Health Sciences - Library Resources for Faculty: Instruction

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

• Schedule a classroom session with a librarian.
• Embed a librarian in your course.
• Develop challenging research assignments that incorporate information literacy (MDC Learning Outcome #4). The tips on this page can help!
• Collaborate with a librarian on a LibGuide tailored to your course.
• Link LIS2004 to your course as a learning community.

For more information, contact Carla Clark or a librarian at your campus.

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.

As a professor, and as an expert in your field, you already know how to design assignments that reinforce the concepts you introduce in class. If your assignments include a research component, you can also help your students develop information literacy skills.

The infographic below lists some best practices to keep in mind when designing research assignments. (A text version is also available.)