Path of inquiry: What are some free Internet resources that we might use in the research process? What are some techniques to critically analyzing Internet resources? How are they different from the databases we used last week?
From what we learned in class, a few internet resources that would be free and good for research are “Google scholar”, “Google docs”, “zotero”, “Wikipedia”, as well as on line libraries. From Paul Piper we learned strategies and questions to ask ourselves when looking at internet sites to see if they are credible. For example, who is the author of the site, does the site look current, what is the message of the site, are there biases within the site, etc. I found it very helpful to look at site examples and discuss them in class. I know that next time I see an internet site I will be more discerning as to its credibility. The difference between the free online sites and the library databases is that we know for certain when utilizing library databases they are credible, trustworthy and there has been previous research and evidence based writings. We know our library is selective and ensures the resources they have available physically and online are credible and trustworthy.
MENTEE UPDATE – NEWSFLASH! Woo hoo!
Okay, so for REAL, one of my mentees got a hold of me and asked if I would help her pick out articles for two papers in two classes! I met her last Wednesday night at the library at 8pm. I had asked her ahead of time what her papers were on. When we met, I took her through the exercise the Writing Center had us do on each of her topics. I asked her to pick 3 questions she was interested in finding information about. We then identified articles, and two references books that would be helpful for her. I was beaming when I left the library! I had a real mentor glow! It’s very fun and rewarding to actually have that hand on experience with a mentee. Thanks to Gabe for the idea of asking about other classes. I hope she sends me her draft this weekend. I have a little skip to my step and a little ditty in my head and I hope to be able to experience anything similar with my other two mentees before the quarter is over.
I really missed seeing you all and being in community with you in class last Thursday. I had a memorial for a best friend’s husband, who passed away unexpectedly the week before in Auburn, WA. The memorial was good but very, very sad because he was only 63 and much loved. For me when people I know and love are going through hard times, I feel kind of helpless and I’m glad right now I have school, it helps me to have meaningful work to do, towards a goal, it is a positive distraction where I can see results from my efforts. It’s nice to fill my head with other things and then I feel more present for my friend when she calls or I call her.
Have a safe and fun weekend. I don’t know who my new group is in class…but I’m excited about Tuesday and getting back to our class work. I like our class! Christina
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Path of Inquiry/October 19th, 2010
Path of inquiry: What is the difference between a database and the free Internet? What is the best way to find an appropriate database to search? What are the best practices for developing a database search strategy? What database search tools and features might you use to improve your searches?
From class we learned that: Databases contain information which is controlled in the sense that there are tools and strategies used to ensure that the information in databases has been reviewed by knowledgeable people, there is validity and sound evidence based sources for the information published on databases. They are reliable resources for scholarly research. The databases are set up so valid and reliable information is easy to find.
The free internet can publish anything and not all information has to be credible. This poses a problem especially when doing scholarly research. The information is not as trustworthy has a database and would need further inquiry into sources of the information presented to ensure it is reliable.
To better utilize database search tools and features to improve my searches, I think it is helpful to get acquainted with what the library has to offer, like in the presentations we have had in class. I also think like Elizabeth said, using less words to narrow our search and focus the information is valuable too as opposed to the free internet where the more words you use the better able you are to find more information. I also think familiarizing myself with the various databases the library has to offer and what types of information I can find on each would be extremely valuable in finding more relevant data especially for research.
Mentees update
I have been using emails and texting to communicate with my mentees. I have only met with one mentee one other time outside of the tour. The same mentee I met outside of the tour and I had a fun text exchange the following week after we met. I receive friendly responses from two mentees each time I reach out and the third I just heard from recently. I am using the syllabus in my emails now to ask more specifically how their work is going. I’m at a loss in what else to do, so a new strategy I haven’t tried that I am going to use this week is to call each mentee and leave a voice mail as well as emails and text messages. One mentee asked me if I wanted to review her paper, it went to my WWU junk mail even though she is a WWU student, as soon as I noticed – yikes! - I texted her right away what happened and that I would be happy to review her paper. So now I am checking my junk mail daily as well as my regular email. Gabe emailed me that one of the mentees said she was having a “so so experience”; I am confused because this mentee responds to my emails in a cheerful manner but has not taken me up on any offers to assist her …so I have texted her today just to see how it’s going…a bit discouraged but not giving up…
From class we learned that: Databases contain information which is controlled in the sense that there are tools and strategies used to ensure that the information in databases has been reviewed by knowledgeable people, there is validity and sound evidence based sources for the information published on databases. They are reliable resources for scholarly research. The databases are set up so valid and reliable information is easy to find.
