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Seven Skills of Media Literacy
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Seven Skills of Media Literacy

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August 2019 | 192 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

In Seven Skills of Media Literacy, best-selling author and renowned scholar W. James Potter provides readers with the practical guidance they need to make substantial improvements on seven major skills required to increase their media literacy. For each of these seven skills, Potter provides easy-to-follow algorithms and heuristics that structure the process of using the skill. Chapters also offer many exercises to help readers practice using these algorithms and heuristics while avoiding traps in thinking. The book is organized to guide readers progressively through the sequence of media literacy skills, starting with the most fundamental and building to the more complex skills. This book is a must read for those people serious about becoming more strategic in using the media to satisfy their own needs for information and entertainment and thereby avoid being exploited by media messages. 

INSTRUCTORS: Bundle Seven Skills of Media Literacy with Potter’s core text, Media Literacy, Ninth Edition, for only $5 more! Bundle ISBN: 978-1-5443-9525-8



 
Preface
 
1. Skills in the Context of Media Literacy
What Is Media Literacy?

 
Nature of Skills

 
Chapter Review

 
 
2. Importance of Skills
The Media Challenge

 
Types of Problems

 
The Development of Skills

 
Chapter Review

 
 
3. Analyzing: Digging Into the Meaning and Structure of Media Messages
The Analysis Algorithm

 
Heuristics

 
Avoiding Traps

 
Chapter Review

 
 
4. Evaluating: Making Judgments About the Value of Media Messages
The Evaluation Algorithm

 
Heuristics

 
Avoiding Traps

 
Chapter Review

 
 
5. Grouping: Classifying Elements in Media Messages
The Grouping Algorithm

 
Heuristics

 
Avoiding Traps

 
Chapter Review

 
 
6. Inducing: Looking for Patterns Within and Across Media Messages
The Induction Algorithm

 
Heuristics

 
Avoiding Traps

 
Chapter Review

 
 
7. Deducing: Reasoning with Logic from General Principles
The Deduction Algorithm

 
Heuristics

 
Avoiding Traps

 
Chapter Review

 
 
8. Synthesizing: Assembling Novel Configurations
Challenges

 
The Synthesis Algorithm

 
Heuristics

 
Avoiding Traps

 
Chapter Review

 
 
9. Abstracting: Communicating the Essence of Media Messages
The Abstracting Algorithm

 
Heuristics

 
Avoiding Traps

 
Chapter Review

 
 
10. Putting It All Together
Pep Talk

 
Conclusion

 
 
References
 
Glossary

"The term “media literacy” is as difficult to define as the term “critical thinking.” This textbook makes the concept a lot less abstract by viewing media literacy in terms of seven essential skills."

David L. Shabazz
Kentucky State University

"The book provides a thorough exploration into all aspects of media literacy, by an author well-known for his expertise in the subject."

Donna L. Halper
Lesley University

"This is a text that’s great for helping students develop the kind of critical thinking skills we all talk about wanting students to achieve. As a text for analyzing messages...it seems as though it would be an excellent source."

Margaret Haefner
North Park University

"This textbook is an excellent opportunity for students to better understand media literacy and the skills required to critically think about how media influences their lives. Not only does the author discuss these ideas, but he introduces the skills that students can develop to use these skills in the real world."

Nancy Bressler
Wheeling Jesuit University

"I would describe Potter’s book as a tool that would be useful in taking what we often make complex and potentially simplifying the subject matter to make it less intimidating for the learning process."

Richard T. Craig
George Mason University

"A welcome addition to the literature on media literacy as a skills-based orientation that clearly outlines how audiences may recognize, interpret, and judge media influences across various planes of their lives."

Scott A. Mitchell
University of Wisconsin – River Falls

This book helps students understand more in terms skills they should have in order to improve their media literacy

Dr Supathida Kulpavaropas
Mass Communications, Mahidol University International College
March 17, 2022

Still under consideration.

Dr Gladys L. Cleland
Telecommunications Dept, University Of Florida
November 19, 2019

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