Thinking Outside the Box is an in-class research exercise designed to facilitate students' evaluation of information found in subscription databases and obtained through generative artificial intelligence tools by providing a series of questions for them to answer. For this exercise, the applicable frames from the Framework for Information Literacy include: "authority is constructed and contextual," "information creation as process," and "searching as strategic exploration."

This lesson plan introduces students to lateral reading techniques using the SIFT method. Designed and implemented for a political science introduction to international relations course, this can easily be adapted to other media literacy contexts. Students will practice lateral reading with sample news articles. Worksheets, slides, and sample articles are linked in the lesson plan. Alternative news articles can be substituted.

Beginning college students often make assumptions that scholarly sources are inherently bias-free. Students may also hold the belief that if they find a source through a library database, it is automatically a useful and neutral viewpoint on a topic. These mindsets can limit students’ motivation to apply evaluation strategies beyond establishing credibility based on the author’s credentials.This lesson plan introduces the concept of positionality statements to help students understand that scholars do not leave their identities and life experiences behind when they conduct research. Students...

This web resource provides a brief overview of the concept Authority is Constructed and Contextual. It includes a video, a concept description, and the related knowledge practices and dispositions.