Information Literacy Toolkit

Pitfalls and traps when incorporating information literacy into the course or program

Real-life case studies

Not preparing students for the assignment

Students had to submit an annotated bibliography for their first assessment item. They were also asked to hand in a search history. Students were not shown how to find journal articles using a relevant database, nor how to print out a search history from their session. Many students did successfully find articles but did not realise they had to print out the search history at the same time. Consequently, many students handed in search histories which were generated at a later date and were not authentic representations of their information seeking behaviours.

Requiring students to find information that wasn't available

Students had to complete ten questions testing their ability to find information in the library. Four different sets of questions were distributed among the cohort to minimise cheating. However, two sets of questions asked students to find information that was incorrect or no longer available. For example, one question asked students to find a book on the Brisbane City Council library catalogue, but the catalogue record no longer existed. Another question asked students to find a record on a database, but the record had changed (or did not exist) and did not match the quiz question. Subsequently, marks had to be adjusted for the students who had been given the flawed quizzes.

Requiring students to demonstrate information retrieval skills but not requiring higher order synthesis and analysis

1. Students attended tutorials to learn how to find cases and legislation and had to complete a number of quiz questions demonstrating their skills for 10% of the course. But for their major assessment item, students were given all the information resources they needed to complete the case review and did not have to apply their information searching skills to complete the assessment.
2. Students were required to submit an annotated bibliography on a particular subject as a discrete assessment item. There was no follow up task that required synthesis and analysis of the information or the presentation of an argument.
3. Students had to complete a worksheet that involved them finding 'facts'. There was no follow up task that required synthesis and analysis of the information.
4. Students had to complete a library skills worksheet that involved them finding items in the catalogue and in databases. There was no link made between this task and the research assignment that followed.

Lack of resources to complete an assignment

A first year introductory course usually has an enrolment of about 200 students. The course suddenly attracted 450 students due to the course being a core subject for a new degree. Chaos ensued as the library shelves were cleaned out.

Setting essay questions that rely on current events without supporting students in critical evaluation of popular media resources

Essay questions were set which dealt with current events (last 12 months), but due to the length of the publishing cycle, little scholarly information was available. Students relied on popular sources of information (newspapers, magazines, websites), but were not given support in critically evaluating the authority and trustworthiness of the information.

Non-critical use of information

Students were required to design a brochure for the community on a health related topic. Students sourced ready-made brochures and pamphlets and used these to complete their assignment. A different approach could have been to have students collect existing brochures, critique them and design their own based on their critique.

Requiring students to access scholarly journals without support

First year students were required to find six journal articles on their topic for an assignment. They were not given any support in knowing what a journal article was, why it might be better than a magazine article and were not given practice in using library databases.

Requiring students to use information and communication technology without support

Students in their first few weeks of university study were asked to present data in a spreadsheet format using advanced functions within Excel. Students panicked because they did not have these skills, nor did they have time to develop them.

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