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This study aims to examine the instruction of basic information literacy (IL) skills taught to the socio‐economically disadvantaged students in the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) at Rider University in summer 2011. The study set out to determine how the beginning IL levels of EOP freshmen differ from those of other freshmen, their learning outcomes, and retention of IL as a means to improve future research instruction.

Faculty of a speech communication class and two librarians collaborated in integrating IL in the class assignments of the 2011 summer EOP program. The assessment tools include identical pre‐ and post‐tests, a second post‐test with different multiple correct answer questions, a survey about students' perceptions of their IL training, and the teaching faculty's observations of EOP students' research skills.

EOP freshmen are equivalent to the peer freshmen in their low levels of IL skills. The findings suggested that EOP freshmen complete IL instruction with stronger IL skills. The second post‐test revealed that many students were confused about some basic IL concepts. Faculty's observation of students' information literacy skills concurs with the pre‐ and post‐tests.

This study fills a void in the literature on recent research of information literacy skills of socio‐economically disadvantaged college students. The multi‐correct answer questions employed are valuable but rarely employed in studies or discussed in the literature. The collaboration of faculty and librarians in assignment design is valuable as an increasing number of faculty are utilizing librarians to teach the necessary IL skills needed in today's curricula.

The authors of this paper are both white English education scholars with antiracist agendas. This conceptual manuscript aims – in part – to better understand the backlash both of them have faced in trying to contribute to antiracist teaching and research in English education.

This manuscript uses practices of narrative inquiry to tell and interpret stories about the authors’ work.

The authors hope to critique traditional notions of white resistance in favor of more careful theorizations of whiteness that can be helpful for teachers and scholars in English education and English Language Arts (ELA)with an interest in facilitation antiracist pedagogy.

Ultimately, with this work, the authors hope to provoke readers to consider how work with whiteness is processed by white people, especially in terms of teaching and learning in English education and ELA. They believe the field of English education should begin to discuss this issue.