Part 1: Research and Information Literacy Learning Unit [Resource]
Michael Gardin
Learning Objectives
Research for students involves gaining the skills they need to answer questions they have on their own. It also involves knowing how and where to find reliable information sources, having the ability to recognize credible, expert information and spot faulty and biased information. Research also means finding the evidence needed to support ideas verbally and in writing. “Information literacy” as a general concept is a way to discuss one’s facility with, you guessed it, information. However, in a higher education setting, the origin of this concept is a bit more specific. Information literacy is a framework for student success developed by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). In fact, an entire publication is available about this framework.
The Unit: The Research Aspect of a Research Essay
So much goes into crafting a strong essay and teaching students the various pieces of knowledge, the skills, and the attributes required to complete a research essay (sometimes for the first time) can be a daunting task. It may be difficult to isolate the components (mechanics, organization, argumentation, and research), but this unit is strategically focused on the research. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for writing classrooms to include a research essay, wherein the research training is limited to a requirement on an assignment sheet (e.g. “use two scholarly articles) and a short demonstration of the institution’s library. This approach may not provide the time and space for students to fully grasp some of the framework of information literacy, such as understanding how authority and expertise are established and judged; how source material, especially expert source material, is produced; how that information has value; how a scholarly conversation about topics already exist, etc. Thus, this unit is aimed at providing instructors with a guide and some possible examples for the classroom, all designed with the information literacy skills in mind. This unit is best situated before a research essay assignment due-date, when students are brainstorming topics, understanding the assignment requirements, and beginning research.
This unit includes:
- An online discussion activity (which could be modified for an in-class activity) aimed at students familiarizing themselves with academic sources and particularly in a college or university’s library
- A quiz testing student knowledge of finding and evaluating source material to ensure credibility
- A Research Journal Assignment, which is a short essay where students practice and display their facility in finding and evaluating source material
- A rubric for assessing the Research Journal Assignment
- A further resource guide about information literacy and the college composition classroom
But what does information literacy entail and how does it relate to me?
Well, using the concept to enhance education is all about student success! ACRL define information literacy as “the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning” (“Framework for Information”). In short, information literacy is a way to talk about the skills and abilities needed to navigate information in a successful way, to know how to and where to find the best information, to know how to judge what information is bad, better and best, to know how research is carried out and data is put forward, and to know how to contribute information.
The ACRL information literacy framework has six dimensions, and the materials in this unit that follow will encourage student development in all six and offer suggestions of how they apply to your teaching.
The Six Dimensions of Information Literacy
- Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
- Information Creation as a Process
- Information Has Value
- Research as Inquiry
- Scholarship as Conversation
- Searching as Strategic Exploration
What about teaching Composition I or Composition II (English 1301 or English 1302)?
English courses have a crucial role in facilitating our students’ abilities, especially with research. In Composition, assignments require students to find sources, evaluate sources to determine reliability and relevance, and of course use and incorporate them in their writing to build an analysis, which requires synthesis. So, in short, teaching English 1301 and 1302 in a Texas college setting involves teaching information literacy skills. This will be explored in much more depth throughout this unit, and if you would like to jump to some of those resources: visit the sections The Composition I and II Student Learning Outcomes and Information Literacy Explained, Tips for Class Activities, or Tips for Assignment Rubrics and Grading Principles.
The Composition I and II Student Learning Outcomes and Information Literacy Explained
As many of us know, a key goal in teaching composition courses is to have students achieve the student learning outcomes. This is how we measure if students have succeeded and have learned what we aimed them to in the time in our class.
The information below reviews the student learning outcomes for both Composition I (English 1301) and Composition II (English 1302) with a specific focus on how they relate to information literacy. The hope is to help instructors see how information literacy is throughout the learning objectives and thus should be part of our teaching, activities, assignments, and assessments.
English 1301 – Composition I
Learning Objectives for English 1301
These are the course-level student learning outcomes for English 1301:
- Demonstrate knowledge of individual and collaborative writing processes.
- Develop ideas with appropriate support and attribution.
- Write in a style appropriate to audience and purpose.
- Read, reflect, and respond critically to a variety of texts.
- Use Edited American English in academic essays.
ENGLISH 1301 and Information Literacy
Here are some ways each learning outcome relates to information literacy.
- Since many writing tasks involve consulting sources of information (no matter what type of source), and in fact, at least one writing task in English 1301 does involve research (the research essay), then understanding the writing process should involve understanding research as well.
- This outcome pretty straightforwardly addresses source material. For our students to give support to ideas, they reference sources of some kind. Giving proper attribution means citing to ensure academic integrity.
- This one might not touch on information literacy directly, but it is important to consider purpose when the task is to complete and present research, so it is arguably still related.
- Using information involves comprehending texts, being able to contemplate and analyze texts, and being able to reply to, build on, and critique texts. Using information is a central notion of information literacy.
- Again, while not precisely pointing to an aspect of information literacy, we know that reading and becoming more familiar with various texts increases vocabulary and improves grammar, even just from emulation, so again, this is conceivably at least in the same wheelhouse as the concepts of information literacy.
ENGLISH 1302 – Composition II
Learning Objectives For English 1302
These are the course-level student learning outcomes for English 1302:
- Demonstrate knowledge of individual and collaborative research processes.
- Develop ideas and synthesize primary and secondary sources within focused academic arguments, including one or more research-based essays.
- Analyze, interpret, and evaluate a variety of texts for the ethical and logical uses of evidence.
- Write in a style that clearly communicates meaning, builds credibility, and inspires belief or action.
- Apply the conventions of style manuals for specific academic disciplines (e.g., APA, CMS, MLA, etc.).
ENGLISH 1302 and Information Literacy
Here are some ways each learning outcome relates to information literacy.
- This learning outcome is pretty straightforward! It particularly screams information literacy. Research processes involves the research that authors have completed to create a source, and research processes certainly includes what is needed to complete research as a successful college student.
- This outcome, again, really spells out the relationship to information literacy for us. Students will need information literacy skills to access, evaluate, synthesize, and incorporate primary and secondary sources in their essays.
- Once more, evaluating, interpreting, and analyzing a variety of different types of sources or texts is quite obviously related to information literacy skills.
- This outcome may not point directly to any particular aspect of information literacy, but still, familiarity with sources and how they build meaning and display credibility only helps students understand how to do this in their own work, so this does relate to information literacy.
- Correct documentation is central to information literacy as it is how we teach students to avoid plagiarism and develop and respect academic integrity, and this outcome focuses on using a style manual to properly cite sources.
Conclusion
In our teaching, we aim to facilitate students achieving the learning outcomes. This review is not exhaustive in the ways the outcomes exhibit information literacy skills in the least; rather, this attempts to primarily bridge our learning outcomes with information literacy skills, demonstrating how integral information literacy is to our courses and for the success of our students.
This resource continues in Part 2
Attribution:
Gardin, Michael. “Part 1: Research and Information Literacy [Resource].” Strategies, Skills and Models for Student Success in Writing and Reading Comprehension. College Station: Texas A&M University, 2024. This work is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).