can also write a direct quote if we cite it properly. For example:

Past research has found that “people like dogs more than cats, hamburgers more than hotdogs, and cake more than pie” (McGeough & Golsan, 2023, p. 1).

Past research has found that “people like dogs more than cats, hamburgers more than hotdogs, and cake more than pie” (McGeough and Golsan 1).

Note, that in APA, we have now added the page number to help a reader find the information that we are quoting whereas citation in MLA doesn’t change. In both cases, though, we use quotation marks to indicate that we are directly quoting material from a source. You must copy information from the source word-for-word if you are using a direct quotation.

Written References

Your references (APA) or works cited (MLA) pages are where you collect all of the information for your sources into one place. Doing this makes it easier for your reader to find the information you use in your writing. Let’s use the article, “Academic advising as teaching: Undergraduate student perceptions of advisor confirmation” and see how to cite it properly in your papers. First, let’s compare out how the citation appears on the article’s first page , Bib It Now , and proper APA :

Scott Titsworth, Joseph P. Mazer, Alan K. Goodboy, San Bolkan & Scott A. Myers (2015) Two Meta-analyses Exploring the Relationship between Teacher Clarity and Student Learning, Communication Education, 64:4, 385-418, DOI: 10.1080/03634523.2015.1041998

(Article’s first page)

Titsworth, S., Mazer, J. P., Goodboy, A. K., Bolkan, S., & Myers, S. A. (2015). Two Meta-analyses Exploring the Relationship between Teacher Clarity and Student Learning. Communication Education. Retrieved from https://www-tandfonline-com.proxy.lib.uni.edu/doi/full/10.1080/03634523.2015.1041998

(Bib It Now)

Titsworth, S., Mazer, J. P., Goodboy, A. K., Bolkan, S., & Myers, S. A. (2015). Two meta-analyses exploring the relationship between teacher clarity and student learning. Communication Education , 64 (4), 385-418. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2015.1041998

Can you see the differences? The third citation is the correct way to cite it in APA. The differences you see are why it is so important to know how to cite information properly. If you just relied on the journal article or app, then your citation would be incorrect and you wouldn’t be informing your audience of your information in the standardized way. Let’s try it with MLA now:

Titsworth, Scott, et al. “Two Meta-analyses Exploring the Relationship between Teacher Clarity and Student Learning.” Communication Education, 9 June 2015, www-tandfonline-com.proxy.lib.uni.edu/doi/full/10.1080/03634523.2015.1041998.

Titsworth, Scott, et al. “Two Meta-analyses Exploring the Relationship between Teacher Clarity and Student Learning.” Communication Education , vol. 9, no. 4, 2015, pp. 385-418, https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2015.1041998 .

Again, can you spot the differences? The final example is the correct way to cite an article in MLA.

The examples we just gave are for journal articles, but there is a unique way to cite almost anything: tweets, textbooks, websites with authors, websites without authors, YouTube videos, and a whole lot more. There are thousands of books, blogs, online writing centers, and YouTube/TikTok videos on citation. We suggest you visit a reputable website that offers sample papers so you can compare your work to what is the correct, standard way of citing and formatting your paper. We recommend (and often use ourselves!) the Online Writing Lab (or OWL) website from Purdue University, which offers sample papers in APA and MLA .

As you look at the sample paper and your own, sing the children’s song from Sesame Stree t : “One of these things is not like the others/One of these things just doesn’t belong/Can you tell which thing is not like the others/By the time I finish my song?” That is, if your paper looks different than the sample paper’s formatting, in-text citation, or reference/works cited page, yours is most likely the one that is incorrect—fix it! When students turn in papers that do not adhere to proper formatting, then there are two primary explanations: either the student didn’t take the time/energy to do the work properly or the student cannot follow Sesame Street rules and make corrections to their paper based on comparing their work to a sample paper. Frankly, neither is a good look, which is why your professors (and audience) will get frustrated if you don’t take the time to properly reference your sources.

When you are trying to inform, persuade, or motivate your audience, you need to be able to communicate why you have come to the conclusions you have based on the evidence you have gathered. If you cannot explain why you believe something or if you believe something for poor reasons (e.g., “my family believes this,” “my friends all say this,” or “everyone knows this”), then you have not lived up to your responsibility to be a good, careful researcher. Being able to vet your evidence is the first step to not only demanding that you are an informed person, but that others around you live up to their responsibility to communicate in ways that are factually supported about important topics or problems you and your community may face.

Communication for College, Career, and Civic Life Copyright © by Ryan McGeough; C. Kyle Rudick; Danielle Dick McGeough; and Kathryn B. Golsan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Research note: Likes, sarcasm and politics: Youth responses to a platform-initiated media literacy campaign on social media

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To better understand youth attitudes towards media literacy education on social media, and the opportunities and challenges inherent in such initiatives, we conducted a large-scale analysis of user responses to a recent media literacy campaign on TikTok. We found that reactions to the campaign were mixed, and highly political in nature. While young people appreciated the urgency of media literacy education and understood its relevance to their social media participation, many displayed a sarcastic attitude, criticizing both the content and the dissemination of the campaign. Based on these responses, we identify key takeaways and recommendations that can valuably inform future media literacy campaigns on social media.

Teachers College, Columbia University, USA

Research Questions

• How do users respond to a platform-initiated media literacy education campaign on youth-oriented social media?
• What lessons can we draw from these responses in terms of targeted media literacy education initiatives for youth?

Research note Summary

• This study analyzed how users respond to a platform-initiated media literacy education campaign on youth-oriented social media, with a focus on the lessons that we might draw from these responses in terms of targeted media literacy education initiatives for youth. 
• Our large-scale qualitative content analysis—which included 11,449 public comments posted on 5 TikTok videos—facilitated a naturalistic study of young people’s attitudes towards such initiatives.
• While many users appreciated the media literacy campaign and TikTok’s role in implementing it, there was also resistance to the campaign, due to factors related to video content, dissemination approach, and the very identity of TikTok as a platform. Across the board, comments were highly political, illustrating the politicized nature of media literacy education today.
• These reactions serve as rich feedback that can usefully inform future media literacy campaigns, and we outline a set of recommendations in this respect.

Implications

Amidst an alarming rise in online misinformation (McGinty & Gyenes, 2020; Pasquetto et al., 2020), there has been a growing interest in media literacy education as a way to combat the rapid spread of misinformation (Bulger & Davison, 2018; Chang et al., 2020; Roozenbeek & Van Der Linden, 2020; Tully et al., 2020). However, the focus of both research and practice has been on the integration of media literacy instruction into young people’s various educational experiences, rather than implementing and evaluating such initiatives in situ, on social media (Bulger & Davison, 2018; Pasquetto et al., 2020)—which is known to be their central news source (Common Sense Media, 2019). Indeed, often due to the lack of necessary data (see Pasquetto et al., 2020), there has been insufficient attention devoted to assessing media literacy initiatives on social media; furthermore, existing studies focus on older platforms like Facebook or Twitter (e.g., Guess et al., 2019; Vraga & Tully, 2021), and we lack a nuanced understanding of these dynamics on the platforms most popular with youth today. Given this context, our study aimed to facilitate a bottom-up and naturalistic study of user responses to a media literacy education campaign on TikTok, an increasingly popular youth-oriented social media platform.

Based on a large-scale qualitative analysis of user responses to this media literacy education campaign, we find that user reactions were mixed, and highly political in nature. On the positive side, our findings show that young people appreciate the urgency of media literacy education and understand its relevance to social media and to their own online habits; this attitude can be seen as an opening for future initiatives and a solid foundation to build off of. While critical and sarcastic comments abounded, this is to be expected on social media in general (Muresan et al., 2016; Zappavigna, 2012), and even more so when it comes to educational topics (Literat, 2021). Significantly, the more negative responses to this campaign can serve as rich feedback for the design of future media literacy initiatives for youth, particularly on social media. Below, we tease out a few of these directions. 

