Information literacy” is a term you’ll hear a lot during your college years. It means that all…

Unit 5 Reading Part 1: Information Literacy
Why is information literacy important?
“Information literacy” is a term you’ll hear a lot during your college years. It
means that all students (and all people, really) should be able to find and use
reliable information and source materials and that they should be able to find the
right material for whatever it is they’re doing or whatever questions they have.
As a college student, it’s important that you develop the ability to find
reliable sources for your class work and assignments. It’s also essential that you
know how to correctly use and handle the sources when you make them part of
your own work.
Outside of school, most of us also feel it’s important to be informed about
current issues and ideas. Knowing what’s going on in the world is, arguably, a
citizen’s responsibility. Plus, it feels good to join in a conversation and know the
facts or to be sure we’re sharing a meme, social media post, or news article
that’s accurate and trustworthy.
We should know how to navigate the Web successfully, find the best
materials, and evaluate and use them with confidence. In an age where a quick
Google search nets millions of “hits” in half a second, evaluating the sources we
choose can be trickier than it sounds. There’s a lot of great material on the Web,
but there’s a lot of questionable information too. Being able to tell which is which
is a digital-age-important life skill. We also need to understand who “owns”