© Copyright 2000 State University of New York & Ulster County Community College
BASIC COURSE INFORMATION
TITLE: Information Literacy COURSE NO.: LIB 111 TEXTBOOK: Badke, William B. Research Strategies: Finding Your Way Through the Information Fog. 2008 abridged ed.
This book is online. (Use of this textbook is optional at the discretion of the individual instructor.)
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will introduce students to the organization, retrieval and evaluation of electronic and print information. Students will be provided with an overview of college library systems, networked information systems, traditional scholarly resources, evolving delivery systems, and the concepts underlying the research process. Students will gain an understanding of the importance of the Internet as a research tool and the changing nature of information resources. Students will utilize electronic databases, the World Wide Web, and print resources. Students will be able to apply principles learned in this course to research assigned in other courses. Students will practice thinking critically when formulating research queries and evaluating information resources.
GENERAL COURSE GOALS
To learn how to use a specific tool that is bound to change (quickly) is obviously not as useful as learning the concepts that are fundamental to information literacy such as:
- how to ask a question
- how information is structured and accessed
- how to develop a successful search strategy
- how to evaluate the quality of information
- how to be informed consumers of information
- how to begin thinking about the educational, economic, social and political implications of life in the Information Age.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
At the completion of LIB 111, students will be able to:
- Discuss the information environment and the impact of the computer in accessing and retrieving information.
- Understand the principle of intellectual property rights, avoiding plagiarism, rules of citation and copyright.
- Define basic library, information and networking terms.
- Choose a topic and formulate a research query.
- Describe techniques which can be utilized to broaden and limit searches.
- Develop and implement an effective search strategy, and appreciate the complex, dynamic process of information seeking.
- Use basic reference sources, online catalogs, periodical indexes, and the Internet to locate and retrieve information for a selected topic.
- Describe the differences among the numerous information sources, identifying which types of resources are most appropriate for selected topics.
- Critically analyze resources for validity and suitability for a given research project.
- Discuss some of the social, political, economic and legal issues of life in the Information Age.
OUTLINE OF COURSE CONTENT
INTRODUCTION - THE INFORMATION AGE Module 1 SEARCHING DATABASES AND EVALUATING RESULTS LESSON 1 WHAT IS A DATABASE? LESSON 2 INDEXING AND SEARCHING LESSON 3 THE SEARCH PROCESS LESSON 4 EVALUATION LESSON 5 AVOIDING PLAGIARISM AND CITATION OF SOURCES Module 2 SEARCHING FOR LIBRARY MATERIALS LESSON 1 CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS AND ONLINE CATALOGS LESSON 2 USING CATALIST AND WORLDCAT Module 3 SEARCHING REFERENCE SOURCES - PRINT AND ELECTRONIC LESSON 1 REFERENCE SOURCES AND STRATEGIES LESSON 2 ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND ATLASES LESSON 3 BOOK REVIEWS LESSON 4 PERIODICAL INDEXES AND ABSTRACTS LESSON 5 MISCELLANEOUS RESOURCES Module 4 SEARCHING THE INTERNET AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB LESSON 1 THE INTERNET LESSON 2 WEB DIRECTORIES LESSON 3 SEARCH ENGINES LESSON 4 LEGAL AND SOCIO-POLITICAL ASPECTS OF INFORMATION