Key takeaways and recommendations

First, it is clear that youth were keenly aware of TikTok’s “rap sheet” in regard to curbing misinformation (or not), and that this perception—shaped by both micro-level and macro-level factors (e.g., personal experience with reporting/moderation on the platform, mass media reports, political rhetoric like Trump’s anti-TikTok discourse)—had a strong impact on their attitude towards the campaign. Commenters in this study openly rebuked TikTok for sharing educational materials addressing fake news while failing to curb the spread of misinformation on their platform, and this perceived hypocrisy generated a negative response to the campaign. This sense of discontent with content moderation on TikTok resulted in a diminished level of trust, which negatively affected user engagement with the campaign videos. As Brunk and colleagues (2019) found, providing explicit reasoning around content moderation practices promotes a higher level of user trust, and might thus alleviate any communicative hindrances to learning. Therefore, in order to ensure the effectiveness of such educational initiatives, we recommend that campaign creators address any perceived inconsistencies between action and rhetoric. In the case of platform-run initiatives, this might translate to increased transparency in communicating how decisions are made regarding user reports of misinformation or content violations. 

Much of the negative feedback to the campaign can be attributed to the fact that it was perceived—in both promotion and design/content—as being at odds with the ethos and function of TikTok in youth lives. Youth engage on social networks such as TikTok with specific expectations related to both the aesthetic and social nature of their participation on the platform and are quick to sniff out content they perceive as inauthentic (boyd, 2014). While TikTok’s campaign attempted to meet these expectations (e.g., by using humor and leveraging TikTok microcelebrities to act out these video skits), users did not connect with the language and style employed in the videos. This might be understood in relation to the shift in TikTok users’ aesthetic appetite, which is moving away from “visual theatrics” and towards more relatable content that taps into the current trends and latest memes (Abidin, 2021). A key way to preempt this pitfall and facilitate a sense of relevance and nowness is to include the main stakeholders, youth themselves, in the design of such initiatives. Participatory design allows participants to enact their identities, providing valuable insight into the characteristics, perceptions, and expectations of the target population (Coenraad et al., 2019); significantly, in the media literacy sphere, it has been shown to be an effective strategy for the design of news literacy initiatives for youth (see Literat et al., 2020).

Regarding campaign promotion and dissemination, we found that youth were extremely frustrated with how the videos were being pushed, often repeatedly, onto their feeds. This essentially begs the question of how—or whether—platforms can promote such educational content without it being negatively perceived or dismissed for its top-down, forceful, unsolicited approach? In line with our previous recommendation, and as a way to facilitate a more organic reach, we recommend that platforms consider utilizing more participatory, community-oriented channels. This could take the form, for instance, of initiating participatory activities (e.g., TikTok challenges), thereby distributing the ownership of the campaign and encouraging more user buy-in, and/or engaging influencers in the promotion of content. Indeed, recent initiatives leveraging TikTok influencers in the promotion of educational campaigns, including around COVID-19 messaging, highlight “the efficacy of influencers in information dissemination and control in the online space” (Abidin et al., 2021, p. 124).

Another key takeaway from this research is the highly political nature of user responses to this campaign. Certainly, this political focus was also influenced by the timing of the videos, given the prominence of the Black Lives Matter movement and the presidential election in this timeframe. However, it is a powerful illustration of the politicized nature of media literacy education in the current sociocultural landscape. Designers of future media literacy initiatives—on social media and elsewhere—need to keep in mind that, in this landscape, even apolitical content might be politicized and framed in polarizing terms by users. More broadly, these findings also reinforce the link between media literacy and civic education (Mihailidis, 2018; Mihailidis & Thevenin, 2013), and the fact that, particularly in this political and technological context, each is a prerequisite for the other.

Positive responses: Understanding and embracing the educational aims of the videos

On the positive side, users expressed appreciation for the aims of this campaign, and for TikTok taking this initiative. Many users seemed to understand and appreciate the educational aims of the videos, and complimented the videos for being “helpful,” “cool,” “educational,” “timely,” “engaging,” and “necessary:”

“ ok but this tip is awesome because it encourages critical thinking ” 

“ basically telling you to do your own research! that’s refreshing to hear from a social media platform ”

Significantly, there was evidence of self-reflection and perceived usefulness among these responses:

“ wow you’re right, my media has always been left leaning, i see all my favorite celebrities pushing a left leaning agenda, maybe that’s a scary bias! ” 

“ Me ready to send this to my transphobic family “

Users also understood the urgency and significance of media literacy education more largely. They often thanked TikTok for taking this initiative, sometimes as part of a positive comparison with other social media platforms:

“ Thank you for doing this ! People spreading around false information has been getting way out of hand ”

“ Yeahhhhhhh this is so necessary. Thank you tik tok for doing this .”

“ this a very important topic thank you tiktok for doing more than most social media cites ” 

“ Facebook should learn a thing or two from you. I deleted my FB account ”  

Other comments implied that these videos on TikTok were just as effective or even more effective than the media literacy instruction they received in school:

“ Ok but im in college and why am I finally understanding this 😂 ” 

“ Who needs school when TikTok teaches us something new every day ” 

“ This short video was more effective than my mandatory 5 hour “unconscious bias” training  🙄 ” 

“ Why can’t my history teachers give me this instead of an Intro To Trusted Sourcing lesson ”  

Negative responses: Confusion, annoyance, disconnection and perceived hypocrisy  

However, negative comments—often sarcastic in tone—far outweighed the more positive takes above. Indeed, the corpus included about twice as many negative comments than positive ones—though, as mentioned above, this balance should be taken with a grain of salt, given the nature of social media expression, compounded by the educational focus of the initiative. These negative reactions were grounded in: confusion about the aim of the videos; annoyance at videos being pushed on users’ “for you page” (FYP); 1 TikTok’s “For You Page” is an algorithmically curated feed that functions as the platform’s homepage.  disliking the video content and aesthetics; and perceived hypocrisy due to TikTok’s own actions and policies. 

Users were confused as to why they appeared on their FYP, as this kind of content did not seem to match their interests and regular FYP content. Some thought the videos were ads; interestingly, this pattern was most prominent on the videos about distinguishing facts from opinions and, respectively, about questioning graphics, as both of these videos used humorous ads for fake products as a way to anchor their narratives. 

A large number of users expressed their annoyance at being unable to block these videos, and being forced to watch them multiple times in a short period of time:

“ This is 4 times In a row I see these adds ”  

“ i swear if u put this on my fyp 9272836292539352935936 times- ”  

“ I swear if I see one more video from this acc I’ll just delete tiktok all together- 💀 ” 

Others disliked the approach that the videos took, for the following reasons: 1) use of outdated language and aesthetics (e.g., “ are these targeted at millennials because I’m getting 90s nostalgia ”; “ What kind of early 2000s commercial is this ”); 2) videos were perceived as too didactic, and incongruent with the perceived function of TikTok in youth lives (e.g., “ This is TIKTOK not school so bye ”; “ ok i’m on my phone during class so i don’t have to do class and yet tik tok is showing me how to identify the source ”); 3) the educational content was seen as too basic (e.g., “ I learned this is 3rd grade ”; “ Why is this here? 😳 Kindergarten lesson ”); and 4) videos were perceived as too boring (e.g., “ I- I just wanna know what level of bored ”; “ There’s no way that was only a minute I feel like I just sat through orientation😅 ”). 

Interestingly, some users were resistant to this media literacy campaign just based on their existing perceptions of TikTok’s actions regarding media literacy. In particular, they called out TikTok’s failure to control the spread of misinformation on its platform; here, many users brought up stories of reporting questionable content, with TikTok taking no action about it. Trust in the effectiveness of the reporting feature and the enforcement of community guidelines seemed low: 

“ Yes, except reporting TikToks does no good because y’all pick and choose what guidelines to withhold. ”

“ i reported a video of a dude throwing stuff at homeless people and laughing and they said they found nothing wrong with it ”  

“ [The reporting] feature is functionally worthless. Doesn’t matter what you report – it goes through a bot and gets spat right back out ” 

“ Also, when you report false or misleading information nothing happens because it doesn’t violate their community guidelines. ” 

Along the same lines, others brought up TikTok’s practice of over-/mis-censoring or shadowbanning users, an accusation that was often politicized along partisan or racial lines (e.g., “ I’m more worried about tiktok continuing to silence black creators and uplift white creators who are appropriating black culture… ”; “ and   why is BLM [Black Lives Matter] showdown ban [shadowbanned] ” 2 See also Rosenblatt (2021) for the wider context of race-based shadowbanning and content suppression on TikTok. ). Finally, users also referenced TikTok’s business practices and connection to China—a government associated with heavy media censorship and misinformation. The latter perception was undoubtedly shaped by Donald Trump’s recent discourse and efforts to ban TikTok. 

