Beyond
Wikipedia and Google:
Finding Quality
Information
Mara Bordignon, B.Sc., M.I.St.
Information Services Librarian
Seneca @ York Library
mara.bordignon@senecac.on.ca
mage source: Microsoft Office Clipart
OUTLINE:
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Learning Outcomes
Why? Lens on learning
Identifying Information Literacy Learning Outcomes
Recommendations for Best Practices and Collaboration
Assignment Example
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to…
Know
Recall at least 2 of the recommendations that will help create
more effective research assignments and student research
experiences.
Do
Incorporate at least one of the recommendations from this
session that may serve to improve an existing or newly created
research assignment.
Feel
Recognize the benefits of collaborating with the library (i.e.
Liaison Librarian) in creating course-specific research assignments.
Why? Lens on Learning
Start:
Google,
Wikipedia
Refine: Library
databases,
catalog,
subjectspecific
Internet
sources
Knowledge:
analysis and
synthesis …
critical
thinking
skills,
information
literacy
skills
Google
The first Google index in 1998 already had 26 million pages,
and by 2000 the Google index reached the one billion
mark…[as of July 2008, there were well over] 1 trillion (as in
1,000,000,000,000) unique URLs on the web at once!
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/we-knew-web-was-big.html
Google Insists It's Friend To Newspapers,
Not Foe
Preview By: HELFT, MIGUEL. New York
Times, 4/8/2009, p6
Universal search: research papers and
music videos, map images, and blog
postings, wikis and…
Wikipedia
In October 2008, wikipedia readers
viewed 10.941 billion pages.
http://infodisiac.com/blog/2008/10/wikimedi
a-page-view-stats-I/
For March 2009, approx. 6,295 Million English
Language wikipedia page views or…
210 M /d
8.7 M /h
146 ,000 /m
24,000 /s
http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesPageViewsMonthly.htm
Percent of global Internet users who
visit wikipedia.org on April 30, 2009:
9.82%
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/wikipedia.org
OCUFA
To read this article in full, click here for
Seneca Libraries access to Canadian
NewsStand
http://www.ocufa.on.ca/
The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty
Associations invited Ontario university faculty and
librarians to respond to an on-line questionnaire. Close
to 2,000 responses from 22 Ontario universities were
received between Feb. 16 – Mar 13., 2009.
http://www.qualitymatters.ca/QualityMatters/docs/Students_less_prepar
ed_April_6_2009.pdf
Why? Lens on Learning
Results of the questionnaire:
 First-year students are less prepared for university
education than students from just three years earlier,
according to over 55% of respondents
 Respondents most often reported the following
challenges among first-year students:
Why? Lens on Learning
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Lower level of maturity
Lack of required writing, mathematical and critical
thinking skills
Poor research skills as evidenced by an overreliance
on Internet tools like
Wikipedia as external research sources
Expectation of success without the requisite effort
Inability to learn independently
Why? Lens on Learning
An article in College Teaching describes concern by professors…
“In recent years, as students’ reliance on Internet research has
grown, professors have expressed a growing dissatisfaction
with the research efforts and thinking skills demonstrated by
students.” p. 324
“Academics are increasingly struggling to encourage students to
perform library research that involves a more in-depth and
critical exploration of the subject matter than a quick Google
search typically provides.” p.324
(Mahaffy)
Why? Essential Employability Skills
All Ontario College graduates, must be able to reliably
demonstrate the Essential Employability Skills required in each
of the following six categories:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Communication
Numeracy
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
Information Management [*Information Literacy*]
Interpersonal
Personal
Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/college/progstan/essential.html
What is Information Management…
Information Literacy?
DEFINING SKILLS:
Skill areas to be demonstrated
by graduates:
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
The graduate has reliably
demonstrated the ability to:
• Gathering and managing
• locate, select, organize, &
document information using
appropriate technology &
information systems
information
• Selecting and using appropriate
tools and technology for a task or a
project
• Internet skills
• analyze, evaluate, and apply
relevant information from a variety of
sources.
