Alternative to Information Literacy: Undergraduate Research and Writing

Stanley Wilder, J udi Briden and Ann Marshall University of Rochester River Campus Libraries

Planning• brainstorming• collaboration• training

faculty work practice study

• the question• our methods• project plan

• retrospective interviews• “what don’t we know”?

faculty expectations

exploratory investigation of student work practice

Undergraduate Work Practice Study: A multiphase project

Planning• brainstorming• collaboration• training

faculty work practice study

• the question• our methods• project plan

• retrospective interviews• “what don’t we know”?

faculty expectations

exploratory investigation of student work practice

Undergraduate Work Practice Study: A multiphase project

Planning• brainstorming• collaboration• training

faculty work practice study

• the question• our methods• project plan

• retrospective interviews• “what don’t we know”?

faculty expectations

exploratory investigation of student work practice

Undergraduate Work Practice Study: A multiphase project

Planning• brainstorming• collaboration• training

faculty work practice study

• the question• our methods• project plan

• retrospective interviews• “what don’t we know”?

faculty expectations

exploratory investigation of student work practice

Undergraduate Work Practice Study: A multiphase project

Planning• brainstorming• collaboration• training

faculty work practice study

• the question• our methods• project plan

• retrospective interviews• “what don’t we know”?

faculty expectations

exploratory investigation of student work practice

Undergraduate Work Practice Study: A multiphase project

Planning• brainstorming• collaboration• training

faculty work practice study

• the question• our methods• project plan

• retrospective interviews• “what don’t we know”?

faculty expectations

exploratory investigation of student work practice

Undergraduate Work Practice Study: A multiphase project

Faculty Work Practice Study

observe faculty doing their work

findings about faculty collaboration

new institutional repository interface:“researcher page”

Facilities• When and why do students choose the library as a physical space? When and why do they choose to work elsewhere?

• Which parts of the library do students like the best and why? Which do they like the least?

• What facilities do students wish the library had or provided?

Reference• What are students successful and unsuccessful research strategies?

• What library and non-library resources do students use?

• What are the instruction needs of freshman? Of upper-level students?

• What strategies work for high achieving students? For overwhelmed students?

• How well do students apply research strategies learned as freshman to later classes?

• When do students need help? When and why do they ask for help? Who outside of the library do they ask for help?

Web Services• What do students need to do on the web? How does the library fit into their web usage?

• What do students do online? What do they wish they could do online?

• How does or doesn’t the library website meet their needs for doing their research/assignments?

Planning and Collaboration: Identifying research questions

What do students really do when they write their research papers?

Retrospective Interviews (a glance at data gathered with a work practice method)

Stephanie

Alyssa

Faculty Work Practice Student Work Practice

?

The Value of a Work Practice Approach

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Generation 3

Interviewing facultyabout their expectations

forundergraduate research

papers

Questions We Asked• What are the hallmarks of a good paper?

• How do you expect students in this class to find books and articles for their research papers?

• In a recent class, what was the biggest obstacle to students writing successful research papers?

• What is the most helpful thing that I or librarians at the reference desk can do

to help your students finish their papers?

Faculty Interviews

Hallmarks of a Good Paper

• Well written

• Good mechanics

• Well organized and complete

• Good topic

• Students showed real thought and interest

• High quality resources

Faculty Interviews

How Students Should FindGood Resources

• Independently• With help of

instructor or librarian

• Work with other students

• Start with references in textbook

• Use instructions in guide, syllabus, or handout

• Use skills learned in BI

• Use databases• Use ILL• Use web (as long as

quality is high)

Faculty Interviews

Obstacles to Good Papers

• Poor – time management

– argumentation skills

– critical judgment

– understanding of material

– writing skills

– choice of topic

• Ignorance about plagiarism

• Lack of focus

• Giving up too easily on a topic

• Inappropriate writing style for discipline

• Materials– not finding sufficient

quality or quantity– pursuing only those

online– pursuing only in library

collection—not using ILL

• Not knowing when to ask a librarian for help

• Seeing writing center as remedial—not seeking help

Faculty Interviews

Many faculty were unclear on when and how they think

undergraduateslearn to do research

(find books and articles)

Faculty Interviews

Early Benefits from Interviews

• Librarians learned more about the classes they work with

• Different librarians used the interviews – to build on already strong relationships– to engage with faculty they did not know

well• Some faculty have asked librarians for

greater participation in their classes

Faculty Interviews

Student Work Practice Study

• A sense of where and when we’ll want to do our observations

• A variety of tools we can call on

• Activities will be interesting and fun for students, but also for the researchers

?

Work Practice in Context:

Listening in a Literacy-Free Environment

Who Students Areand Why They’re Here

Who Librarians Are

IT Simplicity and Power

Listening