Advancing information literacy using the CRAAP process in the principles of Macroeconomics course

Abstract

This paper illustrates the information literacy strategy in an undergraduate program at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. The paper exemplifies a sequential approach to advancing information literacy skills with the goal of improving students’ capabilities to evaluate and apply information in a specifically designed learning environment, while generating new knowledge in undergraduate coursework. The paper emphasizes how information literacy can be developed within coursework through a six-step process, including defining, locating, selecting, organizing, presenting, and assessing. Moreover, the proposed information literacy process consists of five key components with related informational questions allowing completion of the information literacy tasks with the CRAAP process. The five elements of the CRAAP process comprise currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose, which must be advanced and mastered across a four-year undergraduate program. The paper concluded that information literacy requires the development of a specially designed framework of informationliteracy learning that must be applied across coursework using specifically designed assignments.