The free internet can publish anything and not all information has to be credible. This poses a problem especially when doing scholarly research. The information is not as trustworthy has a database and would need further inquiry into sources of the information presented to ensure it is reliable.
To better utilize database search tools and features to improve my searches, I think it is helpful to get acquainted with what the library has to offer, like in the presentations we have had in class. I also think like Elizabeth said, using less words to narrow our search and focus the information is valuable too as opposed to the free internet where the more words you use the better able you are to find more information. I also think familiarizing myself with the various databases the library has to offer and what types of information I can find on each would be extremely valuable in finding more relevant data especially for research.
Mentees update
I have been using emails and texting to communicate with my mentees. I have only met with one mentee one other time outside of the tour. The same mentee I met outside of the tour and I had a fun text exchange the following week after we met. I receive friendly responses from two mentees each time I reach out and the third I just heard from recently. I am using the syllabus in my emails now to ask more specifically how their work is going. I’m at a loss in what else to do, so a new strategy I haven’t tried that I am going to use this week is to call each mentee and leave a voice mail as well as emails and text messages. One mentee asked me if I wanted to review her paper, it went to my WWU junk mail even though she is a WWU student, as soon as I noticed – yikes! - I texted her right away what happened and that I would be happy to review her paper. So now I am checking my junk mail daily as well as my regular email. Gabe emailed me that one of the mentees said she was having a “so so experience”; I am confused because this mentee responds to my emails in a cheerful manner but has not taken me up on any offers to assist her …so I have texted her today just to see how it’s going…a bit discouraged but not giving up…
Friday, October 15, 2010
Path of Inquiry/October 14th, 2010
Path of inquiry: How do we define scholarship, research, and information literacy? What is the value of creating a network to share ideas and collaborate on scholarly communication? How is scholarly writing different from other forms of writing and why?
I found a definition for information literacy that I found helpful: Information literacy is the ability to recognize when info is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information (American Library Association 1998).
To define research and scholarship, this is what I reflected on and I’m looking forward to learning what you think! Researching is when we are investigating and exploring a topic and gathering knowledge from study and/or possibly conducting some type of inquiry ourselves. Scholarship then be the dedicated act or discipline of gathering what we have learned from our information literacy through our study and research and then analyzing and applying that academically to some kind of final thoughts, conclusions and outcome, like a paper.
Collaborating and networking with others seems more critical than ever in an era where there is so much information in so many forms. By working together and sharing ideas and information we can find out from one another more about sources of information, topics and new information that maybe we hadn't known about before.
Scholary writing to me seems different in the sense that you need to back up what you write about with citations from sources. Other types of writing may be our ideas or thoughts or feelings about a topic, but scholarly writing seems like it would need to have a basis of facts and sources as well as a question answered or topic identified as a framework for the writing.
I found a great website: Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency.cfm#ildef
From the website: Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning. It is common to all disciplines, to all learning environments, and to all levels of education. It enables learners to master content and extend their investigations, become more self-directed, and assume greater control over their own learning.
From what we learned from Chris Cox and the article, the new technologies is leading libraries to look at creative ways to provide new services to keep up with the variety of ways and the vast amount of information available, especially in regards to electronic data. It’s interesting to think about the collections the library has and the different thoughts there are between faculty, students and staff about what should be kept on shelves, digitally and how those should be housed and accessed. It’s also interesting to me to think of libraries differently in the sense of space and what kinds of spaces do students need and desire to help with academic success and make them want to use libraries for more than checking out materials.
