Why do people believe what they believe about health, education, politics and more? Maybe they read it somewhere. Maybe it's from their best friend's neighbor's cousin's favorite book. Popular works of nonfiction can often gain momentum in popular culture, their arguments and biases absorbed by the popular consciousness, without many of us ever having read the book. 

Inspired by the podcast, If Books Could Kill hosted by Michael Hobbes & Peter Shamshiri, this workshop will look at selected passages and arguments from popular nonfiction books and demonstrate approaches to search for supporting and related information and data. Participants will participate in hands-on activities to analyze specific passages and search available sources in an attempt to explore selected claims.

Intended audience: Undergraduate UCLA students

Learning outcomes: 

By the end of the workshop, participants will…

• Engage critically with popular works of nonfiction and develop approaches to tracking down sources of information to corroborate or disprove, if possible, claims made by their authors. 
• Learn information literacy skills they can use in their daily life.