Communications in Information Literacy - Volume 18 - Issue 2 - Article 2 - The Inclusion of Metacognition in Source Evaluation Instruction

Oct 15, 2026

Though the ACRL Framework treats metacognition as crucial to information literacy, its emphasis appeared reduced in early drafts and later narrowed to a single mention. Many commonly taught source-evaluation criteria also omit a step for self-awareness. The study analyzes online library guides on source evaluation and surveys librarians who teach it to assess whether metacognitive concepts are included and how librarians rate their importance.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages26

Reading Time1 h 6 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction: Information Literacy and Cognitive Bias

Cognitive biases and the need for metacognition

Research Questions

Literature Review: Cognitive Biases

Communications in Information Literacy | Volume 18 Issue 2 | Article 2 | | --- | --- | | 12-2024
The Inclusion of Metacognition in Source Evaluation Instruction
Anthony Tardiff
Gonzaga University, [tardiff@gonzaga.edu](tardiff@gonzaga.edu)
Follow this and additional works at: [https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/comminfolit](https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/comminfolit)
Part of the Higher Education Commons, and the Information Literacy Commons
Let us know how access to this document benefits you. | | Recommended Citation Tardiff, A. (2024) . The Inclusion of Metacognition in Source Evaluation Instruction. Communications in Information Literacy, 18 (2), 133–157 . [https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2024.18.2.2](https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2024.18.2.2) This open access Research Article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4 .0) . All documents in PDXScholar should meet accessibility standards. If we can make this document more accessible to you, contact our team. The Inclusion of Metacognition in Source Evaluation Instruction Anthony Tardiff, Gonzaga University Abstract Though the ACRL Framework holds metacognition as crucial to exercising information literacy, its emphasis was reduced from prominence in early drafts to a single mention in the final document. At the same time, few of the frequently-taught sets of source evaluation criteria include a step for self-awareness. This raises the question: do librarians explicitly teach metacognitive concepts when they teach source evaluation? Online library guides about source evaluation from various colleges and universities in Washington state were analyzed, and librarians who taught source evaluation were surveyed to determine whether and to what extent metacognitive concepts were included as part of the source evaluation process and how important librarians perceived metacognition to be relative to common source evaluation criteria. This research found that metacognition or self-reflection is not commonly considered or taught as an integral part of the source evaluation process. Keywords: information literacy, metacognition, self-awareness, source-evaluation, biases, instruction, library guides Tardiff, A. (2024) . The inclusion of metacognition in source evaluation instruction. Communications in Information Literacy, 18(2), 133–157. The Inclusion of Metacognition in Source Evaluation Instruction With more than two-thirds ofthe planet connected to the internet (International Telecommunication Union, 2023), most of humanity has access to more information, with less effort, than ever before in our collective history. However, increased access has not improved the ability to determine good information from bad. Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigation measures such as masks and vaccines provide a vivid example of the power of misinformation and the ease with which it spreads via the internet and social media (Caceres et al., 2022). In the online sea of information and misinformation, information literacy is, more than ever, a crucial skill set. A significant challenge to information literacy is the variety of cognitive biases that affect the perception of information. For example, resistance to vaccination is often driven by tribalism or in-group bias based on existing political or cultural divisions (Goel, 2022b) . Instead of evaluating each issue on its own merits and referring to experts whose expertise matches the topic, many look to what "their side" has to say—and there are opportunistic voices on every side seeking to draw lines of division. To combat in-group bias and other biases that interfere with information literacy, such as confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance, doubling down, and the Dunning-Kruger effect, metacognition is needed: the awareness of how one is thinking in real-time in order to dial back the nat

FAQs

What issue does the paper address about information literacy instruction?

The paper examines whether librarians explicitly teach metacognitive concepts when teaching source evaluation, since metacognition is crucial in the ACRL Framework but is not consistently emphasized in instruction materials or criteria.

How does the study investigate metacognition in source evaluation teaching?

The research analyzes online library guides on source evaluation from universities in Washington state and surveys librarians who teach source evaluation about whether metacognitive concepts are included and how important librarians perceive them to be.

What does the research conclude about metacognition in source evaluation?

Metacognition or self-reflection is not commonly considered or taught as an integral part of the source evaluation process, based on the guide analysis and librarian survey findings.

Oct 15, 2026

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