Working Collaboratively to Improve Students’ Application of Critical Thinking to Information Literacy Skills

Authors

  • Brenda Refaei University of Cincinnati Author
  • Rita Kumar University of Cincinnati Author
  • Stephena Harmony University of Cincinnati Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.v7i1.17232

Keywords:

Information Literacy, critical thinking, Research Writing

Abstract

Students’ limited information literacy skills raise concerns among writing instructors and librarians alike. In order to improve students’ information literacy skills, a librarian and writing instructors at a two-year open-access college collaborated to design information literacy instruction and collected student work to evaluate its effectiveness with regard to students’ ability to find and evaluate sources. Our experience from our collaborative approach indicates that by using specifically designed instructional activities such as concept maps and research logs, students’ ability to think critically about their information literacy skills can be improved.

Author Biographies

  • Brenda Refaei, University of Cincinnati

    Brenda Refaei is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Communication at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College, where she currently serves as the Composition Coordinator. She earned her Doctorate in Literacy Education from the University of Cincinnati in 1996. She is currently collaborating with library, communication, and composition faculty on a Lesson Study project to examine how to better teach first- and second-year university students to integrate sources in their writing. She is also a participant in the International/National Coalition for ePortfolio Research examining eportfolio implementation in composition courses at her college.

  • Rita Kumar, University of Cincinnati

    Rita Kumar is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and Communication at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College (UCBA). She received her Doctorate in English in 1991. She is the 2014 recipient of the UCBA Innovative Teaching Award for her original use of Problem- Based Learning (PBL) in her composition and literature courses. Her current scholarship focuses on the use of eportfolios in PBL composition courses, exploring methods of improving students’ information literacy skills, and their ability to integrate sources in their writing.

  • Stephena Harmony, University of Cincinnati

    Stephena Harmony received a Masters in Library Science from Case Western Reserve University. She was the Library Director of the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College Library and currently is an emeritus faculty member. Throughout her career, her focus has been on engaging students in acquiring essential information literacy competencies. She is the co-author (with Rosemary M. Young) of Working with Faculty to Design Undergraduate Information Literacy Programs (Neal-Schuman Publishers, 1999) and has given numerous presentations at national and regional conferences on information literacy instruction methods and evaluation of student learning outcomes.

References

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Published

2015-06-13

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2015)

Section

Reflections on Practice

License

© Equinox Publishing Ltd.

For information regarding our Open Access policy, click here.

How to Cite

Refaei, B., Kumar, R., & Harmony, S. (2015). Working Collaboratively to Improve Students’ Application of Critical Thinking to Information Literacy Skills. Writing and Pedagogy, 7(1), 117-137. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.v7i1.17232

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