1. Preparing for College Research
Michelle Bishop, First-Year Experience Librarian, SUNY Oswego
Brandon West, Instructional Design Librarian, SUNY Oswego

2. ACT National Curriculum Survey 2012
“ … There continues to be a large gap between high
school teachers’ perceptions of the readiness of their
graduating students for postsecondary education and what
college instructors expect their incoming first-year
students to know and be able to do to succeed in creditbearing college courses. This is due at least in part to a
lack of alignment between K–12 and postsecondary
curricula that may be hampering the efforts of K–12 to
prepare students for life after high school.”

3. Today’s Workshop

Common Core & “College and Career Ready”

Discuss research expectations at the college-level

Discuss high school senior readiness for college-level
research and beyond

Develop strategies to bridge the research readiness gap

4. Research Expectations at the College Level
Faculty Expectations

First Year assignments
 ENG

102 at SUNY Oswego
Survey of faculty expectations of student citation use
 Great
weight on proper use of citation
 Substantial class time spent discussing citation
 Not seeing improvement in citation use

5. Research Expectations at the College Level
National Standards—Association of College & Research Libraries
ACRL Standards: The information literate student …

determines the nature and extent of the information needed
(S1).

accesses needed information effectively and efficiently (S2).

evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates
selected information into his or her knowledge base and value
system (S3).

uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose (S4).

understands many of the economic, legal, and social issues
surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses
information ethically and legally (S5).

6. ACRL Standards
Metaliteracy
Current
S1: Know
S2: Access
S3: Evaluate
S4: Use
S5: Ethical, Legal
Metaliteracy provides the integral foundation for
additional literacy types, recognizing social
media environments as active collaborative
spaces for accessing and sharing one’s findings.
This requires us to move beyond skills
development to an understanding of information
as dynamically produced and shared online.
(Mackey & Jacobson, 2011)

7. Student Research Readiness
State of Student Research Abilities
Gap between the
expectations of
incoming students
and the
expectations of
faculty teaching
freshman courses
(Raven, 2012)

8. Student Research Readiness
Project Information Literacy (PIL) 2011
Everyday life research skills vs. Academic research skills
(Head, 2013)
Students’ research limited to everyday life topics:
◻
95% use Search engines (e.g., Google)
◻
87% Friends
◻
84% Wikipedia
◻
75% Personal Collections

9. Student Research Readiness
Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2011
◻
80% use online social networks
◻
62% go online to get news or information about current
events
◻
47% shop online
◻
38% share their own creations online (video, pictures,
artwork stories)
◻
All references to information searching relate to searching for
health information

10. Student Research Readiness
Realities of Academic Research
◻
Lack information literacy proficiency & grossly overestimate their abilities (Gross & Latham, 2012)
◻
8 in 10 students report having overwhelming difficulties
with getting started on research (PIL, 2011)
◻
Half of students surveyed reported having uncertainty with
assessing quality of research efforts (PIL, 2011)
◻
Expect information needs satisfied immediately (Gross &
Latham, 2011)

11. Bridging the Gap
K-12 Preparation

Results of recent BOCES survey – at least 75% of high school
students are performing research assignments

Common Core Anchor ELA Standards include language that
promotes academic research in the high school classroom

Empire State Information Fluency Continuum (IFC) is a “K-12
framework of the information and inquiry skills and strategies
that are required for in-depth learning” (New York City School
Library System, 2010).

12. Bridging the Gap
Common Core & Research Concepts
Examples (CCSS, 2010)
⬜
Determine central ideas or themes of text (Reading)
⬜ Determine or clarify the meanings of unknown and multiplemeaning words (Language)
⬜ Conduct short as well as more sustained research-based
projects (Writing)
⬜ Gather relevant information from multiple sources & assess
for credibility and accuracy of each source (Writing)
⬜ Write informative/explanatory texts to convey complex ideas
and information clearly and accurately (Writing)
⬜ Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such
that listeners can follow the line of reasoning […] (Language)

13. Bridging the Gap
Aligning the Standards—IFC & ACRL
Information Fluency
Continuum (IFC)
S1: Using Inquiry to Build
Understanding and Create
New Knowledge
Association of College &
Research Libraries (ACRL)
S1: Know, S2: Access, S3: Evaluate
S2: Pursuing Personal and
Aesthetic Growth
S4: Use
S3: Demonstrating Social
Responsibility
S3: Evaluate, S5: Ethical, Legal

