TA Info Lit Workshop 7 22 09

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Before we beginCan you go around the room, say your name, your department, & the course you’re TAingfor, if you knowThanks!Also, just so you know, there are 2 librarians here too from the Biomed Library—they may say a few words at the end of the workshop about Biomed Library help, since there are so many of you from the School of Nursing

I designed this workshop for you—Teaching Assistants1 imp reason for doing this is that we teach lots of classes for many depts—there’s growing demand for them & there are only 7 CL librarians, 1 librarian for 3846 undergrads, & w/ budget cuts, we may not be able to meet all of the demand

What is Info Lit?Many different definitions, but basically, it’s the ability to identify, locate, evaluate & use information effectively & ethicallySo, one of the main goals of this session is to provide you with some info lit tips and techniques that you can use with your students, in-class or as outside assignmentsI’ll save you time & hopefully result in stronger papers, as well as improved information researching and critical thinking skills among your studentsLet’s go over the handouts I put together for you…

Now—HOW MANY OF YOU FILLED OUT THE SURVEY ABOUT THE TOPICS YOU WERE INTERESTED IN FOR THIS WORKSHOP? Most of those who filled out the survey are going to be Tas for the 1st time this coming academic year—17 of the 28 who responded11 of the 28 have been Tas for 1 to 3 or more years 22 say faculty they work for assign research papers that require outside sources, in addition to class readings18 assign their own research paper

Referring students…UCLA Library Catalog & Licensed dbs are most popular referralsMost have never referred students to:Questions? Ask Us!½ hour Research ApptsHow to GuidesAssignment CalculatorRoad to Research tutorialThat’s ok--I’m going to show them to you & tell you about ILL for free articles

These are the top 5 topics you wanted to learn about from the survey resultsNarrowing/Broadening Research TopicEffective db selection & searchingWebsite, Blog, etc. Critical ThinkingLibrary Catalog searchingPlagiarism avoidanceI also emailed you the url for a guide for TAs that includes all of these topics & more with tips & exercises you can use in class or as homework for each LET’S VOTE NOW ON WHAT TO COVER 1ST TODAYTHEN WE’LL COME BACK TO THIS LIST & VOTE ON WHAT TO COVER NEXT Show of hands for each topic…

“Hoax? Personal Opinion? Scholarly Research? You Decide!”HAS ANYONE GONE THROUGH THIS EXERCISE BEFORE?Go to CL web site; Help Guides; HOAXhttp://www2.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/11605_12006.cfmPAIR UP; 3 CATEGORIES; 2 MIN; REPORT BACKYou can do this during a class session in about 15 min. or assign it to your students as homework—HOW? Ask them to review the sites on this page and write a critical essay, or create a wiki for the class & ask students to come up with their own web site evaluation checklist, w/examples. And …

… consider having them think critically about blogs and social networking sites, as well…Cohen, Laura, and Trudi Jacobson. 2008. “Evaluating Web Content.” [Online]. Available: http://library.albany.edu/usered/eval/evalweb/ [Cited February 28, 2008]Web 2.0 guide: http://www2.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/11605_12008.cfmAgain, you could set up a wiki and ask groups of students to review some blogs or social networking sites, & come up with their own evaluation criteriaQUESTIONS? READY TO GO ON?OK—LET’S GO BACK TO THE LIST & PICK ANOTHER TOPIC…

Selecting a researchable topic can be difficult for undergradsSome pick research paper topics that are much too narrow, while others pick very broad topicsWe’ll try 2 different exercises & talk about some worksheets students can use for this purposeThen I’ll show you some help in an online tutorial, the Road to Research, w/links to other sites like OWL

Braceros were Mexicans who contracted to work in the U.S. under the U.S./Mexican Bracero Program, instituted in 1942.

Taking all of the limiters into account, here’s a possible argument or topic sentence for a research paper. If the student finds too much information, the timeframe could be shortened, or students could compare date from one year to another.If there’s too little information, the timeframe could be broadened.

