Students and Faculty looking to produce research that is inclusive with a focus on social justice and equity should follow the guidelines of the Critical Information Literacy Rubric. The Rubric shows the expectations of an Advanced, Developing, Emerging, and Initial research artifact. Scholars will have to think critically and work with TSU Librarians to develop skills in the areas of literacy, information processing (interpreting, analyzing, and explaining information) to construct new theories of thought.
The Rubric seeks to integrate Social Theories into Information Literacy to encourage free thought and discussion in the areas of information and research.
The CIL Rubric is just a guide to assist with introducing inquiry and information production, you should seek the guidance of an instructor for class homework assignments. The CIL Rubric is for self-exploration and independent research at this time.
Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning. (ACRL 2015).
| Advanced (3) | Developing (2) | Emerging (1) | Initial (0) | |
| Generates productive search strategies in both discipline-specific subscription databases and public search engines, adapting search tools and strategies to the information need at hand. | Analyzes the ways that collections of information are organized in order to access relevant information. Refines search strategies as necessary, based on search results. | Compares searches in subscription databases and public search engines, noting the benefits and drawbacks of both to the information need. | Uses information from random sources. | |
| Reflects on the connections among social, cultural, and historical contexts in order to critique information sources, their content, and the processes that produce them. | Analyzes how power manifests in the production and distribution of information by examining the ways that social, cultural, and historical contexts affect what type of information is created, who can create information, and what people know over time. | Explains how and why review processes and perspectives differ across the information production cycle. | Demonstrates limited capacity to recognize that different perspectives and processes are at work in information. | |
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The student selects authoritative sources that are relevant to the information need. |
Selects relevant sources whose authority meets the requirements of the information need. | Analyzes the constructed and contextual nature of authority, distinguishing sources whose authority is appropriate to the information need. | Classifies information sources according to authority, purpose, and audience. Matches source type to the information need. | Evaluates information based on whether it agrees with their beliefs |
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The student engages ethically and legally in information sharing and creation. |
Produces artifacts that make attribution to their sources according to disciplinary and/or social conventions. | Examines the purposes of and differences in attribution across academic disciplines according to the disciplines’ scholarly conversations or research practices. | Describes the importance of attribution in terms of either the historical record or the scholarly conversation. | Notes the requirement to cite sources to avoid plagiarism. |