CETL Workshop September 29, 2009 Eleonora Dubicki

Google vs Library Databases 88% of students use library resources to complete an assignment, spend less than one hour a week.* 98.4% of students surf the Internet for information to support coursework, spending 1-2 hours a week.* * Educause, ECAR Study of Students and Information Technology,

Comparison Google Library Databases Ease of use Currency Practical information Enjoyable Quick look-up of facts Sufficing, when quality isn’t concern Overwhelming amount of information Accuracy Reliability Format Authority Lack of awareness Difficulty navigating web site 3

Faculty Acceptance of Web Research 77% faculty encourage students to use specific web sites 50% require them to use specific sites 73% allow use of web without specifying specific sites 7.1% forbid web use 83% require students to use web in conjunction with other resources Herring, Susan Davis. "Faculty Acceptance of the World Wide Web for Student Research." College & Research Libraries 62.3 (May 2001) 4

Where do Students Begin Research? OCLC 2005 Study MU Business Students 5

Challenges in Doing Research 6

Information Literacy (IL) The ability to locate, evaluate and effectively use information to become independent life-long learners – as students, employees, and members of a community. Focused on developing critical thinking and reasoning skills in conjunction with techology literacy as the student progresses through his/her academic career. 7

Progression Standards for IL Introductory/Novice Skills Gateway/Developing Skills Gen Ed courses Introductory courses Uses general/multi- disciplinary resources Uses multiple format materials Creates short papers or presentations Ethical use of info Upper level courses Uses discipline-specific resources Uses specialized collections Uses range of info and technologies to present research Creates long papers/ thesis Ethical use of info 8 Developed by the NJ VALE Consortium Task Force, a group of eight academic librarians from 2 and 4 year colleges in NJ.

The Information Literate Student… 1. Identifies and addresses an information need 2. Accesses information effectively and efficiently 3. Evaluates and thinks critically about information 4. Uses information effectively for a specific purpose 5. Uses information ethically and legally Association of College & Research Libraries Progression Standards for Information Literacy (NJ VALE Task Force) 9

Identifies Information Need Identifies research topic or information need Drafts research question relevant to the topic Tip: have student hand in draft of research question for faculty or peer review Uses general information sources to understand the topic and generate relevant concepts/vocabulary Tip: use reference materials such as encyclopedias and dictionaries (print or electronic) for background info Tip: have student keep a journal of the research process for the assignment – keywords, databases and web sites 10

Accesses Information Selects search tools Books, journals, newspapers, web sites, videos Print, electronic and human sources General versus discipline-specific sources Constructs a search strategy with keywords Retrieves information in multiple formats Refines search strategy based on information gathered Collects and organizes information 11

Evaluates and Thinks Critically Evaluates information sources for their relevance, authority, reliability, and currency to the topic Tip: provide student with a rubric or checklist for evaluating materials Identifies a source’s main idea and major points Distinguishes between scholarly vs popular sources, articles vs editorials Distinguishes between primary and secondary sources Determines whether additional info is necessary 12

Uses Information Effectively Completes a research project by integrating information new and prior information Presents the research product appropriately Text, images, audiovisual Incorporates quotes and paraphrasing from materials collected into text of research paper to support thesis 13

Uses Info Ethically and Legally Cites sources and compiles a bibliography Uses consistent and correct citation style for the discipline Understands copyright and plagiarism issues Properly represents content and ownership of ideas presented in research product Meets academic integrity 14

Developing Student IL Skills Build library assignments into your course to enrich and extend content of your class Assignments requiring use of multiple types of materials Books, articles, web sites, video Require evaluation of sources How are popular and scholarly articles different? Is the web site used credible? Why? How are free sources and library databases differ? Does information gathered answer the research topic? 15

Novice Skills Assignment – eg. Select an issue or topic that offers the opportunity to defend or reject a particular position, such as “Child Poverty is a major problem in the U.S.” Each student must find and bring into class at least two pieces of evidence to support or contradict the statement. This can be in the form of an article in a newspaper or magazine, a speech or presentation, a research study or a government statistics report. Students can discuss their evidence in teams or with the entire class, explore contradictory information and discuss criteria for evaluating the information. 16

Advanced Skills Assignment – eg. Health students: locate ten reliable consumer health websites or articles on a topic, and create a patient education brochure on that topic based upon information from those sites, and including the sites as further reading for patients. History students: select an individual (historical or contemporary) and research the events and issues of the time and develop and present a portrait of that individual. 17

How Librarians can Help Collaborate with faculty on assignment and library sources available – library liaisons Workshops on library resources – students/faculty One-on-one instruction at library or writing center Instructional sessions for class Libguides research guides: guides.monmouth.eduguides.monmouth.edu Customized handouts for assignment with appropriate sources Purchase new resources for library 18