Today you start Part 1 of your KA3 research: history, ownership, structure and audience. Impact and ethics come later. Save the notes you write today in your Communication Portfolio and build on them through to Lesson 58.
If your platform or inquiry question is not locked yet, choose one now and write it at the top of today's notes before you search. You will hunt for solid sources, sift what is worth keeping, and write your first research notes. Those notes feed the presentation later.
Before you hunt, set the six website checks at the top of today's notes (or keep this list open beside you): authenticity, authorship, bias, objectivity, accuracy, purpose. A confident page with no named author and no date is a starting point, not a finished source.
Don't paste whole paragraphs into the Portfolio. 3-2-1 makes you rewrite the ideas first so the notes stay usable later: three facts in your own words, two short quotes worth keeping, one question still open. You will use that pattern on history and ownership, structure, and audience when you write up.
Quick anchors for the three note headings: ownership = who runs and funds it (About / Investors pages); structure = features, account types, how content is organised (Help / product pages); audience = who it is built for and who actually uses it (e.g. LinkedIn for workplace professionals versus TikTok or Instagram Reels for short-video daily use).
Build your source log for history, ownership, structure and audience. Quality beats a long list.
Open the keyword phrases in the KA3 Inquiry Brief you saved last lesson. If you don't have it, write three search phrases in Enter Your Work before you open the browser, built from your platform name + history/owner, + features/how it works, + who uses it. Example pattern if your platform were Instagram: Instagram parent company; Meta Investors About; Instagram audience demographics site:rte.ie OR site:theguardian.com.
As you open each page, run the six checks: authenticity, authorship, bias, objectivity, accuracy, purpose.
Before you write notes, practise the sift on these sample claims.
When you finish the four samples, complete the bridge in Enter Your Work: one source from your own Step 3 log, what you are checking on it, and your verdict. That puts the practice to work on your own sources before you write.
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