Lessons Learned:
Developing an Information Literacy Course
for Science Majors and Pre-Med Students
Sarah H. Jeong & Mary Beth Lock
Library Instruction at the Point of Need Conference| Oct. 29, 2010
Presentation Outline
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Overview of Wake Forest University
Overview of LIB100 program
Expansion of LIB100 program
Development of LIB220 course
Overview of LIB220 course
– Course Goals and Topics
– Formative Assessment
– Summative Assessment
• Lessons Learned
• Recommended Reading
Overview of Wake Forest
University
Academic Collegiate University
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Located in Winston-Salem, NC (since 1956)
Private, co-ed liberal arts education
It is mid-size, 4569 undergraduates (2009/10)
Traditional campus setting, with the majority of
undergraduates living on campus
Students are very reliant on their library for
study space and services.
Genesis of LIB 100
• Developed in 2003 to provide basic instruction to students
on using tools for research
• A one hour elective course
• Currently teach 12 sections in Fall and 11 sections in
Spring
• 15-18 students per class
• Teaching is shared among 16 librarians, with 5 assistants
• More demand than we can supply
Goals of LIB100
Goals:
• Determine nature and extent of information needed to identify research
topic
• Learn how to find resources and the strengths and limitations of each
type
• Learn to evaluate sources for reliability and identify bias
• Identify keywords, and structure and implement search strategies
• Acquire in depth knowledge of library services and resources.
• Develop awareness of legal, economic, political and social aspects of
information to use information ethically.
o Copyright
o Honor code
o Plagiarism
• Show some interesting tools
o Zotero
o Features of our catalog (bookbag, holds, recalls)
o Interlibrary Loan
Overview of LIB100-Assignments
• Getting to a research topic
• Identifying search terms (keywords)
• Finding and evaluating relevant
o books
o databases/journals/articles
o websites
• Final project
o annotated bibliography
o class presentation
Expansion of the LIB100 Program
• Spring 2007
• Science Librarian, Social Sciences Librarian, and Coordinator of LIB
100 developed proposals for two library courses at the 200 level for
upper-level undergraduate majors in the sciences and social
sciences
• Courses were approved in November 2007
• Spring 2008
• LIB220 Science Research Sources and Strategies and LIB210
Social Science Research Sources and Strategies were developed
• Fall 2008
• LIB220 and LIB210 were offered
• Spring 2009
• LIB230 Business & Accounting Research Sources and Strategies
and LIB250 Humanities Research Sources and Strategies were
offered
Development of LIB220
Information Literacy Standards for Science and
Engineering/Technology
By The ALA/ACRL/STS Task Force on Information Literacy for Science and
Technology
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The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information
needed.
The information literate student acquires needed information effectively and efficiently.
The information literate student critically evaluates the procured information and its sources,
and as a result, decides whether or not to modify the initial query and/or seek additional
sources and whether to develop a new research process.
The information literate student understands the economic, ethical, legal, and social
issues surrounding the use of information and its technologies and either as an individual
or as a member of a group, uses information effectively, ethically, and legally to accomplish a
specific purpose.
The information literate student understands that information literacy is an ongoing
process and an important component of lifelong learning and recognizes the need to
keep current regarding new developments in his or her field.
ACRL-STS Science Information Literacy Wiki
Promoting to Students
• LIB220 course announcement was sent to majors and
minors in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Health & Exercise
Science
• Health Professions Advisor sent the course announcement to
pre-med students
• Flyers were posted in the library as well as in the science
departments
Goals of LIB220
1. Determine the nature and extent of information needed to identify a
suitable research topic in the sciences.
2. Learn how library resources in the sciences are organized.
3. Develop advanced literature searching strategies with using
scientific databases to make them effective searchers for information.
4. Learn how to evaluate scientific research critically.
5. Learn how existing and emerging information technologies can assist
in their research processes in the sciences
a. Zotero
b. Endnote
c. Delicious
d. GoogleDocs
Course Topics
• Organization of scientific information
• Primary Sources: Journal articles of original research, patents,
conference papers, etc.
