MEDIA LITERACY INITIATIVE : 1 DISCOVER

Step One: Discovery

1. Identify a broad topic that is part of the current cultural, social, and/or political conversation.

• You may discover a topic on a popular press/news website or a social media site. Choose something that is engaging and that you are curious about. 
• Potential sample topic ideas - Vaccine hesitancy in the U.S., Climate crisis, Israel-Palestine relations, Cybersecurity
• Consider looking at Gale's Opposing Viewpoints to see more ideas on contemporary political and social issues.
  • This platform has a helpful Topic Finder & Visualizer that can provide more ideas if you are struggling to come up with concepts.

2. Use Wikipedia to begin to explore the topic you have chosen.

• If you do not find your topic in Wikipedia, you may need to broaden the topic.
• For example, if you saw an article about pigs as an emotional support animal, you may not find a Wikipedia article on "emotional support pigs," so the Wikipedia search to "emotional support animal" and run a separate search for "pig."

Optional reading material on concept mapping

3. Download the blank Concept Map, create a handwritten map, or use a digital concept map from the links below. 

• Answer the: what, when, where, who, why and how about your topic.
• As you fill out your concept map you may connect people, events, etc. and consider how you will narrow your topic.
• You may want to connect ideas by using different colors, shapes, or even drawings to help you explore the information you discover through your search. 

4. Once you have completed the concept map, uploaded into the form below.

• Make sure the picture is relatively high quality and can be easily read and displayed digitally in the case you want to use it as an image on your final poster. 

Digital concept map makers