Want your students to write better, more-informed academic papers? Then schedule a Research Education session today!
Research Education at the Ensor Learning Resource Center is designed to provide support to faculty and students. Focused on presenting introductory library orientation and more, in-depth, research focused sessions, the Research Education can be tailor made to meet your needs.
Built on the idea that information literacy is a vital skill not only for college success, but for permanent benefit, the Research Education program seeks to help create life-long, information literate learners. As defined by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), “information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning” (ACRL, 2016). In order to engrain these abilities and knowledge practices into our students, Ensor LRC offers the following to contribute to work already done by faculty.
Offering both introductory and upper-level classes, instruction librarians can tailor a library session to meet your goals and outcomes. Introductory classes focus on library orientation, covering basic topics, such as: library site navigation, library resources and services, how to navigate the physical library, research tactics and strategies, and other basic information. Good for introductory classes, these sessions work to familiarize students with the library and ease their anxieties as they transition from one academic level to the next.
Upper level courses in Research Education goes beyond these introductory skills, while also providing a refresher in them. Focused on deeper research questions and larger projects, librarians help student understand how to expand their research base through citation mining, navigation of more subject specific databases, and how to ensure they are using – and creating – information in the proper way.
Beyond those topics mentioned above, Research Education sessions also introduces students to the ideas of peer review, proper citation, interlibrary loan, and much more to enhance their research experience.
Outside of these in-class sessions, the library also offers one-on-one reference consultations with research librarians to dig deeper into issues and problems that students need assistance with, as well as a myriad of other ways, such as Text-A-Librarian, a reference desk, and other services, to meet student needs. We encourage you to mention these services to your students as we look forward to serving them.