THE ALLURE OF FAKE NEWS: Outline I. Introduction

A. Thesis statement: Internet technologies enable the proliferation of fake news, and only education and awareness can curtail the influence fake news has on society.

II. Body Paragraph

A. Claim: Prior exposure to a fake news story makes a person more likely to believe in the veracity of the information.

1. Evidence: Just a one-time exposure to a fake news item on a social media platform like Facebook increases the likelihood that a person will believe the fake news story, with the effects lasting as long as a week (Pennycook, Cannon, & Rand, 2017)

2. Evidence: The prior exposure phenomenon is a type of confirmation bias, whereby “ We pick out those bits of data that make us feel good because they confirm our prejudices,” (Heshmat, 2015, p. 1).

3. Discussion: Fake news is sinister and difficult to curtail because even just one exposure to a fake news story can reinforce prejudicial or irrational beliefs.

III. Body Paragraph

A. Claim: Mob mentality is at work with fake news, as research shows a viral post is more likely to be perceived as trustworthy even when it is fake

1. Evidence: Becker (2016) notes that the proliferation of fake news...

Evidence: A viral post on social media is more likely to be perceived of as true than one that can be fact-checked (Papanastasiou, 2017)
3. Discussion: Because social media algorithms also contribute to the proliferation of fake news stories, curbing the influence of fake news has become a daunting, if not totally impossible, task.

IV. Body Paragraph

A. Claim: Free speech enables the creation and dissemination of fake news, and free speech can also be the most effective weapon against fake news.

1. Evidence: Librarians are at the forefront of media literacy, and can help stop fake news (Becker, 2016).

2. Evidence: Aggressive and systematic tagging of fake news is essential because anything that is not tagged as “fake” will be perceived of as real (Pennycook & Rand, 2017).

V. Body Paragraph

A. Counterargument: It is too difficult to debunk fake news because the algorithms used in social media sites make it almost impossible to prevent content from going viral.

B. Rebuttal: (state the refuting claim that disputes the counterargument)

1. Evidence: There are ways of “curbing…