College Reading Strategies

Today I taught a workshop in Idaho State University's Center for Teaching and Learning, which focused on reading strategies students can adopt to improve their reading skills. At the end of the workshop I encouraged participants to answer two questions as a form of feedback; in the future, I would like to improve the workshop. These questions come from Classroom Assessment Techniques by Tom Angelo and Patricia Cross.

Question 1: What was the most important thing you learned today?

• Exchange of ideas helps facilitate learning.
• It is important to address how to read efficiently.
• Most important thing is to be aware of what's going on in the world.
• The most important thing I learned was that I'm not the only one who has difficulty understanding text. I am glad there are suggestions on ways to improve problem areas.
• I am not the only one who struggles with this.
• Margin notes.
  

Question 2: What important question remains unanswered?

• How to get people to read.
• Reading technical material (math included) takes a different method. What is it?
• None.
• How do I know what is fluff?
• How do I know what the author wants me to really know?
• How do I apply all these tools?
  

Suggestions:

• Make the workshop longer.
• Talk more about how to complete process.
• More detail, examples of different strategies. I'm more of a visual learner and you could make the presentation longer--maybe do a series in a time frame.

It sounds like the participants learned something, which is always the objective of a workshop. A previous supervisor used to tell me that each workshop participant needs to come away with two or three practical things he/she can do that he/she didn't know how to do previously, or at least be able to do something better than they have previously been able to do it. It seems that participants should also come away with an increased desire to do the thing discussed and practiced in the workshop.

Looking at the answers to question two, a few left with more questions than they came with. One individual wrote down three challenging questions, and I would like to attempt to answer them the best I can. Before I do that, though, I would like to say that I agree with a few of the comments. People do tend to learn more easily in a setting that involves an exchange of ideas. Many teachers understand this and endeavor to invite participation to mixed results, for many different reasons. Recently, I heard a good reason why the think-pair-share method works. Most persons feel more comfortable testing their ideas out with one or two others before sharing them with a larger group. So, as long as teachers stand in front of a classroom, they act as authority figures, which causes students to hesitate, thinking that there's only one right answer for which the teacher is looking, which, admittedly, is true in some circumstances.

One positive result of this workshop was that a few learned that they are not the only people who struggle with reading. There are many texts of varying difficulties. With that said, it seems appropriate to say that with practice, reading becomes easier. The more a person reads in a discipline, the more likely they will understand the material. Of course, submersing oneself in different types of reading may advance learning more quickly than just reading in one area.

Now for those three questions.

How do I apply all these tools?
In the workshop, several handouts were given to the participants, and many different strategies for improving reading skills were offered. Not all strategies will work for every person, especially when you consider that individuals in different fields of expertise read and write differently. Participants need to look at the strategies and decide which ones they will try, then after a period of time they can begin to assess whether or not it works for them. The handout titled "Identifying the Problem" can streamline this process, because it suggests specific strategies for specific reading problems. Therefore, not all the tools should be adopted, rather individuals should select a few to start with and if they do not seem to do the trick, try some of the other ones.

How do I know what the author wants me to really know?
Sometimes authors use buzz words that indicate an important idea is coming up. Words like "therefore," "however," "additionally," "consequently," etc. might be considered as such signposts. Sometimes the most lucid authors will come right out and say upfront what their most important ideas are. Typically, authors like to say what's most important in their introductions and conclusion, yet there are many exceptions to this. Understanding the author's audience can really be useful in identifying what they are saying and why as can the context in which they are writing. Karl Marx wrote his "Communist Manifesto" in England during some of the ugliest times of the Industrial Revolution--the same time period in which Charles Dickens wrote many of his novels that painted scenes of poverty, debauchery, and the like.

One of the strategies in the handouts describes a mock interview with the author. With a classmate you might ask the author what he/she thought most important about the text in question. Sometimes activities like this really make the text come alive.

In the end it may be most relevant to ask yourself what you think is the most important thing for you to take away from the reading. Answering this question may open up vistas and increase your horizons, making the text relevant to you personally.

How do I know what is fluff?
I saved my favorite question for last. This question probably does not have any single answer, and it is one that I struggle with myself. With that said, I believe it is important to know your author. What are their credentials? Where did they go to school? What qualifies them to speak on the subject? Do they have relevant experience in that field of study? If the author is your neighbor down the street, do you trust their views over someone from Oxford University?

Do they back up their claims? If they do not give any supporting evidence or reasons, then this should pull up some red flags of warning for you. Along these same lines, what does their "Works Cited" or "Bibliography" look like? Some people privilege scholarly and professional sources over newspaper and non-scholarly sources.

Are they appealing to your emotions? What is their intent? Are they affiliated with a political organization of any kind? What is their agenda? We all need to be critical thinkers and not just accept everything on face value. On the internet you can find dozens of bogus website, claiming to give valid information. One such site claims that cats react differently to men with beards than to those who do not. A look at the bibliography reveals some of the sources to be Yul Brynner, Synead O'Conner, A. Schwarznegger, et al. Knowing who these individuals makes one want to start laughing, which is the purpose of the website. Notice some of the links on the right side of this blog, and you will see a few other examples of bogus sites.

According to popular tradition, the ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates, used to say "The unexamined life is not worth living." Asking questions begins the process of critical thinking, which may be the essential tool for identifying fluff from substantive argument. In fact many people fear that our younger generation, even the whole of our society, does not spend enough time reflecting on important questions. I believe that books can act as a vehicle to prompt meditation; only after we have ruminated on an issue will we know what we think. Writing also facilitates the process of thinking to a degree that few other activities will.

Forgive me for being a bit trite if I conclude this post with one of the biggest cliches of western civilization, and yet one of the most philosophically profound, "I think, therefore I am." Rene Descartes would have rendered it in the Latin: "Cogito, ergo sum." If people do less thinking, does that mean fewer people exist? To a certain extent, yes, they are not opening themselves to the multiple horizons of existence available to them--a richer, more fulfilling intellectual and social life. They may not be living a complete life.

Tips for Searching the Anthropology Plus Database

Anthropology Plus

Searches:

1. Foster (child? or parent? or home?) = 55 results

2. Note that a common subject heading for what appear to be relevant titles is “Foster Children.” Clicking on this link yields 25 results.

3. Foster teen? = 0 results

4. Foster (teen? or adolesc? or “young adult”) = 1 result. "Mormon placement" : the effects of missionary foster families on Navajo adolescents.

5. (Foster or surrogat?) and (teen? or adolesc? or “young adult” or parent? or home?) =28 results. [Surrogate did not seem to yield any relevant results.] A search like this may be best in the Advanced Search.

6. (Foster or surrogat? or adoptive) and (teen? or adolesc? or “young adult” or home?)

7. surrogat? or foster = 147

8. recycl? = 95 results. recycl? and America? = 16 results

9. Author Search: manuelito kathryn = 2 results [duplicate records] Note: it does not matter in this database how a name is entered. It can be last name first or vice versa and return the same results.

10. Oregon trail = 4 results

11. Abortion education = 6 results

12. Abortion = 368 results

13. Abortion college = 0 results

14. Abortion student? = 2 results

15. Abortion [=keyword] AND family planning [= subject] = 9 results

16. Family planning = 214 results

17. (education? or student? or college? or universit?[keyword]) AND family planning [subject] = 204

18. Family planning [subject] and education [keyword] = 2 results

19. Family planning [subject] and (college? Or university?) = 206 results

Notes:

1. This database will not provide you with full-text articles; however, it will tell you if the ISU Library subscribes to the publication in question. You will need to search for the journal title in the A to Z Journal List and/or our catalog. Cutting and pasting the journal title will save you time.

2. Once you arrive at a database interface, you may need to conduct the search again.

3. When using the A to Z Journal List, pay attention to the dates of coverage for a specific journal. Compare that range of dates with the date of the article in question. This may save you a step or two.

