（cyberbullying）3 Body paragraphs and conclusion

Sample Body Paragraph #2

Thesis: From a psychological perspective, the issue of fake news in the United States requires the politicians to push for tougher laws because of its tendency to spread easily through social media through the following causes: the increasing number of fake news websites, a lack of vetting individuals of authority, one’s tendency of not questioning what is published, and the prominence of “bots”.

Fake news in the United States has a tendency to spread easily through social media because of the increasing number of fake news websites. More specifically, there have been a dramatic increase in the creation of websites that mislead their readers through “clickbait” headlines in order to generate revenue through advertisements placed within them (Holan, 2018). For instance, according to Katherine Clayton, a Ph.D student in political studies at Stanford University, “The most viral false news articles were shared more on Facebook in the months prior to the [2016 presidential] election than the most widely shared mainstream news stories” (Clayton, et al., 2019, p. 1073). With this in mind, it is evident that various social media platforms, such as Facebook, play a vital role in spreading fake news among the general public. Because such articles are not fact-checked or vetted thoroughly by those who click and read them, the misinformation present in it can become known as fact. In addition, according to Thomas Smelter, a graduate student in psychological sciences at California State University, individuals who are exposed to fake news tend to trust it, as “[t]he presence of pictures and repeated exposure increased perceived accuracy” (Smelter & Calvillo, May 2020, p. 1061). Clearly, the prevalence of fake news websites that are shared widely in social media is having an impact on the ability of individuals to correctly judge the accuracy of their content. With a widespread of websites that promote sensational stories and their dramatic increase in the last ten years, the act of fact-checking becomes more crucial (Gillin, 2017). Therefore, the issue of fake news in the United States can be boiled down to the increase of fake news websites that are spread easily through social media. Comment by Heesun Nam: ASSERTION SENTENCE: focuses on the CONCEPT part of the thesis Comment by Heesun Nam: Roadmap/Paragraph key word – see thesis above. Comment by Heesun Nam: EXPLANATION SENTENCE – should elaborate on what we mean by “increasing number of fake news websites” Comment by Heesun Nam: OPTIONAL supporting evidence has been used to help define “fake news websites” as a term. Comment by Heesun Nam: FIRST MAIN EVIDENCE begins with “according to” transition and an introduction to the author’s credibility Comment by Heesun Nam: DISCUSSION – begins with a transition phrase and first talks about what was quoted in the evidence section above. Comment by Heesun Nam: Second discussion sentence ties in the idea of the quote with the main idea of the paragraph Comment by Heesun Nam: SECOND MAIN EVIDENCE begins with the transition “in addition” to signal the introduction of another evidence. Comment by Heesun Nam: SECOND DISCUSSION – same as the first discussion, the sentence first elaborates on the quote and what was said in it. Comment by Heesun Nam: The second sentence of the discussion “connects the dots” between the quote and the assertion key words Comment by Heesun Nam: SUPPORTING EVIDENCE is MANDATORY in the second discussion. Comment by Heesun Nam: CONNECTION SENTENCE – simple and to the point