This is a lively small-group activity suitable for intro-level classes in one or two-shot sessions, but easily adaptable for use with high schoolers. The goal of the activity is to demystify information evaluation and get students to generate their own criteria by which to evaluate the reliability of information and information sources. Students will also discuss the ways in which these criteria are contextual and may vary by situation.

The following activity is meant to demonstrate the concepts of authorship and authority to first year writing students. Students will use their prior knowledge and everyday experiences with subpar information to draw parallels between evaluating academic and popular sources.

This document lists the outcomes, performance indicators, and dispositions developed for the Threshold Achievement Test for Information Literacy (TATIL). This test has four modules inspired by the six frames of the Framework: Evaluating Process & Authority; Strategic Searching; Research & Scholarship; and The Value of Information. 

A guide to helping student know how to use (or not to use!) the different kinds of information they may find.

This is an activity we use in our Freshman-level writing class information literacy instruction one-shots. The activity presents four online resources and asks students to use the "Evaluating Online Sources" rubric to evaluate their assigned resource. Students vote using an online form on whether they would use a resource in their paper and then the instructor discusses each resource in depth with input from the group that evaluated it. Instructor will ask students to describe their resource and answer the questions asked by the rubric and then discuss the suitability of the resource. Exercise takes ~20 minutes.

This exercise asks students to respond to two videos, sharing with their classmates what feelings and ideas the images and music evoke in them.  The first video is an ExxonMobil commercial and the other is a humorous critique of advertising stock footage.  Be warned that the critique does contain one mild swear word.

This libguide will help students distinguoish between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources. It includes examples and links to other libraries that provide clear instruction on the matter.

Because most research tasks are complex, they require more than one search strategy. Additionally, such tasks require students to organize and synthesize the results of those searchers into one cohesive document.  This handout intends to introduce students to that process.

This learning object is a visual rubric that students can use to evaluate materials they have found online including news, scholarly sources, and web content. It can be used as a handout or online image. A link to the Google Drawings version is also available if you'd like to remix this material with your own colors and branding or make edits. Choose File>Make a Copy to create your own editable version. This learning object is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. 

This exercise gives students a model for approaching a research task, beginning with general information and ending with more in-depth sources. Discussion can focus on research as inquiry, research as strategic exploration, and the context and construction of authority. Students are required to cite their sources using both MLA and APA.