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Library Research Skills Needed by New College

Students

Richard Eissinger

Southern Utah University

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David T. Conley, College Knowledge

An ever-increasing proportion of high school students in the US today aspire to college.

Percentage of college students receiving bachelor’s degrees has remained relatively constant over the past 25 years.

It now takes on average 5 years to get a 4-year college degree.

Between 30%-60% of students now require remedial education on entry to college, depending on the type of institution they attend.

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Introduction & Background

CIRP - Cooperative Institutional Research Program FYE – First Year Experience Information Literacy

SCANS - Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills

Goals 2000 AASL Information Power ACRL Information Literacy ICT - Information & Communication Technology (ETS)

High School to College Issues Millennial students

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CIRP Freshman Survey*

HS grade inflation: 1966-2004 A- or higher: 20% to 48% C+ or lower: 22% to 5%

HS student – frequently felt bored in class 1985: 29% > 2004: 43%

Studying 6+ hours per week 1987: 47% > 2004: 34%

Faculty perspectives on student preparedness 45% agree that most students they teach lack

the basic skills for college level work* http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/freshman.html

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CIRP Freshman Survey*

* http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/freshman.html

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First Year Experience*

Increased freshman retention National average: 63-70% SUU: before FYE 51% - after FYE 59%

58.9% report increased persistence to sophomore year 58.4% report improved student connections with peers 51.2% report increased use of campus services 50.6% report increased student satisfaction with the institution 45.0% report increased out-of-class faculty/student interaction 41.6% report increased level of student participation in student

activities 36.0% report increased academic abilities 31.1% report increased student satisfaction with faculty 26.7% report improved grade-point-averages 18.3% report increased persistence to graduation

* http://www.sc.edu/fye/index.html

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Information Literacy

1991 – SCANS, Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, US Dept. Labor

1996 - Goals 2000, Dept. Education 1998 - Information Power, ALA 2000 - Information Literacy Competency

Standards for Higher Education, ACRL 2003 - ICT – Information & Communication

Technology, ETS

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High School to College Transition

The best predictors of whether a student will graduate or not are academic preparation and motivation.

High schools focus on making students college-eligible – to meet admissions requirements. They may or may not be college-ready.

Many students enter college with poor time management and study skills.

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High School and College Differences

Change from a teacher-directed to a student-directed environment.

High school teachers often spend considerable time attempting to motivate students to learn.

Experience culture shock when they enter learning environments that different from their past experiences.

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Instructor Expectations

Do not always collect homework – fewer tests Professors are trained experts in their field & not in teaching methods Extra credit usually not available Students are expected to synthesize concepts between textbooks, class

readings, and the real world College classes larger, longer, don't meet every day More writing required in college More academic freedom High school is more textbook focused; college more lecture focused In high school the parent is held responsible; in college student is held

responsible for actions (FERPA) In high school the school creates social, cultural activities to enhance

students’ education in HS; in college student must seek out social interactions

High school students can remain in school despite poor academic performance; can be dropped in college.

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Beloit College Mindset List*

Gas has always been unleaded. An automatic is a weapon, not a transmission. Stores have always had scanners at the checkout. They don't remember when "cut and paste" involved

scissors. Libraries have always been the best centers for

computer technology and access to good software. Digital cameras have always existed. Photographs have always been processed in an hour

or less. Money put in their savings account the year they were

born earned almost 7% interest.

* http://www.beloit.edu/~pubaff/mindset

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New Students: The Millennials

Echo boomers, net generation, gamers Most ethnically diverse generation in US history Tend to be visual learners, get bored quickly (lectures) Hold a positive view of technology It’s been suggested that these students are often

overconfident because they equate their technology savvy with information literacy.

OCLC white paper on information habits of college students found that 80% of undergrads use web search engines for all or most assignments, while only half used the library’s subscription-based resources.*

* http://www.oclc.org/research/announcements/2002-06-24.htm

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Millennial Searching Habits

Many high school teachers endorse the internet as a good research resource.

Tend to find information in a chaotic fashion, focusing on speed and convenience.

