Fake news is nowadays part of our everyday lives, especially for those who are exposed to social media. As 8 out of 10 Swedish teenagers mainly read news on social media, this study was conducted to investigate to what extent students are taught to deal with fake news. This was done by examining exercises in English workbooks currently used at the upper secondary level. Skolverket (2021) clearly states that it is part of Swedish teachers’ mission to educate students so that they can orientate and act in a complex reality with a large flow of information, increased digitization and a rapid pace of change. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to examine how and to what extent workbooks in the Swedish EFL classroom provide students with tasks which can be said to further skills related to source criticism and critical thinking. It also aims to address the possible prevalence of insufficient skills of the above-mentioned kind and its potentially harmful consequences. This was done by investigating how exercises in workbooks can be said to promote an improvement of source criticism and critical thinking. The method of the presented study emanates from the theoretical framework of critical literacy from a pragmatic perspective. The study is qualitative as the examined material is limited. The results show that the workbooks vary in how they enable the ability to detect bias and critical thinking and that the workbooks rely on teachers to elaborate instructions. This indicates that the exercises in the workbooks may not be sufficient to fulfil the mission stated by Skolverket (2021).

The purpose of this paper is to investigate several potential indicators of successful academic writing and their connection to assignment grades as a possible path toward better teaching of academic writing at the upper secondary level in Sweden. These indicators are referencing (REF), academic vocabulary (AV), and reporting verbs (RV). Our research questions were to examine to what extent the final grades on independent research synthesis papers at Malmö University relate to the use of these three indicators. To that end, we quantitatively assessed the indicators’ relationship to grades (U/G/VG) on 28 4th-year teaching students’ independent research synthesis papers. We examined REF from two perspectives: quality of sources and source integration. AV was assessed by examining the percentage of words in student texts that appeared in the Academic Vocabulary List (AVL). We assessed RV as an indicator by calculating the frequency of RVs in student texts and which types of RVs they favored, as measured by the ARGUE/SHOW/FIND/THINK framework of RV usage. We found very small positive connections between AV percentage, RV frequency, and grades, but small negative connections between measures of reference quality and grades, and found that there were no meaningful differences in RV usage between the three different groups. However, we found that measures of source integration related strongly to the grades on the papers. Numerous factors could explain our findings, notably the small sample size, our unique RV master list, and the rigorous supervision process of these papers at Malmö University. To establish any conclusive results, further research is required.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att skapa kunskap om hur yrkesverksamma lärare i svenska resonerar kring undervisning i källkritik, samt hur de upplever sin egen kunskap i källkritik. Studien har utgått från två teoretiska perspektiv. Dels media- and information literacy (MIL), dels fyra undervisningsparadigm. Media- and information literacy handlar om olika metoder som relaterar till källkritisk kunskap och undervisningsparadigmen kan förklaras som olika, samexisterande, riktningar av undervisning. För att genomföra studien har kvalitativ metod använts i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer med fyra svensklärare på en skola i södra Sverige. Studiens resultat visar att lärarna säger sig arbeta med källkritik inom ramen för svenskämnet i relativt begränsad utsträckning. Lärarna uppger sig huvudsakligen fokusera på olika metoder gällande ett källkritiskt förhållningssätt samt informationssökning i undervisningen. Majoriteten av lärarna anser sig ha tillräckliga kunskaper i ämnet för att undervisa elever på högstadiet. En av lärarna anser sig däremot inte ha tillräckliga kunskaper i ämnet. Vi kan se tendenser till att undervisningen liknar mycket av de som presenteras inom ramen för det utilitaristiska och akademiska paradigmet. Vidare ser vi även att det saknas en gemensam begreppsapparat för de källkritiska frågorna. Avslutningsvis ser vi också att det saknas forskning inom vissa delar av fältet, till exempel om undervisningen i källkritik bör ske implicit eller explicit.

