Teaching Undergraduates to Write Evaluative Annotations Using Information Literacy Skills

Learning to create annotated bibliographies helps students to develop information literacy skills that are important to writing college research papers at the undergraduate-level and at the graduate-level. Instructional steps for teaching and learning are presented along with underlying “Information Literacy Frames” for the final project annotated bibliography that is assigned to students as part of an “Introduction to Information Literacy” one-credit course. The six frames are from the Association of College & Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy. Basic Searching of electronic databases and search engines to find literature on a research topic; Use of Boolean search logic to combine keywords, discipline-specific vocabulary, and Library of Congress subject headings to refine search results (ACRL Frame: Searching as Strategic Exploration) Read the search results; Identify bibliographic information and read abstracts/annotations for relevant items; Skim read the full-text of the online information of findings when relevant; Revise and Re-do from the beginning step until information found meets research need (ACRL Frame: Research as Inquiry) Synthesize and critically evaluate the information found and read; Write initial summary notes incorporating how the information fits your personal research needs (ACRL Frames: Authority is Constructed and Contextual – Scholarship as Conversation) Download or write/edit a formal bibliographic citation for each source that is planned to be used in research and write a final annotation (ACRL Frame: Information Creation as Process) Understand how to use an annotated bibliography and why it’s important to credit sources when conducting research (ACRL Frame: Information has value