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W23_InfoLiteracy_CMoffatt.pptx
- 1. Information Literacy in Writing Consults Presented by Christine Moffatt | Jan 12, 2023 christine.moffatt@sheridancollege.ca
- 2. Introductions! Let's share… • Your name & your major • Have you tutored before? (When/where?) • What are your writing quirks?
- 3. Session Outcomes Define information literacy; Identify the five key components of information literacy; Explore common situations where you might talk about information literacy in a consult; Locate library resources and supports.
- 4. Starter Questions • What does information literacy mean to you? • Why does information literacy matter? • What factors shape how easy or difficult information is to find and use? • How might all of this affect your work as a writing tutor? Photo by George Milton from Pexels
- 5. What is information literacy? • Set of abilities Acquire, evaluate, & use info • Used to make decisions, solve problems, & gain knowledge (e.g. sense-making) • Includes: • Research skills • Critical thinking skills • Computer technology skills • Communication skills
- 6. 5 Components of Information Literacy Seminole State College of Florida Library. (n.d.). Module 1: Information basics: Information literacy [LibGuide Open Course]. In Research Foundations. https://libguides.seminolestate.edu/researchfoundations/start
- 7. Traditional Approach Library Staff Writing Tutors
- 10. Sheridan Student Demographics 1/2 • ~22,500 full-time students • ~18,500 continuing and part-time students • Over 50% of students in their first year • 1 in 3 first-year students are international • ~35% of students registered with Accessible Learning
- 11. Sheridan Student Demographics 2/2 Non-traditional students = Majority • 25 years or older • Attending courses on part-time basis • Working full-time while completing school • Have children • Waited at least 1 year after high school before enrolling in college • Have a GED instead of a high school diploma • Have re-entered a college program • First-generation student
- 12. Scenario 1 A student is writing an essay worth 25% of their final grade. The student has a few ideas in mind, but none of them are fully formed yet. How would you help this student? Photo by energepic.com from Pexels
- 13. Scenario 2 A student is writing a technical report worth 25% of their final grade. The student has picked a topic & audience and started doing research on Google. The student started writing their report but is struggling to find good resources. How would you help this student? Photo by Thirdman from Pexels
- 14. Scenario 3 A student is writing a comparative essay for a communications course. The student has already decided on their argument before doing their research, and they can't find any sources that support their ideas. How would you help this student? Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
- 15. Sheridan Resources What's the student's next step?
- 16. Library Links • Sheridan Library main page • Services & Resources • Library Hours • Chat with Us • Research Guides • Guides by Subject • Guides by Research Skill • Citation Guides • APA Style Guide • Library offers APA Study Halls each term, schedule/sign-up sheet posted on the APA Style Guide Page
- 17. Liaison Librarians • Animation, Arts, & Design • Shelley Woods • Applied Science & Technology • Gouthami Vigneswaran • Business • Sandra Shoufani • Nicole Zhang • Health & Community Studies • Karen Lints • Humanities & Social Sciences • Kathleen Oakey
- 18. Guides Writing Tutors Should Read! • Searching the Library Interactive Tutorial • Hands-on guide to library searches • Search Strategies • Quick tips on how to create a search string for a database • Choosing Databases • Helpful tool to point students to subject-specific resources • Google Tips & Tricks • Shortcuts to improve you Google searches!
- 19. Great Resources! (Bookmark Them!) • Academic Skills Hub • Sheridan resources to help students upskill in the classroom • Mind Mapping Interactive Tutorial • Helpful tool for students who need help writing research questions & organizing thoughts • How to Generate Keywords • Creates search strings based on the words you generate on your topic
- 20. Thanks! Christine Moffatt Academic Initiatives Librarian christine.moffatt@sheridancollege.ca
Editor's Notes
- Christine Moffatt, Academic Initiatives Librarian Part of the Learning Services team Creates and updates modules on the Academic Skills Hub Works with faculty members to create new learning objects to help students develop academic skills. Trains tutors in different aspects of their roles (e.g. Fall 2022, led a session on how to approach your role as a tutor)
- The term "information literacy" describes a set of abilities that enables an individual to acquire, evaluate, and use information. Use most notably in situations where we need to make important decisions, need to solve a problem in our lives or in our work, and to gain knowledge on a topic Related to something called "sense-making" (which is the process we use to understand the world around us, especially complex situations for which there are usually no simple, apparent explanations)—e.g. when you were trying to decide which post-secondary school to go to or what program to study, etc. Information literacy includes many different skills, including Research skills: Creating an effective research strategy (e.g. defining the scope of your research question, determining key concepts, identifying relevant sources, etc.) Critical thinking skills: Making informed choices about credible and relevant information types and sources, assessing sources for accuracy, etc. Computer technology skills: Knowing how to operate a computer, access different platforms Communication skills: Being able to process and share your research findings with others (e.g. to write a term paper, to convince someone of a certain viewpoint in a conversation, etc.)` Now that we’ve defined some of the aspects of information literacy, how has this affected your work as writing tutors? Have you had experiences where students need help with these areas?
- Identify: Identify the nature and extent of information needed. School: Developing questions on a research topic; Creating a plan to give you time to research & write a paper; Differentiating b/w primary sources (e.g. findings from a study) & secondary sources of info (e.g. book about the results) Find: Find resources effectively and efficiently School: Use Boolean terms (e.g. AND, OR, NOT); Choose the best keywords and phrases to find information; Know when to use databases and when to use Google Evaluate: Evaluate the information you find and its sources critically—This is the spot where library work and tutoring work overlaps the most! School: Review multiple points of view to construct your own opinion; Explore different sources of information (e.g. books, databases, periodicals, Internet) to understand a topic; Ability to understand the logic and structure of arguments made in lectures Apply: Apply information to accomplish a specific purpose School: Paraphrase an expert to support your position; Integrate a quote from an article into a research paper; Download an image from a database and incorporate it into a visual presentation. Acknowledge: Speaks to the ethical, legal, and socioeconomic issues about information (e.g. acknowledging the ideas of other people and how you used their knowledge to inform your ideas) School: Create a reference list, understand how to avoid plagiarism, and understand copyright & fair dealing laws.
