Fostering Critical Thinking in the Age of AI: Why Information Literacy Still Matters

Undergraduate students enter political science classrooms today comfortable with many AI tools and services that promise to aid their learning, writing, and research. Meanwhile, many faculty and librarians view generative AI and related tools with trepidation, concerned about the ways in which they will change higher education, especially in political science. As with all new technologies, there are significant challenges that we must confront as we consider their benefits. Educators must rethink how to foster students’ critical thinking, information literacy, communication, and research skills—typically long-term objectives—in light of rapidly developing apps and programs that aim to reduce effort and provide quick results. This paper from a political science librarian uses the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy to demonstrate the importance of teaching fundamental research and writing skills before offering ideas for how to incorporate AI tools into information literacy building assignments and activities in a constructive way.