Excerpted from the College Competencies
What does this mean in the Core and my other courses? The ability to find, store, evaluate, and synthesize information to answer questions, develop new ones, and create new content and knowledge in an ethical and socially responsible manner.
Holistic Description
Information Literacy involves identifying, evaluating, and drawing meaning from sources of information – in any sphere of life. With so many diverse and unverified sources of information available today, Information Literacy requires a flexible approach that understands the processes necessary to navigate varied information landscapes, looking in multiple places and adjusting search strategies as necessary. The search context can be influenced by one’s own perspective; different types of authority or expertise; and cultural, professional, and/or disciplinary expectations. Information must be evaluated for relevancy (to the purpose of search), reliability, credibility, and currency. Once found and evaluated, different pieces of information should be related to each other, and fit into a broader intellectual framework. Finally, information should be clearly attributed and used ethically in ways that do not misrepresent it, respect privacy where appropriate, and that are in line with the ethical norms of the fields of knowledge and disciplines relevant to the investigation.
Guiding Questions
- Have I used multiple search methods, varied my search terms, and refined my search strategies based on initial search results?
- Have I evaluated and selected sources from a broad range of perspectives that are current, reliable and credible; and relevant to my investigation?
- How is the information I have found shaped by the cultural, professional or disciplinary contexts from which it comes?
- Have I considered my own positionality and worldview and how they may affect my perception of the information I am engaging with?
- Have I drawn relationships between the different sources of information and fit them into a broader intellectual framework?
- Does my finished product accurately and consistently attribute or cite the sources of each piece of information used?
- Have I used information responsibly in accordance with ethical norms (for example by respecting privacy as appropriate, or by not misrepresenting information or taking it out of context)?