Information Literacy @ RVCC

• Select an assigned reading or textbook chapter that lends itself to further questioning.
• Ask students to come to class prepared to discuss a question the reading raised which they would like to get more information about.
• Have students share their questions during discussion and ask where they would look for the answer.
• Alternatively, ask students to write one or both of their questions down and briefly describe how they might go about finding the answer.
• To continue the assignment/discussion, assign homework to find a website or article that helps answer their question and bring it to the next class session.

• Select a class reading that has a clear thesis.
• Ask students to highlight/underline the author’s thesis statement.
• Have students share in class (or through online discussion board) which statement they identified as the thesis. Discuss the nature of thesis statements.
• Can also have students identify the author’s thesis and supporting points.

• Student selects (or professor assigns) a topic relevant to class work.
• Students use Britannica Online or Credo Reference* (http://library.raritanval.edu/databases) to find a reference article about the topic.
• Students identify a piece of new information from the selected article that has not been discussed in class or in the textbook.
• Students should also identify the source of the information (i.e. the publication the article originally appeared in. This information is readily available on the article, but students often overlook it).
• Share this new piece of information with the class in discussion or online discussion board.

*Direct links to Britannica and Credo can be added to Lion’s Den course pages for easy access. Contact a librarian for the link.

• Student selects (or professor assigns) a topic relevant to class work.
• Ask students to use a discipline-specific reference source from the library to get more information about this topic. (Contact a librarian for a list of sources. These are usually print sources, so students may have to come to the physical library.)
• Have students come to class prepared to discuss a new piece of information they learned and what source they found the information in.

• Use this mini-assignment as part of a larger research assignment.
• As part of the research process, ask students to post to an online forum their research topic and the keywords that were most effective for their searches. Ask them to identify keywords they thought would work but did not.
• Prep students for this assignment by suggesting they keep a log of all the terms they use as they are searching.

• Provide students with a newspaper article that discusses a published research study.
• Ask students to find the original research study which the article discusses.
• Discuss in class or in online forum the differences in writing style, information provided, intended audience, and purpose of each article.
• TIP! Make sure the library has access to the original research study before giving this assignment! Contact a librarian to find out.

• Divide course topics or textbook chapters among students and ask each student to search the library catalog for a book related to their assigned topic.
• Have students post to a discussion board the title, author, and call number and describe how they know this book is relevant (e.g. they read the summary or looked at the table of contents, the subject headings are appropriate, etc.).
• TIP! If students know they don’t have to read the whole book, they will be more likely to complete this assignment!

• Assign one or two students each week to come to class with a scholarly article from a library database related to the topic to be discussed that day. Ask the students to summarize the article (without just reading aloud the abstract!) and explain how it is relevant to that day’s discussion.
• TIP! Give students specific instructions on which database(s) to search and how to know if an article is scholarly. (http://library.raritanval.edu/research/idscholarlyart.asp)
• For 200 level classes, instruct students to use a subject-specific database. Contact a librarian for database suggestions.

• If your textbook provides bibliographies for sections or chapters, ask students to locate an article or library book that is identified in the textbook.
• Or, provide students with a list of important articles in the field or related to the class topic and ask them to find and bring to class one of those articles.
• This takes some advanced preparation to ensure that the library has access to the source students are looking for, but the librarians are more than happy to help with this!

• Ask students to find a website related to a topic discussed in class. Provide specific evaluation criteria to find the best website. (http://library.raritanval.edu/infolit1/obj4/evaluating.asp)
• Students tendency is to find a "good enough" website. Structure this assignment to encourage them to find "the best" website instead.
• Discuss in class or in online forum how the students know the sites are reliable and how they enhance their understanding of the topic.

• Select a class reading that has a clear thesis or ask students to use an article they’ve found for their research.
• Have students highlight/underline the author’s thesis statement and major supporting points.
• Have students share in class (or through online discussion board) which statement they identified as the thesis. Discuss the nature of thesis statements.

• Provide students with a sample research question and a list of results from a database search, including the article abstracts.
• Have students review the results and read the abstracts to select the best result from the list for the research question.
• Discuss why they selected a particular article as the most relevant.
• As a cooperative activity, provide the class with one research question and groups of students with different search results based on different keywords. Discuss as a group the results that were found and their relevance to the topic. Discuss if the keywords searched were appropriate. (Contact a librarian for assistance designing this assignment.)

