INFORMATION LITERACY IN THE SCIENCES - UNL 206X
Syllabus
Quarter 1 Spring 2011

Instructor: Irina Holden, Outreach/Instructional Services Librarian, Science Library
Office: SL 241
Phone: (518) 437-3941
E-mail: iholden@uamail.albany.edu
Office Hours: Wednesday, 11:00 – 12:00 p.m. and by appointment

Course: UNL 206X: Information Literacy in the Sciences
Day and Time: Wednesday 1:40 – 3:40 p.m. Section # 5207
Location: University Library, B48
Course web page: http://library.albany.edu/usered/unl205
Course blog: http://liblogs.albany.edu/unl206x/

Course description:

This is one-credit, quarter course that fulfills the Information Literacy General Education requirement.  It meets one day a week for seven weeks.  Each class is two hours long.

The purpose of the course is to acquaint you with the processes of finding, organizing, using, producing, and distributing information in print, electronic and other formats.  Various case studies and examples from scientific, technical, and medical literature will be used to achieve this purpose.  You will learn about the flow of information in a variety of disciplines, particularly natural sciences, how to be effective at the research process, how to access information in a variety of formats, and how to formulate effective searches on electronic databases and the Internet.  You will learn how to evaluate the quality of web-based and print information, and will become familiar with practical, social, and ethical issues relating to information with special emphasis on the role of scientific information in an increasingly technological society.

Relation of Course to Information Literacy Learning Objectives:

Ever-increasing access to information requires researchers to be able to critically assess and evaluate a variety of resources.  Commensurate with these skills is the ability to utilize information responsibly and ethically.  UNL 205 (206) X, in recognition of the fact that each discipline has its own method of inquiry, prepares students to traverse the information terrain by introducing them to library infrastructure, information architecture, basic research methodologies, and the practical use of reference materials, print and online, for the enhancement of their potential to develop mature research skills.

Course Objectives and Competencies Expected:

Upon completion of this course you should be able to:

1. Identify the effect that technology has had on information production and    dissemination.
2. Understand how sci-tech information is created, distributed, and used.
3. Describe a variety of information sources and tools you can use to access these information sources.
4. Develop an effective search strategy for finding information using access tools.
5. Identify and analyze the source, authority, and perspective of information sources.
6. Understand the difference between a research topic and a theses statement.  Be able to turn a topic into a thesis statement.
7. Apply knowledge of the APA (American Psychological Association) style by compiling a bibliography.  Know how to write critical annotations.
8. Discuss current issues relating to information policy.  Analyze the impact of these policies on information access for individuals and communities.
9. Be able to follow and keep up with science and technology in society.

 

Professional Skills:

When you leave this class, you will have gained the following skills that will be important in the workplace or in graduate school:

1. You will know where to look to find the information you need.  If you don’t know immediately, you will have strategies to determine where to look.
2. You will know that appropriate format, as well as creator and quality of the information, will affect where you look.
3. You will have effective skills for finding the information you need, without wasting time looking for it.
4. In conjunction with the knowledge you gain in your major, you will be an effective evaluator of the information you find.  This will help you with your projects or reports.
5. You will be a good resource for others whose information finding skills are less developed.

 

These skills will increase your value to employers, as well as your skills when researching job opportunities and preparing for interviews.

Student Responsibilities:

Each student is expected to contribute to an environment conducive to the learning of all students.  This contribution includes, but is not limited to:

• Respecting the opinions of others
• Being prepared to participate actively
• Taking responsibility for your learning and progress in the course
• Seeking help from the instructor as needed

Students are responsible for knowing and following the policies listed below.  Students are also responsible for knowing and following the University policies outlined in the Undergraduate Bulletin (http://www.albany.edu/undergraduate_bulletin/academic.html).

Because of the structure of the course, you need to attend regularly in order to do well.

 

Class Policies:

• All assignments must be submitted in class and on time.  You are responsible for knowing when assignments are due, and computer or printer problems are not legitimate reasons for late submission. 
• All written assignments must be typed.  Handwritten assignments will not be accepted.  For all assignments you submit, make a usable backup and bring it to class.
• Attendance is required, and will be factored into your final grade (see below).  If you know you will have to leave a particular class early, make arrangements with me in advance.
• Missed class work cannot be made up.  This includes quizzes.
• Tardiness will be factored into your attendance grade.
• Incompletes will not be given for this course.
• Failure to complete the Final Project (Annotated Bibliography) on time will result in failure of the entire course, as it is equivalent to a final exam.

 

Classroom Conduct

• You are expected to show respect for yourself, your classmates, and me by maintaining an environment in which we can all do the work we came here to do.  This means not speaking out of turn and keeping your cell phone or other portable electronic devices turned off during class.   
• The use of computers during class is restricted to instructional activities.
• Food or drinks are not permitted; water is OK.

Academic Integrity

•  If at any point in the semester you attempt to pass off someone else’s words or ideas as your own –  i.e. plagiarize – you will receive a grade of "0" for the assignment.  You are responsible for  acquainting yourself with the University’s Plagiarism Policy (see http://www.albany.edu/undergraduate_bulletin/regulations.html).

Grading and Course Requirements:

 

35%                 Weekly citations/annotations and blog postings

25%                 Completed annotated bibliography

10%                 In-class discussion

10%                 Attendance

10%                 Class presentations

10%                 Quizzes

 

Research project

 

Each week’s assignment contributes to a cumulative project, an annotated bibliography on a topic that you select and that the instructor approves.  The parts of the bibliography are due as follows:

 

Week Two:  Your topic, three questions and 4-5 keywords (posted to the blog by noon on January 25, 2011, the day before our second class meeting).

Week Three:  Book and reference book (cited and annotated) and preliminary Thesis statement.

Week Four:  Three articles (one scholarly, one popular from the magazine and one newspaper article; all three found in online databases available via University Libraries website).  Cite and annotate all three.  Submit the first page of each.

Week Five:  Two excellent web sites cited and annotated. 

Week Six:   One primary research article and one secondary source cited and annotated.

Week Seven: Your final project – an annotated bibliography and a presentation outline.  

 

The final annotated bibliography should contain nine items in alphabetical order:

• A book
• A reference source in book format
• An article from a scholarly journal
• An article from a popular magazine
• An article from a newspaper
• Two excellent web sites
• A primary research article
• A secondary source

Use APA brief style guide sheet passed out in class (also available at http://library.albany.edu/usered/cite/APAw-header.pdf  or use the 6^th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (ReadyRef BF 76.7 P83 2010, Science Library Reference BF 76.7 P83 2010).

For you online resources use APA style guide to electronic references (ReadyRef BF 76.7 P84X 2007) or online from Minerva (Online/ BF 76.7 P84X 2007 WWW).

 

Blog postings

 

We will use blog (short for Web log) http://liblogs.albany.edu/unl206x/ in this class: as a part of your homework assignments and also as a communication tool.  Check it often – I will be posting not assignments only, but also copies of handouts and other class materials. The link is also available in Blackboard.

 

Final class Presentation

 

You will make a 4-5 minute presentation on the last day of class.  The presentation is to address the following:

• The reason you selected your topic
• A brief summary of what you found
• Problems you ran into finding information
• Interesting or unusual information/sources you came across

Effective creativity in your presentation will be rewarded.  This might include, but is not limited to, showing key web sites or other visuals or using PowerPoint.

 

 

 

Recommended (but not limited to) topics plus list of topics circulating in class:

1. A biographical research about the scientist who made an extremely important scientific discovery
2. A scientific theory
3. An animal or plant species
4. Chemical elements
5. Health issues in the news
6. Topics in medicine with the exception from above.

 

Homework assignment:

 

1.  Choose a topic related to natural sciences (see above); list three questions you would like to ask about this topic.  Think about 4-5 keywords you may use in order to find information on this topic. If you have difficulties deciding on your topic, contact me!

2.  Post a comment in our class blog http://liblogs.albany.edu/unl206x/ that will include your topic, three questions and 4-5 keywords by Tuesday, January 25, noon (a day before Class 2).  You will not see your posting but I will contact you in a timely fashion via e-mail with my comments on the topic that you chose.

3.  Find a book on your topic and bring it to class.  The book MUST be from one of the University libraries.

 

Readings:

1.      New York Times Science Section (appears every Tuesday).

2.      Research Strategies: Finding your way through the information fog by William Badke. Chapter 1, Taking Charge. Text is available online from http://www.acts.twu.ca/lbr/textbook.htm. It is also available from E-res (password 206x).

 

Class 2 / January 26

 

News in Science for today

Print and online sources

Reference Sources in natural sciences

eDiscover Beta service

Call numbers for sciences; LCSH classification

Formulating a thesis statement on a topic of your choice (in-class ex.)

