Classes cultivate research skills

A new initiative, launched in 2002 to help students master
practical and conceptual literary skills and use them throughout
their time at school and beyond, is now being tested in the UCLA
sociology department.

According the university library, the goal of information
literacy is to improve students’ ability to identify
information needs, locate information efficiently, evaluate
information, and their ability to use that information both
effectively and ethically.

The Information Literacy Initiative was created by the UCLA
Library as a result of a 1999 study conducted by the library. The
study tested students’ levels of information competency and
revealed that undergraduates do not possess adequate information
skills for some of the coursework they are required to
complete.

So far, the only class that has the initiative as a prominent
part of its curriculum is Sociology 1 ““ an undergraduate
course which introduces students to basic sociology.

Sociology department faculty members are working with a team of
librarians to identify which parts of the curriculum would most
benefit from the incorporation of different components of
information literacy based on course requirements.

“For example, there are certain basic competencies that we
want our Sociology 1 students to demonstrate ““ how to come up
with a strong, appropriate research topic, how to find and evaluate
books, articles, Web sites and other sources,” said Eleanor
Mitchell, head of the College Library and director of the
information literacy initiative.

Sociology 1 students are required to attend a “Finding
Books” session and complete three online tutorials.

In the future, faculty members in the sociology department plan
to incorporate the initiative to a larger extent.

“Info-literacy is being infused within the sociology
curriculum from introductory level to graduate level,”
Mitchell said.

For more advanced sociology courses, students will be required
to take a one-credit information literacy lab taught by
librarians.

This lab will go hand-in-hand with the upper division courses
and is designed to be parallel to, and support the goals and
syllabus of, the parent course.

Diane Mizrachi is currently the librarian in charge of the
Sociology 1 program.

Mizrachi said there has been positive feedback from students who
have already completed their preliminary library sessions.

Though students are responding well to the program, it is hard
to evaluate its impact, since it is very raw and is ongoing,
Mizrachi said.

There are also classes offered directly by the librarians.
English Composition 123 ““ Information Literacy and Research
Skills ““ is currently in its second year.

The class is designed to help students become more information
literate, and satisfies the College of Letters and Science Writing
I requirement.

The effectiveness of the initiative will depend on continued
participation and multiple learning opportunities at different
points in the sociology students’ curriculum, as opposed to a
one-time exposure, Mitchell said.

All students are welcome to attend general orientation workshops
and take advantage of a variety of online instructional tools
offered at any of the nine designated campus libraries.

For more information about workshops, go to
www.library.ucla.edu.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *