About the Course

Instructors

General Syllabus

Course Modules

The Paper Trail

Survival Tools

General Education Integrated Skills

Academic Integrity

LIB 120 Introduction to Information Literacy (3 credits)
In-depth exploration and practice of information literacy skills designed to support college-level research and lifelong learning. (EC)

LIB 120 is offered during the Fall, Spring, and Summer sessions, in both Kingston and Providence.  For information regarding the course schedule and registration, visit the e-Campus page at http://www.uri.edu/ecampus/.

LIB 120 uses hands-on learning to help students understand information concepts that affect their ability to communicate effectively as student scholars and as citizens of the world. The course requires the use and practice of critical thinking skills in order to solve information problems as well as to question the nature and sources of information authority.

This course introduces students to the world of information through a variety of perspectives- the popular/public, professional/industry/trade, and academic/scholarly. All sections of the course teach students the concepts of information and how to identify, find, evaluate, analyze, and use information effectively. This understanding greatly impacts how students communicate within the academic world, their communities and in the future as employees and employers.

The major semester project is the Paper Trail project. This project requires an average of five Annotated Bibliographies using a wide variety of source materials to answer a student designed research question. Materials include books, periodicals of all types, web sites as well as expert and statistical information. The bibliographies are researched, written and revised over the course of the semester with the final project due at the last class. A second annotated bibliography of "Sources Not Used" is also required. This "not used" bibliography is meant to provide an opportunity for students to recognize and illustrate the value vs. lack of value that individual information sources can have to a particular research question.

Over the course of the semester, LIB 120 students participate in many small group or team exercises that ask the group to discuss an issue or concept, collect the group's findings, summarize and report back to the class with their ideas.

Finally, students in this course learn to use information and information technology to support and further their academic needs. Students research the human impact issues of information technology in their study of the Information Age. They also physically use information technology, hardware, (wireless laptops, teaching stations) and software, (Library catalogs and databases, Smart Board technology) for their in class work and presentations.

This course is one component of the Plan for Information Literacy at the University of Rhode Island. For further information about the course, see the General Syllabus, or contact Mary MacDonald, Information Literacy Librarian.