4.The question mark (?) serves as the truncation code, so “fish?” will yield variations of the word, such as fishing, fishery, fishermen, fisherman, fish, etc.

5. If you want words to appear next to each other as a phrase such as “young adult,” remember to surround the phrase with quotation marks.

6. Think of exploring potential synonyms by consulting a thesaurus: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn, or http://thesaurus.reference.com/.

7..DO NOT type in ‘and’ between words; that will affect the search results. AND is implied.

Follow-up for MC 399

Note: the following post was one I found in draft form. I couldn't see a valid reason not to publish it, though it does seem a bit outdated.

After yesterday's class with the Mass Communications students, I reflected and felt that I should have shown the US Statistical Abstract rather than LexisNexis Statistical, and I should have shown LexisNexis Academic and pointed them to the News tab. I think they would have been able to find more relevant information for their assignment that way.

Also, after looking at Google Trends I am initially inclined to say this would be a good took for the students in MC 399 who are searching for trends. It provides graphs of searches individuals have conducted over time. It also shows which countries and cities have conducted the most searches on the words entered.

Thinking of relevant words for your search can be critical to finding the necessary information. In yesterday's class I don't think it ever occurred to me to use the word "trends" when helping a student try to answer the question: "How do 18-24 year olds use email today?" This may or may not be helpful; however, a search in Academic Search Complete yielded 109 results. Granted, once I limited the search to articles published in the last four years only 29 results appeared--Yet, this is indicative that email usage and popularity has waned substantially in the last four years.

Follow-up for MC 399

After yesterday's class with the Mass Communications students, I reflected and felt that I should have shown the US Statistical Abstract rather than LexisNexis Statistical, and I should have shown LexisNexis Academic and pointed them to the News tab. I think they would have been able to find more relevant information for their assignment that way.

Also, after looking at Google Trends (www.google.com/trends) I am initially inclined to say this would be a good tool for the students who are searching for trends. It provides graphs of searches individuals have conducted over time. It also shows which countries and cities have conducted the most searches on the words entered.

Thinking of relevant words for your search can be critical to finding the necessary information. In yesterday's class I don't think it ever occurred to me to use the word "trends" when helping a student try to answer the question: "How to 18-24 year olds use email today?" This may or may not be helpful; however, a search in Academic Search Complete yielded 109 results. Granted, once I limited the search to articles published in the last four years only 29 results appeared--Yet, this is indicative that email usage and popularity has waned substantially in the last four years.

Mass Communications Handout

Potential Sources for Advertising Information, Notes, and URLs
1. CACI Marketing Solutions OR CACI Marketing Systems. www.caci.co.ui/msd.html

2. Adweek: Includes many articles on AOL (American Online). Look for the A to Z Journal List on the following research page, which is free to ISU students. Also found in Business Source Complete. www.adweek.com http://www.isu.edu/library/research/

3. Advertising Age: Look it up in the A to Z Journal List, found on the following research page. LexisNexis Academic has the longest coverage, but other databases also provide access. www.adage.com

4. BPA Worldwide: Provides Circulation Statements/Audit Reports, US Consumer AuditVAR, Trend Reports & Analysis, etc. Access to this library is free, but a user ID is required. http://search.bpai.com/ OR www.bpaww.com/library/index.cgi.

5. Taylor Nelson Media Intelligence: They can provide industry analysis. They do look at the media industry and focus on competitive advertising information. Also do an Advanced Search on Taylor Nelson Sofres to find more ad information. www.tnsglobal.com/market-research/media/ OR www.tns-mi.com/.

6. Consumer Reports: Use the A to Z Journal List, which can be found on the following research page. Oldest data found in LexisNexis = 1988. Business Source Complete = 1991. It gives reports on products and services. www.consumerreports.org. Free to you as an ISU student. [Technically, you and Idaho taxpayers have already paid for it with your tuition fees and state taxes.]

7. Facebook Ads: This blog entry describes a feature for purchasing ads directed at college-age persons and anyone using Facebook. "Called Facebook Ads, the new program is threefold: advertisers can create branded pages, run targeted advertisements, and have access to intelligence and analytics pertaining to the site's more than 50 million users. Partners can participate in all three components of Facebook Ads, or a combination of them.”

Note among the tags on the left-hand side that "Facebook" has been tagged 19 time (probably more if I haven't updated this blog recently), meaning that the author has posted 19 entries on the topic. http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/search/label/Advertising

8. Editor & Publisher: Market Guide which may provide valuable demographic information of the U.S. and Canada. www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/index.jsp

9. AdNetTrackUS: This business-related site offers business persons links to online advertisers, airline tickets, starting a business from home, business offers, etc. www.adnettrackus.com

10. Harris Polls: Conduct an Advanced Search on Google. One result: www.aboutjunkie.com/paid-surveys/harris-polls.php. They seek to gain input from teenagers. Tip: When using Google use the “Advanced Search” option and limit your searche to English, United States, in the last year, to show 50 results on a page, etc. www.harrispollonline.com

11. National Cable Communications [NCC]: If you want to advertise on cable TV, here’s a good place to find out about the networks and where you might want to advertise. They can help you locate the consumers you want to target. www.spotcable.com/index.html

12. Anastasia Goodstein: Author of Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens are Really Doing Online. Her blog focuses on this demographic and what they do. http://totallywired.ypulse.com/.

13. Nielsen Media Research: go here to find TV’s top 10 programs of the previous week. They can monitor local, national, cultural, and sporting networks. www.nielsenmedia.com/nc/portal/site/Public/

14. Hey!Nielsen: Allows people to rank stars, shows, songs, videos, etc. This social networking site allows individuals to offer their own views on popular media persons and products. www.heynielsen.com/

15. Media Rating Council: Includes many of the major television stations in the U.S. It appears that they gauge the sizes of television-viewing audiences and their makeup. In their own words: “To secure for the media industry and related users audience measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective.” www.mediaratingcouncil.org/

16. MRI: MediaMark’s Research & Intelligence: The Survey of the American Consumer™ collects information on adult consumers' media choices, product usage, demographics, lifestyle and attitudes. Usage of nearly 6,000 product and service brands across 550 categories are measured, along with the readership of hundreds of magazines and newspapers, Internet usage, TV viewership to the program level, national and local radio listening, Yellow Pages usage and Out-of-Home exposure. www.mediamark.com/

17. MRI Plus: It allows you to register for a free account. Select Top-Line Reports, then choose MRI Cyberstats for a detailed chart showing detailed internet usage statistics. www.mriplus.com

18. Journal of Marketing: LIBRARY HAS CURRENT SUBSCRIPTION. Periodicals (3rd Floor). An online version can be accessed via Business Source Complete with coverage extending back to 1936. HF5415.A2 J6. See also the A to Z Journal List on the following research page. It should appear on the second page of results due to the alphabetized listing of results.

19. MarketingVOX: The Voice of Online Marketing: Found using a Google Search and the following terms: “nielsen ratings millennials generation Y.” www.marketingvox.com/
www.marketingvox.com/categories/?c=17,50

20. New Content for a New Generation: Gives insights into the world that exists today with many comments about Gen Y and their influence on the Media and advertising practices/trends. Good for certain statistics. Source found using Google Search in www.generatela.com/pdf/Generate_White_Paper.pdf

21. The Long Tail: A Public Diary on Themes Around a Book.: Increasingly, people talk about meeting the unique needs of individuals and how the internet makes this profitable. Source found using Google Search in #19. www.thelongtail.com [a blog]

22. Pinpointgolf: It can help you advertise in an outdoor setting. Pinpoint Golf is the largest provider of advertising and marketing opportunities at golf courses and golf ranges nationwide. www.pinpointgolf.com/

23. Statistical Abstract of the United States: Find demographic information about U.S. citizens and residents, that is by age, sex, race, religion, income, education, etc. www.census.gov/compendia/statab/

24. Claritas: Zipcode marketing. “Identifying the right market research solutions for customer acquisition, customer retention, market analysis and site location strategies can be challenging. Your marketing success depends on the right marketing analysis tools, along with reliable consumer information about the US population and dependable business data.” www.claritas.com/claritas/Default.jsp

25. Survey of buying power and media markets: Published by Sales & Marketing Management--found in the library catalog. An annual publication that provides household demographics, buying power and spending, and retail sales. Library has most current volume. HF5438 .A34 Periodicals (3rd Floor)

26. Simmons Market Research: *Do an advanced Google search.
27. Spectra Zipcode Marketing. Another Nielsen product or service. www.spectramarketing.com

28. SRDS: *Need to subscribe to use web site. The Lifestyle market analyst, 2004 : a reference guide for consumer market analysis. www.srds.com
HF5415.33.U6 L54 2004 Reference Collection (1st Floor) - NO CHECKOUT
29. Media Dynamics: is a full-service, media production company. www.mediadynamics.com/main.htm

30. U.S. Government Printing Office: Statistics, health, government, laws, enforcement, foreign affairs, agriculture, parks, judicial system, labor, etc. www.access.gpo.gov
http://usa.gov = official website of the U.S. govt.


Books, Articles, and Videos on the Subjects of Advertising, social networking sites:
1. Colin McDonald Advertising reach and frequency : maximizing advertising results through effective frequency. HF5827 .M19 1996 Main Book Collection (2nd Floor). Found in the library catalog

2. [Note the subject headings that may be of particular interest to you in this project.] Marketing information. Marketing --Information services --United States --Directories.
Marketing research --Information services --United States --Directories.
Advertising --Information services --United States --Directories.
Marketing --Bibliography --Periodicals.
Advertising --Bibliography --Periodicals.
HF5415.124 .M36 Reference Collection (1st Floor) - NO CHECKOUT

3. Larry D. Kelley and Donald W. Jugenheimer. Advertising media planning : a brand management approach HF5826.5 .K45 2004 Main Book Collection (2nd Floor).

4. Helen Katz. The media handbook : a complete guide to advertising media selection, planning, research, and buying HF5826.5 .K38 2003. Main Book Collection (2nd Floor).
5. Hodgkinson, Tom. “Why you should beware of Facebook.” Article retrieved 23 January 2008. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/01/18/1200620184398.html

6. [Video] “Does what happens in the facebook stay in the facebook?” URL: http://albumoftheday.com/facebook/

7. Joseph Ostrow Do a Google Advanced Search with his name in the title. "Setting Effective Frequency Levels", Effective Frequency: The State of the Art. New York: Advertising Research Foundation, Key Issues Workshop, 1982, pp. 89–102.


Core Databases:
• Academic Search Complete (EBSCOHost) Look for databases here.
• Business Source Complete (EBSCOHost)
• LexisNexis Academic
• LexisNexis Statistical
• Mergent Online

For other relevant databases consider looking at the Resources by Subject pages for Business and Communication, Mass Communication, & Rhetoric.

Look for the A to Z Journal List on the following research page:
It can help you find access to all journals in the library, especially electronic ones. This is where you go for full-text articles.
Click on A-Z Journal List in the Library Quick Links drop-down menu.
Also: www.isu.edu/library/research/.

Company Information: AOL LLC AOL (Time Warner)
AOL home— www.corp.aol.com
AOL within Time Warner www.timewarner.com/corp
Business Source Complete (EBSCOHost) CO “AOL” = company search
Mergent Online (formerly Moody’s) www.mergentonline.com/compsearch.asp (When off campus, access this database via the “Database” link in the Library Quick Links drop-down menu on the library’s home page (www.isu.edu/library).

Internet:
See the list of links on subsequent pages.
Google www.google.com
Yahoo www.yahoo.com
Clusty http://clusty.com/ (It’s a metasearch engine, meaning it searches many search engines.)
Ask www.ask.com

Reference Sources: Search the library catalog for more.
AOL in Wikipedia www.wikipedia.org
The Advertising Age Encyclopedia of Advertising. (HF5803 .A38 2003) Reference Collection (1st Floor) - NO CHECKOUT
Editor & Publisher Market Guide. (Ref HF5905.E38, latest edition is 2007)
Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands. (HF5415.3 .E527 1994) Reference Collection (1st Floor) - NO CHECKOUT
Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns. (HF5837 .E53 2000) Reference Collection (1st Floor) - NO CHECKOUT
International Directory of Company Histories. (Ref HD2721.I58 1988+ ) Includes references to AOL Time Warner Inc & AOL, Inc.
Marketing Plans: how to prepare them, how to use them (HF5415.13 .M369183 2002) Reference Collection (1st Floor) - NO CHECKOUT
Statistical Abstract of the United States full-text tables www.census.gov/compendia/statab. Print copy: (Doc Ref Desk C 3.134:2007.)
State and Metropolitan Area Data Book. (Doc Ref Desk C3.134/5:2006.)
U.S. Government’s official web portal: http://usa.gov.
World Almanac. (Ref Desk AY67.N5 2007.)