• Secondary Sources: Textbooks, review articles, handbooks, etc.
• Tertiary Sources: Encyclopedias, guides to the literature, and
bibliographies, etc.
• Peer review process
• Reading assignment and class discussion
– Yudkin, B. (2006). Critical Reading: Making Sense of Research Papers in
Life Sciences and Medicine. Routledge study guides;. London ; New
York: Routledge.
Science Research Guides
• Biology Research Guide
http://guides.zsr.wfu.edu/biology
• Neuroscience Research Guide
http://guides.zsr.wfu.edu/neuroscience
• Chemistry Research Guide
• http://guides.zsr.wfu.edu/chemistry
• Physics Research Guide
• http://guides.zsr.wfu.edu/physics
• Health & Exercise Science Research Guide
• http://guides.zsr.wfu.edu/hes
Scientific Databases
Multi-subject Databases
• Web of Science
• Google Scholar
Biology
• Biological Abstracts
• BioOne Indexing &
Abstracting
• GEOBASE
• PubMed
Health & Exercise Science
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SportDiscus
Dynamed
CINAHL
PubMed
Chemistry
• Scifinder Scholar
• Analytical WebBase
Physics
• INSPEC
• arXiv
Reference Management Software
Fall 2009:
• Taught how to use Endnote and Zotero for individual
work on Final Projects
Fall 2010:
• Currently teaching how to use Zotero for group work on
Final Projects
• Students can still use Zotero but not Endnote after
graduation
Open Access
• Open Access
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Directory of Open
Access Journals
http://www.doaj.org
Public Library of
Science (PLoS)
BioMed Central
PubMed Central
arXiv
Open Access @ WFU
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WakeSpace
institutional repository
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ZSR Library’s fund to
assist faculty in
paying open access
publication fees
Research Ethics
• Historical Events in Biomedical Research
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Nuremberg Code
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) Sexually Transmitted Disease
Inoculation Study
• National Research Act of 1974
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Established the National Commission for the Protection of Human
Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research
Required establishment of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) at
institutions receiving U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
support for human subjects research
• Belmont Report
• Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Copyright and Plagiarism
• Copyright Law
• What is permissible/what requires permission
• Consequences of Plagiarism
• Use clickers
– “Can you do that?”
Formative Assessment Fall 2009
Formative Assessment = continual feedback during
the course
• Research Log Assignment
• Clickers
• American Medical Association (AMA) Citation Style
• Copyright and Plagiarism
• Minute Paper
Angelo, T. A. & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom Assessment
Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Minute Paper Fall 2009
What was the most useful thing you have learned in this
course so far?
• "The most useful thing I have learned is the number of
resources out there for finding articles. It is helpful to
know the differences between primary and secondary
sources, and how to narrow down searches."
• "Learning how to use Endnote and Zotero for citations
was extremely useful because I know personally I always
have trouble with them."
• "The most useful thing I've learned so far is how to find
an navigate different databases such as Web of Science,
PubMed, etc."
Minute Paper Fall 2009
What question(s) remain uppermost in your mind as
we end this session?
• "I am still curious as to how to use all the resources
available on the ZSR website. I never knew there
were so many and it is kind of overwhelming."
• "Simply because I am a chemistry major, I would love
to find other databases and tools for chemistry other
than Web of Science, JSTOR."
• "I feel very unclear/unconfident on how to write an
appropriate annotation to be successful in the final
project."
