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BAS Business-Library Resources: Instruction

Teaching Information Literacy & Research Skills

You can help your students develop effective research skills--information literacy--in the following ways:

  • Schedule a classroom session with a librarian. 
  • Embed a librarian in your class.
  • Require appointments with the librarians.  
  • Develop challenging research assignments with a librarian's help.
  • Develop a LibGuide tailored to your class.  
  • Link LIS1001 or LIS2004 to your course as a Learning Community.  
  • Advertise and use the MDC Learning Resources Facebook page. 

To request a class session, click here.  To speak to a librarian about developing assignments, creating a LibGuide or having someone embedded in your course, contact your campus library.

What is Information Literacy

With information coming at us from an unprecedented variety of sources, developing the ability to think critically about the information we use and share has become increasingly important, and increasingly challenging.

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) defines Information literacy as the set of integrated abilities encompassing:

  • The reflective discovery of information.
  • The understanding of how information is produced and valued.
  • The use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.

For more information, see ACRL's Information Literacy Framework

More Best Practices

Best Practices for Creating Assignments That Incorporate Information Literacy

You might not think of information literacy when you think about math, but combining the two is totally possible! With a little imagination, you can probably think of several assignments that require students to conduct research related to what they are studying in math.

You might, for example, ask students to research and evaluate statistical data, report on the contributions of a famous mathematician, or find newspaper articles on how math is applied to real world problems. Or, you might want your students to learn how to use Boolean logic to find information in a library database or internet search engine.

Whatever the activity, you'll want to be aware of best practices for incorporating information literacy into the assignments you create. The infographic below contains some helpful tips. (A text version is also available.)