Mass Communications Pathfinder

1. CACI Marketing Solutions: http://www.caci.co.uk/msd.html.
2. Adweek includes many articles on AOL (American Online). Look in the A to Z Journal List, which is free to ISU students. Also found in Business Source Complete.
3. Advertising Age: look up in A to Z Journal List. LexisNexis Academic has the longest coverage, then there are three databases that go back to 1992.
4. BPA Worldwide: http://search.bpai.com/.
5. Taylor Nelson Sofres: http://www.tnsglobal.com/market-research/media/. They can provide industry analysis. They do look at the media industry, and I believe that AOL Instant Messenger would fall under this heading.
6. Consumer Reports: Use A to Z Journal List to find it. Oldest data found in LexisNexis = 1988. Business Source Complete = 1991. www.consumerreports.org website works. Show how to search by publication on the Academic Search Complete database.
7. Facebook Ads: http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/search/label/Advertising. This blog entry describes a feature for purchasing ads directed at college-age persons and anyone using Facebook. "Called Facebook Ads, the new program is threefold: advertisers can create branded pages, run targeted advertisements, and have access to intelligence and analytics pertaining to the site's more than 50 million users. Partners can participate in all three components of Facebook Ads, or a combination of them.”
“He [Zuckerburg] assured the audience that this will not compromise members' personal privacy in any way. "No direct personally identifiable information is ever shared back with marketers," he explained.”
8. Editor & Publisher: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/index.jsp. Market Guide which may provide valuable demographic information of the U.S. and Canada.
9. Harris Polls: conduct and Advanced Search. One result: http://www.aboutjunkie.com/paid-surveys/harris-polls.php. They seek to gain input from teenagers. What do they do with that input?
10. Joseph Ostrow: do an advanced Google search with his name in the title. "Setting Effective Frequency Levels", Effective Frequency: The State of the Art. New York: Advertising Research Foundation, Key Issues Workshop, 1982, pp. 89–102
11. Media planning : a practical guide / Jim Surmanek. HF5826.5 .S86 1985 Main Book Collection (2nd Floor).
12. Advertising reach and frequency : maximizing advertising results through effective frequency / Colin McDonald. HF5827 .M19 1996 Main Book Collection (2nd Floor).
13. Marketing information. HF5415.124 .M36 Reference Collection (1st Floor) - NO CHECKOUT Marketing --Information services --United States --Directories.
Marketing research --Information services --United States --Directories.
Advertising --Information services --United States --Directories.
Marketing --Bibliography --Periodicals.
Advertising --Bibliography --Periodicals.
14. Advertising media planning : a brand management approach / Larry D. Kelley and Donald W. Jugenheimer. HF5826.5 .K45 2004 Main Book Collection (2nd Floor).
15. The media handbook : a complete guide to advertising media selection, planning, research, and buying / Helen Katz. HF5826.5 .K38 2003.
16. Anastasia Goodstein: author of Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens are Really Doing Online. Her blog: http://totallywired.ypulse.com/.
17. Hodgkinson, Tom. “Why you should beware of Facebook.” http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/01/18/1200620184398.html. Retrieved 23 January 2008.
18. Video titled “Does what happens in the facebook stay in the facebook: http://albumoftheday.com/facebook/.
19. Media Rating Council includes nearly all of the major television stations in the U.S. http://www.mediaratingcouncil.org/. It appears that they gauge the sizes of television-viewing audiences and their makeup. In their own words: “To secure for the media industry and related users audience measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective.
20. MRI: MediaMark’s Research & Intelligence: http://www.mediamark.com/. The Survey of the American Consumer™ collects information on adult consumers' media choices, product usage, demographics, lifestyle and attitudes. Usage of nearly 6,000 product and service brands across 550 categories are measured, along with the readership of hundreds of magazines and newspapers, Internet usage, TV viewership to the program level, national and local radio listening, Yellow Pages usage and Out-of-Home exposure.
21. MRI Plus: www.mriplus.com. It allows you to register for a free account. Select Top-Line Reports, then choose MRI Cyberstats for a detailed chart showing detailed internet usage statistics. [I’m not sure about how to read these numbers. I believe most of the figures given are percentages.]
22. National Cable Communications [NCC]: http://www.spotcable.com/index.html. If you want to advertise on cable TV, here’s a good place to find out about the networks and where you might want to advertise. They can help you locate the consumers you want to target.
23. Nielsen Media Research: go here to find TV’s top 10 programs of the previous week. They can monitor local, national, cultural, and sporting networks. Site: http://www.nielsenmedia.com/nc/portal/site/Public/menuitem.dce9b586b72c5e9e4a90e91047a062a0/. Also do an Advanced Google search. Limit to English, United States, in the last year, to show 50 results on a page, etc. Result: http://www.nielsenmedia.com/nc/portal/site/Public/menuitem.55dc65b4a7d5adff3f65936147a062a0/?vgnextoid=c663c5e568522110VgnVCM100000ac0a260aRCRD.
24. Hey!Nielsen: http://www.heynielsen.com/. Allows people to rank stars, shows, songs, videos, etc. This social networking site allows individuals to offer their own views on popular media persons and products.
25. Journal of marketing. HF5415.A2 J6 LIBRARY HAS CURRENT SUBSCRIPTION. Periodicals (3rd Floor).
26. Google Search for “nielsen ratings millennials generation Y”:
a. http://www.marketingvox.com/categories/?c=17,50. Home page: http://www.marketingvox.com/. MarketingVOX: The Voice of Online Marketing.
b. New Content for a New Generation: http://www.generatela.com/pdf/Generate_White_Paper.pdf. Gives insights into the world that exists today with many comments pointing at Gen Y and their influence on the Media and advertising practices/trends.
c. The Longtail phenomenon: http://www.thelongtail.com/. Increasingly, people talk about meeting the needs of the scarce or longtail.
27. Pinpointgolf: http://www.pinpointgolf.com/. It can help you advertise in an outdoor setting. Pinpoint Golf is the largest provider of advertising and marketing opportunities at golf courses and golf ranges nationwide.
28. Statistical Abstract of the United States: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/. Find demographic information about U.S. citizens and residents, that is by age, sex, race, religion, income, education, etc.
Business Source Complete
1. America AND online AND target AND audience OR aol = 267 results when limited to full text and scholarly articles. Limit to United States. This search did not seem to be very relevant, and it occurred to me that I probably should be looking more for generation Y and marketing to them.
2. (generation AND Y) and (advertising or marketing) = 380 results. Only 326 of these are full-text articles. Narrowing the results to mainly “marketing,” only 84 results come back and again to “Generation Y.” Yes, consider using the word millennials = Gen Y.
a. Generation Yapper. By: Powell, Chris, Marketing Magazine, 11964650, 12/10/2007, Vol. 112, Issue 23.
b. Credit Union Magazine; by Featherstone, Michele. May2007, Vol. 73 Issue 5, p34-37, 4p
c. The why generation. By: Ryan-Segger, Tanya. B&T Weekly, 4/27/2007, Vol. 57 Issue 2606, p22-24, 2p, 1c; (AN 25088146). The article reports on changes in the marketing and advertising strategies of companies in Australia to target the Generation Y segment. John Rash, executive director of Peer Group Media, believes the key difference from Generation X is Generation Y's extreme confidence, awarenes and heightened individuality along with a power shift within the genders.
d. Playing Generation Y at their own game. By: Owen, Sarah-Jane. B&T Weekly, 4/27/2007, Vol. 57 Issue 2606, p24-24, 1/5p, 1c; (AN 25088147) The article reports on the target marketing strategies of advertisers for the Generation Y segment who are well known for its staunch defiance of all things advertising. A Gatorade campaign led by DDB Sydney and Tribal DDB emphasized the need to tell the Gen Y segment not to do something and they will do it. The campaign connected successfully to its audience specifically males aged 16-24.
e. Young Adults Tune In. By: Romano, Allison. Broadcasting & Cable, 6/26/2006, Vol. 136 Issue 26, p19-19, 1/2p; Presents results of a study of Millennials released by Frank N. Magid Associates at the Promax/BDA marketing conference in New York in June 2006. Percentage of Millennials who watch local news; Devices preferred by Millennials over television; Ways television stations can catch the interest and attention of Millennials.
f. Gen Y: Cool, school's most popular and most elusive. B&T Weekly, 5/26/2006, Vol. 56 Issue 2565, special section p14-14, 1p, 2c; The article focuses on the so called Generation Y. Marketers all agree that GenerationY are trendsetters for the rest of the population, and their propensity to spend makes them hot market property. Everyone from telecommunications companies to alcohol producers are doing tbeir best to catch the eye of Generation Y. Expert Peter Sheahan says, it's no longer enough to rely on generational research to build a product campaign targeting the youth market.
g. Catch the Millennials If You Can. By: Seckler, Valerie. WWD: Women's Wear Daily, 1/11/2006, Vol. 191 Issue 7, p10-10, 1p, 1 chart, 1c; The article presents information on marketing to the Millennial generation. As the Millennial market continues to grow in 2006, so does the media. Marketers can use the latest developments in the media to get their message across to the Millennials. Media like television, the Internet and cellular telephones can be tapped to provide information about commercial products.
h. Marketing to moms today requires understanding different generations. By: Linville, Jeff. Home Textiles Today, 7/11/2005 Kids Today Supplement, p20-20, 3/5p. Reports on the need to understand three different generations in marketing products to parents and expectant mothers in the U.S. Combination of Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y in the profile of modern mothers; Description of mothers with ages 40 and above; Influence of the Gen X mothers by a high degree of divorce among their parents;Expectation of the Gen Y consumers to have the second-largest baby boom in the country's history.
i. Gen Y quizzed about on-demand. By: Elkin, Tobi. Advertising Age, 2/24/2003, Vol. 74 Issue 8, p37-37, 1/3p. The article cites key survey findings in the U.S. in 2003 indicating the attitudes of Generation Y, or the 18-to-29-year old market segment, concerning on-demand television. Key issues discussed include strategic alliances between television broadcasting firms, youth marketing and the potential impact of the survey findings on advertising.
j. The kids are alright? By: Bielski, Lauren. ABA Banking Journal, Nov2007, Vol. 99 Issue 11, p46-51, 4p. The article discusses ways to market financial services products offered by banks to the generation Y or the so called echo boomers. According to marketing experts, including Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, today's kids take their cues almost exclusively from friends and celebrities they admire. Sure, ads have to influence somebody to get this process started, but predicting what brands will actually resonate is trickier than ever. So tweens, teens, and 20-somethings are into themselves, above all, as has always been the case. Yet this youth generation has enacted its relative self-absorption in striking ways. In order to bridge indifferences, financial institution clients employ traditional schemes in new wrapping.
3. Generation and (Y or millennials) and internet and usage = 6 results. Just one looked useful. Caught in the Web. By: Lempert, Phil. Progressive Grocer, 9/1/2006, Vol. 85 Issue 12, p18-18, 1p This article reports that the growing Internet usage among consumers have direct implications for the grocery industry. The Internet is a rapidly growing medium of socializing for the Generation Y group. Ninety-one percent of online households use a search engine once a week or more. The technologies available to consumers are also changing the way they shop for food bargains. Several new deals have surfaced that will make online coupons more available to consumers than ever.
4. Generation and (Y or millennials) and (website* or web or site*) and social = 16 results.
a. Social REVOLUTION. (cover story) By: Frauenheim, Ed. Workforce Management, 10/22/2007, Vol. 86 Issue 18, p1-37, 9p The article reports that the online social networking phenomenon has pervaded the workplace. According to experts, the arrival of Generation Y to the workforce means companies have little choice but to adapt to these highly communal, highly wired young workers. However, corporations are not complete strangers to social networking technologies. The major consumer social networking sites, MySpace and Facebook, make it easy to start a workplace group. INSET: STARBUCKS EMPLOYEES CARVE OUT OWN 'SPACE.
b. Setting Their Sites On Generation `Y'. By: Cheng, Kipp. Brandweek, 08/09/99, Vol. 40 Issue 31, p38, 2p. Focuses on the United States advertisers' obsession with Generation Y, also known as teenagers aged 12 to 19. Demographic growth of Generation Y; What is taking advertisers so long to identify and serve Generation Y on the Web; Generation Yers as multitasking people; Teen market on the Web.

5. Generation and (Y or millennials) and (Facebook or Myspace) = 5 results when limited to full text.
6. Facebook.gov. By: Bromley, Sarah E.. Dollars & Sense, Nov/Dec2007 Issue 273, p4-5, 2p. The author discusses the privacy issues involving the social networking Web site, Facebook. The terms-of-service agreement participants must also sign grants Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt, in whole or in part, and distribute such User Content for any purpose, the author noted.
7. ( aol and consumer ) and DE "AMERICA Online Inc." and DE "CONSUMERS" = 12 results
Academic Search Complete
1. Search: facebook + Scholarly Journals + Full-text articles = 12 results
2. Facebook + linked full-text articles = 441. The “Narrow Results by Subject” provides some very interesting subject headings. FACEBOOK Inc.; ONLINE social networks; WEB sites; SOCIAL networks; MYSPACE.COM (Company); ZUCKERBERG, Mark; INTERNET advertising; Social aspects; UNITED States; INTERNET
3. Search: (millennials or Y or net) and generation and (hobb* or interest* or pastime*) Generation Y gets off the couch.
a. New York Amsterdam News, 7/27/2006, Vol. 97 Issue 31, p20-20, 1/3p. The article presents views and opinions of some teens in the United States about what they do in their spare time, other than watching TV. The opinions were gathered in the context of a survey by A. C. Nielson Co. showing that the average U.S. child spends 1,500 hours each year watching TV. Natasha, 16, from Salt Lake City, says she relieves her stress on guitar. Michael Proctor, 16, from New York, likes to play basketball. Diane Link, 12, from Caseville, Utah loves to babysit her neighbors.
b. GOING TO EXTREMES. By: Raymond, Joan. American Demographics, Jun2002, Vol. 24 Issue 6, p28, 3p. Deals with the increase in the number of U.S. citizens interested in extreme sports. Reason for the decision of companies to focus some of their marketing budgets on capturing the generation X and Y male consumers; Decline in the ratings of the 'Monday Night Football' television program; Average audience attracted by the X Games event in 2001.
Mergent Online
1. Search: aol = AOL-LA  this is the Latin American division or break-off of the company. [only one result].
2. Time Warner = 4 results. Time Warner Cable Inc; Time Warner Entertainment Co., L.P.; Time Warner Inc (New); Time Warner Telecom, Inc. The third one here, Time Warner Inc (New), is the one that owns AOL now. Here you can find company financials, a listing of top competitors, recent news items, brief synopsis of the company’s history, and company details, such as contact information, ticker symbol, names of executives, legal counsel, property, joint ventures, long-term debt, etc.
LexisNexis Statistical
1. Search: citizens + Limit to U.S. Regions + Age + U.S. Totals + Annual frequencies =
103 tables with statistics. Choices #7: Table 683. Money Income of People—Selected Characteristics by Income Level: 2003. See the notes and footnotes. At the top in brackets: “Peope as of March 2004 (110,257 represents 110,257,000).” The figures show millions and thousands of persons. Table 251 “Educational Attainment by Selected Characteristics: 1999.
2. Search: employment + Limit to U.S. Regions + Age + U.S. Totals + Annual frequencies = 93 results. First result: Table 216. Educational Attainment by Selected Characteristics: 2005.

LexisNexis Academic
1. generation and (Y or net or millennials) and (hobb* or pastime*) = 326 results. Notice the left-hand side divides the results into linkable categories with the number of result that match each category: Newspapers (265), Magazines & Journals (29), Industry Trade Press (24), Aggregate News Sources (24), Newsletters (10), Scientific Materials (6), News Transcripts (4), Newswires & Press Releases (3), and Unclassified documents (4). Interestingly enough, a box with a plus sign allows you to view from which sources the articles are derives. The Times and Sunday Times (London) has 46 articles that fit this search, and The New York Times has only 14.
a. Totally wireless on campus; Today's young 'digital natives' can't live, or study, without technology. USA TODAY, October 3, 2006 Tuesday, LIFE; Pg. 1D, 1735 words, Sharon Jayson.
b. Teched-up teens plug into future. Herald Sun (Australia), December 18, 2007 Tuesday, NEWS; Pg. 12, 388 words, Fay Burstin, family reporter
c. Secret lives of Generation. Sunday Times (London), February 12, 2006, Sunday, FEATURES; Sport; Pg. 26, 1997 words, James Knight and Katrina Manson
d. Business-savvy kids turn blogs into e-shopping outlets; Piecing together the digital native Last week, we learnt how the generation that was weaned on the tools of the digital age comminicated. This week, Jane Ng looks into how they trade
The Straits Times (Singapore), January 8, 2007 Monday, 1476 words
2. “digital native” and favorite and (tv or television) = 12 results that seem more relevant than the last [above] search
3. "digital natives" and "social networking" = 68 results. Some good results.
a. Friends, fakes and Facebook . Sunday Telegraph (Australia), November 25, 2007 Sunday, FEATURES; Pg. 86, 639 words, SANDRA LEE
b. Dude, where's my audience?; COVER STORY. The Age (Melbourne, Australia), July 26, 2007 Thursday, GREEN GUIDE; Livewire; Pg. 21, 1655 words, Katie Cincotta.
c. Networking through the Net; Where friendships are virtual, networks are global and dates are a click away. The Straits Times (Singapore), January 22, 2007 Monday, 1075 words, Tessa Wong.
d. Portrait of a Blogger: Under 30 and Sociable; Survey Finds Need to Connect With Family and Friends and to Meet New People. The Washington Post, July 20, 2006 Thursday, Financial; D05, 583 words, Kim Hart, Washington Post Staff Writer
e. The Longest Day; Could a class of college students survive without iPods, cellphones, computers and TV from one sunrise to the next?. The Washington Post, August 5, 2007 Sunday, MAGAZINE; Pg. W20, 2274 words, Danna L. Walker.
4. "social networking" and sites and (popular or cool or busy or busiest) = 979 results. Looking at the first few results look promising.
a. Social networkers reach out more with cellphones; As sites like MySpace go mobile, services look for ways to cash in. USA TODAY, November 14, 2007 Wednesday, MONEY; Pg. 7A, 1783 words, Edward C. Baig.
b. Because this is just how big it's become.... The Western Mail, December 20, 2007, Thursday, NEWS; Pg. 11, 443 words, Emma Rowley
c. First friend; Meet Tom. He's extremely wealthy and, if you're under 30, you probably know him very, very well. The Toronto Sun, December 17, 2006 Sunday, NEWS; Pg. 6, 925 words, BY MICHELE MANDEL
d. Social networking, now in your pocket; Online services like MySpace are making the leap from computers to cellphones. The International Herald Tribune, April 28, 2007 Saturday, FINANCE; Pg. 13, 1335 words, Brad Stone and Matt Richtel - The New York Times Media Group.
e. Big Media's Crush on Social Networking . The New York Times, January 21, 2007 Sunday, Section 3; Column 1; Money and Business/Financial Desk; MEDIA FRENZY; Pg. 3, 1189 words, By RICHARD SIKLOS

