Information Literacy – Basic Research Skills (Withers)

We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. This Open Educational Resource (OER) is nothing if it is not an example of that. I have pulled from years of experience, my many colleagues who may not have realized they were my valued teachers and the work of fellow professionals I have known only through their writings and presentations. The intent of this OER is twofold: to offer a free or low cost quality text to our students in a one-unit information literacy course and to offer a starting place to anyone who wishes to develop their own class or OER. It is intentional that this text is not San Diego City College specific because the skills we teach in our LIBS 101, and are reflected in this OER, are transferable skills. This allows students to take what they learn here and apply it to any information need in any environment: academia, careers, life-long learning, bar bets, or what have you. It is not an attempt to be a comprehensive book on information literacy, but rather a brief overview in support of this oneunit class. Assignments and class activities are used to delve deeper into the basic skills presented here.

The intent of this OER is twofold: to offer a free or low cost quality text to our students in a one-unit information literacy course and to offer a starting place to anyone who wishes to develop their own class or OER. It is intentional that this text is not San Diego City College specific because the skills we teach in our LIBS 101, and are reflected in this OER, are transferable skills. This allows students to take what they learn here and apply it to any information need in any environment: academia, careers, life-long learning, bar bets, or what have you. It is not an attempt to be a comprehensive book on information literacy, but rather a brief overview in support of this one-unit class.

Do you ever use Google? How about library databases? If so, you know that you can sit down, type something in and get results. That shows you are computer literate. Because information literacy is often confused with computer literacy, most people think they should already know or do already know how to do research effectively and efficiently. Just knowing how to perform a search on a computer does not make person information literate. Although it isn’t brain surgery, as one of my first mentors assured me, it is a set of skills that need to be learned. It is not built into our DNA. Some students use the first few articles or books they find on a topic and write a paper from that. That is not really doing research nor does it shout, “I am information literate.” A true research project is having a question or a theory and looking for an answer, proof and/or supporting evidence. Information literacy is not only doing research, but also understanding information, how it is created and organized, how to use it and the realization that research takes time. More often than not, multiple searches will be required to find what you need.