Think Like a Researcher: Instruction Resources: Background

Summary:

Teaching Research and Information Literacy (TRAIL) is a collaboration between the Merritt Writing Program (MWP) and the Library to integrate activities, readings, and reflections about the research process into writing curriculum.  The goal of this collaboration is to help students develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to think like researchers.

Characteristics:

• recognizes Writing 10 students as new or novice researchers
• front loads most information literacy content into the first seven weeks
• focuses on research as an iterative process
• values students' reflections on their research process
• extends information literacy beyond the mechanics of finding information to increasing their knowledge of the information landscape (e.g. knowledge publishing cycle) and higher-level skills (e.g. recognizing bias)
• connects to most Information literacy frames from the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education from the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL); summary version

Content:

• This guide includes TRAIL materials for re-use.

History:

TRAIL had its beginnings in a conversation Matt Moberly (MWP) initiated with Susan Mikkelsen (Librarian) in 2013 to discuss redesigning the curriculum of an introductory composition class (Writing 10) to include an emphasis on research.  Matt and Susan outlined the goals for such a project, and Matt obtained a grant from the Center for Research on Teaching Excellence (CRTE) that allowed five MWP faculty to receive small stipends to work with Susan on redesigning the curriculum. 

The primary goals of the curriculum redesign were to:

• Better integrate information literacy skills in Writing 10
• Teach research as a process rather than an event
• Improve the effectiveness and quality of one-shot library instruction sessions
• Improve the quality of student research papers
• Prepare students for research beyond Writing 10

This process involved MWP faculty defining the writing assignments they would include. Then librarians proceeded to build lessons, develop activities, identify readings, and create tutorials that would introduce students to the research process and increase their information literacy skills.  This content focused on topics related to the research process such as avoiding researcher bias, understanding the information cycle, and developing a research question.  Writing faculty used these materials in spring 2014 as four Writing faculty (Matt Moberly, Grace Rocha, Heather Devrick, and Tanvi Patel) piloted this TRAIL curriculum in six sections.

During this pilot, Susan embedded herself in one of the sections and observed firsthand some of the challenges students encountered with finding, using, and understanding information.  Based on her observations and those of the Writing faculty, they made revisions in the curriculum in summer 2014.

In fall 2014 five Writing faculty (Matt Moberly, Grace Rocha, Heather Devrick, Rex Krueger and Katherine Lee) with nine composition classes used this revised curriculum with their students. During the semester, they met bi-weekly with Susan to review upcoming activities, tutorials, and reflection prompts that they would be using with their students.  Due to this close collaboration, students were introduced to the research process as they worked on the writing process. 

Assessment:

An Assessment in Action (AiA) campus team collected data in fall 2014 from the nine TRAIL sections  to determine what impact this curriculum may have had on students.  We looked at student work including 1) student reflections for insight into their approach for finding information and their attitude toward the research process and 2) final papers to determine their use of sources and evidence to support multiple viewpoints.  See the Assessment  tab for details.