Critical Thinking 101: An information literacy module for undergraduate seminars

This 5-week module is designed to be embedded within an undergraduate seminar, to teach information literacy and critical thinking skills aligned with the ACRL Framework for information literacy. Undergraduate students are a diverse body made up of the traditional middle class American high-school graduate, as well as adult learners, first-generation students, veterans, and international students. Many exhibit difficulties in understanding the research and writing process required at the college level, and have not yet acquired the critical information skills necessary for school, work or personal life. Undergraduates tend to be familiar with the Internet, and turn to the web as a resource of first choice to find information, particularly relying on Google, but are unfamiliar with the wealth of other resources available through the library and university, and have no idea of how to critically examine the information that they do find. Moreover, many students have been implicitly educated not to transgress boundaries, although it is through the questioning of societal norms that societies and individuals are transformed. The course is best delivered if limited to 15 students and embedded within the context of critical discussion of broadly applicable scientific, cultural, and socio-political issues.