The political nature of responses

A key finding from this research study was that—whether positive, negative, or neutral—a large proportion of comments (roughly a third of the data corpus) were political, i.e., making reference to political actors, groups, or issues. Political comments were posted on all videos, but were especially prominent on the video about distinguishing facts from opinions, which proved to be a very politicized issue. Key topics of discussion included Black Lives Matter, partisanship, the presidential election, as well as feminist, LGBTQ, racial discrimination issues. Many commenters explicitly expressed a particular political identity (Democrat / Republican, pro/anti-Trump, liberal/conservative, left/right, etc.). Comments often included political slogans (e.g., “ Trump 2020”, “BIDEN 2020 ”) and were not afraid to express political stances or challenging others’ views. A prevalent pattern was mentioning the opposing party or ideology in comments and saying that they need to watch these videos—thus implying that the other party/ideology is lacking media literacy skills: 

“ @ all trump supporters should see this ” 

“ Liberals take notes ” 

“ Democrats seeing this  👩‍ 🦯👩‍ 🦯👩‍ 🦯👩‍ 🦯👩‍ 🦯 ”

“ people who watch fox news needs this “

“ the left ain’t gonna like this one ”

Significantly, the rationale behind the videos was politicized too, framing media literacy education as an inherently political endeavor:

“ Bias education? This is political. ”  

“ Are you making this so you can silence Trump supporters like every other social media platform?? This is a load of bullshit ”

“ This is about trump right -“

Given the prominence of political comments, some users expressed annoyance with how often politics was brought up in responses to these videos: 

“ take the politics elsewhere  😀👍 ”  

“ No need to make it political ” 

“ I literally went to the comments and counted to 5 knowing I would find someone that brings up politics before I finished counting ”

At the same time, political comments usually got more responses (e.g., likes, replies) than non-political ones, and exchanges were longer and more engaged, though often impolite and uncivil. 

This study aimed to analyze how users respond to a platform-initiated media literacy education campaign on youth-oriented social media, with a focus on the lessons that we might draw from these responses in terms of targeted media literacy education initiatives for youth. While there is broad societal consensus about the urgency and significance of media literacy education, especially for young people, we still lack a grounded, bottom-up understanding of youth attitudes towards such initiatives. Moreover, trying to capture these attitudes through self-report methods like surveys or interviews runs the risk of producing biased results, due to social desirability effects (especially strong when it comes to the topic of media literacy and misinformation; see Tully et al., 2020), as well as the normative pressures that shape the way youth might respond to adult questions about their educational experiences. Here, using qualitative content analysis on a large corpus of youth reactions to a media literacy campaign on social media facilitates a naturalistic study of young people’s attitudes towards such initiatives in situ, “in the wild.”

Research site 

Our research site, TikTok, is a social media platform where users can create, share and browse short looping videos. Users can edit their videos by adding music or soundtracks, visual effects, and filters. They can follow other users, like and comment on videos, and communicate via direct messages. Users can discover content by searching for specific tags, users or soundtracks, but are also exposed to a custom feed of recommended videos on their For You Page. 

The popularity of TikTok has grown significantly since its parent company, ByteDance, acquired its predecessor, musical.ly, in late 2018. In 2020, TikTok reached 45.4 million users in the United States (eMarketer, 2020a), and the audience growth rate is predicted to reach 15.2% in 2021 (eMarketer, 2020b). The app is particularly popular with youth, who make up 60% of its demographic in the U.S. (App Ape, 2020). The cultural impact of TikTok on youth lives is significant, as the platform shapes youth culture, crowns grassroots celebrities, and popularizes new music, dances, and cultural trends (Herrman, 2020; The Youth Lab, 2019). In the United States, TikTok has been a key venue for youth political expression (see Herrman, 2020) and has drawn the ire of former President Donald Trump, who unsuccessfully tried to ban it in 2020.

Data corpus

This study relied on the qualitative content analysis of 11,449 public comments posted in response to five videos published by an official TikTok account (specific handle hidden for anonymization purposes). Created by TikTok US in partnership with external experts, the five videos were part of a strategic media literacy campaign designed to highlight—via the use of humorous narratives acted out by TikTok microcelebrities—skills like fact-checking, assessing the credibility of information and visuals, understanding bias, and distinguishing facts from opinions. The videos were very similar in terms of their comedic approach and aesthetics, making for a congruent campaign. They were extremely popular on the platform, accumulating a total of 53.8m views, 1.63m likes, and 11k shares; at the same time, it is worth noting that the high view count was likely boosted by their being disseminated from an official TikTok account and pushed onto users’ For You Pages. 3 In view of the data available and our methodological approach, we cannot ascertain the specific ages of users represented in this corpus of comments. However, based on the age demographics of TikTok and the content of the comments themselves (e.g., references to school, use of youth lingo, references to youth culture), we can infer that the vast majority of commenters are youth. Similarly, while the exact geographic location of commenters is unknown, the vast majority were likely from the United States, in view of the aims and distribution of the campaign (i.e., produced by TikTok US and targeting American TikTok users) as well as the content of comments (making reference to US politics, US education, etc.).

Data analysis  

The data corpus was analyzed qualitatively, using a thematic analysis approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006) in order to identify patterns and nuance in the data. Four researchers (authors 2-5 of this study) participated in the qualitative coding process. The first analytical step involved identifying comments that were related to the content and/or educational aims of the videos, and were thus relevant to understanding youth responses to this media literacy initiative. These comments were labeled with simple codes (e.g., “positive,” “confused,” “sarcastic,” 4 In coding for sarcasm, we maintained a bottom-up, grounded approach that considered both the content of each comment and its larger context of expression (including relationship to the video, to other user replies, and to relevant real-life events). We paid attention to both the text of the comment, and any emojis or hashtags that might encourage a sarcastic reading. At the same time, we acknowledge the difficulties in objectively and definitively detecting sarcasm online (see, e.g., Muresan et al., 2015) and the inescapable subjectivity inherent in this process.  “comparison with school,” “comparison with other social media,” “political,” etc.) that facilitated a birds-eye understanding of the data corpus. Then, in a second round of analysis, we read the comments again and identified subthemes in the data; finally, these subthemes were further synthesized and coalesced into the key findings presented above.  

• / Media Literacy
• / Platforms
• / Social Media

Cite this Essay

Literat, I., Abdelbagi, A., Law, N. YL., Cheung, M. Y-Y., & Tang, R. (2021). Research note: Likes, sarcasm and politics: Youth responses to a platform-initiated media literacy campaign on social media. Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review . https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-67

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There are no funding sources to declare.

Competing Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Due to the focus on youth, this study was submitted for ethics board review and was approved as Exempt (Category 4) by the Institutional Review Board of Teachers College, Columbia University (Protocol #21-099).

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original author and source are properly credited.

Data Availability

The raw data cannot be made available publicly as a downloadable corpus due to both the terms of our approved IRB Protocol, and the terms of service of TikTok.

Persuasive Essay Writing

Persuasive Essay About Social Media

Learn How to Write a Persuasive Essay About Social Media With Examples

Published on: Jan 26, 2023

Last updated on: Jan 29, 2024

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Are you looking to learn how to write a persuasive essay about social media? 

Perfect, you've come to the right place!

From navigating the power of hashtags to analyzing changes in public opinion, these examples will help guide you on your journey. 

Whether you’re a seasoned pro at writing persuasive essays or just a starter, look at these examples to be inspired.

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Brief Overview of Persuasive Essay

A persuasive essay persuades the reader or audience to take a particular stance on an issue. It is used to present an opinion on any subject, and it typically takes the form of an academic essay. It includes evidence and facts supporting its arguments.

The writer must use facts and reliable sources to back up his or her claims.

It is also important that the essay should be well-structured. It should have clear arguments and a logical flow from one point to another.

Learn more about crafting perfect persuasive essays with the help of our detailed guide.

Persuasive Essay Examples About Social Media

Are you a student unsure how to write persuasive essays successfully? Well, never fear! 

We've got examples of some amazing persuasive essays about social media that will surely give you inspiration. Let’s take a look at a short persuasive essay example: 

Check these FREE downloadable samples of persuasive essays! 