Show little evidence of coherent search strategies. Easily accessible information enables students to stop

at the first answer they find. They expect the research process to be easy – like

Google. Email still a fixture in teens’ lives, but IM is preferred. Size of wired population surges at the 7th grade mark They may be whizzes on communication devices, but

their communication skills – both in writing and in person – have a long way to go.

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The SUU Experience

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LM1010: Information Literacy

1 credit - general education information literacy requirement

Taught by library faculty (9) Designed & maintained by faculty Offered completely online using WebCT Exposure to online learning

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LM1010: Information Literacy

Skills Survey Test-Out Exam Four chapters/quizzes/assignments

1. Choose a topic

2. Find information

3. Evaluate information

4. Cite information Final Exam

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LM1010: Information Literacy

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LM1010: Information Literacy

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Skills Survey > Test-Out Exam

0.010.020.030.040.050.060.070.080.090.0

100.0

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Skills > Test-Out > Final

0.010.020.030.040.050.060.070.080.090.0

100.0

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Boolean Searching

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

Fr So Ju Sr Average

Class Standing

Perc

en

t C

orr

ect

Pre-test

Post-test

Boolean searching by class

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Scholarly vs. Popular

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

120.0%

Fr So Ju Sr Average

Class Standing

Per

cen

t C

orr

ect

Pre-test

Post-test

Scholarly vs popular by class

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Learning outcomes

Learning Outcomes

100.0%

91.3%

60.9%

89.9%

76.8%

90.4%

85.9%

32.6%

85.2%

46.7%

Understand ethical and legal use of information.

Evaluate relevance of information.

Develop successful information search strategies.

Locate materials in the library.

Identify appropriate information sources.

Post-test Pre-test

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LM1010: Evaluation

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Necessary Library Research Skills

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Library anxiety

New college students indicate that they are not comfortable with library research

Size of library is intimidating Lack of knowledge about terminology and

locating items Don’t know how or where to begin Different buildings Dewey vs. LC – numbers are subjects and a

classification system

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Library Phobias *

*Research Strategy: Overcoming Library Phobias. BYU. 1993.

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What you can do …

Visit local university libraries and develop a relationship with a local university librarian

Teach searching a university OPAC Online chat Libraries are frequently the only place to go

after 5 pm to get answers Ask a librarian!

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Searching skills

Dewey decimal vs LC Boolean searching Look for the help page Databases operate in similar ways Reading an index Using a table of contents or index (chapters in

an OPAC)

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Searching skills – Boolean, etc.

Boolean terms – and, or, not Truncation and wildcards OPAC vs online resources – understanding

difference between electronic record and full text

Selecting an index – where to begin Subject headings vs keywords

subject headings usable across databases especially good in subject indexes

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Searching skills - keywords

Your results are only as good as the keywords you use

Brainstorm using a thesaurus (Tools in Word) Note how often their keywords show after

searching (Edit/Find in Word) Use multiple keywords Correct spelling is important

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Locating sources

Abstracts vs citation colleges have abstract and citation databases

available some try to use abstracts as the full text don’t understand what a citation is

Microfilm, microfiche – colleges have variety of formats available

Full text Bound periodicals Interlibrary loan – usually within school districts;

colleges have ILL

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Scholarly sources

Understand academic journals vs. magazines Peer-reviewed, refereed, scholarly, academic Scholarly research

Start them in high school to understand these distinctions (e.g., in Utah MasterFILE Premier is used as the high school default database)

Google

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Evaluating sources

MLA authority, accuracy/verifiability, currency

Source / authority Purpose Content / coverage Currency Bias Why evaluate?

Students will need to defend their information choices to their professors

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Citing sources

Style guides don’t know about the different styles and

formats by discipline Plagiarism

Most students have not been taught the skills of paraphrasing, quoting and summarizing

Citation machines ProQuest, Questia Citation Machine, EasyBib, NoodleTools,

RapidCite

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Notetaking

Systematic notetaking leads to good research RefWorks, EndNote, Reference Manager Cornell method, outlining, graphic organizers Microsoft OneNote

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Microsoft OneNote

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Conclusions

Discuss how their skills are transferable Prepare them for the size of college libraries Help your students see librarians are their

best resource

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