As information literacy skills differ from discipline to discipline, academic departments at UNC Asheville are charged with determining information literacy standards and ensuring that graduates demonstrate information literacy competency.
Our librarians are available to assist in establishing departmental standards (based on standards in your discipline) as well as integrating IL into your curriculum, assessing IL programming, and determining student competency. Request a classroom workshop or custom research guide or contact us at library@unca.edu to discuss how we can work together.
You may find it useful to assign our ProQuest Research Companion Video Learning Modules, or selections of them, to your students. Off campus users will need to log in. |
||
|
Modules include: 1: Where do I Start? 2: How do I choose a topic? 3: Where do I find Information? 4: How do I evaluate resources? 5: What counts as evidence? 6: How do I write a thesis statement? 7: How do I organize my argument? 8: How do I avoid plagiarism and find my own voice? 9: What do I look for when I revise? and How can I do better next time? These videos are useful for students to learn about the how to find, evaluate, and use information in their own research. See the additional videos further down the page. This excellent, professionally produced, free, and fun series on Navigating Digital Information is also recommended. |
Information Literacy in the Disciplines
AAC&U Information Literacy Value Rubric
Information Literacy for Faculty & Administrators
Sample Assignments (University of Texas at Austin Libraries)
Information Literacy Toolkit (University of Texas at Austin Libraries)
Tutorial for Developing and Evaluating Assignments (University of Maryland, University College)
Effective Library Assignments (University of California at Berkley)
Creating Successful Research Skills Assignments (University of Pennsylvania Libraries)
Understanding Information Literacy (UNESCO)
Know
Determine the nature and extent of the information needed.
What is it you want to know?
What kind of information do you need?
How much information do you need?
Access
Access needed information effectively and efficiently.
What is the best way to gather this information?
Am I using the best terms for this search?
Which search system or other resource will get me this information?
Evaluate
Evaluate information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system.
Is this a credible source of information?
Is there another interpretation or point of view?
How does this new information change what I know?
Use
The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.
What is the best method for presenting this information?
Will this image convey the message I want?
Are these quotes supportive of my ideas?
Ethical / Legal
The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally. This standard recognizes that students must be taught the social, economic and political issues surrounding information, specifically the ethical and legal uses of information and its technology.
Can I make a copy of this material?
What are the issues surrounding censorship?
Are there university policies about information gathering, use or reproduction and dissemination?
Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
Information resources reflect their creators’ expertise and credibility, and are evaluated based on the information need and the context in which the information will be used. Authority is constructed in that various communities may recognize different types of authority. It is contextual in that the information need may help to determine the level of authority required.
Information Creation as a Process
Information in any format is produced to convey a message and is shared via a selected delivery method. The iterative processes of researching, creating, revising, and disseminating information vary, and the resulting product reflects these differences.
Information Has Value
Information possesses several dimensions of value, including as a commodity, as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of negotiating and understanding the world. Legal and socioeconomic interests influence information production and dissemination.
Research as Inquiry
Research is iterative and depends upon asking increasingly complex or new questions whose answers in turn develop additional questions or lines of inquiry in any field.
Scholarship as Conversation
Communities of scholars, researchers, or professionals engage in sustained discourse with new insights and discoveries occurring over time as a result of varied perspectives and interpretations.
Searching as Strategic Exploration
Searching for information is often nonlinear and iterative, requiring the evaluation of a range of information sources and the mental flexibility to pursue alternate avenues as new understanding develops.
The NC State University Libraries also offer a set of instructional videos that may be useful for students.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Smarter than the Filter: Finding the Research Article Among the Imposters |
|
|
|
|
