Authority is Constructed and Contextual
Key Sentence: Novice learners may need to rely on basic indicators of authority, such as type of publication or author credentials, where experts recognize schools of thought or discipline-specific paradigms.
Knowledge practices:
- define different types of authority, such as subject expertise, societal position, or special experience;
- use research tools and indicators of authority to determine the credibility of sources;
- understand that disciplines have acknowledged authorities (i.e. scholars and publications considered "standard") and that differing perspective and contradictions may occur even within those established, standard authorities;
- recognize that authoritative content may include formal or informal sources of all media types;
- acknowledge they are developing their own authoritative voices and recognize the responsibility that entails;
- understand where authorities connect in the increasingly social nature of the information ecosystem.
We teach:
- Differentiating between scholarly, trade, and popular sources and evaluating and using them appropriately [gen ed]
- Defining peer-review [gen ed]
- Adjusting topic after evaluating found resources as needed [gen ed]
- Making use of review tools to evaluate information sources [major, capstone/graduate]
- Identifying and using discipline-specific databases [major, capstone/graduate]
- Understanding the information cycle and the nature of different information sources [gen ed, major]
- Avoiding plagiarism [gen ed, major]
- Using multiple source types for comprehensive evaluation [major, capstone/graduate]
“Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.” Association of College and Research Libraries, 11 Jan. 2016, http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework. Accessed 21 June 2017.