Teaching Information Literacy to the Advanced Writing Class in Three Sessions

Introduction As is the case at many universities, Northern Kentucky University’s Advanced Writing class is often thought of as the “Research Paper class.” Frequently, a research paper on a variety of topics is the capstone of the course and many of the other course assignments lead up to it. Students are usually brought to Steely Library for one class during the semester to be taught all the information competencies deemed necessary in one session. The classes are from 50 minutes to 75 minutes long. The pilot program described here was a first attempt at an informal trial to determine whether three library sessions spread throughout the term, each concentrating on different information literacy competencies, would be more effective than the traditional one-session “library class” typically offered with this course. The goal was to evaluate the three-part program itself, apart from typical evaluation categories such as the librarian’s delivery, while recognizing that those categories will always bear on students’ perception of the value of the approach. The results can be applied to courses offered in both traditional and online formats. Because the sample was small and the data collection unstructured, we used the results to identify questions, problems and ideas for further study and evaluation