Library Instruction and IL in the Writing Program

WR121, Academic Composition, focuses on rhetorical reading, thinking, and writing as means of inquiry. Students will gain fluency with key rhetorical concepts and utilize these in a flexible and collaborative writing process, reflecting on their writing process with the goal of developing metacognitive awareness. They will employ conventions, including formal citations, appropriate for a given writing task, attending to the constraints of audience, purpose, genre, and discourse community. Students will compose in two or more genres. They will produce 3000-3500 words of revised, final draft copy or an appropriate multimodal analog for this amount of text. If the focus is primarily multimodal, students will produce at least one essay that integrates research and demonstrates an understanding of the role of an assertive thesis in an academic essay of at least 1000 words.

Focus = Source Evaluation, Ethical Use of Source Materials

WR 121 is the first moment in the undergraduate curriculum where research is a required outcome and it is a critical time for library instruction support. WR 121 students begin navigating research landscapes where they encounter a variety of sources using the online library and other types of internet searching. Students learn how to distinguish between popular and scholarly sources, and how to choose credible sources to integrate into their own writing. While scholarly and peer reviewed journal articles are discussed, the focus is on choosing credible sources that compliment but do not overwhelm the student's voice. Students are encouraged to be very choosey about what they use in their own work, and they will practice integrating  source material with eloquence and integrity. All sources are cited. Librarians encourage students to develop metacognitive awareness by prompting them to reflect on their Information Literacy knowledge practices and dispositions throughout the composition process.

WR 121 Course Outcomes: Research and Documentation

1. ​Use MLA style documentation and attribution (signal) phrases to integrate resource material into writing, including in-text citations and bibliography.
2. Recognize APA style and be able to produce in-text citations and/or bibliographic entries using a writer’s handbook.
3. Use library, databases and the Internet to obtain information and evidence, including the effective use of key word searches.
4. Evaluate source materials for authority, currency, reliability and bias.

WR 121 Annotated Bibliography Assignment Instructions for Students
 

I. First, identify the question you are exploring (sometimes called the question at issue)

You need state this question only once, at the head of your first page. It should apply to all your sources. Your eventual claim or thesis statement will be the answer to this question.
 

II. Then, for at least FOUR sources, complete the following

One of your sources MUST be a scholarly source; the others can be serious popular sources. Most of your sources should be accessed through the library.

1. Citations

Write both a correct MLA and a correct APA citation (entries for a Works Cited page and a Reference list).

Remember that citations from databases are often not correct; they need to be checked against the most recent [MLA 8th edition and APA 6th edition] guidelines in The Chemeketa Handbook and modified to match the appropriate models.

2. Retrieval of Information Write one paragraph that includes discussion of the following:

The type of source (For example, is it a book, magazine article, newspaper article, website from a reputable organization, or an academic publisher? Is it a reference work, serious popular source, or peer-reviewed scholarly source? If it is a scholarly source, from which section/s of the source was the information found?)

Reasons it appears to be this type of source

How and where the source was located (For example, was it found through a library search, library database, or general internet search?)*

*For a book, note whether it is an eBook or print copy and cite accordingly. For a database source, give the name of the database. (NOTE: Gale PowerSearch is NOT a database name). For an Internet source, give the name of the website.

3. Quality of Information Write one paragraph that includes discussion of the following:

• Authority and credentials of the author(s) 
• Currency of the source 
• Reliability of information
• Potential biases

4. Application of Information Based on reading each source, write two paragraphs that include the following:

• A brief summary of the information contained in the source that is useful to the specific research topic.
• An explanation of how the source’s information specifically relates to the research question.

III. Last, using the information you have gathered from annotating these sources, revise and narrow your original research question.

Department of Liberal Arts & Social Studies | English Program                    
WR 121 Assessment: Annotated Bibliography Assignment

* Denotes State of Oregon AAOT Writing and Information Literacy Outcomes