The Impact of Information Literacy on Research Methods: A Model for Student Success.

• In Event: Efforts to Improve Student Performance in Criminology Classrooms

Abstract

The ability to conduct a focused literature review is a skill learned through repetition; most academics have honed this skill through development of their own scholarship. Quite often though students beginning an introductory research methods class have little experience in searching and synthesizing empirical research. While students are commonly required to develop a research proposal throughout a research methods course, frequently they leave the course with little more training in the literature review process than they had at the onset of the course. This deficiency can be problematic for students' academic success at both the undergraduate level, and in preparation for post-baccalaureate studies.
One approach used to develop the students' skill set in developing a targeted literature review is embedding information literacy into a research methods course. Collaboration between instructors and librarians is a key component of this approach that empowers students with direct experience in searching for and evaluating scholarly work. This presentation outlines the dimensions of information literacy and describes how it has been incorporated into a research methods course. Additionally, we discuss the efficacy of this pedagogy for student success via experience with conducting a focused literature review for a research proposal.

Authors

• Page Brannon, University of Alaska Anchorage

• Cory R. Lepage, California State University, East Bay