Read and Write Critically: Information Literacy

Penn students encounter an overwhelming number of complex source materials for their research and coursework. Librarians can help students understand how to sift through and identify credible scholarly works through consultations, workshops, research guides, and partnerships with University Life offices.

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Consult with a Librarian

Students are invited to meet with their subject librarian or the librarian assigned to their critical writing course to discuss among other topics:

Examining the relevance and credibility of works, including understanding how peer review and other editorial processes shape that credibility.
Considering, and questioning, traditional indicators of authority, including publication format and venue, author background, and citation counts.
Learning when and how to cite sources in one’s writing.

Not sure who to contact? Chat with us online, or request a consultation to be matched with a specialist.

More Services

Looking for more ways to get help with your research? Check out these services.

Identify Resources: Search Skills and Techniques

Get help navigating the complex information landscape to find relevant, high-quality articles, books, and other materials.

Get Help with Copyright

What exactly is copyright and how do you get it for your own work? We can help you understand copyright law and related topics like fair use, the public domain, open access, and why copyright matters to your scholarship, research, and teaching.

Data Literacy

Data literacy, or the ability to decode, understand, critically interrogate, and create data-informed arguments in a variety of genres is a key element of any 21st-century researcher’s toolkit. The Research Data and Digital Scholarship team can help members of the Penn community gain a more nuanced understanding of ethical and equitable approaches to working with data.

Data Visualization and Analysis Support

Need assistance making meaning out of data? Our librarians offer training in tools and methods for working with qualitative and quantitative data, from cleaning and analysis to mapping and visualization. If you need access to software for statistical analysis (SPSS, SAS, Stata, R), qualitative analysis (NVivo), or geospatial work (ArcGIS, QGIS), we’ve got that too!