The popular music duo known as Hooja and DJ Mårdhund was during 2023 known by most of the Swedish population. They won prizes, did interviews and even had their own documentary by the Swedish public service SVT. This was all achieved while the duo was anonymous, only showing themselves with masks and layers of clothes as well as thick northern accents. However, on the 6th of July 2023, their true identities were revealed as well as where they live and how much money they make, in an article written by the Swedishnewspaper Aftonbladet. Before the reveal they had such a huge medial platform where they could express themselves however they wanted but with the article by Aftonbladet it was also revealed that everything they said in the interviews wan´t true. This raised the question, har source criticism in journalism disappeared? Journalism has such a power in society that it is highly important that the information shared is truthful. Without source criticism there is no telling of what is true and what's made up and the power is instead moved from trusted journalistic newsrooms to everyday people who want a place in the paper. The purpose of this study is to in depth analyze how journalistic medias used framing and have portrayed the duo before their identities were revealed. This has been done using a qualitative thematic analysis on four different publications (two of each) by the Swedish public service Sveriges radio and Aftonbladet. The themes found during the analysis were“Characters”, “Source criticism”, “Truthfulness” and “Behind the masks”. The result showed that at least two of the articles gravely lacked source criticism and that the music duo pretty much had free rain to portray themselves however they wanted. Only one of the articles contained a high level of criticism. In the discussion the theories of uses and gratification and framing theory was used to show how media has used the fame of Hooja and how Hooja has used media platforms as a way to market themselves.

In the past few years society has become more digitized. As a result of this the schools are using more digital tools in education and searching information online has become the norm. The purpose of this essay is to investigate what research has been made on how digital sources and information searches online are used in history education and how this affects the students. It will also investigate how teachers should approach information searches and digital sources in history education. The material that has been used in this essay has been found through the databases SwePub, Education Research Complete (ERC) and ERIC via EBSCO. All the material has been reviewed by the authors of this essay to make sure they were relevant to the questions asked. The results of the essay are that due to the digitization in society the Swedish school system should revise their school documents to have a more extended view on source criticism. The results are also that using information searches and digital sources can have a positive effect on the students but for this to happen the teacher has to support the students during their work. Further research can be conducted on what the teachers' opinions on digitization in history education is and a comparison between the older methods of source criticism and the newer, more digitized source criticism.

This thesis discusses source criticism from a critical perspective which encompasses its challenges, demands and possibilities for teaching practice. The questions guiding the core of this research are the following:1) What differentiates people’s activities in the process of evaluating sources? 2) What characterizes an effective practice in critical evaluation of sources? 3) Which criteria, factors and strategies might be important to consider in order to have a successful source critical methodology that promotes the improvement of critical thinking when analysing information and news?The studied materials include data from one survey and 54 semi-structured interviews. The interviews, analysed by using a methodology based on Grounded Theory, led to the development of a concept, critical source criticism (CSC), which define a broad perspective for the analysis of sources, and a related theoretical model (the CSC-model) aimed to be used for didactical purposes. The outcomes from this research suggest that different forms and levels of knowledge in history and social studies (in theory and practice), have a critical impact on the way we interact with information. The results also suggest that the combinations of theories and methodologies, alongside an emphasis on pluralism and multiperspectivity, can turn source criticism into an effective practice to achieve several educational goals. Subsequently, these results, are considered in the development of the proposed model in this thesis. The CSC-model developed in this study could be suitable for the analysis of information such as news, in planning of source-critical based teaching and in source critical discussions. I argue that this methodological structure, can be applied to facilitate the development of critical thinking, as well as other skills and abilities essential for democratic participation. This thesis Includes summaries in Swedish and Spanish as appendices".

