1

Library Research Skills and New College Students

Richard Eissinger

Southern Utah University

Today’s Entering College Student

3

CIRP Freshman Survey*

HS grade inflation: 1966-2004 A- or higher: 20% to 48% C+ or lower: 22% to 5%

HS student – frequently felt bored in class 1985: 29% > 2004: 43%

Studying 6+ hours per week 1987: 47% > 2004: 34%

Faculty perspectives on student preparedness 45% agree that most students they teach lack

the basic skills for college level work* http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/freshman.html

4

CIRP Freshman Survey*

* http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/freshman.html

5

An ever-increasing proportion of high school students in the US today aspire to college.

Percentage of college students receiving bachelor’s degrees has remained relatively constant over the past 25 years.

It now takes on average 5 years to get a 4-year college degree.

Between 30%-60% of students now require remedial education on entry to college, depending on the type of institution they attend.

Average public undergraduate education = $12,000/yr

David T. Conley. College knowledge : what it really takes for students to succeed and what we can do to get them ready. 2005.

6

First Year Experience*

Increased freshman retention National average: 63-70% SUU: before FYE 51% - after FYE 59%

58.9% report increased persistence to sophomore year 58.4% report improved student connections with peers 51.2% report increased use of campus services 50.6% report increased student satisfaction with the institution 45.0% report increased out-of-class faculty/student interaction 41.6% report increased level of student participation in student

activities 36.0% report increased academic abilities 31.1% report increased student satisfaction with faculty 26.7% report improved grade-point-averages 18.3% report increased persistence to graduation

* http://www.sc.edu/fye/index.html

7

New Students: The Millennials

Echo boomers, net generation, gamers Most ethnically diverse generation in US history Tend to be visual learners, get bored quickly (lectures) Hold a positive view of technology It’s been suggested that these students are often

overconfident because they equate their technology savvy with information literacy.

OCLC white paper on information habits of college students found that 80% of undergrads use Web search engines for all or most assignments, while only half used the library’s subscription-based resources.*

* http://www.oclc.org/research/announcements/2002-06-24.htm

8

Millennial Searching Habits

Many high school teachers endorse the internet as a good research resource.

Tend to find information in a chaotic fashion, focusing on speed and convenience.

Show little evidence of coherent search strategies. Easily accessible information enables students to stop

at the first answer they find. They expect the research process to be easy – like

Google. Email still a fixture in teens’ lives, but IM is preferred. Size of wired population surges at the 7th grade mark They may be whizzes on communication devices, but

their communication skills – both in writing and in person – have a long way to go.

9

Beloit College Mindset List*

Gas has always been unleaded. What Berlin wall? They never “rolled down” a car window. They don't remember when "cut and paste" involved

scissors. Libraries have always been the best centers for

computer technology and access to good software. Digital cameras have always existed. They’ve grown up with bottled water. They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and

Malcolm X from Spike Lee.

* http://www.beloit.edu/~pubaff/mindset

10

High School to College Transition

The best predictors of whether a student will graduate or not are academic preparation and motivation.

High schools focus on making students college-eligible – to meet admissions requirements. They may or may not be college-ready.

Many students enter college with poor time management, study skills, and research skills.

11

High School / College Differences

Change from a teacher-directed to a student-directed environment.

High school teachers often spend considerable time attempting to motivate students to learn.

Experience culture shock when they enter learning environments that different from their past experiences.

12

High School / College Differences

Instructors do not always collect homework Fewer tests Professors are trained experts in their field & not in

teaching methods Extra credit usually not available Students are expected to synthesize concepts between

textbooks, class readings, and the real world College classes larger, longer, don't meet every day More writing required in college More academic freedom

13

High School / College Differences

High school is more textbook focused; college more lecture focused

In high school the parent is held responsible; in college student is held responsible for actions (FERPA)

In high school the school creates social, cultural activities to enhance students’ education; in college student must seek out social interactions

High school students can remain in school despite poor academic performance; they can be dropped in college.

