New Research about Student Research Habits

Project Information Literacy's latest research report just released. Here's what the authors Mike Eisenberg & Alison Head say about it:

"In "Lessons Learned: How College Students Find Information in the Digital Age," we present findings from our student survey, administered last spring to students (n=2,318) enrolled at six U.S. college campuses (42 pages, PDF, 3 MB).
We were struck by what we found. We hope that our findings will help inform educators, such as yourself, about today's college students and how they look for information and conduct research for course-related work and in their everyday lives."

The project web site also includes videos with student commentary on their research process.

Plagiarism

What to do about this perennial and pesky problem? Some have wondered if turnitin.com is the solution. At Seattle Central, we don't have plans to subscribe to a service like turnitin, but we can offer ideas and suggestions for dealing with the problem. A handful of our counterparts at other colleges have offered it, but they find it expensive and limited in its effectiveness. We'd rather find creative ways of teaching students to do the right thing and spend our precious resources on access to content, such as databases and books.

Assignments can be designed to minimize plagiarism, and it may be helpful to assign a short reading or tutorial that addresses the issue, or even schedule a workshop with a librarian on on plagiarism. There are a plethora a of good resources you could direct students to review. Some instructors even require students to complete a tutorial like the ones listed below:

IRIS, an information literacy tutorial which includes a section on plagiarism (includes an in depth quiz)
Rutgers Plagiarism Tutorial Entertaining but to the point (with a short fun quiz at the end)
You Quote It, You Note It Interactive tutorial with lots of examples

Open Access

Open access to scholarly information is slowly catching on.

"...articles by UC-affiliated authors accepted for publication in a Springer journal beginning in 2009 will be published using Springer Open Choice with full and immediate open access..."

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/19335

The Librarian Song

Chat up your librarian

Your library has joined a national cooperative to provide enhanced reference service online help (email and chat) for students and staff. For assistance with research and library needs, click the Ask-a-Librarian link on the right side of the Library’s home page.

Ask a Librarian

Email
Use the email form to get help with research or to share comments about the library.
Librarians at Seattle Central Community College check messages daily during the library's open hours each quarter.

Chat
Connect to our live chat reference service for help anytime.
Research assistance is provided by librarians from Seattle Central, plus many other libraries in Washington State and beyond.

Life Magazine Image Archive

Google now offers a search page for thousands of photographs from the archives of Life magazine. You can search by keyword, time period, or topic. The collection includes both published and unpublished photographs taken for Life magazine. http://images.google.com/hosted/life

Another source of images is the AP Images, available through the library's research databases. Photographs go back to the 1800s. http://dept.sccd.ctc.edu/cclib/Research_Tools/ereference.asp#imgs

Winter Quarter Faculty Development Series in the Library

All sessions will take place in Library Classroom T @ Seattle Central Community College. Save these dates. RSVP kmchenry@sccd.ctc.edu

Thursday, January 29, 2:00-4:00
Using Academic Databases to Teach your Subject and Build Information Literacy
At this workshop you will learn about library databases and what they can do for you and your students, get caught up on some new and exciting tools, and sample cross-disciplinary applications.

Thursday, February 19th 1:30-3:00
Is That Your Final Answer? Teaching with iClickers and other Student Response Tools
This interactive workshop covers the basics to get started using student response systems (such as iClickers, available at Media Services). These tools are great for engaging students and getting immediate feedback on what they know or think.

Thursday, February 26th , 2:00-4:00
There’s Nothing like a Good Book! An Interactive Workshop for Faculty
The workshop will focus on instructional tools that main-stage the book, and provide a discussion forum about the importance of books in the college experience. Bring your expertise and opinions!