English 805 Online Resources

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English 805Online Resources

• ?
• Karin Westman
• 15 September 2003

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Goals for Today

• Reminders about range of online resources
  available to students.
• Strategies for helping students develop their
  information literacy, so they can use online
  resources effectively for their research.

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But before we begin

• What fears or concerns do you have about students
  using online resouces for research?

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Why Im interested in helping students with
online resources

• Students have difficulty reading online
  resources for credibility and bibliographic
  information.
• A student from one of my Expos 2 classes and her
  web source on womens body image
• Found information she wanted to use, but had no
  idea about her source
• Dads Daughters at lthttp//www.dadsanddaughters
  .orggt
• BBC News dated 21 February 2001

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• Results of a survey Naomi Wood and I conducted
  Fall 2001
• Purpose to evaluate how students enrolled in
  English courses (300-700 level) use and view
  technology
• Participants English Majors and Minors,
  Education Majors, and others.
• 18 General Questions
• How often do you access the Internet?
• 7 Discipline-Specific Questions
• When you need information for an English course,
  which research method are you most likely to use
  first?

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Technologies KSU students typically use

• 60 access the web daily 30 several times a
  week
• 80 use the internet primarily in order to access
  their e-mail
• 74 have accessed a course web page during a
  previous semester
• (Fall 2001)

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Of the 686 students surveyed,

• 62 use an internet search engine such as
  Yahoo, Excite, Google, or Lycos to conduct
  research

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Before

• any other online resource, such as electronic
  full-text or abstract databases available through
  the library or a catalog of library print
  materials.

• But does use information literacy?

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Information Literacy

• The ability to conduct searches, evaluate, and
  create new ideas
• (Cynthia Bowman, 2000)

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To be literate for the online information age,
students need to be able to read a web page.
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What about students in Expos I?

• 4000 in Expository Writing each academic year
• Next stage of our research has gathered data from
  this group about its information literacy

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Information Literacy Surveys (Fall 2002)

• Students previous experience with online
  resources before Expos I
• Importance of developing their information
  literacy in Expos 1
• Results

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We need to make sure our students know how to
evaluate online documents, since they are already
seeking them out.
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Developing Information Literacy

• Making students aware of the range of online
  resources available when they sit down at the
  computer to begin their research.
• Teaching students to develop their critical
  reading skills for this online environment.

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Online resources available to KSU students

• Listings of print sources available from the KSU
  library stacks and Inter-Library Loan
• Located through the librarys online catalog and
  its online subscription databases.
• Include book-length studies, academic journals,
  government documents, print copies of newspapers
  or magazines.

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Online resources available to KSU students

• Print sources which are now also available in a
  digital format through a subscription database.
• Located through one of the librarys online
  subscription databases.
• Include print magazines, newspapers, and
  academic journals.

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Online resources available to KSU students

• 3. Print sources which are now also available in
  a digital format from a companys or
  organizations web site.
• Located through an internet search engine.
• Include print magazines, newspapers, and
  government documents.

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Online resources available to KSU students

• Sources available from free-access web sites or
  web pages which are only available in a digital
  form.
• Located through internet search engine.
• Sites/Pages might be corporate, advocacy, news,
  or personal.

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Educating students to this range of online
resources is the first step in helping them
determine the credibility and usefulness of an
online source for a particular research project.
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Classroom Strategies for Developing Information
Literacy

• Textbook resources
• Sample lesson plans
• Other resources and suggestions

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Textbook Resources for Expos IThe Allyn and
Bacon Guide to Writing (3rd edition)

• Chapter 22 Finding and Evaluating Sources
  Skills 2, 3, 4, and 5.
• Excellent Rhetorical Overview of Print Sources
  and Rhetorical Overview of Web Sites.
• Flow-chart graphic Licensed Database Versus
  Free-Access Portions of Internet (593)
• Assistance for students in Determining Where You
  Are on the Web (598)
• The now-standard Criteria for Evaluating Web
  Sites (612)

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Sample Lesson Plans

• High Tech (computer classroom)
• Low Tech (overhead projector)

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Sample Lesson Plans

• Modeling types of online searches for students
• Select a key word or phrase and search
• the librarys online catalog
• one of its online subscription databases
  (Academic ASAP, Lexis-Nexis)
• the free-access portion of the web using Google
  or your favorite search engine
• Have students discuss and compare the results of
  these three searches.

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Sample Lesson Plans

• 2. Modeling evaluation of an online source from
  the free-access portion of the web
• Use a key word search to select a potential
  source for a selected topic
• As a class, apply the Criteria for Evaluating
  Web Sites to determine the credibility of the
  web page
• Discuss under what circumstances the web page
  would be an appropriate source

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Sample Lesson Plans

• 3. Have students evaluate an online source from
  the free-access portion of the web that they are
  considering for their own research project
• Respond to their questions individually as they
  apply the criteria for evaluation (at home or in
  lab classroom)
• Lead a general discussion at the end of class to
  consider the results of the classs experience

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Other Resources and Suggestions

• When assigning your research paper
• Decide in advance if you have any preferences or
  restrictions about students using online
  resources
• Clearly indicate these preferences or
  restrictions in your assignment.

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Other Resources and Suggestions

• Assign relevant chapter in textbook and then set
  aside some class time to discuss online sources.
• Remind students to print out a hard copy of a
  free-access web page as soon as possible.
• Alert students about using Remote Access to enter
  KSUs subscription databases.

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Other Resources and Suggestions

• Reserve a room in Hale Library to model research
  strategies with your class
• Hale 408
• Room for 25 students instructors computer 16
  computers.
• Hale 407
• Room for 25 students instructors computer 7
  computers.
• Hale 113
• Room for 30 students only an instructors
  computer.
• Contact Ron Ratliff rrat_at_ksu.edu asap to reserve
  a room, if interested.

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Other Resources and Suggestions

• New Online Patron Modules developed by KSU
  Library available through K-State Online
• Guide students through librarys resources and
  research tools
• All students have access to modules with a free
  K-State Online account.
• Have your students participate in a pre- and
  post-assessment survey about their use of
  technology for research
• If interested, please let me know as soon as
  possible.

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Questions?

• ?
• Karin Westman
• westmank_at_ksu.edu
• 532-2171