Here to Help
Many of the University's 100-level courses help satisfy the Information Literacy component of WCSU's competencies. To aid in that effort, we have assembled - and are still assembling - short videos that instruct students on information literacy competencies, including how to use our many resources, how to use citations, how to avoid plagiarism, and the basics of a research paper.
The pages on this Guide indicate the various topics covered; within those pages are associated videos/helpful websites/worksheets, etc. You can pick and choose among them for assignment purposes according to what you need covered. We have included the links to each video so you can include the videos in your syllabus or Blackboard.
We are also preparing a separate Guide for students to use that will provide them with direct access to the videos. Their Guide will be similar to this one and they can access that Guide from the library homepage or your syllabus if you so choose.
Please feel free to contact us if there is a specific video you would like produced that isn't covered. In the meantime, we are still building our video library, so bear with us. We will be adding to this Guide as they are produced.
Information Literacy Skills of Incoming Students
Also, please take a minute to review the page with the results of the information literacy survey administered in the fall of 2021 to 132 incoming students. It provides an excellent snapshot of their research skills and may help guide you as you plan your assignments. Typically, their skills are very poor. For this reason, they require a good deal of encouragement and instruction in this area. We are available to help them and help you help them. We have found several studies that demonstrate the more students interact with the library, the higher the retention rates.
Please let students know they can always reach a librarian either by visiting the library, making an appointment with a librarian, or talking with us via LibChat.
And please feel free to contact the library if you have any questions.