Persuasive essay about social media on students

Persuasive essay about social media addiction

Persuasive Essay about Social Media Platforms are Danger to Our Privacy

Persuasive essay about social media beneficial or harmful

Persuasive essay about social media privacy

Persuasive essay on social media is bad for students

Examples of Argumentative Essay about Social Media

To help get your creative juices flowing, look at these example argumentative essays about social media below!

Argumentative essay about social media advantages and disadvantages

Argumentative essay about social media addiction

For more examples of persuasive essays, check out our blog on persuasive essay examples .

How Can You Write a Persuasive Essay About Social Media?      

A persuasive essay about social media can be an interesting and challenging task.

Understanding what makes a persuasive essay unique and how to craft arguments that effectively communicate your point of view is important. 

These are a few steps you should follow before writing an effective persuasive essay on social media.

Step 1: Decide Your Stance

First, you must decide on your stance regarding the issue at hand. Are you for or against the use of social media? Are you in support of social media?

After you decide your stance, move on to the research process.

Step 2: Conduct Due Research

Once you have established your position, you must research the topic and develop an argument that supports your stance. 

Make sure to include facts, statistics, and examples to back up your points.

Step 3: Outline Your Essay

Create a structured persuasive essay outline before delving into detailed writing. This roadmap will help organize your thoughts, ensuring a logical flow of arguments. Outline your introduction, key points, counterarguments, and conclusion.

Step 4: Craft Your Introduction 

The introduction should provide context, state the thesis statement , and grab the reader's attention. It precedes deciding your stance and initiates the overall writing process.

Read this free PDF to learn more about crafting essays on social media!

Persuasive essay about social media introduction

Step 5: Write the Body

Organize your arguments logically in the body of the essay. Each paragraph should focus on a specific point, supported by research and addressing counterarguments. This follows the introduction and precedes maintaining a persuasive tone.

Step 6: Address All Counterarguments

It is important to anticipate potential counterarguments from those who oppose your stance. 

Take time to address these points directly and provide evidence for why your opinion is more valid.

Step 7: Maintain a Persuasive Tone

To maintain your audience's attention, it is important to write in a confident and persuasive tone throughout the essay. 

Use strong language that will make readers take notice of your words. 

Check out this video on persuasive writing tones and styles.

Step 8: Conclude Your Essay

Finally, end your essay with a memorable conclusion that will leave your audience with something to think about. 

With these important steps taken into account, you can create an effective persuasive essay about social media!

Step 9: Revise and Edit

After completing your initial draft, take time to revise and edit your essay. Ensure clarity, coherence, and the effective flow of arguments. This step follows the conclusion of your essay and precedes the final check for overall effectiveness.

Persuasive Essay About Social Media Writing Tips

Here are some additional writing tips to refine your persuasive essay on social media.

• Highlight Numbers: Use facts and numbers to show how important social media is.
• Tell Stories: Share real stories to help people connect with the impact of social media.
• Use Pictures: Add charts or pictures to make your essay more interesting and easy to understand.
• Answer Questions: Think about what people might disagree with and explain why your ideas are better.
• Talk About What's Right: Explain why it's important to use social media in a good and fair way.

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Social Media Persuasive Essay Topics

Take a look at these creative and enticing persuasive essay topics. Choose from one of them or get inspiration from these topics.

• Should social media platforms be held accountable for cyberbullying?
• Should age restrictions be stricter for social media access to protect younger users from its negative effects?
• Should social media companies be mandated to prioritize user privacy over targeted advertising?
• Should schools integrate mandatory education on the pitfalls of social media for students?
• Should governments regulate the amount of time users spend on social media to prevent addiction?
• Should social media influencers face stricter guidelines for promoting unrealistic body standards?
• Should there be more transparency about how algorithms on social media platforms amplify divisive content?
• Should employers be allowed to consider an applicant's social media profiles during the hiring process?
• Should there be penalties for social networking sites that propagate false information?
• Should there be a limit on the amount of personal data social media platforms can collect from users?

Check out some more interesting persuasive essay topics to get inspiration for your next essay.

Wrapping up, 

Learning how to write persuasive essays about social media matters in today's digital world is crucial whether you are a high school student or a college student. These examples guide us in exploring both the good and bad sides of social media's impact. 

We hope this persuasive blog on social media has given you a few new ideas to consider when persuading your audience.

But if you are struggling with your essay assignment do not hesitate to seek professional help. At CollegeEssay.org , our writing experts can help you get started on any type of essay. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are some good persuasive essay topics.

Good persuasive essay topics can include topics related to social media, such as 

• whether or not it should be regulated more heavily,
• the impact of social media on society, 
• how social media has changed our daily lives.

How do you write an introduction for social media essay?

You should start by briefly explaining what the essay will cover and why it is important. 

You should also provide brief background information about the topic and what caused you to choose it for your essay.

What is a good title for a social media essay?

A good title for a social media essay could be "The Impact of Social Media on Society" or "Social Media: Regulation and Responsibility." 

These titles indicate the content that will be discussed in the essay while still being interesting and thought-provoking.

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Advertising as Persuasion

“What you call love was invented by guys like me to sell nylons.” —  Don Draper, fictional advertising executive from the AMC series  Mad Men

Advertising is a relatively straightforward process, right? Companies develop brands and specific products they want to sell. They need to make consumers aware of their brands, products and those products’ features, so they develop creative campaigns to promote them and often pay ad agencies to do the creative work and place the ads in front of mass audiences. The basic definition of advertising is a message or group of messages designed with three intentions: to raise awareness in the population about brands, products and services; to encourage consumers to make purchases; and, ultimately, to inspire people to advocate for their favorite brands. A brand advocate is someone who is so supportive of a product or service that they publicly encourage others to buy it. There are paid brand advocates, of course, but in a networked communication environment, even unpaid individuals with modest followings can become  influencers  — people who promote products on their social media streams. Consumers who have been so successfully persuaded to purchase and enjoy a product that they try to persuade others to buy it too extend the reach of advertising potentially exponentially.

A company  is a business entity that produces several types of product, whereas a brand  is a term used to label a specific product or a limited family of products. It is important to differentiate between the two. For example, PepsiCo owns the Pepsi brand but also Frito Lay, Gatorade and Quaker, among others. Under the Pepsi brand, there are several products such as Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Wild Cherry and many other variations around the world. Advertising most often focuses on brands and products rather than the companies and large corporations that own them.

Advertising Defined

On one level, advertising is a simple concept. Mass media professionals craft messages to help sell products by raising awareness and pushing people to make actual purchase decisions, but in the network society and the age of targeted marketing, the ability to reach individual consumers who fit precise sets of characteristics is incredible. More is expected of advertisers than to put interesting messages in front of the “right people” based on general demographics. Brands may advertise during certain TV shows or publications to reach a particular type of media consumer. This more traditional form of mass media advertising is still a multibillion-dollar industry, but with data-driven targeting capabilities, brands can reach people based not only on general demographic characteristics but on specific behaviors as well. The combination of detailed demographic information, search and digital media usage behaviors and physical world behaviors (such as whether someone has entered a Walmart or Macy’s in the past week) makes advertising in the information age more powerful, sometimes more meaningful and often more ethically questionable than in the past. The level of targeting that is possible is incredible and would have been unimaginable 20 years ago . Advertising has always been about tapping into consumers’ existing needs or about creating a need and inserting a product to fill it. Now, there is a greater ability than ever to identify and create a need not only for interested members of a mass audience but also for specific individuals in real time based on their online and physical world behavior.

The History of Advertising

Before delving into a discussion about the future of advertising, it might help to survey the history of the field. Advertising in the modern sense emerged between the mid-19th and early-20th centuries. At the same time that the concept of brands was developing, mass-media platforms such as daily newspapers and radio broadcasts grew their audiences and spread their influence geographically. Corporations, conveniently, grew large enough to have massive budgets to spend on advertising. The promotion of products dates back thousands of years, but the modern advertising explosion tracks explosive growth in industrial manufacturing from roughly the mid-1800s through the entire 20th century.

HubSpot has a  deck of 472 slides that presents a narrative about the history of advertising. Some highlights are referenced here. One key point made in this visual history is that non-branded newspaper ads would often outnumber branded ads in the early days of the newspaper industry. As uniformity in mass-produced goods became the norm and brand differentiation became possible, so did the need to communicate it. Ayer & Son is credited with being the first ad agency to work on commission. In other words, it is known as the first modern ad agency. It was founded in Philadephia in 1869. Today there are about 500,000 ad agencies in the world of all shapes and sizes. They employ ever-evolving techniques to try to stay ahead of information weary consumers.