(American Library Association)
A few recommendations For Best
Practices and Collaboration…
Image source: Microsoft Office Clipart
1. Make expectations clear to students at the
beginning of the course
Create a positive environment of involvement instead of detection
and punishment (Carrol)
For additional information on Academic Honesty and Copyright, visit the
Seneca Libraries Information for Faculty website:
http://library.senecacollege.ca/Faculty/academichonesty.html
Teach the skills of summarizing and paraphrasing, critical analysis
and building an argument (James, McInnis and Devlin)
Teach the skills of referencing and citation (James, McInnis and Devlin)
For example, have your students work through the Academic Honesty
Plagiarism tutorial available at:
http://library.senecacollege.ca/Faculty/ahtutorial.html
Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
Ensure that students know which citation style to use,
i.e. APA or MLA
For example, state which style to use in your course outline
and all assignments/projects
Tell students to “Please use the Seneca Libraries Guide to
Research and Citation (MLA or APA), both available
online, at
http://library.senecacollege.ca/Research_Help/Citing_S
ources/index.html, or in hardcopy at the cost of $5 at
all Seneca Bookstores”
For example, copy and paste the above quotation into your
course outline, all assignments/projects, and in your
Blackboard course (where appropriate)
Academic Honesty and Plagiarism cont’d…
Make students aware that you are using detection tools
such as SafeAssign (available in Blackboard)
For example, become familiar with SafeAssign using the
SafeAssign manual available at:
http://myhelp.senecacollege.ca/learning_system/site_devel
opment/ls_det_SafeAssign.pdf
Require students to work through the Academic Honesty
Plagiarism Tutorial, available at:
http://library.senecacollege.ca/Faculty/ahtutorial.html
...including working through pre-assessment & post-assessment
quizzes consisting of 2 sets of 10 questions created in Respondus
which are generated randomly and are then put into Faculty’s BB
course pages
2. Clearly state what students are expected
to learn from the assignment
Provide learning outcomes that are clear, reasonable
and achievable
Use Bloom’s Taxonomy to write your learning
outcomes
Create a rubric for yourself and share it with your
students so there are clear guidelines for your
marking scheme
Identify learning outcomes for
research assignments…
Upon completion of a research assignment, students should have
research skills /information literacy skills to be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Know when they have an information need (i.e., identify gap in knowledge);
Locate the needed information in a specific discipline effectively and
efficiently;
Use this gathered information ethically (by citing all of their sources);
Evaluate critically, both the gathered information and sources.
Help students find the right KLUEs in doing their research!
3. Ensure the library has required resources
Try doing the assignment yourself to test its feasibility and ensure
there are a variety of sources (e.g., databases, articles, books,
ebooks) available for students to explore/compare different types of
information sources.
Contact a Librarian
about resources
and advice in
helping you create
your assignment
Request book and
journal titles,
videos, etc. that
will support your
research
assignments
Building your
assignments around
these resources =
students become
more accustomed to
searching & using
these resources =
higher quality
student work
Provide a list of
the resources
to students
Need additional information?... Visit Seneca Libraries Information for Faculty website at:
http://library.senecacollege.ca/Faculty/index.html
Who do I contact?... Find your liaison librarian at:
http://library.senecacollege.ca/Faculty/Collection_Development/liaison_librarians.html
4. Clearly direct students to
appropriate resources
Be specific and use appropriate terminology
“…use at least one Scholarly Journal article obtained from a Seneca
Libraries e-database”
“…do not use any Internet sites” or “… do not use online resources” =
confusion since newspaper, magazine and journal articles are found in
electronic databases available through the Seneca Libraries website
Provide correct links to the Seneca Libraries website
“… use Seneca Libraries http://library.senecacollege.ca/ to find
information sources, in hardcopy or in electronic format, such as books,
articles from newspapers, magazines and journals, reports, transcripts,
etc.”
4. Clearly direct students to
appropriate resources cont’d…
Where appropriate, list examples of resources whether
print or electronic
i.e. “…to find drug information, use the electronic database eCPS - Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties
found at…”
Consider a Course Readings page for your course, or a
Library Cartridge for MySeneca … your Liaison
Librarian will help!