I guess I would include in defining scholarship, research and information literacy the importance of teaching students how to find the information they need. It sounds like from what Chris said, he mentioned for example Gabe being hooked up with phone, ear piece, computer, and available at times in person, our library is doing a great job of being available to students as a resource in a variety of ways.
Mentees/Update
I emailed my mentees at the beginning of the week and included the link to the Writing Center website. I heard back from two mentees. One mentee who responded via text later in an evening one night was kind of fun. We actually kept a text dialogue going for approximately 13 texts all together between the two of us. She was checking in and saying she was doing well. We then texted back and forth short texts about the week, and she told me she was doing research in another class. I offered to meet if she wanted to. Another mentee responded back via email and said she was doing fine and updated me on her latest step in the class. No one wanted or needed to meet this week.
In reflecting on my mentees, I do appreciate the two that have actively responded back and/or I have met with. It’s nice to know there is a response when you reach out to people. This is new for them and for me and like we have talked about in class, these are older students. I appreciate the value they have placed on at least staying engaged through this process in some manner. I also love what we are learning in class because it is very relevant and fun to pass the information on to our mentees. As a senior, and someone who took a research class, I have learned a lot of new things about the library and about services on campus that I didn’t know about before.
Have an awesome day everyone! Christina
I found a definition for information literacy that I found helpful: Information literacy is the ability to recognize when info is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information (American Library Association 1998).
To define research and scholarship, this is what I reflected on and I’m looking forward to learning what you think! Researching is when we are investigating and exploring a topic and gathering knowledge from study and/or possibly conducting some type of inquiry ourselves. Scholarship then be the dedicated act or discipline of gathering what we have learned from our information literacy through our study and research and then analyzing and applying that academically to some kind of final thoughts, conclusions and outcome, like a paper.
Collaborating and networking with others seems more critical than ever in an era where there is so much information in so many forms. By working together and sharing ideas and information we can find out from one another more about sources of information, topics and new information that maybe we hadn't known about before.
Scholary writing to me seems different in the sense that you need to back up what you write about with citations from sources. Other types of writing may be our ideas or thoughts or feelings about a topic, but scholarly writing seems like it would need to have a basis of facts and sources as well as a question answered or topic identified as a framework for the writing.
I found a great website: Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency.cfm#ildef
From the website: Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning. It is common to all disciplines, to all learning environments, and to all levels of education. It enables learners to master content and extend their investigations, become more self-directed, and assume greater control over their own learning.
From what we learned from Chris Cox and the article, the new technologies is leading libraries to look at creative ways to provide new services to keep up with the variety of ways and the vast amount of information available, especially in regards to electronic data. It’s interesting to think about the collections the library has and the different thoughts there are between faculty, students and staff about what should be kept on shelves, digitally and how those should be housed and accessed. It’s also interesting to me to think of libraries differently in the sense of space and what kinds of spaces do students need and desire to help with academic success and make them want to use libraries for more than checking out materials.
I guess I would include in defining scholarship, research and information literacy the importance of teaching students how to find the information they need. It sounds like from what Chris said, he mentioned for example Gabe being hooked up with phone, ear piece, computer, and available at times in person, our library is doing a great job of being available to students as a resource in a variety of ways.
Mentees/Update
I emailed my mentees at the beginning of the week and included the link to the Writing Center website. I heard back from two mentees. One mentee who responded via text later in an evening one night was kind of fun. We actually kept a text dialogue going for approximately 13 texts all together between the two of us. She was checking in and saying she was doing well. We then texted back and forth short texts about the week, and she told me she was doing research in another class. I offered to meet if she wanted to. Another mentee responded back via email and said she was doing fine and updated me on her latest step in the class. No one wanted or needed to meet this week.
In reflecting on my mentees, I do appreciate the two that have actively responded back and/or I have met with. It’s nice to know there is a response when you reach out to people. This is new for them and for me and like we have talked about in class, these are older students. I appreciate the value they have placed on at least staying engaged through this process in some manner. I also love what we are learning in class because it is very relevant and fun to pass the information on to our mentees. As a senior, and someone who took a research class, I have learned a lot of new things about the library and about services on campus that I didn’t know about before.