Categorizing Advertising Methods

From the mid-20th century on, advertisers conceptualized their work by breaking it down into one of two strategic categories: “above-the-line” and “below-the-line” methods. Put simply, “above the line” (ATL) refers to methods of advertising that target mass audiences on mass media platforms with messages usually designed from a one-to-many point of view. Often, “above the line” implies that the ad or ad campaign — a series of related ads meant to work in tandem — appears on legacy media platforms. “Legacy media” refers to platforms in existence before the transition to digital. ATL campaigns most often include television, radio and print ads as well as sponsorships. A sponsorship  is when a company pays to support an event or a mass media production in exchange for having its brand promoted alongside the activity or content. The organizing concept for ATL advertising, as the term is used today, is that the ads target a mass audience primarily on “legacy” media platforms.

“Below the line” (BTL) advertising refers to more one-on-one marketing approaches which can include targeted social media campaigns, direct mail marketing, point-of-sale ads, coupons and deals, and email and telemarketing appeals. This is not an exhaustive list of ATL or BTL methods, but these examples demonstrate that ATL has more in common with the concept of mass communication introduced in earlier chapters, and BTL has more in common with interpersonal communication, also as previously discussed. This is not to say that BTL messages are crafted one at a time for individual consumers. Rather, the tone, style and method of dissemination of BTL advertising are more personal.

In the 20th century, the term ATL advertising was associated with ad agency work (mostly mass media campaign ads), whereas BTL advertising referred to pamphlets, point-of-sale marketing and other relatively “small” tasks that ad agencies typically did not handle. Now, there are ad agencies of all sizes, and even very large agencies might do BTL marketing. Online advertising and social media marketing have made it possible to target people with personal messages but still purchase the ads on a massive scale. Thus, advertising can be massively individuated  — that is, produced for mass audiences but having the appearance of personalized messages — much like social media content. The profit in BTL marketing comes from reaching large audiences with tailored messages at specific times in relation to their previous purchasing and shopping behaviors. So much data exists on individual users and on the behavior of similar people who have made similar purchases that advertisers can try to target people at precisely the right moment to influence their purchase decisions.

ATL and BTL advertising can work hand in hand. Think of a summer soft drink promotion advertised on television and on the radio (ATL) that is also backed up with neighborhood-specific billboards and hyper-targeted Twitter messages with surprise prizes given out (BTL). BTL messages still reach large numbers of people, but they are by definition more tailored than ATL ads. An individual ad in a BTL context may not cost as much as a massive ad buy facilitated by an agency that primarily does ATL advertising; however, BTL advertising can still be costly for advertisers and profitable for ad agencies in the aggregate. For example, an ad agency that does not typically manage multimillion-dollar television ad buys might still put together hundreds of thousands of dollars in targeted social media ads. Rather than displaying one commercial for several months, the BTL social media campaign might be made up of dozens of targeted videos, tweets, influencer posts and online ads. Often software algorithms are used to decide who sees which targeted ad and when.

The Advertising Funnel and Other Key Concepts

At its heart, advertising is a matter of raising awareness , creating a deeper interest in a product, and encouraging consumers to desire to make a purchase and ultimately to take action . Professional communicators tailor messages in relation to the advertising funnel or purchase funnel , as shown in the image on the left. Brands, either on their own or with the help of advertising agencies, target audiences in different ways at specific points along the funnel to reach their strategic goals. For example, if an unknown brand launches a new product, people need to be made aware of both the brand and product. The brand may need to establish itself with an awareness campaign. If Nike introduces a new Air Jordan , the branding is easily handled. The top of the funnel areas of awareness and interest will not need as much focus as the decision and action areas, the “down funnel” aspects of a campaign for a well-known and well-loved brand.

Another way to think of this is as a pathway a potential customer makes, also known as the  consumer journey . First, the consumer needs to be made aware of the brand and its products. Then, they might take an interest in a particular product as they learn more about its features. They need to move from being interested to desiring a product if they are going to make the purchase. Ultimately, from the advertiser’s point of view, the goal is not only to move the consumer to purchase the product but also to inspire them to advocate for the brand. This is not conceptually complicated. The idea is to move people in straightforward steps toward desired behaviors; however, there are complex processes of cognition and persuasion that underlie consumer decisions.

Consumer behavior is about as unpredictable as other forms of human behavior. There are also ethical concerns. If a product or service proves to be harmful, advertisers and public relations professionals have to decide if and when they will stop marketing the brand. Advertising is challenging enough when products do not raise ethical dilemmas. Promoting harmful products can be damaging socially, professionally and personally. Thus, the world of consumer advertising in the mass media is more complex than the funnel makes it seem, although it is an essential strategic model in the industry.

Content Marketing

Content marketing  refers to a common practice where brands produce their own content, or hire someone else to produce it, and then market that information as an alternative to advertising. It still moves people along the purchase funnel, but there is usually added value in this type of content. If an advertisement for a mattress describes its features and price, a blog funded by the mattress brand might compare the pros and cons of many different mattresses, perhaps with a bias for the brand. It isn’t always pretty.  Content produced for a brand should ethically be labeled as sponsored, but it is not always done. In cases when consumers have discovered that trusted sources were content marketers rather than independent reviewers, the revelations have created public relations problems for the brands. Content marketing done ethically offers financial transparency while providing valuable information and an emotional connection to the product for consumers. It can take the form of blog posts or entire blogs. Such marketing is usually optimized for search engines, which is to say the posts are written to attract search engine attention as well as outside links, which also alerts search engines that this content is valuable. Done well, branded content can be seen as more authentic than advertising content, and it can be cheaper to produce and disseminate. It is difficult to do well, of course.

The most common types of content created in this context besides blog content are social media profiles and posts, sponsored content in social media spaces and even viral video and meme chasing. Brands might have their own social media profiles, or they might support social media influencers to promote their products in a sponsored way. Brands might also use their influencer teams or their own internal marketing teams to follow viral social media trends and to create memes. In a sense, content marketing allows a brand to create a more human profile in digital spaces. In this manner, brands can engage with potential and repeat customers. Brands can foster relationships and encourage brand advocacy among people not being paid to promote their products. Many brands use this form of marketing to engage consumers on a deep level and to offer information and emotion that might not be present in other forms of advertising.

Advertising as Persuasion Copyright © by Enyonam Osei-Hwere and Patrick Osei-Hwere is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Write Perfect Persuasive Essays in 5 Simple Steps

WHAT IS A PERSUASIVE ESSAY?

A persuasive text presents a point of view around a topic or theme that is backed by evidence to support it.

The purpose of a persuasive text can be varied.  Maybe you intend to influence someone’s opinion on a specific topic, or you might aim to sell a product or service through an advertisement.

The challenge in writing a good persuasive text is to use a mix of emotive language and, in some cases, images that are supported by hard evidence or other people’s opinions.

In a persuasive essay or argument essay, the student strives to convince the reader of the merits of their opinion or stance on a particular issue. The student must utilise several persuasive techniques to form a coherent and logical argument to convince the reader of a point of view or to take a specific action.

PERSUADING PEOPLE REQUIRES A CONSISTENT APPROACH…

Persuasive texts are simple in structure.  You must clearly state your opinion around a specific topic and then repeatedly reinforce your opinions with external facts or evidence.  A robust concluding summary should leave little doubt in the reader’s mind.  ( Please view our planning tool below for a detailed explanation. )

TYPES OF PERSUASIVE TEXT

We cover the broad topic of writing a general persuasive essay in this guide, there are several sub-genres of persuasive texts students will encounter as they progress through school. We have complete guides on these text types, so be sure to click the links and read these in detail if required.

