Information Literacy Toolkit

This course requires students to write a research paper, scaffolded through the semester with feedback and revision along the way.  Because freshmen often struggle to find a topic in an area so new to them, the librarian created a Choose a Topic worksheet to guide students to find a topic of interest and relevance to them early in the semester.  In order to learn how to evaluate a source more than just superficially, the librarian and faculty member lead a session in the library fully devoted to source evaluation.  Students work in four groups to evaluate four selected sources using the in-class activity linked below.  The pre-selected sources are listed on the course research guide, as are tips for doing the activity.  Groups report out after completing each section of the activity and there is class discussion.  After the session, students complete a Source Identification and Analysis assignment developed by the faculty member that has them find and evaluate two books and two articles.  This assignment gives students an opportunity to practice the research and evaluation skills they have been learning and gives the faculty member insight into where students might need additional help before diving fully into research for their own papers.  In addition to covering source evaluation, the course research guide developed by the librarian offers instruction and recommended tools for finding sources.

Updated October 2018