Information Literacy

This section was already fairly familiar to me.  In one of my A&M English classes within the last year or two, one of our librarians visited and presented the same material.  It was somewhat enlightening at that point.  For instance I wasn't aware of how to manually enter a Boolean search request without utilizing the search engines advanced features.  However, I was already diligent in my web searches.  I trust very little unless it’s published or hosted by a known entity – university, government, or newspaper.  Even then, I read the content to determine fact versus opinion or propaganda.  The librarian also made me aware of the existence and usefulness of searching for official journals on my research subjects.

My habits didn't change much after being made aware of the new information.  I do occasionally use Boolean searches to narrow down the search results.  I do, however, frequently use journals in my research projects now.  The A&M library search engine is incredibly useful in finding, and then cross-referencing, journals on every topic I've researched.  I will certainly pass this on to my future students.  Being able to construct or analyze information is predicated upon being able to find good information in the first place.

It is essential we teach our students how to find and use valid information.  Sorting the relevant from the irrelevant is harder than ever in the world we live in.  Before the age of technology a student’s resources were limited to primarily encyclopedias, periodicals and libraries.  Today we are bombarded with information, and much of it is at best incorrect.  We also need to teach our students how to incorporate what they know with what they’ve learned to construct a goal oriented response.  We as instructors need to remember that students do not possess either of these abilities innately.  Achieving mastery of these skills requires instruction and practice.