What is Information Literacy?
“Information literacy is defined as the ability to know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the issue or problem at hand.” – The National Forum on Information Literacy
Why is being “information literate” important?
Students who are information literate are able to locate and use resources from both the library and the World Wide Web for classes. They are also able to use these resources effectively at each stage of a project, from defining a topic to critically evaluating the information found. Some of the information literacy skills learned in this class include developing basic and advanced research strategies, learning searching techniques, and effectively evaluating resources.
How will completing this workshop make students' lives easier?
Knowing the research process and how to efficiently use library resources will save students time and ease frustrations. Learning to evaluate the appropriateness of sources selected almost guarantees improved work and grades.
What will students learn?
The Information Literacy Certificate workshop attempts to address the information needs of first-year students. The objectives of the workshop are as follows:
- The student will be able to effectively use the online discovery tool to find and determine the availability of print, A/V, and digital library resources.
- The student will be able to construct, implement, and refine search strategies in order to progress through the information seeking process.
- The student will be able to construct basic and advanced search strings (using Boolean operators, quotation marks, or truncation) in order to focus a search and find resources.
- The student will be able to interpret LC call numbers in order to determine the main subject area and location of an item.
- The student will be able to differentiate source types (such as primary, secondary, popular, and scholarly) in order to choose the most appropriate sources to support academic writing.
- The student will be able to apply the principles of resource evaluation using a known tool like the CRAP test in order to identify high-quality resources.
- The student will be able to identify, locate, and arrange publication information in order to accurately cite a source using the required format and avoid scholastic dishonesty.
- The student will be able to interpret a citation in order to locate the referenced work.
What are the benefits of taking this free, non-credit, 3 hour workshop?
Students who complete this workshop not only get the tools they will need conduct academic-level research wherever they go, the will also get an official Certificate of Completion.
