The following ideas for Outcomes/Questions come from the Information Literacy Assessment Guide created by Rachel McMullin, West Chester University Libraries. The link to this page, with more samples, is available after the questions at the bottom of this box.

Students will be able to identify types of authority accepted in academic settings (or in a specific social context).

• If you were writing a paper on topic X, which of the following people would be considered the most authoritative?
• A politician (or another type of figure) would be considered most (or least) authoritative in which context?

Students will be able to identify characteristics of scholarly sources.

•     Which of the following is the best definition of scholarly?
•     Which of the following formats is not commonly used for scholarly sources?
•     Which of the following best describes the peer-review process? 

Students will be able to match citations with the represented format.

•     Which of the following is a correct way to list a journal article in APA style?
•     Which of the following is the correct format for an MLA in-text citation?

Students will be able to identify general characteristics of the creation processes of different formats or a specific format.

• Which of the following is the best description of a wiki?
• Which of the following is an important characteristic of how a newspaper article is made?
• Newspaper articles go through peer review. (true/false)

Students will be able to connect format/creation process to a specific need.

• Which of the following would be a good source to start with if you were looking for background information on a topic?
• Which of the following would count as a primary source?
• Which of the following would most likely provide statistics on topic X.

Students will be able to match database search options with their effects.

• Which of the following would lead to fewer search results?
• How would using feature X change your search results? (more or fewer)
• Which tool in PsycInfo would help you find better search terms?

This gallery below highlights examples the questions available through the Info Lit Question Bank in Canvas (for SLCC users). If you'd like permission to access this question bank for easy copying to your own Canvas course site, please contact Zack Allred.

Not every aspect of information literacy can be assessed using a quiz or test. There are some instances where it can help. The examples below can be adapted to fit various contexts. 

If you choose to use a quiz or test, creating a scenario can help provide context for a student to select the most authoritative source, the best database to search in, the best keywords to use, etc. ("If a middle school band teacher is looking for information on their husband's recently diagnosed disease, where would they look?" vs. "If a doctor is looking for the latest research on a disease she treats regularly, where would they look?").

Short answer questions, while more difficult to grade, can be more useful than multiple choice questions in some cases ("What are two aspects of an information source you would look at while determining it's credibility/usefulness/authority/etc.?" or "Describe the difference between a primary and secondary source.").

Authentic assessment ideas are found on the Assignments/Activities and Rubrics tabs on this page.