Writing class short essay 500 words

Step 1

First, decide on a contemporary issue that interests you where there is substantial disagreement or misinformation about facts. This can be something like a huge, global issue, such as climate change. Or it could be something smaller, like a tweet about “fake news” from US President Trump. It can be serious; or it can be silly like the “Flat Earth Society.”  It can be in the realm of science, health, politics, culture, technology, or business. It can be global or local. It’s up to you where to start!

Next, spend about 30 minutes taking a journey on the web. Start with a Google search, then go from there. Along the way, you should “collect” things that you find interesting (Zotero is great for this). You’re not looking for the “best” information; you’re looking at what people are saying about your topic in many different places and from many different perspectives.

Some types of artifacts to gather:

• memes

• social media posts and discussions (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WeChat, Tumblr, etc.)

• short news articles

• long news articles (“long reads”)

• advertisements

• forum posts (e.g. Reddit)

• Wikipedia entries

• blogs of all sorts

• websites of organizations

• personal websites

• video clips

• audio clips/podcasts

• infographics

• photographs

• interactive visuals

• other relevant things about your

To be “metacognitive” is to think about your thinking and reflect on it. That’s what this step will help you do- to reflect on how you navigate through digital discourse.

Step 2

Write about 500 words describing the journey you took. How did you get from where you started to where you ended up? What observations can you make  about how ideas move in digital discourse? How are you guided through discourse? Why do certain ideas trend more than others? Ultimately, what does this tell you about digital discourse?