Fig. 1.  "DSCN0397" (by Sindra41, released by Creative Commons licensure)

Thanks to the advent of the Internet and advanced digital sharing technologies, it is easier than ever to create, disseminate, and acquire vast amounts of information on any imaginable subject. The days of spending hours in the reference section of a library pouring over indexes has passed; whatever a student may wish to find, they will do so.

The problem, of course, is just that: How can we ensure that students are utilizing accurate, credible information? How do we build skills in our student populations to support them in their quest for not only what they seek but also what is true, most relevant, and most useful to their research needs?

Teaching our students the basics of information literacy may not be enough. With the advent of “fake news” running rampant in professional journalism, “deep fakes”—doctored videos using existing audio and visual materials—giving voice to any creed from the mouths of any recognizable face, and academic peer review processes progressively losing their integrity, it is no longer prudent to simply assume that the puzzle of authenticity can be solved with nothing more than a quick authorial background check and a glance at the material’s publication date.

A more complex, integral skillset must be utilized to help students build a healthy sense of skepticism and give them the tools required to recognize and solve whatever problem they encounter with viable, trustworthy information. Good researchers must be well-versed in the core concepts of critical thinking.

Fig. 2.  "Jigsaw Hand Cut" (by Charles W. Hamm, released through CC Attribution 3.0) 

To be an information-literate individual, you must have the abilities—and have learned the skills—necessary to easily find, evaluate, and use information. 

Stripped to its most basic foundations, strong critical thinkers are able to understand, analyze, and apply information. Often, they must use these skills to solve specific types of problems. 

To make the most of a student’s ability to think critically and engage with information wisely, these two skill sets can be used in tandem to enhance one’s research abilities. One way to approach this conceptual overlap is by pulling up two common schemas: the Information Literacy Big 6 and the six core steps of critical thinking.

The first is the Information Literacy Big 6. This popular schema is most often used at the primary education level, and can be adapted to suit students in higher education. The Big 6 provides researchers with a series of guidelines to follow to find, evaluate, and use information. These are the following: Define the task (determine the research focus), seek the information (determine keywords and possible databases), locate and access the resources (gather the items), use the information (apply the article to the research topic), synthesize what you have learned (put it all together into the final project), and evaluate the final result.  

While there are many ways to approach critical thinking as a concept, it can also be boiled down to six specific steps. These steps are defined as the following: 

Next, we see direct and undeniable overlap occur between the two schemas. 

Laying the schemas out thus shows how information literacy and critical thinking are connected to and can be used to influence each other.

Fig. 3.  "Skill Development" (Kurmianju, July 31, 2015, and released under CC Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International) 

Now that the connection is established, how can educators teach these concepts together in a way that students find accessible and engaging? Here are some suggestions to lead students toward a better grasp of these processes:

Instead of tasking students with a topic and having students write about it, couch research assignments in the form of a puzzle to be solved. In puzzle and strategy games, we see some important elements that apply easily to in-classroom, problem-based research projects. These are the following:

By laying down the groundwork of the importance of high-quality research, encouraging students to not believe every piece of information they find, and presenting research education with a clear purpose and direct application, educators can provide students with a more holistic and complex understanding of how to be responsible information creators and users in all areas of their lives.

Information literacy abilities can be bolstered by including critical thinking skills when teaching students to be more cautious and competent researchers. These skills can be presented and utilized in the classroom simply by couching research topics in the form of problem-based questions and scenarios. Treating potential research queries as puzzles to be solved promotes student buy-in and allows students to practice critical thinking skills in a hands-on manner, leading to more thorough understanding of how to apply the practice throughout their academic and professional lives.

Reichenbach, B. (2000). Six steps of critical thinking. An introduction to critical thinking. New York City: McGraw-Hill. 

The Big 6. (2017). Information and technology skills for student success. Retrieved from http://big6.com/ 

Katherine Jones is the Undergraduate Services Librarian and an Assistant Professor for Kansas State University’s Polytechnic Campus. In addition to providing personalized research assistance to individual students, she conducts embedded information literacy instruction in a variety of disciplines, most of them STEM based. Katherine’s objectives as an educator are to make information literacy easily accessible and to encourage students to continue thinking critically about information long after their academic careers have passed.

Her email is kathjones@k-state.edu.