Summary: Information resources reflect their creators’ expertise and credibility, and are evaluated based on the information need and the context in which the information will be used. Authority is constructed in that various communities may recognize different types of authority. It is contextual in that the information need may help to determine the level of authority required.

1. Students integrate an appropriate, authoritative information source into their own work.
2. Students identify credible information across a variety of formats and genres (journals, magazines, primary sources, video, web, etc.).
3. Students identify how power and privilege operate in the establishment of authority and communication of expertise in a given field.
4. Students communicate in a context-appropriate academic style.
5. Students avoid media sources that are low quality, heavily partisan, inflammatory, or peddle in conspiracy theories.
6. Students avoid confirmation bias.

Summary: Information in any format is produced to convey a message and is shared via a selected delivery method. The iterative processes of researching, creating, revising, and disseminating information vary, and the resulting product reflects these differences.

1. Students describe research and editorial processes that led to the creation of a piece of information.
2. Students distinguish between popular and scholarly sources.
3. Students distinguish between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources.

Summary: Information possesses several dimensions of value, including as a commodity, as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of negotiating and understanding the world. Legal and socioeconomic interests influence information production and dissemination.

1. Students use citations when referencing someone else’s ideas. 
2. Students construct citations in a recognizable and discipline-appropriate academic style.
3. Students identify aspects of their own day-to-day digital footprint, as well as the ways in which our personal data is monetized, harvested, and used on the internet.
4. Students explain how algorithms influence the information they see when using technology, including the biases that underlie some of these algorithms.

Summary: Research is iterative and depends upon asking increasingly complex or new questions whose answers in turn develop additional questions or lines of inquiry in any field.

1. Students construct research questions of an appropriate scope.
2. Students break complex topics or questions into simpler ones.
3. Students synthesize information in verbal or written format.
4. Students choose a method of inquiry appropriate to their research question.

Summary: Communities of scholars, researchers, or professionals engage in sustained discourse with new insights and discoveries occurring over time as a result of varied perspectives and interpretation.

1. Students share an original idea or creation in an appropriate format, with attention to both audience and disciplinary conventions. 
2. Students engage with a variety of perspectives on a topic.

Summary: Searching for information is often nonlinear and iterative, requiring the evaluation of a range of information sources and the mental flexibility to pursue alternate avenues as new understanding develops.

1. Students identify key concepts and search terms related to their topics or research questions.
2. Students identify how their own identity positionality affects their information-seeking behavior.

Summary: Students need certain basic technology and information skills to succeed in college, and as a foundation for the more complex information literacy skills described previously in this rubric. The outcomes below should not be considered college-level, but appear frequently in our teaching and work with students. A student who doesn’t meet expectations in any one of these areas should be referred to a peer tutor, peer mentor, or other resource for more structured, intensive coaching. 

1. Students support their points with evidence.
2. Students effectively navigate and use institutional technology.
3. Students make use of a library collection and/or a library’s search tools.
4. Students organize documents and personal information in a way that facilitates their retrieval and use of that information.