Information Literacy for General Education Breadth Courses  Tags: general_education breadth information_literacy  

Below you will find some ideas regarding how you might be able to integrate information literacy activities in your class. We have tried to keep these as general as possible in order to appeal to the widest possible audience. Please keep in mind these are simply suggestions and that we would be happy to work with you. The following are simply meant to serve as a springboard for your own thinking about developing information literacy instruction for your breadth courses.

Students should be introduced to the ways in which scholars find and use information and create and communicate knowledge in a particular discipline. Metaphorically, students are just dipping their toes into the waters of disciplinary information/knowledge. Here are examples of specific, introductory information literacy goals:

Creative Arts: Students will "develop a language" for the arts by exploring how people write about the arts in reviews.

Social Sciences: Students will make connections between social science scholarship (or the questions that social scientists ask) and the real world, by applying scholarly research and theory to the real world current events or their own lives.

Sciences: Introduce students to scholarly sources and lead them to see connections among reports in popular media and research publications. Introduce students to the scientific method by helping them identify hypotheses in scientific literature.

Examples

Research Paper Using Primary and Secondary Sources
Created for USU 1320 by Charlie Huenemann, Department of Languages, Philosophy and Speech Communication

This traditional paper assignment focuses on introducing students to scholarship in the humanities by focusing on only two types of sources: a classic work (or primary source) and scholarly article. Pay attention to how the instructor specifically outlines "the thing" that students should look for in their reading and then write about. "The thing" is what humanities scholars "do" and provides non-humanities majors an accessible way to develop a language for the humanities.

Science in the News
Created for USU 1350 by Vicki Rosen, Department of Biology

A short written assignment that focuses on introducing students to popular science writing, rather than scholarly publications that might be difficult for students to read and understand. Also introduces the importance of understanding science as it relates to various aspects of our lives.

Archaeology in the News
Created for USU 1320 by David Lancy, Department of Anthropology

A short, written assignment, similar to Science in the News, that introduces students to popular reporting about archaeological discoveries.

If the instructor supplies all of the readings for the course, this reinforces the notion that the teacher is the source of all wisdom, and their job is to simply memorize what the teacher says. This makes students passive in the learning process. Students also need to be introduced to searching for information using tools that they might not be familiar with, such as a disciplinary library database.

Examples

Research Paper Using Primary and Secondary Sources

Created for USU 1320 by Charlie Huenemann, Department of Languages, Philosophy and Speech Communication. A nice example of a focused research paper that requires students to find scholarly information, using a library database, on their own.

Finding the Best Articles

Adapted by Deleyne Wentz from “Suggestions For Assignments” from Gustavus Adolphus College. A nice example of a simple, focused assignment in which students find a single article that meets class-generated criteria for quality.

Assignments that require students to simply locate an article in the library is viewed as busy work, and reinforces the idea that the library and its resources are irrelevant. “Using” information can include summarizing it for class, either orally or in writing, applying it to a key theory or idea presented in class, or applying a key theory from class to a recent story in the news or a student’s personal life. For fields with a strong applied element, such as the social sciences and sciences, it can be useful to focus on the relationship between scholarship and current events.

Examples

Nailing the Issue (scroll down for the assignment description)
Created for ANTH 2010 by David Lancy, Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology

A good example of applying knowledge learned from a class and information from research to a current social issue. Also supports the principle of focusing on introductory goals, with the emphasis on summarizing the "meat" of an issue rather than a lengthy research paper.

Islamic History and the News (scroll down to Paper #1 for the assignment description)
Created for HIST 1060 by Debra Baldwin, Department of History

A good example of applying the humanities (or any historical knowledge) to current events. Also supports the principle of focusing on introductory goals, with its emphasis on analyzing a single news story.

Students need to learn that librarians specialize in certain subject areas and that librarians can help them navigate unfamiliar information sources. Librarian involvement can include a short, 10 minute introduction in class, leading discussions about how information is created and communicated in a particular discipline, or the creation of specialized research websites. See, for example, http://libguides.usu.edu/honors1320.

Students need help knowing where to search for information and how to read, summarize, and apply it. Externalize or “make plain” scholarly inquiry in your discipline. Experts often hide the process of asking questions, exploring, and encountering inconsistency and new questions because it is such a natural part of their own work. This process needs to be broken down and made visible to students.

Examples

Research Paper Using Primary and Secondary Sources
Created for USU 1320 by Charlie Huenemann, Department of Languages, Philosophy and Speech Communication

Note how carefully this assignment is scaffolded, from instructions on where to search, how to approach reading a classic work and a scholarly article, how to summarize and write the paper, and the difficulties that might be encountered along the way.

Students see that research is a process of synthesis and making connections when they actually practice this in a small group of students.

Examples

Group Homework Assignment (Word format)
Created by Charlie Huenemann for USU 1350
Class size: @120

All of the students engage in small group discussions of weekly readings and write reports of the discussions. Helps students check their understanding with each other and practice summarizing, synthesizing information, and making connections. Note how the simple grading scheme and scaffolding which makes this manageable for a larger class.

Critical Debate
Adapted by Deleyne Wentz from Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty (Jossey‐Bass, 2005)

Students all prepare one side of a debate, preferably the side they opposed when introduced to the topic by conducting research. and then debate a partner.

Stand Where You Stand
Adapted by Deleyne Wentz from Discussion as a Way of Teaching: Tools and Techniques for Democratic Classrooms, 2nd ed. (Jossey‐Bass, 2005)

Students all help find four articles related to a controversial issue, read them for homework, and then come to class prepared to discuss and debate the issue. This is also a good example of having students find the information required for the activity.

Requirement for Breadth Courses:
Students will develop their information literacy skills, including an understanding of the nature, organization, and methods of access and evaluation of both electronic and traditional resources in the subject area.

If you have any questions about integrating information literacy into your breadth classes, contact:

Wendy Holliday
Coordinator of Library Instruction

Phone: 435/797-0431
Email: wendy.holliday@usu.edu

Gtalk: wendy.hoilliday