One qualitative method of assessing information literacy skills is to analyze student bibliographies produced for class assignments. The bibliographies may be evaluated using simple rating sheets marking citations by type (scholarly article, conference proceeding, book chapter, etc.) and quality, or by using more detailed checklists or full-scale, detailed rubrics. This type of assessment is best for analyzing whether students are finding and using credible information sources and for demonstrating that they can prepare proper citations. It may also allow the grader to infer whether proper search strategies were used to find the information, by looking at which sources are included or excluded.
This approach does come with several drawbacks: it is subjective and therefore results may not be reliable across different graders or cohorts of students, and is time consuming for the grader(s). Multiple trainers can be used to assess any single bibliography and their scores compared in order to increase reliability and validity. The use of bibliographies is also only an assessment of the end result, but does not allow the grader to directly evaluate the students' process or thinking as they conducted research or how they incorporated the sources into their final research products.
Potential program learning outcomes can be gleaned from the Knowledge Practices of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards, which are described in detail on this guide.