• Using the same
essay/practice questions
year after year
• Assignments that ask
students to collect,
describe and present
information as these are
more prone to
plagiarism than those
that ask for analysis or
evaluation
Try
Avoid
5. ‘Design out’ easy cheating options
• Give choices for topic selection
• Topics that integrate theory and
examples or use personal
experience , e.g. a field trip
report, a task with no right
answers or a personal reflection
on a task
• Integrate classroom dynamics,
field learning, assigned reading
and classroom learning
• Alternatives to the standard essay,
such as case studies
(James, McInnis and Devlin)
6. Request a library instruction session to
help students succeed
Search
fundamentals:
Database and
Internet search
interfaces
Organization of
information
within a
discipline
Library
Instruction:
Information
Literacy
Topic
definition
and
development
Skills
Plagiarism
and citation
support
Critical analysis:
evaluating
information for
quality
Who do I contact?... Find your liaison librarian
Library Instruction can help your
students…
1.
DEFINE
2.
RETRIEVE
3.
EVALUATE
4. CITE
SOURCES
What kind
of information
am I
looking
for? How
broad is
my topic?
Where do
I search
for this
information?
How do
I search?
How can
I tell if
the
information
is useful?
Where do
I find
More?
Seneca
Libraries
“Guide to
Research &
Citation”
for
MLA and
APA
Consult A checklist for booking library instruction classes:
http://library.senecacollege.ca/Faculty/library_instruction_booking.pdf
7. Place material that will be in
high demand on reserve
Electronically
• Course Readings: A list of required, recommended &
supplemental readings for your course or subject area
• Items from online library databases and the Internet: online
articles, links to magazines, journals, newspapers,
electronic books, web sites, pre-defined searches
• Items on reserve in the library (scanned and posted online):
teacher notes, solutions, etc., paper articles, book chapters,
etc. (with copyright licenses)
• For example, contact your liaison librarian to create a course
readings page for your course which will have resources your
students can use!
7. Place material that will be in
high demand on reserve
-OROn Reserve at the Borrower Services Desk
• Place any books or videos that will be used heavily by
students to complete an assignment on a 2 hour loan
or overnight
8. Design assessment tasks and
promote academic honesty
Collect an annotated bibliography before the submission is due
Students submit research in stages, e.g. outlines, drafts, research
notes
Assess work produced in class, possibly with preparation allowed
beforehand
Students make brief presentations to the class based on their
written assignments
Students to supply photocopies of any references used as part of
an appendix
e.g. for articles, citation and first page
e.g. for books, bibliographic record from library catalogue and/or verso
and table of contents
(James, McInnis and Devlin)
Helpful Search Tips…

Searching Google on campus:
Will search for this
article against +140
Seneca Libraries
article databases for
retrieval of the entire
article
Helpful Search Tips…

Firefox Extension:

LibX download at:
http://libx.org/editions/download.php?edition=1E1D56E9
Will search for this book
against Seneca Libraries
catalog in order to
locate a hardcopy or
electronic copy
In Summary…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Make expectations clear to students at the beginning of
the course
Clearly state what students are expected to learn from the
assignment
Ensure the library has required resources
Clearly direct students to appropriate resources
“Design out” easy cheating options
Request a library instruction session to help students
succeed
Place material that will be in demand on reserve
Design assessment tasks and promote academic honesty
Can you improve this assignment?
Research assignment
worth10% of your final mark
Due Date: in 2 weeks
Topic: Research a current local politician. Find out biographical and career information
about him or her. Write a 750 word, double-spaced, essay which includes:
• Biographical and career overview
• Why you have chosen this local politician
• Political viewpoints
• A list of career achievements
Must include at least five different reference sources, one of which must be a journal
article. Only one Internet source is allowed.
Your written work should have a title page and a Works Cited or Bibliography page noting
your sources.