Justification for Previous Post

After "publishing" the previous post, I realized it might seem strange to include an entry on Photo Sharing in an information-literacy blog. The Association of College and Research Libraries (a subdivision of the American Library Association) approved a set of Information-Literacy Standards on January 18, 2000. These standards, as well as an explanation for their need in today's world, can be found at the following website: ACRL Information-Literacy Standards.

This site says: "Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to 'recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.' ¹ Information literacy also is increasingly important in the contemporary environment of rapid technological change and proliferating information resources." Therefore, when individuals realize they need information that will help them share their digital photos with others they need to be able "to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." My pathfinder seeks to facilitate that process. Hopefully, my explanations of websites and photo-sharing services will connect individuals with useful resources that can aid them to learn quickly how to take full advantage of prevalent photo-sharing services.

Photo-Sharing Pathfinder

The following links may be useful in helping you to quickly learn how to share your photos with friends, co-workers, students, etc. A majority of these links were used in a Web 2.0 workshop on photo sharing, which was given in the Eli M. Oboler Library on December 11, 2007. A brief description and or title accompany each hyperlink.

What is photo sharing?

· Quick Online Tips says: “Flickr is a revolution in photo storage, sharing and organization, making image management an easy, natural and collaborative process. Get comments, notes, and tags on your photos, post to any blog, share and chat live and more! Flickr claims to be the best online image management and photo sharing application.

“If you are a Flickr newbie, read How to get the most out of Flickr, Tips for Flickr Beginners and the Official FAQ. You can also combine Picassa and Gmail to upload photos to Flickr, turn your blog into a moblog and listen to the Flickr Song. Did you know the most popular camera on Flickr was the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT.”

The rest of the page offers links to official Flickr tools and third-party tools for Flickr.

· Notice the link above titled, "How to Get the Most Out of Flickr." It tells you some of the potential uses for Flickr. It can tell you how to use Flickr with your blog, cameraphone, RSS feeds, etc. Also, the page gives instructions on how to organize your photos, create a group for a wedding, reunion, or event, and share private photos with family and friends.

Which photo-sharing services are the best?

· Many like their Flickr.com accounts: Webware Article. This link points to an article written November 13, 2007 and announces the fact that 2 billion photos had been uploaded to Flickr.com. They mention that Photobucket and Facebook sites had already reached that milestone months ago.

· Some prefer Picasa Web Albums: Picasa vs Flickr. Rob Neville shares his opinion that Picasaweb surpasses Flickr in its ease of use, user-friendly features, and its off-line editing program.

· Still, others choose different services: Web Photo Sharing Site Faceoff. While this article is rather dated as far as technology and Web2.0 are concerned (Sept. 5, 2005), it does name 14 photo-sharing services one can choose from. A couple of graphs lay out the data, showing the capabilities of each service for easy comparison.

· There are lots to choose from: Online photo sharing for snapshot photographers. Here you can look at a graph that rates 21 photo-sharing services, while also detailing storage space, fees, viewer experience, uploading management, file types, resolution, and special features. After checking the links for each service I discovered that three no longer work: AGFAPHOTO, Image Station, and Yahoo! Photo. The AGFA link would not load. Image Station will no longer accept new members; its site officially closes February 1, 2008. Yahoo! Photo died, because Yahoo! decided to devote all its photo-sharing energies to Flickr—it’s more popular and successful service.

· In this YouTube video (requires high-speed internet to view) a young, computer-savvy person discusses the question of which photo-sharing service is the best. He ventures to say that it depends on what you want to do with your photos and where your friends are. Additionally, he recommends that you save your digital photos on several photo-sharing websites, since one site may vanish at any given time: Best Photo Sharing Site. [Chances are that Picasa and Flickr will be around for a long time, as well as photo-sharing sites backed by large corporations.] Length of time: 1:31.

Getting started with photo-sharing services, or how is it done?

· Note: high-speed internet may be necessary to access and view the following video clips.

· See YouTube clip title “ Using Picasa – Part 1”: Picasa 2 (newest verion) can be downloaded at the following website: http://picasa.google.com/download/index.html. The video lasts seven minutes fifteen seconds (7:15), and it shows you how to get started with the Picasa desktop program for working with digital photos.

· “ Using Picasa – Part 2”: In this second video, you can learn how to create web albums, email photos, print photos, order photos, select photos, and transfer photos from your camera. It is well-done and focused on the task at hand. Length of time: 8:33.

· This YouTube video clip stars a young man who explains how to use Picasa in very straightforward terms: Jasonthenerd. Length of time: 9:13.

Future impact of Social Networking:

· This blog includes the comments of a panel of experts on the future of social networking. It does focus more on the relationship between this phenomenon and libraries than on society as a whole.

RSS Feeds, Websites, and Blogs:

· It is possible to upload photos to your Flickr.com account and create an RSS feed that updates photos on your website or blog in real time. This could potentially save on staff time by circumnavigating the webmaster; whether your administration trusts you enough to do that may be another matter.

On resizing photos:

Learning how to resize photos has been a real challenge for me, and I confess that I still am not sure exactly how to do this. It may be necessary to purchase or download an editing program in addition to Picasa to resize photos. The first link below includes some programs with reviews that can edit photos and potentially resize them.

1. Edit photos and resize them with these programs.

2. Discussion on Picasa-Help page regarding resizing photos and how many pixels to keep for optimal resolution.

3. More on resizing within Picasa Web Albums.

4. Picasa-Help links about how to resize photos using Picasa Web Albums.

Please offer me any feedback you have regarding the content in this post, my workshop, information-literacy topic, or social networking issue.

How do you know if it's a scholarly journal?

Have you ever had this question? At Idaho State University a particular Biology 101 class is required to do several assignments to familiarize themselves with library resources. One of the questions asks that they find a peer-reviewed journal and make a photocopy of an article from our collection of printed journals or print out a full-text version of an article in a database. We use EBSCOHost interfaces and databases, so it can be easy to tell students just to check the box that says "Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals" when they begin a search or click on the link that says "Academic Journals" once the computer returns its results.

I am never quite satisfied with that answer, because it seems that students may find a book review within an academic journal, but this would not satisfy the criteria for their assignment. Typically, scholarly journals do not have flashy covers, but when students are working at a computer workstation they cannot see the journal/magazine covers. Scholarly articles generally contain a colon in the title, separating the general topic from its particular focus. Ex: "Eating disorder not otherwise specified in an inpatient unit: the impact of altering the DSM-IV criteria for anorexia and bulimia nervosa."

What should students know when they are looking for scholarly, peer-reviewed journals? The Idaho State University reference and instruction librarians have developed a web page that walks students through the decision-making process and compares the scholarly right next to the popular. It can be a great start for students who are puzzled about the matter.

