Information Literacy: An Annotated Bibliography
Doll, C. (2003). Ken Macrorie's I-Search Model. School Library Media Activities
Monthly, 19(6), 24-25,42.
This article explains the main points Macrorie’s I-Search model for student
research. The key to his model is allowing students to pick their own topics.
Students write their paper using the first person answering what they knew, why
they are writing, the search story and what they learned. The article talks about
this model’s application in elementary and secondary education. It gives some
reasons why school library media specialists should use this model in their
schools. It is flexible, adaptable to any age student, and powerful, given its ability
to stimulate a student's personal interests.
Gesler, D. (2007). Research Is Elementary: How "Blue's Clues" Can Help Teach
Communication Research Methods. Communication Teacher, 21(4), 118-122.
This article describes how to explain the six characteristics of research in a
creative and engaging way, by showing an episode of “Blue’s Clues”. The
activity aims to make research fun and reduce anxiety surrounding research. It
creates a vivid illustration of the basic characteristics of the research process, and
to illustrate that the research process is non-threatening and should be thought of
as a process that can be done by students. The activity also helps students realize
that research methods are not "math," nor are they limited to statistical analyses.
Guinee, K., & Association for Educational Communications and Technology, W. C.
(2004). Internet Searching by K-12 Students: A Research-Based Process Model.
Association For Educational Communications And Technology, October 1, 2004.
This article summarizes research studies that have been conducted on how K-12
students research on the Internet. It describes the ways in which students develop
research questions, search engines, construct search strings, analyze search
results, evaluate sites, identify information, take notes, synthesize information,
cite sources, and produce research products. The article also suggests strategies
that students can develop to improve the effectiveness and quality of their Webbased research.
Harvey II, C. A. (2001). It's Elementary, My Dear Researcher. School Library Media
Activities Monthly, 18(4), 25.
This article presents tips on how to manage and teach research skills to
elementary students. It addresses the problem of a class of students going into the
library and all running straight to the Internet station. The select few who made it
would spend the entire class time online and the rest waiting for a turn. The
article suggests ways to improve student’s research success in the library by
dividing the class into groups and having them rotate through stations using
different resources such as encyclopedias, reference books, nonfiction books, and
the use of the Internet. This new organization of researching caused students to
be more focused and gave them the opportunity to use a variety of resources.
Landreau, J. (2011). Research: Why Wait Till High School?. Phi Delta Kappan, 92(6),
55-57.
This article discusses the benefits of teaching research skills to elementary school
students. The author says that research skills can help younger students engage in
learning more actively and improve the library and Internet research abilities of
the student. She suggests several steps to engage young students in research
skills, including allowing students to choose their own research topic, allowing
students to decide what to report on, and encouraging students to read their work
aloud to each other.
Oberg, D. (1999). Teaching the Research Process--For Discovery and Personal Growth.
This article explains Alberta’s research model. It helps librarians and teachers
provide instructional guidance that is both affective and cognitive in focus. The
paper summarizes her Focus on Research model, which is made up of five stages
and the skills you need at each stage. The first stage is planning. The skills
include: establish topic, identify information sources, identify audience and
presentation format, establish evaluation criteria and review process. The second
stage is information retrieval. The skills include: locate resources, collect
resources and review process. The third stage is information processing. The
skills include: choose relevant information, evaluate information, organize and
record information, make connections and inferences, create product, revise and
edit and review process. The fourth stage is information sharing. The skills
include: present findings, demonstrate appropriate audience behavior and review
process. The fifth stage is evaluation. The skills include: evaluate product,
evaluate research procedures and skills, and review process. Overall themes in
teaching the research process are discussed, including: developing emotional
literacy; investing time in exploration; supporting students during their work; the
teaching role of the librarian; and understanding the process approach.
Swartz, E. (2005). And the Answer is.. Teaching Pre K-8, 35(4), 41-42.
This article provides tips for teachers in teaching research skills to elementary
students. It suggests including specific questions when giving assignments. A
structured checklist helps students stay organized, focused and moving forward.
The author shares helpful reminders such as: keep questions to be answered
within sight at all times, train your students to consider if material collected helps
to answer the question, keep track of completed bibliographical information, and
help your students organize the gathered data by using envelopes.
Yutzey, S. D. (2010). Five Years Later: A Look at Building and Triangulating Evidence
in a School Library. Library Media Connection, 29(1), 14-16.
This article is about the author answering the question “how your school library
impacts students.” This question was posed at an evidence-based practice
workshop in 2005. It made the author realize that the traditional statistics she
brought along did not address this question. So five year later she is able to
answer that question after asking students to reflect on various issues relating to
information literacy and research skills. This formative assessment provided
powerful information. It revealed patterns of student understanding and
confusion. Using the data helps teacher librarians shape and direct what they do
as they work with students one-on-one and in groups and how they design and
implement their collaborative lessons with teachers.