Summative Assessment Fall 2009
• Summative Assessment = graded assignment which
demonstrates what the students have learned at the end of a
project or periodically
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Nobel Prize Winner Journals Assignment
Secondary Source Assignment
Primary Source Assignment
Final Project Annotated Bibliography
Nobel Prize Winner Journals
Assignment
• Students determined if 3 original journal articles
written by the recipients of the 2009 Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine were in ZSR Library’s
collection
• Real-world example of finding sources from a
bibliography in ZSR Library
Secondary Source & Primary Source
Assignments
Secondary Source Assignment
• Students searched scientific databases using the
advanced searching tips taught in class and found a
review article on their research topic
• Secondary source formatted in AMA citation style
Primary Source Assignment
• Using scientific databases or the bibliography of a review
article, students found a primary source related to their
research topic
• Primary source formatted in AMA citation style
Final Project Fall 2009
• Annotated Bibliography of secondary sources and
primary sources on a research topic of their choice
– Summary of topic based on the sources found for
the final project
– Discussion of search strategies used to find
sources for the final project
– Bibliography of sources formatted in the American
Medical Association Citation Style
– Lessons learned about scientific research
throughout the semester
Formative Assessment Fall 2010
Clickers
• Primary, Secondary, Tertiary Sources
• AMA Citation Style
• Copyright and Plagiarism
Minute Paper
Class Discussion of Documentary:
Big Bucks, Big Pharma Marketing Disease and Pushing
Drugs (2006)
Minute Paper Fall 2010
What was the most useful thing you have learned in
this course so far?
• "I have learned about a ton of databases I didn't know
about before."
• "How to effectively use various databases. It used to
be a chore trying to search for sources, but I am pretty
skilled now."
• "Learning how to use PubMed efficiently and being
able to narrow down the choices. As an HES major
involved in several projects, that is a very handy skill to
have."
Minute Paper Fall 2010
What question(s) remain uppermost in your mind as
we end this session?
• "I am still unsure about my other options for finding an
article if Wake doesn't have it."
• "A question I have is how to effectively relate sources
to my research/lab report in the discussion."
Summative Assessment Fall 2010
• Repeated Assessments
• Research Log Assignment
• Finding relevant primary and secondary sources
• New Assessments
• Science News Assignment
– Read references in science news sources and find the original journal article in
ZSR Library
• WorldCat Assignment
– Find a book ZSR Library does not own on their research topic and request it
through Interlibrary Loan
• Group Presentations and Final Project Bibliography
– Assigned groups of 2-3 students who had similar research interests
– Group work prepares students for collaborative work in scientific research
Final Project Fall 2010
• Oral presentation (6-7 minutes each presentation)
o Discussion of search strategies
o Include best sources used and why
o Presentation slides created in GoogleDocs
• Final project bibliography created in GoogleDocs
o 10 sources and search strategies
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Review articles
Primary sources
Books from the library and from ILL (WorldCat) assignment
Science news sources
Sourced formatted in AMA citation style
Lessons Learned
• Students don't always read the comments from one
assignment and carry it forward to future assignments
• Students enjoy using clickers for classroom interaction
o They are engaging
o Their answers are anonymous
• Revision and refreshing is necessary to improve the course
in the future
o Minute Paper can tell you where you need to clarify your
lecture
Lessons Learned cont’d
• Students have applied the research strategies that they
learned not only for LIB220 assignments but also for lab
reports in their other science courses and future
research
• Since LIB220 students will become future scientific
researchers and medical professionals, teaching
research ethics at the undergraduate level is important
and encourages them to start thinking about how to
conduct research on human subjects ethically
Recommended Reading
• National Academy of Sciences. On Being a Scientist: A Guide
to Responsible Conduct in Research. Washington, D.C.:
National Academies Press, 2009.
• Macrina, F. L. Scientific Integrity: Text and Cases in
Responsible Conduct of Research. Washington, D.C.: ASM
Press, 2005.
• Issever, Ç. & Peach, K. Presenting Science: A Practical Guide
to Giving a Good Talk. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University
Press, 2010.
Recommended Reading cont’d
• Yudkin, B. Critical Reading: Making Sense of Research Papers
in Life Sciences and Medicine. London ; New York: Routledge,
2006.
• Friedland, A. J. & Folt, C. L. Writing Successful Science
Proposals. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
• Slebodnik, M., & Zeidman-Karpinski, A. (2008). Resources for
Information Literacy Instruction in the Sciences. Issues in
Science and Technology Librarianship.
Questions?
Sarah H. Jeong, MLIS
Research & Instruction
Librarian-Science
Mary Beth Lock, MLS
Director of Access
Services
Z. Smith Reynolds Library
Z. Smith Reynolds Library
jeongsh@wfu.edu
lockmb@wfu.edu