- Expertise-driven, but separated from one another Library Staff: Focused on Identify and Find, discuss Evaluate in the form of critically reviewing resources (e.g. Who wrote this? Why? Is the information accurate? What bias is included here? Is this misinformation?) Writing Tutors: Focused on Apply and Acknowledge, also discuss Evaluate by giving feedback on a student's writing (e.g. How well has the student analyzed a text? Are they missing an important perspective? How well have they structured their arguments?).
- New understanding that the research/writing process is a cycle—Students might move back and forth in this cycle, but we as professionals understand that all the steps in this process are connected. Still have subject expertise (Library Staff still guide students on Identifying and Finding information; Writing Tutors still guide students on Applying and Acknowledging information; Both still approach Evaluating information from different perspectives) In the new system, both groups can offer basic instruction on the other's groups area of expertise—Goal is to refer students to the subject experts when higher-level questions come up e.g. Writing Tutors can offer support on creating a plan to start research and point students to resources to help them find information e.g. If a student is still struggling to find research and the Writing Tutor is unsure which resources might be helpful --> Refer the student to the library.
- Real Talk: There are no 100% right answers to any of these scenarios—best practice is to reach out to each other, or to reach out to me and we can talk about different ways you might approach these kinds of questions/issues Remember: You are here to coach them—get the student to define why they've booked a session with you and what they need to get from the session Common misconception that writing tutors just read over work and make grammatically corrections—You're in a position to identify errors and possible sections for improvement The goal is to get students to recognize where they're having challenges, and to guide them toward new skills or resources that they can then use on their own (End goal = Student doesn’t need us afterwards!) Concerns over tutor dependency, that the student can't do the work without talking to the tutor
- In a session like this, the student is likely going to ask you to pick one of these topics for them (don't do it!) I'd start off asking them, "Tell me a bit more about your class and your assignment"—Get them talking as early as possible! Better to learn from them where they're having trouble before you try to help them. I'd ask them to talk through each of their idea—In this case, I'm assessing them on a few things: How much detail are they able to give on each topic? Are they spending more time talking about one idea in particular? Do two of their ideas connect with each other? Is there an idea you can tell they're excited about when they first start talking? Could also get them to draw a concept/mind map if seeing those connections would help I'd ask to look at their assignment outline to get an idea of what kinds of research they need to do: Is this something you could help with, or do you feel you need to point this person to the library? If they're feeling overwhelmed, I'd ask them if they think they might need an extension (talk to them about asking their professor); Also trying to get a sense of the student's mental health (do they need a referral to Counselling Services?) Mind Mapping Resource: https://new.library.arizona.edu/tutorials/mind-mapping/ How to Generate Keywords Activity: https://apps.lib.utexas.edu/apps/libraries/key/nlogon/
- I'd start off asking them, "Tell me a bit more about your class and your assignment"—Get them talking as early as possible! Better to learn from them where they're having trouble before you try to help them. Also ask to review their assignment outline—look for any "must have" resources (e.g. Do students need scholarly sources? Which kinds? [e.g. journal articles, conference papers, etc.?) Do they need to use standards?, etc.) If the student is writing about an unfamiliar topic, don't panic! One of the key challenges here are the keywords a student is using for their search. We tend to use plain language when searching on Google, but researchers might describe the same concept in a few different ways (e.g. if student was looking at a topic the effectiveness of air purifiers in the home, they might need to search terms like "air filter", "air cleaner", "air purification", etc.) Sample search: Google Sample search: Google with Type, with Site Sample search: Show Thesaurus feature on Environment Complete database Ask: Who cares? Who cares about this topic? (e.g. Governments? Certain businesses? Certain customer groups? Advocacy groups?) What is their stance on the topic?
- Heads up—this session will likely not end with a simple solution; Sometimes, students can be committed to an argument or hold a viewpoint/perspective that isn't supported in research. Student will likely have written most or all of their assignment, will want you to read over for grammar; May or may not actually ask you about the research component, it might just come up in your chat with them. This kind of assignment tends to pop up in ELL courses—Emphasis will be on students picking a topic of interest, but not a lot of emphasis put on finding research to support the argument. Again, I'd ask the student, "Tell me a bit more about your assignment—how did you pick your topic?" This can give you an idea of the student's approach to the assignment—I would also ask to see the assignment outline. Important to try and ask leading questions here—"Where did you start your research? Which resources have you looked at so far? What have the resources been saying about this topic? Why do you think these resources are arguing for/against this topic?" Most of this interaction will involve trying to get the student to come to their own conclusion about why they can't find info on a particular topic.
- Real Talk: There are no 100% right answers to any of these scenarios—best practice is to reach out to each other, or to reach out to me and we can talk about different ways you might approach these kinds of questions/issues Remember: You are here to coach them—get the student to define why they've booked a session with you and what they need to get from the session Common misconception that writing tutors just read over work and make grammatically corrections—You're in a position to identify errors and possible sections for improvement The goal is to get students to recognize where they're having challenges, and to guide them toward new skills or resources that they can then use on their own (End goal = Student doesn’t need us afterwards!) Concerns over tutor dependency, that the student can't do the work without talking to the tutor