First-Year Experience

Online Resources for Seminar Faculty

The bulk of these resources were compiled by Lisa Smith, Assistant Professor and Information Services Librarian, and are divided into five primary categories:

Writing Across the Curriculum
Information Literacy
Evaluating Information
Citing Sources
Plagiarism

New:  Information Literacy Sample Assignments and Tutorials compiled by the Faculty Learning Communicty on Information Literacy

Writing Across the Curriculum

The WAC Clearinghouse:  Supporting Scholarly Exchange about Communication across the Curriculum
International Network of Writing Across the Curriculum Programs
http://wac.colostate.edu/
The WAC Clearinghouse publishes journals, books, and other resources for teachers who use writing in their courses. 
 

Information Literacy

Evaluating Information

Evaluating Information from Purdue Libraries
http://www.lib.purdue.edu/rguides/studentinstruction/evaluation/index.html
The Purdue University Libraries provide criteria for evaluating information found on the Web and in books and periodicals. In addition, it offers links to information on citing sources and a glossary of basic terms related to library and research skills.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources
by Susan Beck, New Mexico State University Library
http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/eval.html
Susan Beck’s resources page is divided into four categories: Examples, Criteria, Suggestions, and Bibliography. The Examples provide links to actual Web sites that exemplify the need for careful evaluation of information and serve as a useful teaching tool.  The Criteria section provides a checklist of the evaluation criteria. The Suggestions and Bibliography sections offer tips for creating effective Internet assignments and links to further reading on the subject of critically evaluating information.

Critically Analyzing Information Sources
Olin and Uris Libraries, Cornell University
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill26.htm
Cornell University Libraries’ guide to information sources teaches students to evaluate resources using two approaches: an initial appraisal and a content analysis. The first approach requires students to evaluate resources in terms of elements such as authorship, date of publication, and publisher. The second approach requires an in-depth look at the item and provides students with clues to determine the author’s purpose for creating the work. These tips help students determine the appropriateness of sources other than Web sites. They cover the differences in scholarly vs. popular periodicals and primary vs. secondary resources.

Evaluating Information -- Applying the CRAAP Test
Meriam Library, CSU, Chico
http://www.csuchico.edu/lins/handouts/evalsites.html
Librarians at CSU, Chico originated the popular CRAAP Test used by many to evaluate the reliability of Web-based information. The criteria, Currency, Relevancy, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose, are useful in determining the reliability and usefulness of any kind of information resource. This link provides information about the CRAAP Test.
 

Citing Sources

Citing Sources
Duke University Libraries
http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/
Duke University Libraries’ guide to citing sources, includes how, when, and why to cite. It includes information about the background of the most common citation styles and provides examples of citing within the text of a paper and compiling a works cited list for both print and non-print material.

OWL at Purdue (Online Writing Lab)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
This popular, comprehensive site provides information on all aspects of student writing and research. In addition to its excellent resources on style guides, it offers tips on a variety of writing skills. Click on the OWL at Purdue logo to link to a navigation page for the site.  Some of the pertinent sections include an introduction to academic writing, research and citation, and a couple of sections on discipline-specific writing (Social Sciences and Engineering).

Research and Documentation Online
Bedford/St. Martin
http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/home.html
Based on a print resource Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age, 4th Edition, by Diana Hacker, Bedford/St. Martin provides free access to a wealth of resources to guide students in locating, evaluating, and citing information in over 30 disciplines. It provides a guide to databases/indexes, key reference books, and Web resources for these disciplines.  One particularly helpful aspect is the sample paper for each of the major citation styles that highlights formatting requirements for the specified style and effective writing techniques.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism: What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It
Indiana University
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml
Produced by the Writing Tutorial Services at Indiana University, this site provides straightforward content about plagiarism. The creators provide some samples of how to paraphrase and quote others’ words and provide samples of incorrectly paraphrased passages. This site will be useful particularly if used in conjunction with the quiz linked below.

Plagiarism Quiz
Indiana University
http://education.indiana.edu/~frick/plagiarism/item1.html
Also from Indiana University, this ten item quiz provides instant feedback to the participants. Each question contains a short passage and a sample of writing using the text from the sample passage. Each item requires the participants to choose whether it is an example of plagiarism, and if so, they select the answer which explains why it is an example of plagiarism.

Plagiarism Tutorial
University of Southern Mississippi
http://www.lib.usm.edu/research/plag/plagiarismtutorial.php
This tutorial provides a plagiarism pretest and posttest which is graded instantly and the results can be emailed to any email address. Participants then proceed through the tutorial and take the mini-quizzes which are imbedded throughout the tutorial. These mini-quizzes test their knowledge of each section and provide instant feedback.

The Learning Center
Created by iParadigms LLC, makers of Turnitin.com
http://www.plagiarism.org/
The Learning Center at Plagiarism.org provides ample resources geared primarily for instructors who want to teach writing and research skills. In addition to the practical information that is typically found on plagiarism Web sites, this source provides information on the different types of plagiarism and discusses some of the reason why students plagiarize. It also discusses copyright laws and the role they play in academic integrity. A large section of printable handouts (MS Word) are available for anyone to reproduce.
 

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