The importance of academic and scientific training in combating misinformation: an exploratory investigation

Abstract

This research aims to reflect on the idiosyncrasies and implications of the current context regarding the proliferation of fake news. In this scenario of misinformation, with social networks as the main space for its dissemination, understanding the position of young university students shows how scientific education is relevant as a safer way to prepare more critical and competent readers for interaction with this type of communication. To this end, it relies on a significant theoretical framework to present and compare different points of view on the subject, such as those of Seixas (2019), Macedo; Oliveira; Lima (2022), Ferreira (2021), Gomes; Lopes (2021), among others. In addition, verbal-visual aspects of the texts, as well as linguistic-textual aspects, were considered to understand what promotes the reader’s adherence to a first impression and the attribution of reliability to misleading information without verification. In the empirical dimension, a Google Forms questionnaire was made available to university students from different courses, semesters, and age groups, whose responses to some of the questions were analyzed here. Although not exhaustive, this study shows that academic trajectory has the potential to help in confronting misinformation, but an effective combat stance requires critical literacy from basic education onwards.