• Argumentative Essays – These are your structured “Dogs are better pets than Cats” opinion-type essays where your role is to upsell the positive elements of your opinions to your audience whilst also highlighting the negative aspects of any opposing views using a range of persuasive language and techniques.
• Advertising – Uses persuasive techniques to sell a good or service to potential customers with a call to action.
• Debating Speeches – A debate is a structured discussion between two teams on a specific topic that a moderator judges and scores. Your role is to state your case, sell your opinions to the audience, and counteract your opposition’s opinions.
• Opinion Articles, Newspaper Editorials. – Editorials often use more subtle persuasive techniques that blur the lines of factual news reporting and opinions that tell a story with bias. Sometimes they may even have a call to action at the end.
• Reviews – Reviews exist to inform others about almost any service or product, such as a film, restaurant, or product. Depending on your experiences, you may have firm opinions or not even care that much about recommending it to others. Either way, you will employ various persuasive techniques to communicate your recommendations to your audience.
• Please note a DISCUSSION essay is not a traditional persuasive text, as even though you are comparing and contrasting elements, the role of the author is to present an unbiased account of both sides so that the reader can make a decision that works best for them. Discussions are often confused as a form of persuasive writing.

A COMPLETE TEACHING UNIT ON PERSUASIVE WRITING SKILLS

Teach your students to produce writing that  PERSUADES  and  INFLUENCES  thinking with this  HUGE  writing guide bundle covering: ⭐ Persuasive Texts / Essays ⭐ Expository Essays⭐ Argumentative Essays⭐ Discussions.

A complete 140 PAGE unit of work on persuasive texts for teachers and students. No preparation is required.

THE STRUCTURE OF A PERSUASIVE ESSAY

1. Introduction

In the introduction, the student will naturally introduce the topic. Controversial issues make for great topics in this writing genre. It’s a cliche in polite society to discourage discussions involving politics, sex, or religion because they can often be very divisive. While these subjects may not be the best topics of conversation for the dinner table at Thanksgiving, they can be perfect when deciding on a topic for persuasive writing. Obviously, the student’s age and abilities should be considered, as well as cultural taboos, when selecting a topic for the essay. But the point holds, the more controversial, the better.

Let’s take a look at some of the critical elements of the introduction when writing a persuasive essay:

Title: Tell your audience what they are reading.

This will often be posed as a question; for example, if the essay is on the merits of a vegetarian lifestyle, it may be called something like: To Eat Meat or Not?

Hook : Provide your audience with a reason to continue reading.

As with any genre of writing, capturing the reader’s interest from the outset is crucial. There are several methods of doing this, known as hooks. Students may open their essays with anecdotes, jokes, quotations, or relevant statistics related to the topic under discussion.

Background: Provide some context to your audience.

In this introductory section, students will provide the reader with some background on the topic. This will place the issue in context and briefly weigh some opinions on the subject.

Thesis statement: Let the audience know your stance.

After surveying the topic in the first part of the introduction, it is now time for the student writer to express their opinion and briefly preview the points they will make later in the essay.

2. Body Paragraphs

The number of paragraphs forming this essay section will depend on the number of points the writer chooses to make to support their opinion. Usually three main points will be sufficient for beginning writers to coordinate. More advanced students can increase the number of paragraphs based on the complexity of their arguments, but the overall structure will largely remain intact.

Be sure to check out our complete guide to writing perfect paragraphs here .

The TEEL acronym is valuable for students to remember how to structure their paragraphs.  Read below for a deeper understanding.

Topic Sentence:

The topic sentence states the central point of the paragraph. This will be one of the reasons supporting the thesis statement made in the introduction.

These sentences will build on the topic sentence by illustrating the point further, often by making it more specific.

These sentences’ purpose is to support the paragraph’s central point by providing supporting evidence and examples. This evidence may be statistics, quotations, or anecdotal evidence.

The final part of the paragraph links back to the initial statement of the topic sentence while also forming a bridge to the next point to be made. This part of the paragraph provides some personal analysis and interpretation of how the student arrived at their conclusions and connects the essay as a cohesive whole.

3. Conclusion

The conclusion weaves together the main points of the persuasive essay. It does not usually introduce new arguments or evidence but instead reviews the arguments made already and restates them by summing them up uniquely. It is important at this stage to tie everything back to the initial thesis statement. This is the writer’s last opportunity to drive home their point, to achieve the essay’s goal, to begin with – persuade the reader of their point of view.

Ending an essay well can be challenging, but it is essential to end strongly, especially for persuasive essays. As with the hooks of the essay’s opening, there are many tried and tested methods of leaving the reader with a strong impression. Encourage students to experiment with different endings, for example, concluding the essay with a quotation that amplifies the thesis statement.

Another method is to have the student rework their ending in simple monosyllabic words, as simple language often has the effect of being more decisive in impact. The effect they are striving for in the final sentence is the closing of the circle.

Several persuasive writing techniques can be used in the conclusion and throughout the essay to amp up the persuasive power of the writing. Let’s take a look at a few.

ETHOS, PATHOS & LOGOS TUTORIAL VIDEO (2:20)

TIPS FOR WRITING A GREAT PERSUASIVE ESSAY

PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES

In this article, we have outlined a basic structure that will be helpful to students in approaching the organization of their persuasive writing. It will also be helpful for the students to be introduced to a few literary techniques that will help your students to present their ideas convincingly. Here are a few of the more common ones:

Repetition: There is a reason why advertisements and commercials are so repetitive – repetition works! Students can use this knowledge to their advantage in their persuasive writing. It is challenging to get the reader to fully agree with the writer’s opinion if they don’t fully understand it. Saying the same thing in various ways ensures the reader gets many bites at the ‘understanding’ cherry.

Repetition Example: “The use of plastic bags is not only bad for the environment, but it is also bad for our economy. Plastic bags are not biodegradable, meaning they will not decompose and will continue to take up space in landfills. Plastic bags are also not recyclable, meaning they will not be reused and will instead end up in landfills. Plastic bags are not only bad for the environment, but they are also bad for our economy as they are costly to dispose of and take up valuable space in landfills.”

In this example, the phrase “not only bad for the environment but also bad for our economy” is repeated multiple times to reinforce the idea that plastic bags are not just a problem for the environment but also the economy. The repetition of the phrase emphasizes the point and makes it more persuasive.

It is also important to note that repetition could be used differently, such as repeating a word or phrase to create rhythm or emphasis.

Storytelling: Humans tend to understand things better through stories. Think of how we teach kids important values through time-tested fables like Peter and the Wolf . Whether through personal anecdotes or references to third-person experiences, stories help climb down the ladder of abstraction and reach the reader on a human level.

Storytelling Example: “Imagine you are walking down the street, and you come across a stray dog clearly in need of food and water. The dog looks up at you with big, sad eyes, and you cannot help but feel a twinge of compassion. Now, imagine that same scenario, but instead of a stray dog, it’s a homeless person sitting on the sidewalk. The person is clearly in need of food and shelter, and their eyes also look up at her with a sense of hopelessness.

The point of this story is to show that just as we feel compelled to help a stray animal in need, we should also feel compelled to help a homeless person. We should not turn a blind eye to the suffering of our fellow human beings, and we should take action to address homelessness in our community. It is important to remember that everyone deserves a roof over their head and a warm meal to eat. The story is designed to elicit an emotional response in the reader and make the argument more relatable and impactful.

By using storytelling, this passage creates an image in the reader’s mind and creates an emotional connection that can be more persuasive than just stating facts and figures.

Dissent: We live in a cynical age, so leaving out the opposing opinion will smack of avoidance to the reader. Encourage your students to turn to that opposing viewpoint and deal with those arguments in their essays .

Dissent Example: “Many people argue that students should not have to wear uniforms in school. They argue that uniforms stifle creativity and individuality and that students should be able to express themselves through their clothing choices. While these are valid concerns, I strongly disagree.

In fact, uniforms can actually promote individuality by levelling the playing field and removing the pressure to dress in a certain way. Furthermore, uniforms can promote a sense of community and belonging within a school. They can also provide a sense of discipline and structure, which can help to create a more focused and productive learning environment. Additionally, uniforms can save families money and eliminate the stress of deciding what to wear daily .

While some may argue that uniforms stifle creativity and individuality, the benefits of uniforms far outweigh the potential drawbacks. It is important to consider the impact of uniforms on the school as a whole, rather than focusing solely on individual expression.”

In this example, the writer presents the opposing viewpoint (uniforms stifle creativity and individuality) and then provides counterarguments to refute it. By doing so, the writer can strengthen their own argument and present a more convincing case for why uniforms should be worn in school.