Added concerns:

Increased numbers of high school graduates through 2015

Decreasing numbers of school librarians Students reading less Students have limited library research skills Students not adept at using the Web The myth of multitasking

The Next Generations of College Students

Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates by State and Race/Ethnicity, 1992 to 2022. http://www.wiche.edu/

15

Percent change in graduates from high schoolsBetween 2004-5 and 2014-15

ALA/AASL: For Immediate Release, April 21, 2008

Mesa, Ariz., public schools' has announced the decision to remove teacher-librarians from 87 schools. School library media specialists and advocates of school libraries across the country are joining together to decry the elimination of every teacher-librarian over a three-year period. The Mesa public school system is the largest in the state, with almost 74,000 students.

The positions were eliminated primarily because of a deficit of more than $20 million—caused by declining student enrollment and a state budget deficit of $1.2 billion.

The Next Generations of College Students

17

Web 2.0

anonymous authors public editing

iSkills – Educational Testing Service

2% students could judge web site's objectivity 65% could judge authoritativeness 40% correctly used multiple search terms 44% could identify statement that stated

demands of an assignment

ETS, http://www.ets.org, iSkills

Research: the Student View

1. Locate information using Google

2. Take the first search results

3. Print out EVERYTHING

4. Put your name on it

5. Done

If it's on the Internet, it must be true.

If it's on the Internet, it's public information and free for us to copy.

The Next Generations of College Students

21

“The Google generation is a myth according to a new report by the British Library - just because kids grow up using the Internet doesn't mean they're adept at using the Web. Although young people demonstrate an ease and familiarity with computers, they rely on the most basic search tools and do not possess the critical and analytical skills to assess the information that they find on the web.”

Information Behavior of the Researcher of the Future.

January 11, 2008. Report by British Library.http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/reppres/gg_final_keynote_11012008.pdf

The Next Generations of College Students

To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence.

Americans are spending less time reading. Reading comprehension skills are eroding. These declines have serious civic, social, cultural and

economic implications

2007. National Endowment for the Arts. http://www.nea.gov

The Next Generations of College Students

The Myth of Multitasking

Walter, Kim. (Nov. 2007).

The Autumn of the multitaskers.

Atlantic Monthly, 300(4), 66-80. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200711/multitasking

23

Freshman Library Research Skills

Freshmen research problems

Lots of experience with computers; little with academic research

Little experience with library hard copy Difficulty determining academic value of

information they find Understanding of bias is limited Skill at tracking down original source is lacking Many don’t know what they don’t know

Information Literacy

Information Literacy in Utah Colleges

GE credit courses: DSC, SUU, WSU Pass a competency exam: USU Integrated with English composition: UofU,

BYU, UVSC

28

LM1010

SUU Information LiteracyLM 1010

30

Skills Survey > Test-Out Exam

0.010.020.030.040.050.060.070.080.090.0

100.0

31

Skills > Test-Out > Final

0.010.020.030.040.050.060.070.080.090.0

100.0

32

Boolean Searching

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

Fr So Ju Sr Average

Class Standing

Perc

en

t C

orr

ect

Pre-test

Post-test

Boolean searching by class

33

Scholarly vs. Popular

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

120.0%

Fr So Ju Sr Average

Class Standing

Per

cen

t C

orr

ect

Pre-test

Post-test

Scholarly vs popular by class

34

Learning outcomes

Learning Outcomes

100.0%

91.3%

60.9%

89.9%

76.8%

90.4%

85.9%

32.6%

85.2%

46.7%

Understand ethical and legal use of information.

Evaluate relevance of information.

Develop successful information search strategies.

Locate materials in the library.

Identify appropriate information sources.