On the other hand, if they want to know right now [post haste] it might be best to point them to Ulrichsweb.com where they can find a quick answer. I conducted a quick search a few minutes ago on "anorexia nervosa." It returned thousands of results; I had not specified any limitations on the search, but I found a journal title to check, Philosophy, Psychiatry & Psychology. I quickly copied and pasted it into the Ulrichsweb.com search box, pressed enter, and it returned lots of options. Of course, this scared me at first. "Oh no, I don't know how to do this. I didn't do it right." However, on looking more closely at the results I found the desired title down low on the list. I don't know why it returned those other results, but once I selected the proper title it took me to a detailed record of the serial in question. One of the fields is titled "Refereed" and for this particular serial it say "Yes." I tried Ulrichsweb.com today for the first time; for some reason I thought that I would have to consult the paper version. Talk about scary--using a printed index!!! No worries, though, because the Head of Reference says Ulrichs will no longer be selling the print version; it will all be online. Sounds like good news for students, professors, and librarians.

Hopefully I can remember to point students to the Ulrichsweb.com site in the future. We do subscribe to it. We have it on our list of databases at least. That's what I have to say about knowing whether or not a source is scholarly or not--at least today. Perhaps someone, someday will comment on this blog. What do I need to do to get people to read my stuff? I believe my entries contain useful information and questions; one reason I think they will be useful down the road is that I should be able to include them in my portfolio for evaluation. This may or may not be true, but I consider it to be a teaching log to include in my personal teaching portfolio at least.


This blog really does prepare me to answer students' questions. It affords me the opportunity to articulate my ideas in words that can then be expressed later. Sometimes I do rather well communicating ideas on the spur of the moment, but other times I fail miserably. My level of effectiveness increases when I first write down/type my ideas, because it forces me to organize my ideas into words that make sense in an understandable pattern/order.

Objective: Help Freshmen Feel Comfortable w/Library Things

Today I will be teaching the First-Year Seminar [FYS] students again. In fact, I will teach the same section that I taught on Monday. We talked about plagiarism and academic honesty. This was the class where a student challenged me for plagiarizing the PowerPoint Presentation. Yesterday I taught a different group of students and led them in a discussion on academic integrity. One of my colleagues attended the session, and today she came and talked with me about how surprised she was at how rude the students acted in the class. At one point I had to say, "We will wait until the students in the back finish talking before going on with the discussion." I feel that doing this causes those students who are disruptive to understand that their peers do not appreciate having to wait for them or having them be disruptive so much.

One student in the front of the class took me off guard. He vocalized his ideas so loudly at times that it took me aback and I did not know how to respond to this behavior. I would almost say he was a bit aggressive and did not believe in the value of academic honesty. What do you do when students undermine your ideas by their attitude and comments? I think of my recent involvement in creating the Banned and Challenged Books Display. One of the quotations I read said something like, "The way to fight a bad idea is to present a better one," meaning that to repress or censor an idea really does not solve the problem.

Today I will be showing the catalog, inviting students to find a book on the shelves, and demonstrating how to use the EBSCOHost Academic Search Complete database. There's always so much to teach students. About a month ago I updated the worksheet, outline, and objectives for FYS. In our library instruction meeting we determined our objectives for the FYS sessions. The overarching objective is to help all students become comfortable using the library, especially the at-risk freshmen. We believe that pairing the students into groups of two or three would be useful in making it a more positive and stress-free experience.

More specifically, we want students to be inclined to ask for help at the Reference Desk or through our Ask-A-Librarian form. We want them to be able to search the library catalog effectively and be able to locate a book on the shelves. Sending the students out to find a book in the stacks will take time; however, if students look with another student we are hoping that it will take less time. Once they return from retrieving a book we will show them the database searching. Hopefully, there will be time to do this. Students will be completing exercises on a worksheet, so first they will conduct a few basic searches in the library catalog. I need to remember and give them some book jackets to search for a book. I've forgotten to do this in the past. Time management will be a factor. I want to include some Affluenza searches.

I better go and practice a few of the searches before heading up to the classroom.

First-Year Seminar: Plagiarism Discussion

Yesterday I taught the First-Year Seminar [FYS] students for the first time. One of my colleagues actually co-teaches this class with another faculty member on campus. Well, I felt pretty nervous, and it did not help that my throat kept going super dry. Basically, we have an outline that library instructors can choose to follow for each of the two sessions we have with a FYS class. In the first part we discuss academic honesty and academic dishonesty, focusing on avoiding plagiarism. Someone had already created a PowerPoint presentation to help lead a discussion on the topic. Most of the slides pop up with a question, and then the librarian lets the students answer that question. I had heard that many of the students do not participate, which should not be too surprising. With that in mind I wanted to find a method or technique that would elicit more responses. I remembered something from working in the Center for Teaching at the University of Iowa--the pair and share technique. This means students work in twos or threes to discuss the question, then they share with the rest of the class. I decided to have students write down their answers first, then pair, then share. I thought it worked rather well.

The class began at noon, yet students were mostly full of energy. This class talked a lot among themselves [not always about the topic at hand], but they did well in participating along the way. One student seemed rather confrontational in the sense that he challenged me on a couple of occasions. He accused me of plagiarizing the PowerPoint presentation, which did catch me off-guard. Fortunately, my colleague spoke up and said it was not plagiarizing and invited me to tell him why. I said that the presentation had been created by another library employee, and that I represented the library in using it. Another student also spoke up by saying that I never claimed I had created it. She mentioned that one of the slides had said someone else had created it, although when I looked at the PPt presentation again I did not see that anywhere. The confrontational student was not mean-spirited, just full of energy and wanting to impress (I assume) his classmates. It seems that some students feel they know it already and feel put-out to attend something so basic as a discussion on plagiarism. Truly, many students probably do know about plagiarism and academic honesty, but I believe they can still learn something if they listen and desire to learn something.

After bringing back the class from a group discussion, I let one of the students answer. She spoke softly, and the "confrontational" student kept on talking. I let the student finish her thought and waited for the "confrontational" student to stop talking. When I had his attention I politely [and shakily as I was nervous. I hope I was not rude or demeaning.] said "I believe your classmates would appreciate it if you would listen to them while they are talking." He piped down, and the rest of the class period he listened attentively to the comments of others. He was one of the brightest in the classroom if you ask me. He also offered an answer to the question: "What is academic dishonesty?" He chimed in that skipping class could be a form of academic dishonesty to which I added, "yes, if you want to gain an education and you skip class then you are being dishonest with yourself." My colleague later asked who had given this answer and told him that he would give him credit for that answer.

I don't think that the student held a grudge against me. If anything, I think he gained some respect from me. Perhaps that is wishful thinking, but his countenance/appearance did not suggest he had any negative feelings for me. It can me scary to play the part of the teacher in stepping up and asking for some order in a classroom, especially if you are a new instructor. True, I have had many teaching experiences in the past, but I do not know if I asserted myself in similar ways in the past. I hope this experience remains a positive one in my mind and that I assert myself in positive ways in the future classes I teach.

Lecturing & Participation

Today I observed an instruction session taught by one of my colleagues. She had fifty minutes to talk about how to do research and search the library catalog. While she said otherwise, I thought she looked and acted in a composed manner. She did not hurry through the material or raise her voice unnecessarily. She frequently asked the students if they had any questions and sincerely wanted to help them.

I liked her approach. She began by talking about her experience in doing research, particularly how she begins a project by gathering background information in dictionaries or encyclopedias. She brought reference materials for all to see, emphasizing the importance of gathering basic information. These resources can really be useful, because they generally include a list of bibliographic references that they can then go look up for more information. By looking in the reference materials, students can also find buzzwords they had not considered previously, and then they can use these keywords in their searches.

As she explained the importance of gathering background information in the early stages of research she drew an inverted triangle on the board. The broad part of the triangle represents the background-finding stage, and then students can start consulting books for more specific information. She did not write in the point of the triangle, but I speculate that students could consult articles for even more specific information. In the next class on Friday she will teach this same group about searching in the databases for articles. Of course, she might consider the student's thesis to be the point in the triangle, but I like the idea of articles as it most nearly matches the other options, that is reference materials and books.