A Call to Action: A staple of advertising, a call to action can also be used in persuasive writing. When employed, it usually forms part of the conclusion section of the essay and asks the reader to do something, such as recycle, donate to charity, sign a petition etc.

A quick look around reveals to us the power of persuasion, whether in product advertisements, newspaper editorials, or political electioneering; persuasion is an ever-present element in our daily lives. Logic and reason are essential in persuasion, but they are not the only techniques. The dark arts of persuasion can prey on emotion, greed, and bias. Learning to write persuasively can help our students recognize well-made arguments and help to inoculate them against the more sinister manifestations of persuasion.

Call to Action Example: “Climate change is a pressing issue that affects us all, and it’s important that we take action now to reduce our carbon footprint and protect the planet for future generations. As a society, we have the power to make a difference and it starts with small changes that we can make in our own lives.

I urge you to take the following steps to reduce your carbon footprint:

• Reduce your use of single-use plastics
• Use public transportation, carpool, bike or walk instead of driving alone.
• Support clean energy sources such as solar and wind power
• Plant trees and support conservation efforts

It’s easy to feel like one person can’t make a difference, but the truth is that every little bit helps. Together, we can create a more sustainable future for ourselves and for the planet.

So, let’s take action today and make a difference for a better future, it starts with minor changes, but it all adds up and can make a significant impact. We need to take responsibility for our actions and do our part to protect the planet.”

In this example, the writer gives a clear and specific call to action and encourages the reader to take action to reduce their carbon footprint and protect the planet. By doing this, the writer empowers the reader to take action and enables them to change.

Now, go persuade your students of the importance of perfecting the art of persuasive writing!

A COMPLETE UNIT ON TEACHING FACT AND OPINION

This  HUGE 120 PAGE  resource combines four different fact and opinion activities you can undertake as a  WHOLE GROUP  or as  INDEPENDENT READING GROUP TASKS  in either  DIGITAL  or  PRINTABLE TASKS.

20 POPULAR PERSUASIVE ESSAY TOPICS FOR STUDENTS

Writing an effective persuasive essay demonstrates a range of skills that will be of great use in nearly all aspects of life after school.

In essence, if you can influence a person to change their ideas or thoughts on a given topic through how you structure your words and thoughts, you possess a very powerful skill.

Be careful not to rant wildly.  Use facts and other people’s ideas who think similarly to you in your essay to strengthen your concepts.

Your biggest challenge in getting started may be choosing a suitable persuasive essay topic.  These 20 topics for a persuasive essay should make this process a little easier.

• WHY ARE WE FASCINATED WITH CELEBRITIES AND WEALTHY PEOPLE ON TELEVISION AND SOCIAL MEDIA?
• IS IT RIGHT FOR SCHOOLS TO RAISE MONEY BY SELLING CANDY AND UNHEALTHY FOODS TO STUDENTS?
• SHOULD GIRLS BE ALLOWED TO PLAY ON BOYS SPORTING TEAMS?
• IS TEACHING HANDWRITING A WASTE OF TIME IN THIS DAY AND AGE?
• SHOULD THERE BE FAR GREATER RESTRICTIONS AROUND WHAT CAN BE POSTED ON THE INTERNET?
• SHOULD PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES HAVE TO TAKE DRUG TESTS?
• ARE TEENAGE PREGNANCY SHOWS A NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE INFLUENCE ON VIEWERS?
• SHOULD GAMBLING BE PROMOTED IN ANY WAY IN SPORTS EVEN THOUGH IT BRINGS IN LARGE AMOUNTS OF REVENUE?
• SHOULD SPORTING TEAMS THAT LOSE BE REWARDED BY RECEIVING INCENTIVES SUCH AS HIGH DRAFT PICKS AND / OR FINANCIAL BENEFITS?
• SHOULD SHARKS THAT ATTACK PEOPLE BE DESTROYED? SHOULD WE GET INVOLVED IN FOREIGN CONFLICTS AND ISSUES THAT DON’T DIRECTLY AFFECT OUR COUNTRY?
• SHOULD WE GET INVOLVED IN FOREIGN CONFLICTS AND ISSUES THAT DON’T DIRECTLY AFFECT OUR COUNTRY?
• COULD VIDEO GAMES BE CONSIDERED AS A PROFESSIONAL SPORT?
• IF YOU WERE THE LEADER OF YOUR COUNTRY AND HAD A LARGE SURPLUS TO SPEND, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH IT?
• WHEN SHOULD A PERSON BE CONSIDERED AND TREATED AS AN ADULT?
• SHOULD SMOKING BECOME AN ILLEGAL ACTIVITY?
• SHOULD THE VOTING AGE BE LOWERED?
• DOES PROTECTIVE PADDING IN SPORTS MAKE IT MORE DANGEROUS?
• SHOULD CELL PHONES BE ALLOWED IN THE CLASSROOM?
• IS TEACHING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE A WASTE OF TIME?
• SHOULD WE TEACH ETIQUETTE IN SCHOOLS?

PERSUASIVE PROMPTS FOR RELUCTANT WRITERS

If your students need a little more direction and guidance, here are some journal prompts that include aspects to consider.

• Convince us that students would be better off having a three-day weekend .  There are many angles you could take with this, such as letting children maximize their childhood or trying to convince your audience that a four-day school week might actually be more productive.
• Which is the best season?  And why?   You will really need to draw on the benefits of your preferred season and sell them to your audience.  Where possible, highlight the negatives of the competing seasons.  Use lots of figurative language and sensory and emotional connections for this topic.
• Aliens do / or don’t exist?  We can see millions of stars surrounding us just by gazing into the night sky, suggesting alien life should exist, right? Many would argue that if there were aliens we would have seen tangible evidence of them by now.  The only fact is that we just don’t know the answer to this question.  It is your task to try and convince your audience through some research and logic what your point of view is and why.
• Should school uniforms be mandatory? Do your research on this popular and divisive topic and make your position clear on where you stand and why.  Use plenty of real-world examples to support your thoughts and points of view.  
• Should Smartphones be banned in schools?   Whilst this would be a complete nightmare for most students’ social lives, maybe it might make schools more productive places for students to focus and learn.  Pick a position, have at least three solid arguments to support your point of view, and sell them to your audience.

VISUAL JOURNAL PROMPTS FOR PERSUASIVE WRITING

Try these engaging, persuasive prompts with your students to ignite the writing process . Scroll through them.

Persuasive Essay Examples (Student Writing Samples)

Below are a collection of persuasive essay samples.  Click on the image to enlarge and explore them in greater detail.  Please take a moment to read the persuasive texts in detail and the teacher and student guides highlight some of the critical elements of writing a persuasion.

Please understand these student writing samples are not intended to be perfect examples for each age or grade level but a piece of writing for students and teachers to explore together to critically analyze to improve student writing skills and deepen their understanding of persuasive text writing.

We recommend reading the example either a year above or below, as well as the grade you are currently working with, to gain a broader appreciation of this text type.

VIDEO TUTORIALS FOR PERSUASIVE WRITING

OTHER GREAT ARTICLES RELATED TO PERSUASIVE ESSAY WRITING

Teaching Resources

Use our resources and tools to improve your student’s writing skills through proven teaching strategies.

WHERE CAN I FIND A COMPLETE UNIT OF WORK ON HOW TO WRITE PERSUASIVE ESSAYS?

We pride ourselves on being the web’s best resource for teaching students and teachers how to write a persuasive text. We value the fact you have taken the time to read our comprehensive guides to understand the fundamentals of writing skills.

We also understand some of you just don’t have the luxury of time or the resources to create engaging resources exactly when you need them.

If you are time-poor and looking for an in-depth solution that encompasses all of the concepts outlined in this article, I strongly recommend looking at the “ Writing to Persuade and Influence Unit. ”

Working in partnership with Innovative Teaching Ideas , we confidently recommend this resource as an all-in-one solution to teach how to write persuasively.

This unit will find over 140 pages of engaging and innovative teaching ideas.