Assignment improvement suggestions…
Part 1
Research assignment
worth10% of your final mark
Due Date: in 2 weeks
More time needed?…consider pre-assessment
Topic: Research a current local politician. Find out biographical and career information
about him or her. Write a 750 word, double-spaced, essay which includes:
• Biographical and career overview
• Why you have chosen this local politician
• Political viewpoints
• A list of career achievements
Check library resources to ensure there are adequate materials on this
topic… in this case, there are few/no resources:
•Consider changing topic
•Give list of topic choices and ensure there is enough material on each of
them
•Ensure each student selects a different topic… otherwise you may have
an entire class trying to obtain the only copy of a book AND
copying(cheating) becomes easier
Assignment improvement suggestions…
Part 2
Must include at least five different information
sources, one of which must be a journal article.
Only one Internet source is allowed.
Confusing use of the word
“Internet” since newspaper,
magazine and journal articles can
be found in electronic databases
available through the Seneca
Libraries website.
Requiring so many different
sources when in reality most
information may only exist in
one place, e.g. newspapers,
will send students on an
unrealistic chase and divert
attention away from the topic.
Would a journal article exist about a
local politician?… highly unlikely. List
useful and realistic sources such as,
e.g. newspaper articles, interviews,
radio transcripts, etc.
Your written work should have a title page and a Works Cited or Bibliography page noting
your sources.
Specify which citation style (MLA, APA, etc.) and
ensure students know where to find the library’s
citation guides.
Best Practices from your Colleagues…
Lead by Example
Required Text and Recommended Readings in Course
outlines are in proper Citation Style
Cite your sources on your powerpoint presentations
Chunk Assignment into Steps
Hand in a draft copy to SafeAssign. Discuss results in class.
Annotated Bibliography
Useful Sources
Seneca Libraries
http://library.senecacollege.ca
Seneca Libraries Information for Faculty
http://library.senecacollege.ca/Faculty/index.html
Seneca Libraries Liaison Librarians
http://library.senecacollege.ca/Faculty/Collection_Development/l
iaison_librarians.html
Seneca Libraries books :
Badke, William B. Research strategies : finding your way through the information
fog . New York : IUniverse, Inc., 2008. [S@Y library: Z710 .B23 2008]
Research—Methodology
Library research
*Sources Consulted
Badke, William. “Stepping beyond Wikipedia.” Educational Leadership 66.6 (2009):54-58.
Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Seneca Lib. 15 Apr. 2009.
Carroll, Jude. “Deterring, Detecting and Dealing with Plagiarism”. Oxford Brookes
University OCSLD Nov.2004. 26 Jan. 2009 <http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/
ocsd/2_learntch/plagiarism.html>.
"Designing Assignments to Minimize Cyber-Cheating." Teaching Professor 19.1 (2005): 2.
Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Seneca Lib. 3 Feb. 2009.
Fogg, Piper. "A Dozen Teaching Tips for Diverse Classrooms." Chronicle of Higher Education
54.9 (2007): B12. ERIC. EBSCO. Seneca Lib. 2 Feb. 2009.
"Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education." American Library
Association. 2000. 23 Jan. 09 <http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/
standards.pdf>.
*Sources cited in MLA citation style
*Sources Consulted Continued
James, Richard, Craig McInnis and Marcia Devlin. “36 strategies to minimise plagiarism.”
Assessing Learning in Australian Universities: Ideas, strategies and resources for quality
in student assessment.. Sept. 2002. 6 Feb. 2009 <http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/
assessinglearning/03/plagMain.html#36>.
Mahaffy, Mardi. "Encouraging Critical Thinking in Student Library Research." College
Teaching 54.4 (2006): 324-327. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Seneca Lib. 10 Feb.
2009.
Tomaiuolo, Nicholas. “U-Content.” Searcher 17.4 (2009): 40-47. Academic Search Premier.
EBSCO. SenecaLib. 15 Apr. 2009. [persistent link]
Warn, James. "Plagiarism Software: No Magic Bullet!." Higher Education Research &
Development 25.2 (2006): 195-208. Education Research Complete. EBSCO. Seneca Lib.
6 Feb. 2009.
*Sources cited in MLA citation style
Final comment…
The library is a place filled with resources,
services and people who are there to
help you.
Contact your liaison librarian:
We can and want to help.
Image source: Microsoft Office Clipart