After modeling this approach, I’ve divided the class into small groups and given them all the same broad topic—e.g., DRUG LAWSI give them about 5 minutes to identify some limiters on this topic & come up with a topic sentence or argumentThen I have the groups report back & it’s a real aha moment for many students, as each group comes up with dif limiters & research questionsAs a last step, when I’m teaching a credit course, I ask each student to fill out a worksheet with room for 2 possible research paper topics.They must list some limiters for each one, and then come up with a topic sentence or argument for eachThey turn in the worksheet & I pick one of the two for them to use for a research paper, with comments, if their topic is still too broad or too narrow.So, those are 2 in-class exercises for topic narrowing/broadeningWe also have some online help you could assign instead…

More on catalogs…On beyond UCLA Library Catalog…Next Gen MELVYL – In dev, may replace MELVYL Catalog at some pointWorldCatILLTips for finding book chapters: Google Books; Amazon Search within a book; Google search

Ok, now let’s assume your students have research topics & need to find articles--what next?Well we can probably also assume that they’re going to go to Google and Wikipedia, automaticallyThey may think that’s all they need to do, and they may not understand what you mean when you ask them to look for scholarly journal articles.They probably don’t know what “peer-reviewed” means, and the word ‘article” could mean a web page to them.So, I’m going to show you a comparison table, as well as a couple of in-class ways to help your students learn the differences between magazines (popular publications) and journals, Then I’ll follow up with a brief analogy from an article by Bechtel, to help students grasp the scholarly communication process.

Plagiarism is all too common these days, as students may copy & paste from web sites, or even from article abstracts onlineThey may not be aware of intellectual property or they may disregard itImportant to talk with students about… What plagiarism is & how to avoid it Why to cite How to cite

Figure out what you need to acknowledge—words or ideas of othersCite themDo not need to cite “common knowledge,” though this can be date-specific—e.g., what is a cellphone is now commonly understood, but wasn’t when cellphones were first introducedCan quote, summarize or paraphrase, but all need to include citationHow to Paraphrase—OWL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/619/01/

Why cite?1. Show evidence to support your arguments2. Give credit to show respect for others’ intellectual property3. Allow others to find your evidence & see if they agree with your interpretation or use of it to support your arguments4. You may also want to use some short videos in class & then discuss them—e.g., “friendofdarwin’s Darwin Poster” (5:15) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_iJb2AeL4U And “EPIC 2015” (8:56) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQDBhg60UNI

Need to know what kind of material you’re citing—many students confused by this“Which is Which?” exercise can help, esp if you follow it up by asking students to find the more problematic items in the Library Catalog—e.g., book chaptersLet’s go to the exercise so you can see where it is—Lib Guides “Exercises & Handouts” page: http://guides.library.ucla.edu/content.php?pid=33500&sid=263583Road to Research/Road Etiquette/Plagiarism offers lessons & exercisesRoad to Research/Road Etiquette/Citation“Bruin Success With Less Stress” also offers lessons & exercises, as well as certificates

OK--how do you apply all of this for yourself, when you teach your own course? For several years, I worked with Ph.D. students from many dif disciplines who were taking the CUTF seminars with the late Peter Kollock…I suggested IL enhancements to some of their syllabi & other librarians did too I thought you might like to see some excerpts from one of those syllabus that I’ve gotten permission to share—see handout… [IF TIME PERMITS, GO OVER IT…]If anyone’s interested in seeing the entire syllabus, please email meQUESTIONS?

Just one last thing—These are students from Lisa Gerrard’s English 3 class in Second Life, in front of the UCLA Library, along with my avatar, Alexandria KnightIf any of you are interested in virtual worlds, I’d be happy to talk with you about bringing your students to SL and even teaching classes in the UCLA Library in SL.

TA Info Lit Workshop 7 22 09

Esther Grassian

TA Info Lit Workshop 7 22 09