Kean University Library
Information Literacy Program
Lesson Outline for Library Instruction
Course: Speech Communication as Critical Citizenship
Course Number: COMM 1402
Kean University Undergraduate Catalog Course Description:
“Understanding and practicing speech communication as a central value of a
civil society. It is this value that provides the frame for producing,
presenting, interpreting, and evaluating oral messages in dyadic, small
group, and public speaking contexts. General Education Foundations
course.”
Typical Course Research Assignment:
Students will be preparing two speeches for the course. One will be an
informative speech on a topic of interest, while the other will be a
persuasive speech focusing on a debate of a current issue. For each of these
speeches, students must search for and locate 2-3 sources on the topic,
including books and popular and/or scholarly periodicals.
Prerequisites (Assumptions) for Students Attending the Library Instruction
Session:
It is assumed that students in the class are first-year students. It is also assumed that
these students may be currently enrolled in or have recently completed the First Year
Seminar (ID 1001) library orientation and tour. Students in the course have qualified for
the 3-contact-hour ENG 1030 (College Composition) or have completed the ENG 1030 and
COMM SCI 0412 (Introduction to Academic Reading) requirements.
Equipment and Materials:
Computers with Internet access in a dedicated computer lab; library handout; examples of
print periodical types (scholarly/professional, popular magazines, and newspapers).
Goals and Objectives for Library Instruction Session:
General goalsThe student:
1. Has knowledge of the physical layout, service points, and circulation procedures of
the library, i.e., library barcode and online book renewal processes.
2. Has the ability to articulate his or her research topic of interest.
3. Has the basic skills needed to find course-related information in books from the
Reference and Main Collections.
4. Has the basic skills needed to find course-related information in newspapers, popular
magazines, and scholarly/professional journals.
5. Has developed the basic critical thinking skills needed to select the information
access tools, keywords, and information sources that are most appropriate for the
course-related information need.
Objectives(Cited in parentheses are the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards,
Performance Indicators, and Outcomes* that will be met upon satisfaction of the
objective.)
The student:
1. Is aware that individualized research assistance is available by telephone, e-mail
(Ask a Reference Librarian), and in person at the Reference Desk. (Standard 2.2.c)
2. Knows how to formulate a research focus and refine the research focus if a more
specific and relevant focus is identified. (Standards 1.1.a; 1.1.b; 1.1.d;1.3.c; 1.4.a;
3.6.a)
3. Understands that subject encyclopedias and other Reference books often provide
helpful background information on course-related topics, as well as ideas for relevant
keywords and key concepts. (Standards 1.1.c; 1.1.d; 1.1.e)
4. Knows how to search the Kean Catalog by author, title, and keyword to determine
the call numbers for library books that contain subject matter addressing the
information need. (Standards 1.1.c; 2.2.b).
5. Understands how to find books in the library by locating specific call numbers within
the appropriate library collection. (Standard 2.3.b)
6. Understands that newspaper, magazine, and journal articles on a particular subject
or by a particular author are accessed through periodical indexes in both print and
electronic formats.
a. Knows how to select a periodical index database in electronic format
appropriate to the course-related information need (i.e., MasterFILE,
Newspaper Source, Academic Search Premier, Facts.com, Ethnic NewsWatch,
or GenderWatch). (Standard 2.1.d)
b. Knows how to access the database, navigate within it, construct a search
strategy, and execute a basic search using appropriate keywords, in order to
retrieve citations, abstracts, and, in some cases, full text for relevant articles.
(Standards 2.2.b; 2.2.d; 2.2.e; 2.3.a)
c. Recognizes the difference between scholarly journals (such as Journal of
Special Education) and popular magazines (such as Newsweek or People
Weekly). (Standards 1.2.d; 3.2.a)
d. Understands that scholarly and reputable information sources are more readily
accessible by searching in a library’s subscription databases, than by searching
in freely available Internet search engines and directories (such as Google and
Yahoo). (Standard 3.2.a)
e. Understands criteria to consider (authority, currency, objectivity, accuracy,
and coverage) when evaluating retrieved information sources, and checks that
the retrieved information sources are relevant to the topic of interest.
(Standards 1.2.d; 2.4.a; 3.2.a; 3.4.a; 3.4.g; 3.7.a)
7. Can identify and understands the importance of recording the pertinent parts of a
bibliographic record retrieved in the Kean catalog and in periodical index databases.
(Standards 2.5.c; 2.5.d)
8. Understands that the concept of academic integrity requires that, when information
is used, the source of information must be cited in order to avoid committing
plagiarism.
a. Knows that sources must be cited whether the information is quoted,
paraphrased, or summarized. (Standards 3.1.c; 5.2.f)
b. Knows that APA citation style requires a brief citation in the text of the paper
as well as a complete bibliographic citation in the paper’s References list.
(Standard 5.3.a)
c. Understands that examples and explanations of APA style may be found in the
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, which is shelved
in the Reference Collection. (Standard 5.3.a)
* The ACRL standards satisfied by meeting the aforementioned objectives are available in full at the
following Website: American Library Association. Association of College and Research Libraries
(2003). Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Retrieved July 20, 2004
from the World Wide Web: http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilcomstan.html
Lesson outline prepared by librarians Linda Cifelli and Caroline Geck, August 2004.
[Last revision 08/28/04 LC]