Information Literacy Level

Assessment Level SCQF Level 10 / SHE level 4, Honours degrees

General skill

Using information literacy skills and competences effectively and ethically to independently undertake a piece of scholarly / academic research

Example of level of task

Specific skills[1] 

1. The ability to recognise a need for information

2. The ability to distinguish ways in which the information ‘gap’ may be  addressed:

• knowledge of appropriate kinds of resources, both print and non-print
• selection of resources with ‘best fit’ for task at hand
• the ability to understand the issues affecting accessibility of sources

3. The ability to construct strategies for locating information

• to articulate information need to match against resources
• to develop a systematic method appropriate for the need
• to understand the principles of construction and generation of  databases

4. The ability to locate and access information

• to develop appropriate searching techniques (e.g. use of Boolean)
• to use communication and information technologies, including terms international academic networks
• to use appropriate indexing and abstracting services, citation indexes and databases
• to use current awareness methods to keep up to date

5. The ability to compare and evaluate information obtained from different  sources

• awareness of bias and authority issues
• awareness of the peer review process of scholarly publishing
• appropriate extraction of information matching the information need

6. The ability to organise, apply and communicate information to others in ways appropriate to the situation

• to cite bibliographic references in project reports and theses
• to construct a personal bibliographic system
• to apply information to the problem at hand
• to communicate effectively using appropriate medium
• to understand issues of copyright and plagiarism

7. The ability to synthesise and build upon existing information, contributing to the creation of new knowledge  

 Examples of how universities (University of Abertay & Loughborough) have used the Seven Pillars Model as a foundation for their own Information Literacy framework / skills levels are included in the Appendices D and E.

SCQF Level 10 / SHE level 4, Honours degrees

[1] SCONUL Seven headline skills from the Seven Pillars Model for Information Literacy