This reflection paper explores how an undergraduate student's understanding of information literacy and research evolved over the course of a college class. The student candidly describes initial misconceptions about source evaluation — including confirmation bias and over-reliance on author credentials — and explains how exposure to empirical principles, logic, and critical analysis reshaped those habits. Drawing on the Association of College and Research Libraries' definition of information literacy, the paper argues that the ability to identify, evaluate, and communicate credible information is essential not only to academic success but to every area of adult life, from medical decisions to professional development.
This reflection addresses two central questions: how initial thoughts about a career changed after conducting research and writing a professional plan, and how prior assumptions about appropriate sources and research strategies evolved through engagement with an information literacy course — and how that evolution influenced the evaluation of sources used in other research papers.
Before taking this course, my understanding of information literacy and research was quite vague, and I did not consider myself in need of formal instruction in the area. I had assumed that whenever I needed certain information, I would simply type a query into a browser or withdraw a book from the library. I was also not particularly discriminatory when it came to sources. An author with a PhD following his name was preferable to me, but beyond that credential I tended to follow whatever appealed to me — and, as I later discovered, I most often accepted information that conformed to my cultural beliefs and personal opinions. Information I found uncomfortable or contradictory to my personal beliefs I would invariably discount.
This pattern, which researchers refer to as confirmation bias, meant that my research was shaped more by pre-existing assumptions than by the quality or reliability of the evidence I encountered.
I found the course invaluable because it indirectly exposed me to logic, statistics, and empirical principles. Although these topics may not constitute the core basics of information literacy and research, the discussion and course content consistently centered on these principles. The lectures taught me not only how to conduct online research but also how to critically evaluate the content and credentials of authors in an offline context. For instance, I now read the jacket blurb of a book and evaluate the author's background in order to assess whether — and in which ways — the author may be biased, and how that bias is reflected in the writing.
I also discovered that not all information can be trusted. I certainly knew this in a general sense beforehand, but the course pushed me to distrust even sources I had previously regarded as reliable, by showing me the distinction between credible and non-credible sources, and between credible and error-filled information. I learned that some information can be authoritative, current, and reliable, while other data may be biased, out of date, misleading, or outright false. Knowing the difference matters enormously, particularly as the volume of information available both online and offline continues to grow at an exponential rate. The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has long emphasized this critical discernment as a core competency for educated citizens.
"Applications to medical, personal, and professional life"
"ACRL definition and connection to communication technology"
Information literacy is the ability to identify what information is needed, understand how the information is organized, identify the best sources of information for a given need, locate those sources, evaluate the sources critically, and share that information. It is the knowledge of commonly used research techniques.
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