100% Information Literacy Success: Chapter One

  1. Information Literacy Overview
  2. Define: Define the need, problem or question
  3. Find: Locate, access, and retrieve the information from a variety of sources
  4. Evaluate: Assess the credibility, currency, reliability, validity, and appropriateness of the information retrieved.
  5. Organize: Compile the information so it can be used to meet the information need, solve the problem, or answer the question.
  6. Communicate: Communicate the information legally and ethically
  7. Critical thinking strategies
  8. Infer: to draw conclusions from evidence or facts
  9. Analyze: to break things done into their constituent parts and see how each part relates to the whole.
  10. Evaluate: to examine critically based on a given set of criteria. [We do not always know what these criteria are. Think about writing your thesis. Need to be open to new sources information and feedback in order to grow and make new connections.]
  11. Interpret: to comprehend the meaning or significance of something.
  12. Explain: to convey what you have you have learned to others
  13. Synthesize: to combine, after you have analyzed, separate thoughts to form a concept. This is where real creativity plays a role. This is where many students fall down. Think of Steve H. His treaty paper had no original thoughts. He analyzed the obvious and drew no new conclusions.
  14. Creative Thinking
  15. What is it?
  16. Exploring possibilities, generating alternatives, openness to change, looking at old concepts in new ways, or combining ideas to create something new.
  17. [The seed of creativity is curiosity. What do you want to know? What are your questions?]
  18. Imagination. Do not fear to express yourself. Think outside the box.
  19. Problem Solving
  20. Define the problem
  21. Look for the real causes. Look for multiple perspectives.
  22. Develop solution alternatives
  23. Evaluate each of the alternatives
  24. Implement the solution with the most promise
  25. Evaluate the results
  26. Higher-Order Thinking (Bloom’s Taxonomy)
  27. Knowledge, comprehension, application, Analysis, synthesis, evaluation.
  28. Knowledge: define, indentify, describe, recognize, label, list, match, name, outline, recall
  29. Comprehension: explain, generalize, extend, comprehend, give examples, summarize, translate, paraphrase, rewrite
  30. Analyze: break down, infer, separate, diagram, differentiate, contrast, compare
  31. Synthesize: Categorize, generate, design, devise, compile, rearrange, reorganize, revise, reconstruct, combine, write, tell
  32. Evaluate: Conclude, defend, critique, discriminate, judge, interpret, justify, support
  33. Effective Communication
  34. Discourse communities
  35. Use visual elements in communicating an idea
  36. Use a variety of technologies
  37. Organization
  38. Organizational strategies
  39. Print and electronic file management
  40. Time management
  41. Break down complex tasks into manageable objectives
  42. Use a variety of graphic organizers
  43. Information Literacy is an umbrella term
  44. Computer literacy: basic understanding of how a computer works and how it can be used to complete a task
  45. Library literacy: knowledge of different information resources “housed” in the library [amazing choice of words]. Clarifies: physically or electronically.
  46. Important aspect of library literacy is knowing which technology is most appropriate for the task
  47. I would argue that we teach library literacy, not info lit.
  48. Media literacy
  49. Ability to decode, analyze, evaluate and produce communication in a variety of forms
  50. “The information literate individual must understand the many options available (technologies) and know how to translate the information into the best choice.
  51. Know when a visual image is the best way to convey an idea
  52. Must understand how to find, create, format, alter, and embed visual elements into a message
  53. Technology literacy
  54. Must be able to use a variety of technologies to find and access info, as well as to effectively organize, use, and communicate information.
  55. Use computer software, the Web, etc
  56. Why is information literacy important?
  57. We know that technology is available, but do we know how to harness this technology to solve our problems and answer our questions?
  58. Students who are not information literate face an uphill battle and numerous problems, such as:
  59. Using biased sources
  60. Being disorganized which wastes valuable time
  61. Communicate ineffectively
  62. Uses inaccurate or outdated information
  63. Asking the wrong questions
  64. Step in effective research

A.  Define the need

  1. May be a task to be performed, a question that must be answered, or a problem to be solved.
  2. Questions to ask

a)  What kind of information? (facts, figures, stats, opinions, sides of an issue, historical/background, primary, secondary

b)  How much information do I need?

c)  What parameters should I follow? (In other words, how might I limit my search: time period, geography, age or gender, point of view, etc)

d)  Who is your audience? (Pride. Tapping into peer influence, etc)

B.  Find the Information

  1. Customize your search strategy.
  2. Questions to ask

a)  What information sources should I use?

b)  Where do I find these resources?

c)  How do I search for the information within each resource? [This is where we spend most of our time]

d)  How should I retrieve the information that I find?

e)  How should I manage the information that I retrieve? (refworks, delicious, zotero)

C.  Evaluate the information

  1. Is the information reliable, valid, accurate, and bias free?
  2. Does the information meet your information need?

D.  Organize the Information

  1. Keeping information organized as it is collected simplifies the evaluation process.
  2. Information must also be organized in order to be communicated.

E.  Communicate the information

  1. How do I properly cite the resources I use?
  2. Who is my audience?