Post-test Pre-test

Information Literacy Tutorials

ACRL – PRIMOhttp://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/is/iscommittees/webpages/emergingtech/primo/index.cfm

CLUEhttp://clue.library.wisc.edu/

Internet Navigatorhttp://www-navigator.utah.edu/

Marriott Library - Instruction Tutorialshttp://www.lib.utah.edu/instruction/tutorials.html

Research 101http://www.lib.washington.edu/uwill/research101/

TILThttp://tilt.lib.utsystem.edu/nf/intro/internet.htm

Research Skills and New Freshmen

37

Library anxiety

New college students indicate that they are not comfortable with library research

Size of library is intimidating Lack of knowledge about terminology and

locating items Don’t know how or where to begin Libraries in different buildings Dewey vs. LC – numbers are subjects and a

classification system

38

Library Phobias *

*Research Strategy: Overcoming Library Phobias. BYU. 1993.

39

Overcoming library phobias

Visit local university libraries and develop a relationship with a local university librarian

Teach searching a university OPAC Online chat Libraries are frequently the only place to go

after 5 pm to get answers Ask a librarian!

40

Searching skills

Dewey decimal vs LC Boolean searching Look for the help page Databases operate in similar ways Reading an index Using a table of contents or index (chapters in

an OPAC)

41

Searching skills – Boolean, etc.

Boolean terms – and, or, not Truncation and wildcards OPAC vs online resources – understanding

difference between electronic record and full text

Selecting an index – where to begin Subject headings vs keywords

subject headings usable across databases especially good in subject indexes

Searching skills

Google advanced search site:.gov + and – “open source” or open-source

Search engine ranking jux 2 Meta Search Engine

http://www.jux2.com/ Thumbshots.com Ranking

http://ranking.thumbshots.com/

43

Searching skills - keywords

Your results are only as good as the keywords you use

Brainstorm using a thesaurus (Tools in Word) Note how often their keywords show after

searching (Edit/Find in Word) Use multiple keywords Correct spelling is important

44

Locating sources

Abstracts vs citation colleges have abstract and citation databases

available some try to use abstracts as the full text don’t understand what a citation is

Microfilm, microfiche – colleges have variety of formats available

Full text Bound periodicals Interlibrary loan – usually within school districts;

colleges have ILL

45

Scholarly sources

Understand academic journals vs. magazines Peer-reviewed, refereed, scholarly, academic Scholarly research

Start them in high school to understand these distinctions (e.g., in Utah MasterFILE Premier is used as the high school default database)

Google

Open-Access Journals

DOAJ – Directory of Open Access Journalshttp://www.doaj.org

PLoS – Public Library of Sciencehttp://www.plos.org/

BioMed Centralhttp://www.biomedcentral.com/

Open J-Gatehttp://www.openj-gate.com/ s

47

Evaluating sources

MLA authority, accuracy/verifiability, currency

Source / authority Purpose Content / coverage Currency Bias Why evaluate?

Students will need to defend their information choices to their professors

48

Citing sources

Style guides don’t know about the different styles and

formats by discipline Plagiarism

Most students have not been taught the skills of paraphrasing, quoting and summarizing

Citation machines ProQuest, Questia Citation Machine, EasyBib, NoodleTools,

RapidCite

Citing sources

Citation help Research & Documentation Online. Diana Hacker

http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/resdoc Zotero Firefox Add-on

http://www.zotero.org

Citing sources

Ethics - Plagiarism Prevention ACRL - Plagiarism and cyber-plagiarism:

http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2003/june4/plagiarismcyberplagiarism.cfm

Plagiarism Prevention and Detection Resources and Software: http://www.erie.psu.edu/academic/lrc/ethos/index/Plagiarism.htm

Read-write-think: http://www.readwritethink.org/ Turnitin: http://plagiarism.org

Assessment

Information Literacy tutorials TRAILS: http://www.trails9.org/index.php?

page=home

52

Notetaking

Systematic notetaking leads to good research RefWorks, EndNote, Reference Manager Cornell method, outlining, graphic organizers

Cornell Notetaking, Dartmouthhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/success/notes.html

Cornell Notetaking System, BYUhttp://ccc.byu.edu/learning/note-tak.php

Microsoft OneNote

53

Microsoft OneNote

54

Conclusions

Discuss how their skills are transferable Prepare them for the size of college libraries Help your students see librarians are their

best resource

55