Develop your ability to
- define different types of authority, such as subject expertise (e.g., scholarship), societal position (e.g., public office or title), or special experience (e.g., participating in a historic event);
- use research tools and indicators of authority to determine the credibility of sources, understanding the elements that might temper this credibility;
- understand that many disciplines have acknowledged authorities in the sense of well-known scholars and publications that are widely considered “standard,” and yet, even in those situations, some scholars would challenge the authority of those sources;
- recognize that authoritative content may be packaged formally or informally and may include sources of all media types;
- acknowledge you are developing your own authoritative voice in a particular area and recognize the responsibilities this entails, including seeking accuracy and reliability, respecting intellectual property, and participating in communities of practice;
- understand the increasingly social nature of the information ecosystem where authorities actively connect with one another and sources develop over time.
"Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education" by ACRL is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.