PERSUASIVE ESSAY WRITING CHECKLIST AND RUBRIC BUNDLE

The Ultimate Guide to Opinion Writing for Students and Teachers

Top 5 Persuasive Writing Techniques for Students

5 Top Persuasive Writing Lesson Plans for Students and Teachers

23 Persuasive writing Topics for High School students

How to Write an Advertisement: A Complete Guide for Students and Teachers

How to Start an Essay with Strong Hooks and Leads

Social Media Literacy Persuasive Speech

Have you ever seen a cute puppy and you all of a sudden get this joyful feeling inside? You automatically pull out your phone to share this moment with your Facebook friends, Instagram followers, and add it to your Snapchat story. The moment that you pulled out your phone was your brain repeating what you always do when you get excited. Your brain is telling the other parts of your body what you are about to do, and that’s why you are able to just hop on your phone without thinking about it. Now, your phone is out and you’re taking all kinds of pictures and videos to send to your friends and family. You do this all the time, sharing these personal moments, and important events that you don’t even realize it at all. You don’t realize by sharing these moments, you are giving your privacy away. …show more content…

Or you’re at school unfocused or daydreaming because you’re so into the show that you’ve been binge watching all week. And you missed something in class that was extremely important. So important that it would be put on the test you going to take next week but you miss everything your teacher said. So you failed your test knowing you should study, but you’re so eager to finish watching the 2nd season. In addition, you are giving your freedom away because you cannot put down your phone for one minute. You are basically obsessed with the idea of social media. You can change that by spending just one week out of the year with no phone, television, tablet, or even Netflix time. That week will be the first week of May. May 1-7. By putting away all of your electronic devices, you can enjoy the finer things in life. For instance, going fishing or hanging out at the mall with friend and/or

Persuasive Speech On Social Media

How much time do people spend on a cell phone or computer daily? What percentage of that time is consumed doing things other than scrolling through Instagram, twitter, and Facebook feeds or snap chatting peers? Seventy three percent of wired teens use social media websites (CNN). We live in a society where social media dominates a vast majority of our life. Lapointe Lapointe, through a relatable series of emotional developments, targets teens and families caught up in social media to clearly inform them about the dangers of tech-based social apps and the vitality of monitoring what we say, do and like. Our actions, although they may seem immensely minuscule, have large implications. By using scare tactics, Lapointe’s argument becomes not

Persuasive Essay On Social Media

When you correlate social media with a tech-savvy young adult, you can assume technology takes up most of our lives in the not so healthiest way. One of the ways we communicate with technology is through social media. Social media is a platform used for interaction towards different audiences. In addition However, social media has countless different platforms in today’s world. It is an essential part in people’s lives. Shaping the future, social media continues to become the innovation as time goes on. The social media platforms I often use are Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. There are many benefits and reasons of social media platforms that explain why I use social media on a daily basis.

In the world of social media people from all over the world are able to connect. However, is this connection really good? Are strangers being able to view your every move ok? Why not social media? You as a social media user are in charge of what your audience is able to see, but at the age of 12 are you really capable of understanding this power and controlling it? Adolescents under the age of 18 should not be allowed to have a social media account, where they can encounter potentially dangerous and life threatening situations such as bullying, child molestation, and sex trafficking. The innocence and immaturity of a learning and growing child prevents them from understanding the potential online dangers they can encounter, such as

Social media has been a topic of debate for years. Some people are strongly against any use of it while others like the instant connection it provides. A major concern over social media is the lasting effects it has on teenagers. Social media can affect teenagers through many ways including things like their self-esteem. Cyberbullying is a raging topic of discussion centered around teens social media use. It can also effect their people skills and create a lack of community involvement. Some parents think that watching what their children do on social media is an invasion of privacy but is your concern for their privacy greater than your concern for their safety? Social media poses a great danger to today’s children. It can affect many aspects of their lives.

I fondly remember the days when I was naïve enough to think that when someone went through the trouble of uploading a photo of a product into their Instagram account (or Facebook, or any other social media handle) it was because they actually, truly enjoyed using it (eating it, wearing it, you get my point).

“We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how we do it” (Qualman, n.d). According to Merrain Webster 1828, “social media is form of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messaging, and other online (such as video). Technology has involved into something that everyone can utilize effectively just by the swipe of finger or by pressing a single button. We don’t have to go the post office for hand written letter from families and friends abroad, but we can get them through simply opening a chat box online. However, social media has become the addiction to many young people today and even adults alike. We eat with your phones. We study and communicate with others on your various devices. We even go into the bathroom with our devices to ensure that we don’t miss a tweet, recent Instagram post or a WhatsApp message.

Ever since I was little and did not know how to do basic things like walk, talk or solve an algebraic equation. Naturally I would get discouraged and would not try to do it again. However, my parents effortlessly raised me, had encourage me to keep going. That I would get what I wanted if I put my heart into it. I’m not spoiled like Simon sinek would say we were raised with bad parenting skills.; my parents did not argue with my teachers over a stupid grade or to force me intro honors class room.

Persuasive Speech On Social Media Essay

Thesis: Stay in the present moment, don’t let yourself believe you’re going to forget a memory because you didn’t document it through social media.

Privacy Cost Of Privacy

In our technology growing world, we are confronted with exposing our privacy every second of the day. From as easy as taking pictures from an iPhone to downloading a game on the App Store, personal information, no matter how well one tries to hide, the material can be released for dozens to see. Honan writes, “iPhone shots can be automatically placed on a map… Clicking on them revealed photos of an apartment interior… Now I know where she lives” (3). When taking a picture, thinking of whether other people will see it somewhere else usually does not enter our brain. If the picture is not shared on any website then the picture should be safe, right? Wrong. From reading through Honan’s essay, he encounters several ways that our privacy is no longer private.

Social Media Persuasive Research Paper

There have been students who have threatened other students online and in person, but most people are too scared to confront the situation, so they hide behind the screen and terrorize people just for the satisfaction. There have been teens sharing inappropriate photos online that should be banned right away, and could prevent and perverts from finding out where they might live or find out any other kind of private information they have no business knowing. Snapchat is an app that over 30 million users use on the daily. Little that adults may know, there is now a modification Snapchat has come up with allowing users to share their location. A little map will come up and show anyone who wishes to find out where they live or stay. This could be very dangerous, it could lead to someone being kidnapped, killed, or abducted. Your child could be on the amber alert just by one app with one setting on it. Teens need to be more careful with what they do/post online. A lot of us are unaware of the dangers that could happen at any time. Anything you post, once you post it, it’s going to be there forever. Even if you delete it just seconds after, it can never be unseen ever

Mean Tweet Persuasive Speech

If you haven’t heard, President Obama was in Hollywood yesterday. He traveled with his motorcade to Hollywood for a guest appearance on a late night TV show. Fans who were visiting the area got a big surprise that they will never forget. As for the locals, they are still grumbling over the traffic woes. Every time I see the motorcade I just smile in awe. Little American flags on the corners of the cars, police everywhere and patriotic music blaring. OK, technically the music is from my car, but it’s a good time to share a patriotic tune when the president drives by. I always wave as it’s possible he’s looking out the window wondering who is playing their radio way too loud in Los Angeles and I don’t want him to think it’s the other cars stuck

Media Persuasive Speeches

“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome president-elected Donald Trump.” said the reporter on the news. The news made me think to me more than I thought it would. I looked at everything from Twitter to Facebook. I thought about all the things that influence news and social media. Everything that has mentioned about Trump and Clinton. There’s Trump saying how the media is inadequate and how they manipulate the truth. There’s Clinton, who the media likes to talk about her emails.

Persuasive Essay On Social Media And Texting

“The more social media we have, the more we think we’re connecting, yet we are really disconnecting from each other.” -JR, a French artist. Social media and texting can decrease your social skills if all we do is spend time on social media and texting because if all we do is type and not talk we will slowly lose the ability to interact with each other. I challenge the decision to allow teenagers more access to social media and texting. Social media and texting can often cause distractions, lead to suicide, and loss of social skills amongst one another.

Media Persuasive Speech

The persuasive speech I viewed was titled “Implications of Social Networking and Text messaging”, which I immediately was drawn to which looking for a video on YouTube. It caught my attention because I use social networking and texting every day as a form of communication and wanted to know what was so detrimental to doing so. During the entirety of the speech, the speaker stayed true to the title. He talked about the negative outcomes of using too much social networking and texting but made sure to be credible with facts, and fun statistics throughout.

Persuasive Speech On The Internet On Teenagers

Bob a young boy was in his room with a gun in his hand. He was debating on whether or not to commit suicide, due to the fact of people on social media making fun of him, his father opens the door.

Related Topics

• High school
• Middle school