Information Literacy In the First Year Seminar Program
What is Information Literacy?
Information literacy is a set of abilities that enables individuals to "recognize
when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use
effectively the needed information." (Information Literacy Competency
Standards for Higher Education. American Library Association. 2006.)
Information Literacy and the First Year Seminars
The primary goals of the First Year Seminar Program are to engage students in
liberal arts learning and nurture the development of critical academic skills.
By definition, information literacy is the foundation for lifelong learning.
It is essential to all fields of knowledge, in all learning environments, and
at all levels of education. It enables students to increase their mastery of
content by improving their investigations and allowing for more self-directed
learning.
The Value of Faculty/Librarian Partnerships
Recent studies have shown that college students rely on their professors for
research guidance and are more likely to interact with librarians if faculty
involve librarians in the classroom or recommend that students meet with librarians
during the research process.
Librarians can work with you to achieve information literacy goals whether or not your course includes a research component.
Library Contacts | Research
Paper Alternatives | Recommended Readings
An information literate student should be able to:
- Select and refine a topic
- Develop a thesis and/or hypothesis
- Construct an effective search strategy
- Understand intellectual property & plagiarism issues
- Distinguish between types of information sources
- Critically evaluate resources
- Synthesize information
- Communicate information in an appropriate format
- Understand how scholarly information is generated, disseminated, and used
- Understand the social, economic, and political contexts in which information is produced and consumed
Information Literacy Concepts and Strategies for Achieving Them
1. Select and refine a topic
Core competency
- Understand how questions are refined and redefined in the course of research
Key skills
- Use general sources to shore up background knowledge and fill-in gaps
- Broaden or narrow a research topic to an appropriate level of focus for the assignment
Teaching strategies
- Have students describe their topic in a few sentences (~50-75 words)
- Have students keep a log of how their topic changes and evolves
2. Develop a thesis and/or hypothesis
Core competency
- Formulate questions to guide path of inquiry
Key skill
- Determine current state of knowledge about a topic
Teaching strategy
- Help students navigate the process of turning a general interest into a research question or problem with topic consultations
3. Construct an effective search strategy
Core competencies
- Distill a topic or research question into searchable concepts
- Select appropriate resources to begin researching a topic
Key skills
- Generate keywords to search for -- broader and narrower terms, synonyms, related concepts
- Recognize that research is an iterative process
- Use basic and advanced database searching techniques (Boolean connectors [and, or, not], wildcards, or truncation)
Teaching strategies
- Emphasize the value of the research process in learning -- including dead-ends and course corrections
- Have students consider which academic discipline(s) are germane to their question
- Have students consider what kinds of information sources (books, research articles, newspapers, advertisements, images, data, etc.) will be helpful in researching their question
- Have students list resources they plan to use to find the information sources they need
- Recommend appropriate encyclopedias, databases, indexes, and other reference tools
- Have students search for the same topic in two different sources and compare/contrast the results
4. Understand intellectual property & plagiarism issues
Core competencies
- Recognize when ideas need to be attributed to others and what is "common knowledge"
- Quote and paraphrase properly
- Document sources accurately and correctly
Key skills
- Use style manual(s) to correctly format citations for various information formats
- Use bibliographic management tools (e.g. RefWorks, Zotero, EndNote)
Teaching strategies:
- Indicate the preferred style manual in your discipline and explain why/how it's useful to scholars
- Use complete citations on the course syllabus
- Discuss how the honor code applies to assignments in your course
- Give students a paraphrasing exercise
- Require students to submit proper citations on preliminary bibliographies and draft assignments
5. Distinguish between types of information sources
Core competencies
- Interpret bibliographic citations correctly
- Understand appropriate uses of types of sources in different disciplines or contexts
- Understand the differences between popular and scholarly materials
- Understand what primary and secondary sources are
Key skills
- Recognize basic source types (books, journals, newspapers, government documents) by looking at a bibliographic citation
- Be able to determine if a source is primary or secondary for a given research question
- Recognize when non-scholarly sources are appropriate
Teaching strategies
- Have students compare a popular and scholarly article on the same topic
- Require students to use a mixture of information source types
6. Critically evaluate resources
Core competency
- Evaluate information for usefulness, bias, currency, authority, and other relevant criteria
Key skill
- Apply appropriate criteria depending on the type of source under examination and information need
Teaching strategies
- Highlight specific evaluative criteria of particular importance in your field/discipline
- Ask students to examine selected sources (texts, websites, images, etc.) and evaluate them according to stated criteria
7. Synthesize information
Core competencies
- Interpret, analyze, and sythesize information in order to form new knowledge
- Engage with information in ways that demonstrate critical thinking and new understanding of the material
Key skill
- Recognize and acknowledge conflicting information and/or viewpoints
Teaching strategies
- Require student to show progress through "benchmark" assignments -- preliminary bibliographies, outlines, thesis statements, drafts, etc.
8. Communicate information in an appropriate format or medium
(paper, poster, web site, video, podcast, presentation - e.g. PPT, Keynote, Prezi, graph, spreadsheet)Core competency
- Determine what kind of presentation is suitable for a given audience or context
Key skills
- Be familiar with available software/programs
- Incorporate technology learning time into project planning (identify sources of technical support in advance)
Teaching strategies
- Model different ways of presenting information in class
- Require students to use a variety of formats to present their work
9. Understand how scholarly information is generated, disseminated, and used
Core competencies
- Understand the purpose of the peer review process
- Be aware of different modes of scholarly communication
Teaching strategies
- Discuss the publishing culture in your discipiline -- key journals, publishers
- Discuss information sharing in your discipline -- listservs, blogs, wikis, conferences
10. Understand social, economic, and political contexts in which information is produced and consumed
Core competencies
- Awareness that not all information is freely available
- Awareness of open access/open source initiatives
Teaching strategy
- Knowledge=Power: Discuss!
Library Contacts
Reference & Instruction Librarians, Main Library
Special Collections Librarian, Ed
Vermue
College Archivist, Ken
Grossi
Art Librarian: Barbara Prior
Public Services Librarian, Conservatory Library: Kathy
Abromeit
Science Librarian: Alison Ricker
Recommended Readings
About Information Literacy Standards and Learning Outcomes
Information
Literacy: A Neglected Core Competency (2010)
from Anticipating the Future of Higher Education a special issue of
EDUCAUSE Quarterly
Information Literacy Standards from the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL)
Understanding Information Literacy: A Primer (2008) [pdf] by UNESCO
About the Information Seeking Behavior of College Students/Teenagers
Lessons
Learned: How College Students Seek Information in the Digital Age [pdf]
(2009)
Study of more than 2,000 students on six campuses across the U.S. by the Information
School at the University of Washington
The
Digital Information Seeker (2010)
Summarizes findings from 12 research studies on researcher behavior in the U.S.
and the U.K.
Information
Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future [pdf] (2010)
A U.K.-based study of the research habits of the 'Google Generation'
Studying Students: The
Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester (2007)
Anthropological study of students at the River Campus of the University of Rochester
College Students'
Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (2006)
A sub-section an international study of 396 students done by researchers at
OCLC