Anyway, the instructional session went rather well if you ask me. In the future perhaps I could remember to go a little slower or talk a little quieter. My colleague mentioned how she was walking by the instruction room a few years ago, and she could hear the library instructor talking so high, fast, and so loud that she determined students could possibly be learning as well as they could otherwise.

The Invisible Web

In the instruction sessions I like to talk to students about the "invisible web" or what some people call the "deep web." Instructors ask me to tell their students the difference between a simple Google search and a search in the databases. Basically, search engines can send out "crawlers" or "spiders" to gather links to their servers. They input this information into their own database, so a search on Google is actually a search on their database. They rank their results by relevance using an algorithm that determines to some extent how easily accessible or easy it would be to find a certain page. Theoretically, the most authoritative sources on a specific topic would have the most links to their web page. This does not happen in reality as many individuals or businesses create tons of links to their pages, so that their pages will climb the list of Google results. Some political or television persons tell people to embed links into their web sites to push their agendas. Several years ago, such a prank was pulled as tons of links included "miserable failure" in its html code with a link to the White House home page. Sometimes these are called Google Bombs: http://blogoscoped.com/googlebomb/.
Additionally, web search engines must follow internet protocols. This means that if one of their crawlers comes upon a web site with a robot extension, that robot is required to ignore that web site. Search engines do not have the authority to read and retrieve everything on the internet. Some information belongs to publishers and authors and must be accessed with a user name and password, which incidentally requires a fee. Databases house information that costs lots of money; perhaps it should be stated that the information cost a lot of money in producing and the publishers/authors must be compensated accordingly. Academic libraries, therefore, purchase multiple subscriptions to online databases to enhance the research efforts of the students and scholars they serve. Tuition money from students helps to pay for these databases, so students should take advantage of the vast amounts of knowledge that can be found in these databases.
Databases include newspaper articles, book reviews, popular magazine articles, and scholarly articles. College students should endeavor to find the most accurate and relevant information for their assignments. Often the most authoritative information can be found in the scholarly or peer-reviewed articles. Scholars critique other scholars' work before it can get published. Scholars that submit their work often must edit their work before it can be published. This rigorous activity helps to promote the advancement of truth and knowledge.

New Librarian Mistakes

At the Reference Desk today I feel like I made a few mistakes that affected my confidence. One of the mistakes was that I did not smile as much as I should have, but the mistakes made it more difficult to smile. One of the patrons asked for help in sending an article they found in Google Scholar to their email account. They kept saying that it would not let them do this. I suggested that they copy and paste the URL and send that to themselves in their email account. She did not seem pleased. Later on I figured that she could probably save the page to the computer's desktop and send it as an attachment to herself, although I tried this out myself at one of the Reference computers, and it did not work. Frustrating! I still wanted to suggest this to the patron, but I perceived/imagined she was not pleased with my help, so I hesitated too long and she left. She was talking with her colleagues [they seemed to be a part of the same class], so I didn't want to interrupt at that point. What can I do better in the future? Hopefully, I can learn from my mistakes and better help others in the future.

Another student needed an MLA handbook for writing theses and dissertations. I looked in the catalog, but I could only find the one that is for undergraduates. I did walk with her to find the MLA Handbooks in the stacks, partly in hopes that we could find the graduate MLA handbook. She came back after a few minutes, and by then I had looked on the shelves behind the Reference Desk to find the most recent edition of the MLA Handbook, so I handed her that one. She said she would take it up to the second floor.

My colleague at the desk had been helping someone else at the same time, otherwise I would have asked for her input. Once she had a free moment I asked her about this, because I knew that another MLA book existed specifically for graduate students and that it was a hard-bound version. Of course, my experienced colleague knew that this hard-bound book existed also, and she knew it was not shelved next to the MLA Handbook. Now I know it is the MLA Style Manual shelved with the PNs, whereas the MLA Handbook can be found with the LBs.

The most embarrassing thing is that I have used the MLA Style Manual before [at least I should have used it frequently when writing my MA thesis].

On the bright side I answered a few questions correctly, but these seemed to be more on the directional questions side of things. Any suggestions, comments, and encouragements would be welcome.

Remaining Positive

How do you stay positive during information literacy session? While I have not taught many one-shot sessions yet, I get the impression that students get distracted or bored during the instruction period. It seems logical that that their postures and lack of responses may invite the instructor to become more cynical or pessimistic. As professionals, librarians ought to remain positive as they teach and seek for methods that will capture the attention of students while also enhancing their learning. What will students learn during the session? How will they demonstrate that they have learned what has been taught? What will they do?

A few days ago I talked with an experienced librarian about creating an information-literacy tutorial for students in a regular freshman speech course. The topic of teaching the difference between scholarly and popular articles came up, and I mentioned that students can often discern between them by the grammar in the titles and sometimes by the length of the article. If an article contains a colon, it likely represents a scholarly article, since academics and professionals try to identify their subject somewhat broadly at first and then narrow the subject down to the specific aspect on which they focus their writing. The following seems to be a pertinent example: "UNPICKING FEMALE EXEMPLARITY; OR, THE USEFULNESS OF BODY STORIES: REASSESSING FEMALE COMMUNAL IDENTITY IN TWO EARLY MODERN FRENCH TEXTS." My colleague seemed interested in the idea of colons in titles as evidence of a scholarly article, but she took issue with my statement of length of an article as an indicator of scholarly work. After hearing her comments I agree that length of article does not determine very well if an article is scholarly/peer-reviewed or not. However, upon further reflection, I believe that scholarly titles do tend to have longer titles than articles for popular publications.

In talking about how to describe scholarly articles I also commented that the scholarly ones look more boring. My colleague mentioned that when she talks to classes she likes to use more positive terminology, probably because she feels it is our responsibility to encourage students in conducting quality research. She prefers adjectives such as "depth," "profound," "thorough," "based in fact and sources," etc. when discussing scholarly articles. On a similar note, she has found that students think professors do not express opinions, but she argues that they are often more opinionated than most other people. Therefore, scholarly does not equal boring. I agree.

Yet students often look at erudite texts as boring, often because they can fathom what the person is trying to say. They are unfamiliar with the jargon of that discipline, their reading skills may not yet be on the level of a college student, and their attention spans severely inhibit their abilities to grapple with a scholarly text. Nonetheless, these reasons should further motivate librarians to be positive; I like to think that if we imbue students with a positive attitude they will be more inclined to begin tackling difficult readings and engage in thorough scholarly research. Positive attitudes alone will not resolve all student difficulties with scholarly engagements, but they can certainly help more than a pessimistic viewpoint.

Perhaps librarians should positively ask the "Why?" question. Why do we engage in scholarly research? Why is it important to find good sources of information? Why is it important to evaluate information sources? Why do scholars ask the questions they do? Why does our society value education? In Ken Bain's book What the Best College Teachers Do he says the best teachers ask the BIG questions, not unlike the ones just articulated. Questions with the interrogative Why should not be avoided.

One more thing about being positive with students. In my colleague's explanation for why students should cite their sources, she says students will do good research on their speeches or paper, which will in turn interest the instructor and other students. They will be impressed with the student's ideas and want to learn more about the topic, so having cited the sources will allow them to find them more readily and explore the topic in question.

Why do librarians teach information literacy? We believe it will positively impact the lives of the general public as information literacy seeks out the best, most accurate information

Providing a positive and informative instruction session can motivate students to begin their research more intelligently. From personal experience, once I begin reading and thinking about ideas I become more interested and want to produce a good product in the form of a paper or speech. Hopefully, librarians can help students excel intellectually and scholastically. To the degree we do this students will walk away with a positive feeling about the library and be better citizens of our society--a win-win situation for everyone .