Engaging Research Groups: Rethinking Information Literacy for Graduate Students.

Abstract

Librarians have traditionally taught information literacy skills to science graduate students in separate courses dedicated to information-seeking, during assignment(s)-based library sessions for other courses, or through workshops. There is little mention in the professional literature of teaching graduate students within their research groups. This is certainly an alternative to consider -- especially for smaller science graduate programs where the more traditional means of reaching graduate students are less likely. This article discusses a collaborative effort between a Chemistry professor and Physical Sciences Librarian at Rutgers University-Newark to design a mini-course for a research group. With the amount of customization possible when working with research groups, this option may even become increasingly significant due to the growing importance of interdisciplinary research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining the Role of Engaging in Research Activities with Digital Technologies for Graduate Students’ Success

“…This will augment the research experience more effectively, establishing a system that would far exceed the utility of a separate course in terms of efficacy [50]. Instead of a research methodology course, graduate students should also be afforded the opportunity to enhance their research skills using technologies in separate workshops designed to fill in the gaps in their research knowledge [38,51]. Workshops for research methods can focus on narrow and specific research activity topics, such as searching for information and literature using databases in professional fields.…”

“…Information and communication technology literacy for academic research in graduate schools tends to be taught either within graduate programs or courses, at on-and off-campus seminars or workshops, or by the faculty advisor [18,23,[38][39]. Depending on the specific graduate program or course, research skills using information and communication technologies are normally taught through mandatory or optional participation.…”