14. Preparing for College Research
Long-Term Assignment Ideas

The process-based research assignment
(McNeil Hurlbert, Savidge, & Laudenslager, 2003)




Annotated bibliography
Poster presentations
Speeches
Research college of interest or intended major/future
career

15. Preparing for College Research
Short-Term Infusion Activities
◻
◻
Academic research (Common Core-friendly) skills can be
infused in the classroom with brief activities
Examples
Warm up activities – have students practice writing sources in
a variety of citation formats (APA, MLA, Chicago)
⬜ Give students a paragraph from a research article to analyze or
use for vocabulary exercises
⬜ 2 minute speeches/oral reports
⬜ Identifying parts of research articles
⬜

16. Preparing for College Research
Collaborating with School Librarians

School librarians are the experts in the teaching and
assessment of research concepts

Partner with school librarians to develop lessons which
effectively incorporate essential research concepts
(Fontichiaro, 2013)

Studies indicate that schools with a certified school
librarian improve student achievement
(Lance & Schwarz, 2012)

17. Preparing for College Research
Collaborating with School Librarians
Activity
What are ways to integrate research into your
classes?
 Long-term activities
 Short-term/daily activities
 Involving your school librarian

18. Resources
Lesson Plans with a Focus on Research Skills



http://www.google.com/insidesearch/searcheducation/lessons.html
http://trails-informationliteracy.wikispaces.com/Lesson+Plans
http://aasl.jesandco.org/
Diana Hacker’s Bedford Handbook online
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/bedhandbook7enew/Player/Pages/Frameset.aspx


Research Exercises & Results
Research Documentation Online
Research Project Calculator
https://rpc.elm4you.org/


A free time management tool for research papers
Offers a guided approach to the research process

19. Next Steps?

How do we move forward?

QUESTIONS

20. References
ACRL. (2000). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. Retrieved from
http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency
ACT. (2013). ACT national curriculum survey 2012: Policy implications on preparing for higher standards. Retrieved from
http://www.act.org/research
Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Initiative. (2012). Common core state standards. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/
Fontichiaro, K. (2013). Research strategies for grades 9-12. School Library Monthly, 29(5), 53-54.
Gross, M. & Latham, D. (2011). Experiences with and perceptions of information: A phenomenographic study of first-year college students. The
Library Quarterly, 81(2), 161-186.
Gross, M. & Latham, D. (2012). What’s skill got to do with it?: information literacy skills and self-views of ability among first-year college
students. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 63, 574-583.
Head, A.J. (2013). Project information literacy: What can be learned about the information-seeking behavior of today’s college students.
Association of College and Research Libraries. Retrieved from
http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/2013/papers/Head_Project.pdf

21. References
Lance, K.C. & Schwarz, B. (2012). How Pennsylvania school libraries pay off: Investments in student achievement and academic standards. PA School Library
Project. HSLC, Oct. 2012. Retrieved on October 31, 2013 from http://paschoollibraryproject.org/research.
Mackey, T. R., & Jacobson, T. E. (2011). Reframing information literacy as a metaliteracy. College & Research Libraries, 72(1), 62-78.
McNeil Hurlbert, J., Savidge, Cathleen R. & Laudenslager, Georgia R. (2003). Process-based assignments: How promoting information literacy prevents plagiarism.
College & Undergraduate Libraries 10(1), 39-51.
New York City School Library System. ( 2010). Empire State information fluency continuum. Retrieved from
http://schools.nyc.gov/Academics/LibraryServices/StandardsandCurriculum/default.htm
Oakleaf, M., & Owen, P. L. (2010). Closing the 12 - 13 Gap Together: School and College Librarians Supporting 21st Century Learners. Teacher Librarian, 37(4),
52-58.
O’Sullivan, M. K. & Dallas, K.B. (2010). A collaborative approach to implementing 21 st century skills in a high school senior research class. Education Libraries,
33(1), 3-9.
Pew Research Center. (2011). Trend data (teens). Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Trend-Data(Teens)/onlineactivities-totatl.aspx.
Raven, M. (2012). Bridging the Gap: Understanding the differing research expectations of first-year students and professor. Evidence Based Library and Information
Practice, 7(3), 4-31. Retrieved from http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP/article/view/17172

22. THANK YOU
http://slideshare.net/bwest2
Michelle Bishop
michelle.bishop@oswego.edu
Brandon West
brandon.west@oswego.edu