DCES-704 Adv Multicultural Counseling, Advocacy & Leadership: Handouts

Information Literacy is the ability to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information"

(American Library Association (ALA), 1989)

Authority is Constructed & Contextual

Your information need may determine the level of authority needed in your sources

Many previous assignments have required peer reviewed journal articles. The peer review process is respected in the academic community as a step towards authoritative. However, this course allows you to cite other sources - how will you evaluate the authority of the source?

Information has Value

Understand how and why some individuals or groups of individuals may be underrepresented or systematically marginalized within the systems that produce and disseminate information.

Evaluate not only your sources, but the systems which produce, organize, and provide access to those sources.

Searching as Strategic Exploration

Research is nonlinear & iterative, requiring the evaluation of a range of information sources

Perhaps you will find some lived experiences from websites & blogs, which will lead you to new search terms to use in databases. Perhaps a case law or a statistic you find on a government website will lead you to research how those impacted people.Each step will require evaluating new sources.

Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), 2015)