The Role of Credit-Bearing Information Literacy Courses as a Preventative Approach to Academic Integrity Education in First-Year University Students: A Case Study

Recently, there has been an increasing focus on how librarians can better support student learning and the development of research and reference skills, particularly when it comes to academic integrity. While one-shot information literacy sessions could prove useful in introducing students to academic integrity skills, they often are limited due to lack of time to dive deeper into the content, lack of assessment opportunities, and, most importantly, lack of application of these skills in the context of a specific assignment. This chapter aims to understand the role of credit-bearing information literacy courses in fostering academic integrity skills of first-year students. By diving into the curriculum design and implementation of the first-year credit-bearing information literacy labs, the authors explore how credit-bearing labs can be used as a preventative measure to address academic dishonesty among undergraduate students. The authors uncover a unique contextual approach to academic integrity education by integrating it into the assignment-based academic integrity curriculum in the information literacy course. Furthermore, the chapter offers insights into students’ self-assessment of their academic integrity learning and examines how students understand and engage with academic integrity principles in the information literacy course.