Student Learning Outcomes
After participating in library instruction, students will gain the following competencies and be able to apply the associated learning objectives.
Competency 1. Understand that research is a process.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify research topics and develop research questions.
- Critically examine primary concepts of the research question and articulate its scope.
- Craft a research plan to organize, store, and manage information sources as appropriate to discipline and information needs.
Competency 2. Understand that information can be complex and nuanced.
Learning Objectives:
- Analyze information to back up a claim or articulate an argument.
- Evaluate information to determine if it is relevant to the research question.
- Apply research in order to contextualize it within a broader framework (historical, socioeconomic, or disciplinary).
- Synthesize information in order to articulate practical applications of research.
Competency 3. Formulate and evaluate a search strategy.
Learning Objectives:
- Construct a search strategy that is appropriate to the research topic.
- Generate and discover keywords that connect the research topic to appropriate sources.
- Recognize when to retool or reframe the search query as part of an iterative process.
- Employ a variety of information seeking techniques (boolean logic, subject terms, limiters, etc.) to increase the effectiveness of the search strategy.
Competency 4. Evaluate and understand different types of sources.
Learning Objectives:
- Differentiate between sources by format (book, article, multimedia, data, etc.) and by category (primary, secondary, tertiary, etc.).
- Contextualize the relationship between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources.
- Critically evaluate and understand the relevance of sources by determining their purpose, audience, perspective, context, scope, and authority.
Competency 5. Examine authority and neutrality in information systems.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand and articulate how the dominant systems of our culture have impacted and determined who has and who does not have authority and expertise in scholarship.
- Understand that information resources, search engines, and modes of knowledge production include their own characteristics and biases, and therefore should be approached critically.
- Examine how information has value and resides in systems of value (monetary, social, cultural, etc.).
- Identify strategies and resources to recognize, find, and elevate traditionally marginalized voices.
Competency 6. Use information effectively and ethically.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand scholarship as conversation that exists in the community, and the role of peer review and citation.
- Incorporate information and resources with integrity (attribution, copyright, privacy, context, privilege, etc.).
- Avoid making logical fallacies while using information and evidence to support arguments.