Reading Assignment # 5

The article “Information Navigation 101” talks about how universities and libraries are trying to teach and show students how to search for creditable information online through “scholarly databases” that are available to them through certain universities or colleges. The article also talks about how it is understood that students like to use the internet to do research because it is easy and convenient, but professors and libraries should make sure that their students are “ develop[ing] research skills to be effective” by educating them on the resources available for them.

Today, many colleges have adopted information literacy instruction classes to educate students on this topic. This article also mentioned how professors are getting tired and “frustrated with their students overreliance on Google, Yahoo,” and Wikipedia to help them with a research paper. When there are better resources outside of these three websites available for them to use. The main idea of this article is what could professors or libraries do or what have they already done to educate their students on information literacy? Some colleges have are started by requiring students to take the “Information and Communication Technology” test or the “Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy skills” test.

I like the idea how some colleges are going out of their way to make sure students are using effective research skills, like requiring them to take the ICT test. In my opinion, the only thing that is sad and shocking towards information literacy, is how some community colleges can’t afford to purchase any of the online journal subscriptions. This then leaves many students stuck with using search engines such as Google, if they do not have time to go to the library and get a printed source. In a way, some community colleges are helping foster this ineffective research behavior, even though they are not trying to do this. I’m so happy I have taken this class and educated myself on this topic before graduating because some students are going to graduate this May knowing nothing about this.

Andrea L. Foster “Information Navigation 101”