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Ramp Up Your Research Skills
CHAPTER 26
These days, information is literally at your fingertips.
PRODUCT PREVIEW
Go ahead—pat yourself on the back! You have the great fortune of being born into an era when most information is at your fingertips. A mere generation earlier, research required the tedious tasks of going from library to library, culling through card catalogs, filling out form after form to check out books, and waiting (often weeks) for a book to be returned by another borrower. Information searches were made page-by-page. Copying required standing at a temperamental machine feeding it a nickel per page. It was a slow and painstaking process. Isn’t it ironic that, in spite of how easy it is to research these days, one of the biggest problems faced by first year college students is their lack of basic research skills? Many students assume that because they have good tech skills, they also have good research skills. These skills are not the same. The ability to use a computer, surf YouTube, instant message, share photos, use Facebook, download music and games, and upload a video, makes you digital literate not information literate . Don’t wait until you get to college to become information literate. Students who mistake digital literacy for information literacy can end up learning the hard way, through a failed class, or mandatory and costly remediation, that they need to ramp up their research skills!
Learning Goals By the end of this chapter you will be able to: 1. Compare digital vs. information literacy. 2. List information literacy skills students need for basic college readiness. 3. Identify bias, relevance, accuracy, credibility, and currency in a sample article.
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