INFORMATION LITERACY AT BYU
What you'll find on this page
BYU Aims & Information Literacy
Helping students develop information literacy is one way to support Brigham Young University’s unique aims. The aims of a BYU education encourage students to develop “sound thinking” and a desire for “lifelong learning and service.” Information literacy helps students, graduates, and faculty “to keep alive their curiosity and prepare them to continue learning throughout their lives." It also helps BYU "produce careful readers, prayerful thinkers, and active participants in solving family, professional, religious, and social problems.” Information literacy is critical for producing sound thinkers and problem solvers.
General Education / University Core
The purpose of general education at BYU is to encourage and prepare students as they “enter to learn" and "go forth to serve.” This includes providing students with well-rounded and quality knowledge across the curriculum of education. BYU sorts their general education requirements into four different categories: The Individual & Society; Arts, Letters, & Sciences; Skills; and Doctrinal Foundations. Each of these categories already has informational literacy woven into its foundation.
The individual and society general education requirement focuses on preparing students to “go forth and serve” by assisting them in becoming active and informed global citizens. This category includes the American Heritage and Global and Cultural Awareness requirements. The information literacy framework “Authority is Constructed and Contextual” is utilized often in this category.
Understanding how authority may differ in global context and how to understand that authority is a crucial informational literacy skill. These classes will also give students the opportunity to become proficient in other disciplines, such as media literacy, news literacy, and data literacy.
Classes: A HTG 100, ECON 110, HIST 220, ANTHRO 110, EUROP 200, IHUM 241, POLI 347
Learn more about BYU GE requirements here.
The general education courses in this section focus on giving students a broad and balanced education through a spectrum of knowledge. These courses focus on the hard and soft sciences and seek to give students an appreciation of both. Visual literacy and science literacy are prevalent disciplines in this category, as the classes focus on different themes and concepts. At the core of Arts, Letters, and Sciences is an ability to think critically about concepts, an important component of information literacy.
Classes: IHUM 201, ENGL 212, MUSIC 204, GREEK 302, BIO 130, GEOL 100
Learn more about BYU GE requirements here.
The skills portion of the general education requirements focuses on developing abilities and talents that can be used across various disciplines. This category includes classes focused on writing, reasoning, and language capabilities. Informational literacy is highly emphasized in these classes because they teach researching methods. The Skills general education requirement helps students understand how to find, evaluate, and present information.
Classes: WRTG 150, WRTG 312, PHIL 300, MATH 102, STAT 121, SPAN 205
Learn more about BYU GE requirements here.
Religious education at BYU consists of courses founded in scriptures, Church history, and doctrinal principles. Both the Gospel of Jesus Christ and information literacy focus on finding truth through reliable sources. As students participate in these religious general education courses, they can implement information literacy skills such as analyzing sources and applying knowledge in both academic and spiritual settings.
Classes: REL A 275, REL A 211, REL C 225, REL C 333, SFL 200
Learn more about BYU GE requirements here.