Students are presented with a source (eg.an article about Facebook privacy) and brainstorm ways the source might be used for school, for work, and personally
Groups are given a source (book, article, blog post, ad, etc.) and examine it to determine what it is; who is responsible for it; it’s purpose (ie why it exists, not their purpose in using it) ; how it was created (eg was it reviewed by experts); what makes it credible or not for different kinds of uses
Jigsaw method: in groups of 4-5, students will analyze the authority of their assigned article, groups will break apart and share their knowledge with the other group
Brainstorming: in groups students will brainstorm criteria of authority with entire class
Chalk talk where students write adjectives describing scholarly articles on one board & popular on the popular.
Case study: look at an article to have students vote with clickers on what type of source it is.
Distinguish news from editorial article
Pair students. Give printout of short news and editorial article from same source (for example New York Times) on same topic. Ask pairs paraphrase article & identify purpose
After discussing/presenting idea of evaluating information resources, give pairs or groups of students a resource/website and ask them to come up with criteria for determining if it is reliable.
Jigsaw groups have 1 popular and 1 scholarly source with question prompts to examine characteristics re: authority re-group with others to teach.
Provide students with sample resources (using different formats) and have them develop authority criteria together using Padlet.
Brainstorming in small groups on why they think a source is credible and use that as jumping off point for discussion
Give students articles on the same topic. Have them examine how the author affects the content. Include scholarly, magazine, Wikipedia, newspapers, etc., Also consider including articles from multiple scholarly disciplines.
Students can share in pairs, groups, as a class, etc.
Students in groups brainstorm evaluation criteria; share out and put in a Google Doc.
Back into group - use criteria to evaluate an article; share out findings
Framework Defined
Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
Information resources are drawn from their creators’ expertise.
Credibility is based on the information need and the context in which the information will be used.
Experts view authority with an attitude of informed skepticism and an openness to new perspectives, additional voices, and changes in schools of thought.
LibGuide Credit
The Framework content on this page and in this guiede was originally created by PALNI - the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana. Adapted with permission.