Have an awesome day everyone! Christina
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Path of Inquiry/October 7, 2010
Path of inquiry: How has our thinking about information resources evolved? What tools and techniques have we found useful working with our mentees?
The presentations we had in class about service learning and the library website was very informative, even though I am a senior. I feel like the more we are learning about service learning and the library, the better prepared we are for our mentees. The group assignment we are working on has been so interesting and I have learned alot just by find the meaning and location of "realia" and the "Salish" and "Mongolia" languages as examples. It's fun to learn more about the library and what it has to offer in resources and services, through various ways and this compliments the tour we had.
As far as working with my mentees, the most effective mode of communication for me has been texting. Though two of my mentees are responding to emails as well.
I met with one mentee last Thursday at noon, and even though she doesn't need my help now, we spent 30 minutes getting to know each other better. She talked a little about Dwight Clark as she lost a cousin when he was in college. She also talked about her other classes a bit. She had responded to my email with a text to me stating she would like to get together if the group wanted too. I responded back and offered to meet with her one and one and she said yes. So I guess I am discovering that I need to be open and flexible in communication, needs, encounters to get the most out of this experience and to provide as much opportunity as any of my mentees want in connecting this quarter.
Another one of my mentees emailed me back that she was checking out a DVD and a book and would let me know when she needed help. I appreciated her letting me know where she was in her process and getting back to me.
My approach has been and I will continue to email and text all three of my mentees once per week to check in with them and offer an opportunity to get together. From what I learned last week, I have added to my approach the willingness to get together one on one.
I'm still thinking about our class discussion around mentees and brainstorming what boundaries I would like to set up around proofing papers as deadlines draw near. I liked Amy's suggestion about getting a syllabus for the class.
In closing I want to say I like that we are in groups for an assignment,as it is helping me to get to know others in our class a bit better. Also, thank you Gabe for opening a chance to dialogue about Dwight Clark. I also want to thank Inga, Kristina, Hallie, Jess and others for sharing around our Dwight Clark discussion. I was encouraged and learned more about others' perspectives on Bellingham and WWU. Thank you so much! Have an awesome day! Christina
The presentations we had in class about service learning and the library website was very informative, even though I am a senior. I feel like the more we are learning about service learning and the library, the better prepared we are for our mentees. The group assignment we are working on has been so interesting and I have learned alot just by find the meaning and location of "realia" and the "Salish" and "Mongolia" languages as examples. It's fun to learn more about the library and what it has to offer in resources and services, through various ways and this compliments the tour we had.
As far as working with my mentees, the most effective mode of communication for me has been texting. Though two of my mentees are responding to emails as well.
I met with one mentee last Thursday at noon, and even though she doesn't need my help now, we spent 30 minutes getting to know each other better. She talked a little about Dwight Clark as she lost a cousin when he was in college. She also talked about her other classes a bit. She had responded to my email with a text to me stating she would like to get together if the group wanted too. I responded back and offered to meet with her one and one and she said yes. So I guess I am discovering that I need to be open and flexible in communication, needs, encounters to get the most out of this experience and to provide as much opportunity as any of my mentees want in connecting this quarter.
Another one of my mentees emailed me back that she was checking out a DVD and a book and would let me know when she needed help. I appreciated her letting me know where she was in her process and getting back to me.
My approach has been and I will continue to email and text all three of my mentees once per week to check in with them and offer an opportunity to get together. From what I learned last week, I have added to my approach the willingness to get together one on one.
I'm still thinking about our class discussion around mentees and brainstorming what boundaries I would like to set up around proofing papers as deadlines draw near. I liked Amy's suggestion about getting a syllabus for the class.
In closing I want to say I like that we are in groups for an assignment,as it is helping me to get to know others in our class a bit better. Also, thank you Gabe for opening a chance to dialogue about Dwight Clark. I also want to thank Inga, Kristina, Hallie, Jess and others for sharing around our Dwight Clark discussion. I was encouraged and learned more about others' perspectives on Bellingham and WWU. Thank you so much! Have an awesome day! Christina
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