Today’s Goals

• List two topics to compare and contrast.

• Explore subject specific resources for your topic – print and electronic

• Determine keywords related to your topic.

1. Your Research Topic• Finish this sentence: I am going to compare and

contrast________ and _____.

• This is important to me/I am interested in this topic because_____________.

• This subject falls under the broad area of _______

• Find someone who is researching in your broad area of interest and get together.

2. What do you know about your topic?

Names Dates Terms

3. Find a Subject Specific Print Source

• Working with your partner or group, use the library’s catalog to find a print resource on your subject.

• Write down title and call number.

4. What don’t you know about your topic?

• Look up both of your main topics using Wikipedia.– Write down new names, dates, and terms you

discovered from these sources. • Look up both of your main topics using

another source accessible through our databases.– Write down new names, dates, and terms you

discover from this source. These will be the search terms you use to find information in the library’s databases.

5. Compare and Contrast

• Compare and contrast Wikipedia and the subject specific source you used.

• List some differences.

• List similarities.

Find a Book

• Use the keywords you have to locate an appropriate book on your topic.

• Write down the title and call number.

• Scholarly books are great sources for background information.

Session 3 = Databases and Interlibrary loan.

Library Skills Exam

The keystone to the whole are the library skills exams…done one-on-one, in 20 minute appointments, providing the students the opportunity to demonstrate their ability with a variety of resources. (Gen. Ref., Subj. Spec. Reference, Peer-reviewed Journals, Print & Ebooks.

General Reference for Background Reading – and practice using indexes.

Searching the Catalog for Subject Specific Reference

A key “skill set” is knowing to ask for help when you need it.

Understanding how to use call numbers.

Indexes, Table of Contents, Bibliographies in Reference Sources

Learning to browse the shelves

Demonstrating ability with field searching (subject terms, author, peer-reviewed

journals, etc.)

Videohttps://www.dropbox.com/sh/xz8h8y3ty965b7z/AAALnhi0n-BkESsQ5o6aZJnVa?n=197865751

Discussion

• How to incorporate this into your context

1. How to connect with the person, not just the research task?

2. How to create scope and sequence in your context for the active learning taking place?

3. How to allow active learning feedback from patron/learner to information literacy trainer, in your particular context?

Student Comments

• When Kristin (CIU freshman English student fall of 2008) transferred from our university to a school closer to home, in Myrtle Beach, SC, she wrote me soon after, exclaiming how she was the only one in the whole class who knew how to use the database search engines effectively, and how helpful it was to her studies to have gone through the library skills training.

Student Comments

• I realized how beneficial that exam was when I was in Grad school at Wheaton College. During both my Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) class as well as my Research class, I had to conduct some research. The CBT class, I made use of books as well as the internet databases. The research class, I only made use of the databases. Many of my classmates were dreading the assignments due to the research. I found it to be quite easy. I got great scores on my use of research.

• So, thanks for requiring us to learn those skills! They have been helpful and have helped me get some useful research - both for class and for practical use in the future.” (9/24/2014)

Student Comments• Brian Miller (2003), “Absolutely, I thought I was a bad student in

high school (turns out I just didn't care about what I was learning) when you care about what you are learning or understand clearly how it impacts you, you put so much more effort and it imprints on you far far better.”

• Brian, as we were discussing the need to identify a topic about which they cared, interrupted me “Mr. Wenger, if it isn’t about Jesus or skateboarding, I don’t really care about it at all.”

• It took much work, but he eventually completed a project on the value of skateboarding as an intramural sport in inner-city schools. He now lives and works in British Columbia, where he was on staff for nearly a decade in an urban church, a church which helped him build a skate park on the church property to reach the neighborhood youth.

Future Directions:

• Having done this for nine years together, we hope to develop quantitative, qualitative, or mixed method research from our collaborative efforts.

• We welcome our colleagues input – suggestions, advice, or collaboration.

• ssolomon@ciu.edu• mwenger@ciu.edu• kflickner@ciu.edu Thank you!