This document outlines information literacy sessions for English courses at NMC. It discusses evaluating sources, conducting research, and challenges NMC students face. The sessions are designed to help students learn skills like identifying source types, searching databases, evaluating credibility, and understanding scholarly peer review. Students will practice source evaluation and learn search strategies beyond Google. The goal is to improve students' research abilities and prepare them for college-level work.

1. FINDING AND
EVALUATING
SOURCES
Janet Lively
NMC Communications
Instructor
Ann Geht
NMC Instruction Librarian

2. SESSION
OVERVIEW
I.
Information literacy and the Common
Core
II.
Information Literacy Competency
Standards for Higher Education
III. Profile of teens and their research skills
IV. Profile of NMC students’ research skills
V.
Embedded information literacy at NMC
VI. How to find practice texts to evaluate
[break]
I.
How to evaluate practice texts
II.
Active learning in the classroom

3. COMMON CORE STANDARDS &
COLLEGE READINESS
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.8: Delineate and evaluate the argument and
specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the
relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.6: Determine an author’s point of view or
purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how
style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the
text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.8: Gather relevant information from multiple print
and digital sources; assess the credibility of each source; and quote or
paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and
providing basic bibliographic information for sources.
Link to Common Core State Standards for Reading Informational Texts (by
grade)

4. INFORMATION LITERACY STANDARDS
FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
1. The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the
information needed.
2. The information literate student accesses needed information effectively
and efficiently.
3. The information literate student evaluates information and its sources
critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge
base and value system.
4. The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group,
uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.
5. The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal,
and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and
uses information ethically and legally.

5. TEENS &
TECHNOLOGY
2013
A PEW RESEARCH CENTER
REPORT
1. One in four teens are “cell-mostly” internet
users, who say they mostly go online using
their phone and not using some other
device such as a desktop or laptop
computer.
2. 78% of teens now have a cell phone, and
almost half of them own smartphones.
That translates into 37% of all teens who
have smartphones, up from just 23% in
2011.
3. 93% of teens have a computer or have
access to one at home. Seven in ten
(71%) teens with home computer access
say the laptop or desktop they use most
often is one they share with other family
members.

6. TEENS &
RESEARCH
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
1. High schoolers (ages 16-17) are more
likely than other age groups to have used
the library in the past year, especially to
have checked out print books or received
research assistance.
2. 76% of teachers surveyed “strongly agree”
with the assertion that internet search
engines have conditioned students to
expect to be able to find information
quickly and easily.
3. The teachers surveyed rated students
particularly low on their ability to recognize
bias in online content (71% rate them fair
or poor), and patience and determination
in looking for information that is hard to
find (78% give ratings of fair or poor).

7. NMC STUDENTS & THE
RESEARCH PROCESS
PRIMARY CHALLENGES
1. “What am I looking at?”
Identifying source types
regardless of format
2. “What is a database?”
3. Identifying the characteristics of
an authoritative source
4. Formulating a search strategy
beyond Google
5. Generating keywords
6. The mechanics of using print
sources

8. EMBEDDED INFORMATION
LITERACY @ NMC

9. ENGLISH 111:
LIBRARY
SESSION #1
•
Students will be able to locate physical items such as
the reference desk, reference books, circulating books,
and periodicals within the library.
•
Students will understand library procedures for
borrowing items, printing, copying, and scanning, and
using the library’s desktop and laptop computers.
•
Students will adopt the optimum research sequence:
a) defining a topic b) gathering background information
from reference sources and government/organization
websites c) reviewing scholarly books, scholarly
journal articles, and articles from respected, neutral
periodicals and websites and d) gathering opinion
pieces and primary sources. Students will understand
that they will most likely need to backtrack when they
uncover new keywords.
•
Students will evaluate sources they encounter on the
criteria of a) relevance b) reliability c) credibility d)
timeliness and e) diversity (refer to The Composition of
Everyday Life, Brief 4th Edition p. 446).
•
Students will understand the research process is, in

10. ENGLISH 111
LIBRARY
SESSION #2
•
Students will be able to explain the peer-review
process and why the process leads to the creation
of authoritative sources.
•
Students will be able to identify a source as
scholarly regardless of source format (electronic,
print, etc.)
•
Students will utilize limiters when searching
databases to generate scholarly, peer-reviewed
results lists.
•
Students will evaluate sources they encounter on
the criteria of a) relevance b) reliability c) credibility
d) timeliness and e) diversity (refer to The
Composition of Everyday Life, Brief 4th Edition p.
446).
•
Students will understand that different types of
information needs necessitate different levels of
authority from sources. A casual interest in a

11. ENGLISH 112
LIBRARY
SESSION #1
•
Students will be able to explain how web crawlers index
the internet.
•
Students will be able to explain the difference between
searching the internet and searching a library database.
Students will understand that libraries pay for access to
sources in databases, and that these sources are
generally not available on the open web.
•
Students will be able to identify possible databases as
sources for scholarly material in different subject areas.
•
Students will be use Boolean AND, OR, NOT, and
phrase searching. They will understand that the Boolean
AND is generally the default when stringing search terms
together, and that all four search strategies can be used
when searching the internet or library databases.
•
Students will utilize limiters when searching EDS and
other library databases to generate timely, scholarly,
peer-reviewed results lists.
•
Students will understand that the vast majority of the
internet (the “hidden web”), is not indexed by or
visible to search engines. Students will understand
that even a well-constructed Google search may not

12. ENGLISH 112
LIBRARY
SESSION #2
An individual research
consultation with a librarian
with a pre- and postassignment.

13. FINDING PRACTICE TEXTS
FOR EVALUATION
SUGGESTIONS FOR 6th – 8th
SUGGESTIONS FOR 9th – 12th
1. The Learning Network (NYT)
1. Pacific Standard Magazine
2. Room for Debate (NYT)
2. Arts & Letters Daily
3. Kicker: Big Story
3. The Atlantic
4. TweenTribune
4. The American Scholar
5. The Daily Beast
6. Time Magazine: Health
7. Slate Magazine