Critical annotations

Online reference sources; in-class exercise

Math and Computer Sciences: introduction to various sources in Mathematics and Statistics and Computer Sciences, MathSciNet

 

Homework assignment:  Due at the beginning of Class 3

 

1.  Formulate a thesis statement for your topic.

2.  Find, cite and annotate a book and a reference book on a topic of your choice (both must be in print from the University Libraries – not from Amazon or Google books). No textbooks.

 

Readings: 

1.Science Section of theNew York Times.

2. Research Strategies: Finding your way through the information fog by William Badke, text is available online from http://www.acts.twu.ca/lbr/textbook.htm, Chapter 2, Databases. It is also available from E-res.

Class 3 / February 2

 

News in Science for today

Periodicals: scholarly journals vs. trade/professional or popular

A scholarly article: how to read?

Electronic databases: selection, search strategies.  Boolean operators, fields, controlled vocabulary vs. keyword search

Tour of the Science Library

Biological Sciences: Sources in biology in various formats.  Class exercise.

 

 

Homework assignment: Due at the beginning of Class 4

 

1.  Find, cite and annotate three articles on a topic of your bibliography.  Provide the copy of a first page of each article.

• Article 1 must be from the scholarly journal.
• Article 2 must be from the  popular magazine or trade/professional journal
• Article 3 must be from  newspaper

Note: all three articles should be found in one of the online databases to which University libraries subscribe such as Medline, INSPEC, Scopus, MathSciNet, eDiscover Beta etc.

Readings:

1. Understanding the World Wide Web available at http://www.internettutorials.net/www.asp
2. Science Section ofthe New York Times

 

Class 4 / February 9

 

News in Science for today

Web sources: search engines and search directories

Web sources evaluation

Google; Wikipedia; Web 2.0; Class exercise

Health Sciences.  PubMed. Health resources in various formats.  Class exercise.

 

Homework assignment:Due at the beginning of Class 5

1.      Find, cite and annotate two excellent websites on your topic (no Wikipedia articles)

2.      Print out the first page of each web sites and attach to your worksheet

3.      Blog posting (check our blog at http://liblogs.albany.edu/unl206x/ for a new assignment)

 

Readings:

1. Science Section ofthe New York Times

 

Class 5 / February 16

 

News in Science for today

Primary/Secondary/Tertiary sources in the sciences.

Dissecting a primary article

Physics and Nanosciences: Sources in physics and nanosciences; class exercise

 

Homework assignment: Due at the beginning of Class 6

 

1. Find, cite and annotate one primary scholarly article (it should be found through one of the library databases, such as Medline, eDiscover Beta, SciFinder, etc.)
2. Find, cite and annotate one secondary source (could be found in various formats such as a critique of an experiment, a book or an article review in a scholarly publication, or any other material, including a movie, a news report, website, etc.); no Wikipedia articles 

Readings:

1.      Science section of theNew York Times.

2.      Patent Search Tutorial from the Penn State University at  http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/pams/patent.html

 

 No class February 23 - Winter break

 

Class 6 / March 2

 

Copyright/plagiarism/academic dishonesty

Digital divide, electronic privacy issues

Open source publications

Patents; in-class exercise

Chemistry: Various print and online resources; SciFinder database; class exercise

 

Homework assignment: Due at the beginning of Class 7

1.      Prepare an outline of your presentation consulting the handout

2.      Prepare an annotated bibliography for submission following the handout guidelines

3.      Blog posting (check our blog at http://liblogs.albany.edu/unl206x/ for a new assignment)

Readings:

1. Science Section ofthe New York Times

 

Class 7 / March 9

 

News in Science for today

Course overview; post test

Presentations

 

Characteristics of all General Education Courses

1. General Education courses offer introductions to the central topics of disciplines and interdisciplinary fields.
2. General Education courses offer explicit rather than tacit understandings of the procedures, practices, methodology and fundamental assumptions of disciplines and interdisciplinary fields.
3. General Education courses recognize multiple perspectives on the subject matter.
4. General Education courses emphasize active learning in an engaged environment that enables students to be producers as well as consumers of knowledge.
5. General Education courses promote critical inquiry into the assumptions, goals, and methods of various fields of academic study; they aim to develop the interpretive, analytic, and evaluative competencies characteristic of critical thinking.

Information Literacy General Education Courses

Information Literacy General Education courses introduce students to various ways in which information is organized and structured and to the process of finding, using, producing, and distributing information in a variety of media formats, including traditional print as well as computer databases. Students acquire experience with resources available on the Internet and learn to evaluate the quality of information, to use information ethically and professionally, and to adjust to rapidly changing technology tools. Student must complete this requirement within the freshman or sophomore year.