Authority, Context and Containers: Student Perceptions and Judgments When Using Google for School Work

Abstract

What really happens when student researchers meet a Google results page? How do students determine the authority behind each result? News, blogs, journals, Wikipedia, websites, e-books--with the vast array of online content available, how do students differentiate between them? Better still, do they differentiate between them or are these format agnostic students stymied by container collapse? The Researching Students’ Information Choices (RSIC) project is answering these questions.

The Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education aims to guide educators in their work to develop today’s students into critical thinking denizens of the digital world. The work of RSIC can directly inform the first frame, “Authority Is Constructed and Contextual.” This Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded study, examines and compares the judgments and perceptions of students (from late primary, secondary, community college/vocational school, undergraduate, to graduate school/postgraduate) as they select resources for science-related school inquiry projects. Our project team includes academic science librarians, pre-service LIS educators, school librarians, and research scientists. We enlisted K-12, community college, four-year college, and university librarians and faculty as members of our Advisory Panel.

The analyses identify students’ perceptions and judgments related to the source and author/creator of three...