Resources on Info Literacy
- Meet with a LibrarianIf you're ever unsure about where to search for reliable information, or whether a resource is relevant for your research, make an appointment with a Subject Librarian!
- Journal of Information Literacy Founded in 2007, the Journal of Information Literacy (JIL) is an international peer-reviewed journal and is aimed at librarians, information professionals and academics who teach and/or research aspects of information literacy
- Understanding the Peer Review Process This guide from the University of New Mexico explains what peer-review means when you're doing research, and what the peer-review process looks like.
- Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers This open-access book provides strategies and information about effectively using internet-based resources.
What is Information Literacy?
Even if you're not familiar with the term information literacy, you are likely familiar with the concept. At its core, information literacy is "a set of abilities requiring individuals to 'recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information'” (American Library Association).
But what does that mean for students in an academic library, and why should you care? Throughout your time at Smith, you will be asked to do research in your classes (and beyond). No matter what discipline you're studying, your research will require you to find information, and evaluate whether it is reliable or relevant to your work. Here at Smith College Libraries, we are committed to educating you on information literacy, so you can partake in compassionate and critical research. On this page, you will find some information on how you can develop these skills, while also providing important context.
Information Literacy and Research
While you may have learned how to determine if a source is reliable in high school, that determination can look a little different as you begin to embark on college-level research. The resources here can assist you as you evaluate resources both here in the library and more broadly online.
Below, you will find some methods for evaluating resources.
- SIFT MethodThe SIFT method is an approach used for evaluating resources, mainly online resources.
- CRAAP TestDespite what the acronym suggests, the CRAAP test is intended to be a criteria for evaluating information. It pushes users to consider Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose.
Who is an expert?
Information literacy, as seen on this page, is often guided by the concept of experts in any given subject. Determining who is an expert can look different across various fields or needs.
For example, an expert in psychology could be someone with a relevant PhD, or with a great deal of clinical experience. An expert in Studio Art could have a Bachelors or Masters Degree in the field, but they could also be an artist who has had their art featured in galleries and museums. Context is everything when determining who is an "expert"
However, academia does not always value the expertise of those from marginalized communities. Sometimes the systems and literature around evaluating information value the voice of someone who has studied a community more than the voice of someone from that community.
When utilizing the resources on this page, it's important to acknowledge not only the perspective and experiences of these communities, but also the established epistemologies and knowledge of them. The tab "Relevant Readings" will cover topics related to epistemologies and knowledge systems of various cultures and communities.
Sophia Smith Collection researchers, circa 1975, Box 30.1, Smith College Special Collections records, Smith College Archives, Smith College Special Collections.
Relevant Readings
Below you will find books related to epistemologies, knowledge systems, and methodologies from different cultures and communities.
Deaf Epistemologies, Identity, and Learning by
Goedele A. M. De Clerck presents cross-cultural comparative research that examines and documents where deaf flourishing occurs and how it can be advanced. She spotlights collective and dynamic resources of knowledge and learning; the coexistence of lived differences; social, linguistic, cultural, and psychological capital; and human potential and creativity. Deaf Epistemologies, Identity, and Learning argues for an inclusive approach to the intrinsic human diversity in society, education, and scholarship, and shows how emotions of hope, frustration, and humiliation contribute to the construction of identity and community. De Clerck also considers global to local dynamics in deaf identity, deaf culture, deaf education, and deaf empowerment. She presents empirical research through case studies of the emancipation processes for deaf people in Flanders (a region of Belgium), the United States (specifically, at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC), and the West African nation of Cameroon. These three settings illuminate different phases of emancipation in different contexts, and the research findings are integrated into a broader literature review and subjected to theoretical reflection. De Clerck's anthropology of deaf flourishing draws from her critical application of the empowerment paradigm in settings of daily life, research, leadership, and community work, as she explores identity and well-being through an interdisciplinary lens. This work is centered around practices of signed storytelling and posits learning as the primary access and pathway to culture, identity, values, and change. Change driven by the learning process is considered an awakening--and through this awakening, the deaf community can gain hope, empowerment, and full citizenship. In this way, deaf people are allowed to shape their histories, and the result is the elevation of all aspects of deaf lives around the world.
ISBN: 1563686716Publication Date: 2017-01-31
Decolonizing Epistemologies : Latina/o theology and philosophy by
This anthology gathers the work of three generations of Latina/o theologians and philosopher who have taken up the task of transforming their respective disciplines from the standpoint of liberation and what has been called the "decolonial turn" in social theory, theology, and philosophy. It articulates a new point of departure for the self-understanding of not simply Latina/os, but also US citizens in this new age of post-colonialism and globalisation.
