ABSTRACT
Information literacy (IL) is an integral aspect of critical literacy, or the ability to use higher-order thinking skills (analysis, synthesis, evaluation, application) when dealing with information in written texts on pages or screens. This aspect of critical literacy becomes more important as more reading and research is done on screens. A clear understanding of current students’ weaknesses in IL and reading further reveals the scope of the problem. To help solve it, a rigorous definition of academic literacy creates a clear goal, and a model based on case studies with novice and expert readers and writers offers the component awarenesses and skills needed to reach that goal. Inquiry-based research and writing assignments can help students develop the needed abilities; these should be an essential component of every course across the curriculum, drawing on resources available through faculty librarians as well as those of reading and writing scholars. Careful use of the ACRL IL Framework, in particular, can help students read and use sources more appropriately. The exercises and work described here in a sample assignment require students to analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and apply material they have processed using IL skills. As students learn to apply the ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) knowledge practices, they also become academically critically literate; these skills will be essential to success in every course and every discipline in their education, as well as beyond school, in their personal and professional lives. Instruction in IL as part of academic critical literacy can move students toward this outcome.
