Blog Post

Find and Use Review Articles

Looking for an efficient way to get an overview of a body of research on your topic? A review article is a great place to start.A review article provides an analysis of the state of research on a set of related research questions. Review articles often:summarize key research findings;reference must-read articles;describe current areas of agreement as well as controversies and debates;point out gaps in knowledge and unanswered questions;suggest directions for future research.

Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

Discipline(s): 
Not Discipline Specific
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License CC-BY-NC-SA

Deconstructing the Elevator Speech

You've spent weeks, months, and maybe even years working on a research project. You know why this project is important and what your next steps will be, but are you prepared to explain all of that to the next person who asks you about your research? You should take some time now and create an elevator speech to pitch in these situations.

Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

Discipline(s): 
Not Discipline Specific
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License CC-BY-NC-SA

Creating Literature Reviews

Literature reviews are great resources for research projects in all disciplines, presenting the key ideas in a field, pointing to must-read articles, and sugesting directions for future research. How do you go about writing one, though? This page is a collection of resources and tips for creating your own literature review.

Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

Discipline(s): 
Not Discipline Specific
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License CC-BY-NC-SA

Politics, Science, and Media

If there were a list of things I absolutely required all my students to understand before leaving my class, the relationship between mass media, politics, and science would be close to the top of the list. But there are a lot of moving parts in these relationships, so the terrain is difficult to traverse.  As one might expect of a difficult topic, there is much to read and a lot to unpack.   This pathfinder discusses how politics and our mass media system complicate the dissemination of important scientific information. 
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-ShareAlike License CC-BY-SA

Lecture Notes Toward a Theory of Everything — Information, Power, and Problems

A discussion and overview of the following ideasWhy we see things differently.Why we don’t like to be wrong.Why it is dangerous to question authority.Where we got the letter A.The morbidity of Puritan children’s books.How culture and community impact information.The origin of the political parties in America.How information is dangerous and can be used to disrupt or preserve a social order. take note of the following terms:cognitive dissonanceconfirmation biasdisconfirmation biasoppositional media hostilitypropagandatop-down information systemsbottom-up information systemspublic spheresocial responsibility theory of journalismobjectivitythe Fairness DoctrineNet Neutrality 

Resource Type(s):

License Assigned: 
CC Attribution License CC-BY

Understanding Propaganda in Contemporary Society

This resource discusses alt right propaganda, gives examples, and posts links to further readings.
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

Missionner les étudiants surmotivés sur des objectifs connexes / Self-driven side-quests with minimum mentoring

Comment envoyer une minorité d'étudiants surmotivés sur des objectifs pédagogiques intégrés et connexes dont le parcours est structuré ?1) Faire une courte introduction engageante (15min.) 2) Identifier la minorité surmotivée et leur distribuer un parcours. 3) Assurer une supervision mininal avec un suivi distant et ponctuel au besoin.Avec 2 exemples de parcours: une auto-initiation en 5 niveaux pour contribuer à Wikipédia; et un programme de 12 semaines pour démarrer un blogue sur un sujet de recherche.How to get the few really motivated students involved? By asking them to fulfil « side-quests » learning activities in a structured itinerary : 1) Present a short but engaging initiation [sur quoi?] (15 min.) ;2) After identifying the motivated students, give them a formal checklist [pour quoi?];3) If needed, provide minimum mentoring and follow-upHere are two examples : 5-steps self-initiation on how to contribute to Wikipedia and 12-weeks program to start a blog on research topic.
Discipline(s): 
Not Discipline Specific
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution License CC-BY

What to Do with What You Find

A guide to helping student know how to use (or not to use!) the different kinds of information they may find.

Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

Discipline(s): 
Not Discipline Specific
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-ShareAlike License CC-BY-SA

Questions for Understanding Information Artifacts

This resource introduces students to rubrics for evaluating information, including SCARAB, CRAAP, and Reuters Source Guide. Furthermore, it provides a framework of questions to ask about a piece of information under consideration. 
Discipline(s): 
Interdisciplinary
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

Writing a Summary in Three Steps

This example of an article summary, as one might find in a literature review of annotated bibliography,  enumerates the steps to ethically and accurately complete a typical research task.

Resource Type(s):

Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

Discipline(s): 
Multidisciplinary
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

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