ISBN: 0823249344Publication Date: 2012
Research Is Ceremony by
Indigenous researchers are knowledge seekers who work to progress Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing in a modern and constantly evolving context. This book describes a research paradigm shared by Indigenous scholars in Canada and Australia, and demonstrates how this paradigm can be put into practice. Relationships don't just shape Indigenous reality, they are our reality. Indigenous researchers develop relationships with ideas in order to achieve enlightenment in the ceremony that is Indigenous research. Indigenous research is the ceremony of maintaining accountability to these relationships. For researchers to be accountable to all our relations, we must make careful choices in our selection of topics, methods of data collection, forms of analysis and finally in the way we present information. I'm an Opaskwayak Cree from northern Manitoba currently living in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, Australia. I'm also a father of three boys, a researcher, son, uncle, teacher, world traveller, knowledge keeper and knowledge seeker. As an educated Indian, I've spent much of my life straddling the Indigenous and academic worlds. Most of my time these days is spent teaching other Indigenous knowledge seekers (and my kids) how to accomplish this balancing act while still keeping both feet on the ground.
Call Number: GN380 .W554 2008ISBN: 1552662810Publication Date: 2008-09-01
Waves of Knowing by
In Waves of Knowing Karin Amimoto Ingersoll marks a critical turn away from land-based geographies to center the ocean as place. Developing the concept of seascape epistemology, she articulates an indigenous Hawaiian way of knowing founded on a sensorial, intellectual, and embodied literacy of the ocean. As the source from which Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) draw their essence and identity, the sea is foundational to Kanaka epistemology and ontology. Analyzing oral histories, chants, artwork, poetry, and her experience as a surfer, Ingersoll shows how this connection to the sea has been crucial to resisting two centuries of colonialism, militarism, and tourism. In today's neocolonial context--where continued occupation and surf tourism marginalize indigenous Hawaiians--seascape epistemology as expressed by traditional cultural practices such as surfing, fishing, and navigating provides the tools for generating an alternative indigenous politics and ethics. In relocating Hawaiian identity back to the waves, currents, winds, and clouds, Ingersoll presents a theoretical alternative to land-centric viewpoints that still dominate studies of place-making and indigenous epistemology.
ISBN: 9780822373803Publication Date: 2016-10-13
Below you will find articles related to epistemologies, knowledge systems, and methodologies from different cultures and communities.
- I hear you in my dreams Morse, Gayle Skawen:nio. “I Hear You in My Dreams.” Studies in Gender and Sexuality, vol. 21, no. 2, Apr. 2020, pp. 85–87. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/15240657.2020.1760017.
- 'I Ulu No Ka Lala I Ke Kumu', The Branches Grow Because of the Trunk: Ancestral Knowledge as Refusal Chandler, Kapua L. “’I Ulu No Ka Lala I Ke Kumu’, The Branches Grow Because of the Trunk: Ancestral Knowledge as Refusal.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), vol. 31, no. 3, Jan. 2018, pp. 177–87. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=888e294a-6948-328f-bf64-cf8e9fc22ea1.
- Information as a Relation: Defining Indigenous Information Literacy Sandra Littletree, et al. “Information as a Relation: Defining Indigenous Information Literacy.” Journal of Information Literacy, vol. 17, no. 2, Jan. 2023, pp. 4–23. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=348e2cba-7023-3a21-8a6c-78d0f7c5df1f.
- Remembering my memories: Black feminist memory work as a visual research method of inquiry. Ohito, Esther O. “Remembering My Memories: Black Feminist Memory Work as a Visual Research Method of Inquiry: International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE).” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), vol. 36, no. 9, Nov. 2023, pp. 1856–75. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2021.1956620.
- Talanoa: Tongan epistemology and Indigenous research method Tecun (Daniel Hernandez), Arcia, et al. “Talanoa: Tongan Epistemology and Indigenous Research Method.” AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, vol. 14, no. 2, June 2018, pp. 156–63. SAGE Journals, https://doi.org/10.1177/1177180118767436.
- Tipas raras cargando un movimiento: Reggaetón, Decoloniality, and Knowledge through Subversion Pacheco Muñoz, Joniel R. “Tipas Raras Cargando Un Movimiento: Reggaetón, Decoloniality, and Knowledge through Subversion.” Caribbean Studies, vol. 51, no. 2, July 2023, pp. 3–31. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=9f89f7b0-c645-34d2-bcfa-77235851b412.