Problem statement and purpose of the study Journalism is having economic issues, and the journalists knowledge of this together with tools for web analysis has increased the influence of the audience. The development of internet and the new media landscape has made several scholars call for changes in media ethics, but still not much has happend. The larger influence of the audience makes it interesting to examine how it views media ethics. Recently there has also been signs of an age segregation in media consumption where younger people are using new technology and platforms, which do not have an adjusted ethic system, and the older people are using the more traditional technology, which the media ethics originally was made for. Therefore this study also examines how the view differs in a younger and an older part of the audience. Method and material This study relies on three focus groups with participants from the swedish news audience. To be able to examine a possible age segregation in the view on media ethics, two of the groups consisted of younger participants and the third group consisted of older participants. Results The results of this study can be viewed as a sign of that the younger part of the audience is prepared to take a more individual responsibility for media ethics than the older part. This could for example be done by practicing source criticism. The results also indicates that the existing ethics system in Sweden is still supported by the audience

I denna litteraturstudie undersöks det vad styrdokumenten säger om källkritik och kritiskt granskande och hur det ska läras ut. Studien har svarat på vilken kritik det finns mot läroplanens intentioner och hur utfallet blivit. Studien tar upp forskning om den praxis som råder när elever i åldrarna årskurs 4 – 6 använder Internet och sociala medier. Läroplanen, kommentarmaterial, analyser av gällande läroplan samt artiklar har belyst en viss frånvaro av kunskap och tillämpning av begreppet källkritik i en skolkontext. Studiens slutsats blir att begreppen källkritik och kritiskt granskande helt borde genomsyra läroplanen och gå tvärsigenom alla ämnen.

Today the amount of online medical information sources in Swedish is steadily increasing. The information is convenient and always at hand. People who turn to Google and other search engines are, however, not always knowledgeable about how to identify trustworthy information, or how search algorithms work. The main purpose of this study is to :ind out how Swedish students in the ages of 18-35 search for medical information online. One aspect of this is to gain a better understanding of how they navigate the internet, and how they prioritize and value different information sources. We also look at what sources they turn to for medical information and whether source credibility is crucial in their choices. Our study is based on an online survey at Umeå University. The survey was conducted among eight different study programs with students in the ages of 18-35. In total, we received 305 responses, of which 163 (53,4%) were women, 139 (45,6%) were men, and 1% de:ined as others. The main conclusion of this study is that the target group is most likely to turn to information sites provided by authorities. These sites are considered to be the most trustworthy. The study also showed that the target group was well aware of Sweden’s biggest online doctors, Kry in particular, and rated them as trustworthy as well. The target group would, however, not turn to these sites for medical information. We can also notice that the target group consider themselves to be critical of information online and good at evaluating source credibility.

This thesis is called “Citation needed – the perceived credibility of Wikipedia among higheducation students”. The purpose of this thesis is to discover the opinions about the credibilityof Wikipedia among high education students. The assumption is that students are aware ofbeing source criticizing and do not directly cite Wikipedia in academic works. The main research question is: what are the views of the perceived credibility of theinformation on Wikipedia among high education students? The theoretical framework is made out of previous research specific related to Wikipediabut also theories around memory creation, assessment of sources and credibility. The method used is qualitative, with semi-structured interviews. The material consists ofinterviews with nine participants. Their answers are transcribed and presented in themes andthen analyzed. The main results are that the perceived credibility of the information on Wikipedia amongthe students is that it is fairly credible and their views of the encyclopedia are that it is fastupdated and neutral. They also believe that Wikipedia isn’t for academic usage so in allaspects the students do not make a thoroughly assessment of the encyclopedia’s credibility. Further implications are that Wikipedia would be ruined if anyone tried to make itacademic. Wikipedia fulfills an educational tool for the public even though it is not alwayscorrect. It is important to be reminded that Wikipedia contains errors but no other source iscompletely flawless either. In that sense it would be smarter to start a new encyclopedia, ifthere is such a need, perhaps open for professors only and would in the end only containvetted information, however mostly/only in academic fields. The length of the thesis is 56 pages in total and approximately 21 000 words. Keywords: Wikipedia, encyclopedias, source criticism, credibility, Nationalencyclopedin,students, in-depth interviews.