Rodriguez 1

Diego Rodriguez

Mr. Powers

English 1302

01/17/23

An individual has the potential to gain the information, abilities, and responsibilities necessary to

take part in a culture of questioning through the educational movement known as critical pedagogy. These

skills are advantageous to young people because they give them more political agency by giving them the

tools to discuss and address it.

The article's author, Lauren Smith, discusses how the critical IL theory's approaches may aid

teenagers in developing their critical skills, which would then allow them to change their political

cynicism distrust and obtain more excellent political knowledge and engagement. In this article, Smith's

thesis can be proven to be a recent Ph.D. research project that is described to investigate a technique for

understanding the necessities of young people to use critical IL strategies for political agency. Throughout

the article, Smith's thesis is explained in detail and gives the reader context to what the research is about.

Smith's thesis is transparent and instantly given at the beginning of the paper. The reader can easily

understand what Smith's thesis is and what she is trying to explain in depth throughout the article. The

thesis, being a research project, gives insights into how the research is being conducted on young adults,

such as suggesting the use of libraries, giving examples of political attitudes of young people, and

providing in-depth detail about Critical Pedagogy.

The arguments Smith uses to support her stance can be found throughout the article and provides

the reader with clarification in regard to the research project. For example, in the abstract, the author

states the reason for the paper is to argue that to genuinely interact with the democratic societal ideals of

LIS and solve some of the shortcomings of IL ideas, IL must take a critical approach. In addition, another

argument Smith uses to support her stance can be found in the second paragraph. She argues that

16-year-olds are capable of using this knowledge due to the fact they can take on responsibilities the same
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way as an adult would. Throughout the article, she argues that younger people's voices need to be heard

and taken seriously and gives the reader insights into what type of responsibilities teenagers are able to

uphold, such as joining the military, getting married, and being able to take charge of their education and

career choices.

The evidence Smith uses can be found throughout the article and effectively backs up her

arguments with the intention of explaining to the reader the purpose of the arguments. For example,

one-way evidence that can back up Smith's argument can be found in the 3rd section. In the 3rd section,

the author talks about Critical pedagogy and provides the reader with a full explanation and breakdown.

In addition, another place you will find a source of evidence in section 4. In Section 4, the author goes

into depth about Information literacy. The author talks about how Information literacy is growing in

importance regarding library focus and information science. The author also states that most readers will

be fond of the idea of Information literacy, its definitions, and its foundation. This is used as evidence to

support Smith's argument.

I genuinely believe Smith does not overlook or misunderstand how information literacy affects

political agency. I agree with the author and give full credit to her work and plan of action. She goes into

depth about her findings and provides the reader with a full explanation and breakdown. Smith thoroughly

explains how information literacy affects political agency in every paragraph and section. All in all,

before reading this article, I never understood the topic of information literacy and how it affects political

agency. I believe Smith elaborates in detail and provides the reader with an in-depth explanation of the

research and backed-up findings. Smith helped me understand what exactly the main idea of this article is

and has enabled me to learn more about this topic. Without this article and Smith's knowledge, I would've

never known about the ongoing situation regarding how information literacy affects political agency.