Can your students identify, access, and evaluate the information they need to complete their papers and projects? Help your students become information literate!
How Faculty Can Help
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Importance
Let the students know that the assignment
has a specific understood purpose and communicate why learning how to find information is
important to their success in class,
in college, and throughout their careers.
If they're not interested in scholarly research,
point out that information exists on any topic, from buying a new stereo to
planning a trip to Europe. If you have a personal story that illustrates the power of
information, tell it. |
Goals
Think about what you want the students to gain from the assignment. Just as you cannot teach a semester course in one day, information literacy cannot be achieved in one assignment. For anything other than a large research paper, consider focusing on a particular collection, research tool, or skill such as finding reference books on a topic, using a specific periodical database, or evaluating information. |
Expectations
Don't assume students know how to use the library, even if they tell you they do. The majority of students have never been presented with the number of information choices they find in a university library. They also do not enter college understanding the organization of information within a discipline, how to search computerized databases, or how to evaluate information. |
Relevancy
Try to tie information seeking into class assignments or to some area of student interest. Assignments asking students to find things for no particular reason (i.e., the scavenger or treasure hunt) are often considered "busy work" by the students, are actively resented, and have been proven to be ineffectual. |
Reality
Don't ask your students to do something that can't be done. An impossible assignment frustrates a student and turns them against the library. Try doing the assignment yourself to test its feasibility and see if there are enough books and periodicals available in the library to sufficiently cover the assignment requirements. For additional help on determining the feasibility of an assignment as it relates to the library's collections and holdings, check with your subject librarian or contact Sarah Blakeslee at sblakeslee@csuchico.edu. |
Clarity and Accuracy
Be specific in what you want the students to do and how you direct them to do it. If you want them to use scholarly articles, be sure they are clear on what distinguishes a scholarly journal from a popular journal. If you want students to look for articles in PsycInfo, don't tell them to go to a library computer and find it on the Internet. Instead direct them to the Library ReSEARCH Station/Resources A-Z/PsycInfo. |
Topic
Choosing a topic is often difficult for students. Although everybody writing on the same topic creates difficulties in keeping material on the shelf, too wide a choice of topics paralyzes many students and often finds them researching inappropriate subjects for which they can find very little information. Consider offering your students a list of possible choices that you have pre-researched and know will result in a successful research experience. If it is necessary to have all the students write on one topic, or refer to one source, consider putting that item on Reserve at the Circulation & Reserve desk. |
Critical Thinking
Create an assignment that requires the student to think about the information they are retrieving such as comparing two sources or finding two viewpoints. Often students will take the first things they find on a topic, if not given a reason to be more discriminating. |
Pace the Assignment
For large research assignments break the assignment into smaller chunks so you can ascertain whether or not the student is understanding the research process and finding the right sources. Looking at a draft bibliography can help you direct student research and also gives students enough time to use Interlibrary Loan if needed. Additionally pacing the assignment discourages procrastination. |
Internet
Explain to students the difference between public Web documents found through Web search engines and structured scholarly information databases such as ERIC or Medline available via the Web. Students are often told by instructors NOT to use the Internet for a class assignment when in reality the majority of our periodical databases are only accessible via the Internet. |
Technology
Make sure students understand the technology required and have reasonable access to the computers and software necessary to complete assignments. |
Getting Help
If you have any questions or would like a librarian to look over an assignment for potential problems, help you plan an assignment, or talk to your class, please contact your subject librarian or Sarah Blakeslee at sblakeslee@csuchico.edu. |
