Document Type
Thesis
First Faculty Advisor
Julie Volkman
Second Faculty Advisor
Jerrica Rowlett
Keywords
information literacy; digital literacy; health information literacy
Publisher
Bryant University
Rights Management
CC-BY-NC-ND; CC-BY; CC-BY-SA; CC-BY-ND; CC-BY-NC-SA; CC-BY-NC
Abstract
Today, younger generations utilize social media to access what they perceive to be reliable and accurate information, yet there are some concerns regarding validity and the ease of which students share information. This thesis evaluates how undergraduate students search for and verify information seen on popular social media platforms and analyzes the proficiency of their information literacy skills. The data collected will be used in determining which social media platforms are most frequently used and trusted by students, which types of sources are used in verification of this information if verified at all, and their perception of information literacy. The data collected will be implemented for analysis in comparison to the previously created and studied Social Media Information Literacy Scale (Heiss et al., 2023) and the e-Health Impact Questionnaire (Kelly et al., 2015) to further evaluate how undergraduate students search for and verify health-related information on social media.
Comments
This Bryant University Honors Thesis was conducted to emphasize the importance of information literacy skills in response to increasing reliability on social media for health-related news and information. The findings developed through the Social Media Information Literacy Scale (Heiss et al., 2023) and the e-Health Impact Questionnaire (Kelly et al., 2023) offer insights for undergraduate students who use social media for health-related news and information.