A sample lesson in Information Literacy and college-level research strategies, designed for a fictional community college. Created and presented to 9443: The Academic Library. Fall 2013.

1. Research Strategies
Fenton Valley College
Intro. To College Research
November 5, 2013
Eliot Boden
Image credit Clker user MrChicken

2. Information Literacy Recap
“Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to
recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate,
evaluate, and effectively use the needed information.”*

Determine the extent of information needed

Access the needed information effectively and efficiently

Evaluate information and its sources critically

Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base

Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose

Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use
of information, and access and use information ethically and legally
* Association of College and Research Libraries. “Information Literacy Competency Standards.” Chicago: American
Library Association, 2000. http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency. Web. 12 Nov 2013.

3. Today’s Objective
Standard 2: The information literate student accesses needed
information effectively and efficiently.
The information literate student…
Selects the most appropriate investigative methods or information
retrieval systems for accessing the needed information.
Constructs and implements effectively designed search strategies.
Retrieves information online or in person using a variety of methods.
* Association of College and Research Libraries. “Information Literacy Competency Standards.” Chicago: American
Library Association, 2000. http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency. Web. 12 Nov 2013.

4. http://vimeo.com/13186317

5. Scholarly Communication
Users
Apply information to
research
Teach information
literacy to students
Write articles and submit
them for peer-review
Libraries
Purchase, organize, and
give access to resources
Package content and
sell access rights to
libraries
Publishers
Create books, journals,
electronic databases

6. How Many Keywords?

Most databases do not understand human language



Google’s natural-language search is not perfect
Must break down question into small pieces
Keywords (Thesaurus)

3-4 is just the right amount
1.
State your topic as a question
“Where have dinosaur bones been found?”
2.
Extract the main concepts from the question
dinosaur, bones, location
3.
Brainstorm a list of synonyms and related terms
fossil, skeleton, triceratops [a dinosaur], Colorado [a location]
4.
Voila! You have your keywords!
Book image credit deviantart user narutolove1477
Dinosaurs image credit Wikipedia user Mariana Ruiz Villareal

7. Group Activity!
Immigration
Global
Warm
in g
Independe
nce
movemen
ts
Piracy
~7 minutes. In groups of 3-4, brainstorm
keywords for one of the topics above.
Image credit Flickr user lumaxart

8. Search Techniques
Useful in the catalog and online databases.
Computers do not understand human language

Operators help a computer think
Boolean? What?

AND, OR, NOT – narrow or broaden search

NEAR, BEFORE, AFTER – sets order of terms
Wildcards

Expand the range of your search

* - searches the root word
“soci*” will find social, society, sociology

! – for alternate spellings
“wom!n” will find woman and women
Playing Cards image credit Wikipedia user atchius
George Boole image credit Wikipedia user Haks

9. See you Next Time!
DON’T FORGET! The Research Plan is due
Tuesday, November 12 at the start of class.

10. Research Strategies
Continued…
Fenton Valley College
Intro. To College Research
November 12, 2013
Eliot Boden
image credit deviantart user MegLyman

11. Today’s Objective:
Standard 2: The information literate student accesses needed
information effectively and efficiently.
The information literate student…
Retrieves information online or in person using a variety of methods.
Refines the search strategy if necessary.
Extracts, records, and manages the information and its sources.

14. How to Use Call Numbers

Library of Congress (LC)


In alphabetical, then numerical order


Books grouped by subject
Great for browsing!
Here's a sample call number, with an
explanation for each line:

QA - letter line, describes general
subject area; alphabetical order

152.3 - number line, narrows subject
area; numerical order

.L37 - cutter line, usually specifies
author or key word(s) from title;
alphabetical then decimal order

2008 - year of publication, numerical
order
Image credit Flickr user CCAC North Library

15. Using Interlibrary Loan

Fenton Valley has 40,000 titles

MOBIUS has 25 million books


~3-4 days to arrive


Request with your student ID
Use the catalog to renew
Articles


Image credit Flickr user Brian Gaid
Citations in library databases
Full-Text must be available in
electronic format to request

Usually 5-7 days to arrive

Link will appear in your email

16. Group Activity!
~ 5 minutes. In groups of 2-3, use the
MOBIUS catalog to find books and answer
the questions provided on the worksheet.
Image credit Flickr user lumaxart

20. Group Activity!
~5 minutes. In groups of 2-3, use Academic
Search Premier to find articles and answer the
questions provided on the worksheet.
Image credit Flickr user lumaxart

21. How to Cite Sources

Why Cite?

Appear more credible to your readers.

Display engagement with your sources.

Show respect to authors.

Modem Language Association (MLA)

Helpful Resources



MLA Handbook 7th ed.
Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab)
Hanging Indent!

Format > Paragraph > Indentation:
Special (drop-down menu)
Image credit Flickr user pricejaj

22. http://vimeo.com/13016416

23. Thanks for Participating!
DON’T FORGET! The Modified Annotated
Bibliography is due Tuesday, November 19.