48% of TikTok users ages 18 to 29 use the platform to keep up with politics or political issues. In fact, 41% of TikTok users use the site as a reason they use the platform in general. While misinformation and malinformation are rampant on social media, TikTok has seen a surge in recent years which can have real and devastating effects when gone unchecked.  

 

By encouraging students to develop Information literacy skills, you are not only giving them the tools to question suspect information, you are also supplying them with desirable workplace skills such as critical thinking, analytical processing, and problem-solving abilities.  More than just buzzwords, these abilities show potential employers that graduates are able to process information instead of accepting it at face value. 

 

Combating Information Literacy Bottlenecks

Bottlenecks are where some students in a course may struggle, get stuck, be unable to complete required tasks, or move forward in their learning (Decoding the Disciplines; Middendorf & Baer, 2019). Information literacy cannot be taught in a single instruction session or even a single course. Instead, it develops throughout a student's academic career. No instructor is expected to incorporate all the core information literacy concepts or address every potential learning bottleneck in a single course. However, there are many small steps that you can take to support students' developing information literacy.

 

The following approaches provide an overview of some helpful strategies that you can use to help your students overcome information literacy-related learning bottlenecks.

 

  1. Clarifying Expectations for Research Assignments

    • Reflect
      • List all of the steps that students will need to take to complete the assignment. This can help you to identify steps that may be challenging for students but you may have initially overlooked because of your own familiarity with the research process.
      • Identify the core concepts, such as Research as Inquiry or Searching as Strategic Exploration, that may be behind your expectations for the assignment.
      • Question your purpose for including certain requirements, such as requiring a specific citation style or that students use specific types of sources. What are your requirements contributing to student learning in the course?
    • Act
      • Discuss the purpose of academic research and the goals of your specific research assignment with students.
      • Define any academic jargon (such as "scholarly" or "citation") and your action words (analyze, trace, illustrate).
      • Clarify the distinctions between different types of research or inquiry-based assignments, such as the difference between a compare/contrast paper and an annotated bibliography.
      • Describe the types of sources that you consider to be appropriate or inappropriate for the assignment and explain why.
      • Be sure that any requirements you have for sources align with the purpose and context of the assignment. For example, be careful not to expect students to use scholarly sources for topics where scholarly research may not exist. Also, do not expect students to use sources that are behind paywalls or are out of date.
      • Provide step-by-step instructions and model the steps of the research process.
      • Scaffold large research assignments by breaking them down into more manageable chunks and providing feedback after each part.
      • Have a colleague or student review your assignment instructions, note anything that seems unclear, and highlight any jargon that may need to be explained. This can be even more helpful if it is a colleague outside of your discipline.
    • Sample Activity
      • Have students complete a quick activity in which they analyze the assignment instructions. Have them:
        • Summarize what they must do 
        • Identify any unclear terms
        • Highlight key requirements

        • Discuss their responses together to identify any initial misconceptions about the purpose or process for the assignment

           

  2. Teaching Information Searching

    • Reflect
      • Question the assumptions that you may be making about students' pre-existing skills and knowledge related to the search process, especially in areas such as:
        • The difference between a search engine and a database, and when it is appropriate to use one or the other
        • The databases or search tools that are most commonly used in the discipline
        • How to create an effective search statement or use databases options and limiters (advanced search, Boolean operators); how to revise a search when needed
    • Act
      • Recommend specific search tools. With so many tools available, including hundreds of research databases available through University Libraries, students may need guidance for where to go to start their search.
      • Recommend that students use the Subject Guides available through University Libraries to identify relevant search tools and resources.
      • Provide analogies or examples to help students enhance their understanding of the search process (Middendorf & Baer, 2019).
      • Model the search process by showing how you would go about searching for information on a topic or question relevant to the course.
      • Build reflection on or discussion of the search process into the assignment.
    • Sample Activity
      • As part of a research assignment, have students complete an outline or screencast video in which they describe or demonstrate how they would go about searching for information on their topic and use the results to guide a discussion of effective search strategies.

      • For an example of how you can address bottlenecks related to information searching, see Middendorf, J., & Baer, A., (2019). Bottlenecks of Information Literacy.

         

  3. Teaching Source Evaluation

    • Reflect
      • Identify the core concepts, such as Authority is Constructed and Contextual or Information Creation as a Process, that may be contributing to challenges students experience when evaluating information
      • Question the assumptions that you may be making about students pre-existing knowledge or skills, especially in areas such as:
        • The various factors that contribute to, or temper, source authority or credibility (many students have erroneously been taught to use surface factors, such as domain name or the look of the site, to make decisions about source credibility)
        • How to differentiate between types (e.g. news articles, websites, scholarly journal articles, social media sources) and categories (scholarly, professional, popular) of information sources 
        • The role context plays in determining the authority needed
        • The types of information sources that are considered authoritative or credible in your field
        • Consider why you might require specific types of sources. If students can or cannot use specific sources types, is there a clear reason why?
    • Act
      • Clearly outline your expectations for appropriate sources for your assignments and explain your reasons for these requirements
      • Clarify the distinction between terms such as credible, relevant, and scholarly
      • Model the process that you take to determine whether or not you find a source to be credible and appropriate
      • Provide evaluation criteria and outline steps that students can take or questions they need to consider as part of the source evaluation process
      • Avoid teaching students to rely on surface-level cues to determine credibility, such as: 
        • The domain name (.com, .edu)
        • The professionalism of the site
        • The information provided in the About Us page
      • Encourage students to consider factors such as the authority of the author or publisher, motivation for publishing the source,  relevance of the source to the research question or topic, and the appropriateness of the source for the context
      • Encourage your students to practice lateral reading, where they read across multiple sites as part of the source evaluation process—for example, searching for the author or publisher or site sponsor via a search engine to learn more about them rather than remaining on the same site. For more information, see What Reading Laterally Means (Caulfield, 2017).
    • Sample Activity
      • After receiving instructions for a research assignment, have students work together to develop class guidelines for evaluating sources, with recommendations for the types of sources that would or would not be considered appropriate to use
      • Other resources to support lateral reading include:

  4. Strategies for Teaching Ethical Information Use

    • Reflect
      • Identify the core concepts, such as Information Has Value or Scholarship as Conversation, that may be contributing to challenges students experience when using information ethically
      • Question the assumptions that you may be making about students pre-existing knowledge or skills, especially in areas such as:
        • The expectations for when and why attribution is required in academic research
        • The expectations for attribution in your discipline or field
        • Locating the information needed to include in a citation
        • Reading a citation to identify relevant information
        • The distinctions between plagiarism and copyright infringement
      • Consider your purpose for requiring a specific citation style. While there can be good reasons for insisting on specific styles, doing so can also create an unnecessary burden, especially for students outside of your discipline.
    • Act
      • Identify the key aspect(s) of the citation process that you want to emphasize when it comes to grading (i.e. is it more important that students have the citation format perfect, or that they are using their sources effectively?)
      • Provide resources, such as TSTC's Citation Guide, to help students develop their citation skills, especially if requiring a discipline-specific citation style
      • Practice "reading" citations with your students—many students may struggle to identify the different parts of a citation
      • Teach students to use sources/citations to locate additional citations (forward and backward citation tracing)
      • Talk with your students about the ways that scholars and researchers use sources and citations to document and engage with the conversation(s) on their topic and establish their own credibility. Emphasize citation as part of the process of engaging in scholarly and professional conversations.
    • Sample Activity
      • Provide students with a relevant sample article from which all citations have been removed or redacted. Discuss how the lack of citations contributes to their ability to evaluate the article's credibility and use the article effectively to answer a question or learn more about the topic.