Instruction and Resources Menu
The list below outlines our most popular workshop topics, how long a topic takes, and our key objectives for each topic. The workshops on Finding Sources, Evaluating Sources, and Using Sources are all tied to ACRL's Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.
This is not an exhaustive list. If you would like to explore other resources or session topics, we would be happy to discuss options with you. Please contact Jennifer Resor-Whicker, Head of Research Services or call 540-831-5691.
Finding Sources
Topic | Time Required | Points Covered | Concepts |
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Brainstorm research topics | 15 minutes |
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Search the catalog | 10 minutes |
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Search SuperSearch | 15 minutes |
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Search a specialized database | 30 minutes |
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Track the literature | 25 minutes |
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Evaluating Sources
Using Sources
Topic | Time Required | Points Covered | Concepts |
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Avoid plagiarism by using APA or MLA | 30 - 75 minutes |
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Paraphrasing: Best practices | 30 minutes |
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Synthesize sources for a literature review | 30 minutes |
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Course-specific options
Topic | Time Required | Points Covered | Concepts |
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Univ 100: Library Challenge | 50 minutes | Students play a Jeopardy-style game complete with buzzers and prizes to learn about McConnell Library
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Concept Descriptions
The following are core ideas in information literacy, as outlined in the ACRL's Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, with wording adapted from Ohio University Libraries. The workshops listed above work toward developing a fuller understanding of these concepts.
Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
- Who we trust as an expert depends on why we need the information & who’s doing the trusting.
- Authority exists because a community gives it to someone. Beware: sometimes authority comes mostly from “privilege” that can drown out other voices.
- Good thinkers consider information skeptically, but keep an open mind.
Information Creation is a Process
- The way information is shared changes the way it is created, and vice versa.
- Good information can come in any format. Every format has its benefits and drawbacks, including assumptions about quality and authority that may or may not be true.
- Information is worth money. It can be bought and sold.
- It is valuable because seekers learn from it & use it to influence others.
- Economic, legal, and social forces influence how it is created, used, packaged & traded.
- Research is seldom a straight line with an answer at the end. It is a spiral of deeper questions that arise as understanding grows.
- The more a researcher works, the more skill and perspective they gain about the process itself.
- Researchers talk to one another, even across the centuries, gathering new ideas into old questions. The interplay creates new things.
- There may be many answers to a single question.
- A researcher may have to earn the right / learn the rules to speak in a given conversation, depending on who / what is already “in the room.” It might not be fair.
- When someone adds a new idea, they must say whose ideas they gathered to get that far.
Searching is Strategic Exploration
- Searching is a skill set: search mechanics matter.
- The mental flexibility to ask a question in many different ways of many different kinds of sources – and learn as you go – is also necessary.
- Who you are affects how you search. Learn to stretch.
- Searching can get convoluted; stay organized.
Concept descriptions
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Saines, S.; Broughton, K.; Intrator, M.; Schmillen, H.; & Wochna, L. (2017). How information works: ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in lay language. ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Sandbox. Retrieved from http://sandbox.acrl.org/library-collection/how-information-works-acrl-framework-information-literacy-lay-language