• Provide students with two articles related to a class topic. Ask them to read/skim both articles.
• In groups, have students identify similarities and differences between the articles. Facilitate a discussion on the purpose and intended audience of each and ask them which is "scholarly".
• Explicitly identify the characteristics that distinguish the scholarly article.
• Have students find both a scholarly and non-scholarly article about the next class topic and post the citations to an online forum, identifying which is scholarly and which is not.

• Select a course topic that is controversial or lends itself to opposing points of view.
• Ask students to find two sources (website, articles, etc.) representing differing points of view on the subject.
• Have students post to an online forum the articles/websites they found and discuss the particular point of view of each. Ask them to indicate who the author and publisher are and comment on how that impacts the potential bias of the source. Ask them to identify conflicting information between the two sources.
• Facilitate a class discussion in which students can discuss the sources they found, what made them persuasive, what conflicting information they found, and whether the bias affects the usefulness of the information. (Stress that bias is not necessarily always wrong, but students need to recognize when it exists.)

• Present students with a typical research study in the field, related to the current topic of study in the course.
• Have students evaluate the study by:
• Identifying the questions that the researchers addressed
• Explaining the methods the researchers used
• Describe the results of the study in their own words
• Identify other questions that this study possibly raises, or other areas of research that can be explored
• To include "Standard 5: Use information ethically & legally," have students describe in writing the authors’ conclusions in their own words (paraphrasing).

• Have students identify the major thinkers/researchers and/or their influences in the discipline.
• This may need to be accomplished in different ways. For example:
• Give students the names of important figures in the discipline and ask them to find information about what that person contributed to the field of study.
• Give students a literature review and ask them to identify seminal works of research upon which the current study is based. Have students use a bibliographic citation and the Periodical Locator to find the study/article in full-text.
• Have students use information provided in their textbook to identify important people in the discipline and find a book or article by that person.

• Provide students with an example of a poor research study in your discipline, without telling them it is not good.
• Facilitate a discussion of the article’s strengths and weaknesses, prompting students without telling them what parts of the article are ineffective or poorly designed.
• Follow up by asking students to find another study on a similar topic that is better designed or written.

Have each student find one source on a topic and have the class compile an annotated bibliography using an online wiki. The class should decide on a standard citation format and what information will be included in the evaluative annotations.

Students create an online wiki about a course topic using the information they find. A bibliography page should be included in the wiki. (Contact a librarian for more information on how to create this assignment.)

Students present their findings succinctly in a setting modeled after a conference poster session. This can be done in two class periods, where half the students are presenting their posters and the other half are walking the room discussing the findings with the presenters. Provide "attendees" with questions to ask or an activity to complete.

Students prepare a presentation of their findings with or without visual aids. Have them provide classmates with an outline of the presentation and a bibliography of the sources they found. Instruct presenters to clearly identify their research question/thesis statement, their conclusions, and discuss which sources were the most informative.

Instead of a full research paper, have students write an abstract for the paper they could write or a research proposal for how they would do a full project on this topic. Students should include a bibliography of sources they would use with the abstract or proposal.

Ask students to take a side on a controversial topic to be discussed in class and come to class with a source that backs their point of view. Model for students how to use research in discussion (e.g. "I read in Jones’ article that the population will drastically increase in the next ten years. This supports my idea that...”). Ask students to refer to their source material at least once during the class discussion. Ask them to post the citation for their source in an online forum.

• Instruct students to select a quote from an assigned reading that they think is particularly important.
• Have students hand in or post online the quote, the proper citation for the quote including page #, and an explanation of the quote in their own words.
• Assign a "critical thinking" question/activity as well; e.g. ask them to compare this quote to a previous class discussion, concept, or discuss how the quote relates to the overall message of the reading. (Make them go beyond simply paraphrasing or restating the quote.)

• Require students to submit photocopies of book pages or print-outs of articles from which they took quotes or information that was paraphrased.
• Have students highlight the information they used so their quoting and paraphrasing skills can be assessed.
• Check submitted sources against the Works Cited page to ensure that all entries on the Works Cited were actually cited in the paper!

• Require students to consistently use the citation format appropriate for the discipline.
• Discuss with students why your discipline uses a certain style. (For example, literary criticism often uses MLA to emphasize page numbers in the text; science uses APA which emphasizes authors and dates.)
• Discuss the purpose of scholarly communication and the role publishing plays in advancing research in your discipline.