Description:
Students are given a bibliography from a journal article and asked to locate an article from this bibliography using library resources.
Goals & Objectives:
- This activity takes students through the real-world example of deciphering a citation from a bibliography and locating the cited article.
- Primary objective is to enable students to synthesize the information retrieval skills they have acquired in their Information Literacy class(es). The following skills will be reinforced:
- Interpreting a citation.
- Determining availability of materials in the physical library.
- Determining availability of electronic access.
- Importance of tracing scientific literature via references to relevant articles.
Materials & Sources:
- Students must have computer use including access to library catalog and online materials.
- Bibliography from a journal article OR individual citations. Ideally, these citations should contain abbreviated journal titles. The instructor must pre-determine availability of all articles prior to assigning to students.
- Worksheet to record information.
Procedures:
- This in-class activity is given after students have had instruction in the use of the library catalog and databases.
- Students are provided with a bibliography from a journal article with one or more articles highlighted.
- Students will need to interpret the citation and identify the journal title from an abbreviated title. They will also need to identify the article title and the primary author.
- From the journal title, students are asked to determine if the article is available in print using the library catalog. They must record the physical location of the journal.
- Students are then required to determine if we have electronic access to this particular article.
- Other routes of access (Google scholar and interlibrary loan) are then suggested.
Assessment:
This lesson is used twice during the Information Literacy class, about mid-way through the class and again near the end of the class. Students are initially stymied by this real-world example. In general, by the end of the class most students can correctly interpret a citation and determine availability of a given article.
Collaborators:
Jo Anne Ellis
Sources:
