INFORMATION

LITERACY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3RplzyDRQw
At the end of this lesson, the learner should be
able to:

• Define information needs.

• Locate sources of information.

• Assess, organize, and communicate information.

• Identify relevant ethical standards or principles in information and media use.

• Demonstrate ethical use of information.

An information literate individual is one who can
do the following:
• Determine the extent of information needed.

• Access the needed information efficiently and effectively.

• Evaluate information and its sources critically.

• Incorporate selected information into his/her knowledge

base
• Use information to accomplish specific purpose.

• Understand the economic, legal and social issues

surrounding access and use of information.

• Access and use information ethically and legally.

The Effective and Efficient Information Seeker
According to Callison and Tiley (2006), an effective and efficient information
seeker should be:
• Understands how to utilize a variety of information sources and agencies, as well as
human resources, in order to gain useful information.

• Understands the value of consulting with resource specialists and critical peers to
reframe and refine questions and inquiries, if necessary.

• Identifies information important to a need and assesses its reliability, bias, authority
and intent.

• Organizes new information in meaningful ways to determine where gaps may exist and
to formulate the central question or thesis that can be addressed (Doyle, 1994)
Look at the situations stated in the column headings in the following table. What information do
you need in each situation? With a partner, list as many as you can!
Budgeting for this Writing a research Fixing a broken Conducting a survey Planning a surprise
week’s grocery paper on indigenous electric fan on the feasibility and birthday party
marketability of
watermelon adobo
Typology of Information
1. Factual Vs. Analytical

• Factual Information is based on evidences and findings

provided by reliable sources such as academic texts like books,
encyclopedias, periodicals or technical reports by agencies and
institutions.

• Analytical Information is an analysis or interpretation of facts

by an individual, usually an expert on the subject. Examples of
such would be feature articles, commentaries or reviews.
2. Subjective Vs. Objective
• Subjective information - is information from only one point of view.
- Opinions are subjective.
- It is in books, journals, websites and book reviews.

• Objective information - is information that is understood from multiple

viewpoints and presents all sides of an argument.
- Reference books are a good place to find objective
information.
- Newspapers that have balanced and fair reporting
are also objective.
3. Current Vs. Historical

• Currency – refers to how up to date or how recent the

information is.

• Historical – historical information are from an historic time

period to provide a backdrop or global perspective for a
topic.
- It is mostly found in; -History Books, Artifacts, and Bible.
4. Scholarly (Academic/Professional/Technical) Vs.
Popular

• Scholarly – comes from academic sources. It is a product of an

author’s expertise and study on the subject matter.

• Popular – appeals to general interest and usually found in

general circulation materials such as magazines, coffee table
books, or online feature articles.
 Scholarly Resources Vs. Popular Resources
Scholarly Resources Popular Resources
Authors Written or reviewed by experts in discipline Written by the publication’s staff writers

Audience Written for researchers or practitioners in a Written for the general public or lay person
particular discipline

Publisher Professional society or organization or Commercial publisher

university

Content In-depth analysis of topic or report of Review of an event or research project,

original research highlighting key points

Language Use technical language which may not be Understandable by a lay person
understood by a lay person

Appearance • Illustrations include graphs and tables • Often use slick paper and more color
• Articles are usually long • Many advertisements and graphics
• Articles are usually very short

References Almost always include a list of sources Rarely include a list of sources consulted
consulted
5. Primary Vs. Secondary Vs. Tertiary
Characteristics Examples
• Original, first-hand information • Creative work
Primary • Hasn’t been interpreted, analyzed, • Diary • Historical Document
condensed or changed • Speech • Email written by a
• Information may need to be constructed • Letter researcher to a colleague
with raw data • Interview which includes data from
• News film footage an experiment
• Autobiography • Professor’s Lecture
• Photograph • Tweet or other dispatch
• Official Record
via a social media outlet
• One or more steps removed from a primary • News Commentaries
Secondary source and may interpret or analyze a • Articles in magazines and newspapers
primary source • Critical review of a literary scholar
• Usually written by someone other than the • Textbooks
original researcher or author • Encyclopedias
• Research Papers

• Topic review; and usually include • Bibliography(citation list) of primary and secondary sources
Tertiary bibliographies of primary and secondary about a person or topic
sources • Encyclopedias
• Provide access to materials on specific • Database and Indexes
topics
6. Stable Vs. Unstable
Stability becomes a consideration especially when the
information you have obtained is published digitally over the
internet. But an online source may still be predicted to be stable
or otherwise by evaluating it based on the following questions
(Ballenger 2009).
 Practice
Answer the following questions:
1. What are the advantages of being an effective and efficient information seeker?
2. Historical information is already in the past and out of date. Is it still important? Why or why not?
3. What do you do if a person or an organization has the information that you need?
4. Why is subjective information important?
5. How does the stability of information affect its reliability and credibility? Is it always the case? Why or why
not?
6. Based on what you have learned, propose a list of DOs and DON’Ts in information use, particularly in an
online scenario. Fill in the following table.
DOs DON’Ts
ENRICHMENT/ASSIGNMENT
 Write an essay (of at most 100 hundred words) about
an information literate individual
 Evaluation
Instruction:
With what you have learned on information literacy and responsibility, identify if each given
situation is proper or not. If the action should be done, explain why. If not, explain what you
would have differently.

1. You are searching for information on the respiratory system for your report in your science
class. Because the timeline is quite tight, you just copied text sections from a blog. After
all, you think that what you have copied is factual information that is already common to
everybody.
2. An online post from a major news organization says that classes are cancelled today.
However, just when you are about to go back to bed, you noticed that the announcement
was from a year ago. You share the post to fool your classmates.