College Writing Faculty Workshop
September 2013 – Information Literacy, Part 1: Methods
Wednesday, September 11
Lindner 206
Some of the things we struggle with in ENG 110 are finding engaging ways to teach students how to access
and navigate scholarly databases, look for appropriate information once they find materials in the databases
(i.e., reading strategically), and understand how to use information as evidence. What tools we can use or
provide to help students (and us) engage in the inquiry process? Belk librarians Patrick Rudd and Lynne Bisko
join us to discuss this topic.
Selected Textbook and Other Student Resources
A. From Purdue OWL: “Conducting Research,” http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/8/
B. Everything’s an Argument, 6th ed. (Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz, 2013, Bedford/St. Martin’s) – Research
and Arguments:
The last section of Everything’s an Argument includes information about academic arguments, finding
evidence (primary and secondary), evaluating and using sources (print, electronic, and field research),
plagiarism and academic integrity, and documenting sources.
1. Finding Evidence activity:
Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz provide a list of 20 general topic areas form the Yahoo! Directory’s
“Issues and Causes” page: age discrimination, climate change, poverty, etc. They ask students to
do the following: “Narrow one or two of the items down to a more specific subject by using
research tools in the library or online such as scholarly books, journal articles, encyclopedias,
magazine pieces, and/or informational websites. Be prepared to explain how the particular
research resources influenced your choice of a more specific subject within the general subject
area. Also consider what you might have to do to turn your specific subject into a full-blown
topic proposal for a research paper assignment” (407-8.)
2. Evaluating Sources activities (see attached PDF. If you’re reading this online, double-click the
scanned page and it will open in Acrobat Reader for easier viewing.)
Materials Prepared by Paula Patch, College Writing Coordinator, September 2013
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C. Everyone’s an Author (Lunsford et. al, 2013, Norton) – Research
A full section of this textbook includes information about starting research (referred to as “joining
the conversation”), finding sources and considering research methods, keeping track of
sources/managing information overload, evaluating sources, synthesizing ideas,
quoting/paraphrasing/summarizing, and giving credit/avoiding plagiarism.. A particularly useful
feature of this section is its inclusion of projects—annotating a bibliography and writing a project
proposal—that help students organize and use these newly acquired research skills.
1. Reflection activity: “Think about activities that you have engaged in during the past couple of
weeks [note: years would work, too] that called for research of some kind. List the different
kinds of information you’ve sought and the different ways you went about that process. How did
you use the information or data that you gathered?” (327).
2. Thinking about the usefulness of research resources, from the Everyone’s an Author Tumblr site:
http://everyonesanauthor.tumblr.com/ :
“Most of the time, we use a dictionary to find information that we don’t already have, and
because we trust the dictionary to provide reliable and correct information, we don’t test or
question it. But perhaps we should confirm that the dictionary accurately matches our own world
knowledge. Make a list of four or five words that you and your friends use frequently and look
them up in a large dictionary (print or online). Is each word there in the dictionary? Does it give
the meaning that you and your friends intend? Evaluate the dictionary for its preciseness in
defining and describing words the way that you use them. Write a report that shows the words
that you looked up, the meanings that you intended, and whether the dictionary captures your
intended meaning. How adequate is the dictionary? End your report by evaluating the dictionary,
providing support for your conclusions.”
D. Writing: A Manual for the Digital Age (Blakesley and Hoogeveen, 2013, Cengage):
Section III of this textbook includes information about conducting research, from conceptualizing
the project, to conducting online, library, and field research, to using sources ethically. This textbook
includes the following advice to help students manage and think critically about the project, as well as
to hold them accountable for work in a way that doesn’t require you to grade a lot:
 Make research a habit by building it into your daily schedule.
 Keep a research journal and use it for the duration of the process. Begin by stating your
intent, making to-do lists, and listing and focusing possible subjects. Later, students can use
the journal to track keywords, databases searched, and notes on resources.
Selected Scholarly Resources:
 “Helping Students Read Difficult Texts,” from John C. Bean’s Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to
Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom:
http://www.case.edu/writing/pedsem/Bean_ReadingDifficultTexts.pdf
This book was used by First Flight and other participants in the summer writing workshop
sponsored by the Writing Excellence Initiative. One advantage of using some of the strategies in this
chapter is that faculty across the university know about them, too. This shared knowledge of
strategies and vocabulary could facilitate the transfer of knowledge from ENG 110 to other classes.

Margy MacMillan and Allison MacKenzie, “Strategies for Integrating Information Literacy and
Academic Literacy: Helping Undergraduate Students Make the Most of Scholarly Articles,” Library
Management 33.8/9 (July 2012): 525-35. Find it here: http://goo.gl/q3CK1e.
The authors describe a workshop designed to address challenges students have when reading
scholarly articles. Long description appears on the next page.
Materials Prepared by Paula Patch, College Writing Coordinator, September 2013
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“In preparing for the reading class in research methods, the authors (one is a content
professor, the other is a librarian) focused on addressing students’ understanding of the structure of
articles, jargon, and statistics. We also wanted to reduce affect- and authority-related barriers to show
students that articles were not perfect examples of scholarship that could not be criticized. For the
activity, the instructor chose a brief article that included statistics and was open to question on some
aspects of sample and conclusions. Students were provided with the citation and the link to the
article in advance, and while some read it in advance, we built in time to read the article within the
class.
The class started with a brief introduction to academic articles in the discipline of
communications, including their intended audience, the basic structure, and the purpose of each part
of the article. Students were also given a brief list of tips for more effective reading. We also
discussed different ways of annotating, and showed our heavily-annotated copies of the article which
contrasted with the near-inviolate printouts some students brought with them.
Students were asked to read the abstract of the article and develop questions based on it.
The librarian wrote the questions on the whiteboard. As a group, we read through the article,
summarizing and discussing the roles of different sections. When answers to the students’ questions
emerged, we added to them on the board, building the group’s understanding of the article. We
discussed the statistics in more detail, including which ones were or were not important to
understanding the article, and the drawbacks of the sample and methodology. Essentially, the authors
modeled how they, as scholars would read the article, what they would check, inquire into, or let
pass. We also modeled discussing the article, and dealing with differing interpretations. To encourage
students to question authority, we were quite forthright about the impenetrability of scholarly writing
in general, and shortcomings of the article we were using in particular. We concluded with a broader
discussion of the article, its aims and successes, and questions we would ask the authors.”
Announcements
 Please email your ENG 110 syllabus to Pat as soon as possible.
 Wednesday, Oct. 10, 12:15-1:15, Lindner 206: College Writing Faculty Lunch Workshop –
Information Literacy, Part 2: Approaches to teaching “the research paper”
 Full workshop schedule is on the College Writing website.
Materials Prepared by Paula Patch, College Writing Coordinator, September 2013
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Materials Prepared by Paula Patch, College Writing Coordinator, September 2013
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