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Many academic libraries partner with English composition in order to teach first year students skills related to academic research and writing. Due to the partnership between information literacy and first-year writing programs, it is important to evaluate how these programs can best support one another. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of two factors on student information literacy skill development: library instruction and section theme-defined here as class sections of the English 102 (ENG 102) program developed around a central topic selected by the instructor. A random sample of annotated bibliographies from 95 sections of ENG 102 were scored with two information literacy rubrics in order to find out if scores differed between sections based on the variables of library instruction and theme. The results of this study indicate that sections of the ENG 102 program that attended an information literacy instruction session scored significantly higher on the annotated bibliography assignment than sections that did not attend. We also found that themed sections of ENG 102 scored marginally higher on the annotated bibliography than non-themed sections of ENG 102. Implications for further research are discussed, including the potential impact of theme-based writing on information literacy learning. INTRODUCTIONOn many college and university campuses, English composition holds the dual distinction of being both a gateway course for academic writing and research as well as a requirement for graduation. The high impact nature of these courses makes them a focus for many academic library instruction programs, and the information literacy literature is filled with case studies of collaborations between the library and English composition. Due to the natural partnership between information literacy and first-year writing programs, it is important to continue to evaluate how these programs work in tandem and can best support one another.At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the library has developed a robust relationship with English 102 (ENG 102) and participates in ongoing assessment of the information literacy instruction component of the course. In ENG 102, the culminating assignment is an 8-10 page research paper; in preparation of this final assignment, students complete an annotated bibliography and research paper proposal. An evaluation of these annotated bibliographies and accompanying proposals has been the cornerstone of our assessment of first-year students' information literacy skills in terms of identifying areas where students need more support. However, the authors realized that these bibliographies can also be used to shed light on how students best learn skills related to developing a research topic, finding quality sources, and evaluating information. We were especially interested in examining the impact of two factors on information literacy skill development: library instruction and section theme-defined here as class sections of the ENG 102 program developed around a central topic...

Objective – This study demonstrates one method of developing and applying rubrics to student writing in order to gather evidence of how students utilize information literacy skills in the context of an authentic assessment activity. The process of creating a rubric, training scorers to use the rubric, collecting annotated bibliographies, applying the rubric to student work, and the results of the rubric assessment are described. Implications for information literacy instruction are also discussed. Methods – The focus of this study was the English 102 (ENG 102) course, a required research-based writing course that partners the instructors with the university librarians for information literacy instruction. The author developed an information literacy rubric to assess student evaluation of information resources in the ENG 102 annotated bibliography assignment and trained three other librarians how to apply the rubric to student work. The rubric assessed the extent to which students critically applied the evaluative criteria Currency, Relevance, Accuracy, Authority, and Purpose to the information sources in their annotations. At the end of the semester, the author collected up to three de-identified annotated bibliographies from each of the 58 sections of ENG 102. The rubric was applied to up to five annotations in each bibliography, resulting in a total examination of 773 annotations (some sections turned in fewer than 3 samples, and some bibliographies had fewer than 5 annotations). Results – The results of the study showed that students struggle with critically evaluating information resources, a finding that supports the existing information literacy assessment literature. The overwhelming majority of annotations consisted of summative information with little evidence that students used any evaluative criteria when they selected an information source. Of the five criteria examined, Relevance to the student’s research topic and Authority were the most commonly used methods of resource evaluation, while Currency, Accuracy, and Purpose were criteria least-often used. The low average scores on the rubric assessment indicate that students are not adequately learning how to apply this set of information literacy skills. Conclusions – The library instruction sessions for ENG 102 need to move beyond the skills of choosing and narrowing a topic, selecting keywords, and searching in a library database. Students also need more targeted instruction on higher-order skills, particularly how to critically evaluate and question the sources they find. The results of this assessment are being used to refocus the learning outcomes of ENG 102 library sessions so that instruction can better meet student needs. The results are also being used to make the case for further collaboration between ENG 102 and the university library.

This study applied a content analysis methodology in two ways to evaluate first-year students' research topics: a rubric to examine proposed topics in terms of scope, development, and the "researchability" of the topic, as well as textual analysis, using ATLAS.ti, to provide an overview of the types of subjects students select for a persuasive research essay. Results indicated that students struggle with defining an appropriate and feasible focus for their topics and that they often select topics related to education, health, and the environment. These findings were used to implement a new information literacy instruction model that better supports student topic development. ibrarians who work with students throughout the research process are well aware that the first step-and often the most crucial one-in creating a research project that is both successful and fulfilling is the selection and development of a research topic. Often, however, students choose a topic of inquiry long before they ever meet with a librarian in an instruction session or at the reference desk. Situations where students have settled on a topic that is vague or underdeveloped or does not meet the constraints of the assignment can lead to frustration for both librarians and students as a "triage" interaction takes place-librarians do the best they can to salvage a poorly defined research topic, or students give up an idea they initially found interesting so they can complete their assignment. The challenges that undergraduate students face with developing and focusing a research topic are highlighted in the 2010 Project Information Literacy report "Truth Be Told: How College Students Evaluate and Use Information in the Digital Age," where 84 percent of students surveyed named the act of getting started as the most difficult part of the research process. 1 How can librarians and instructors better support topic selection for undergraduates-especially first-year students, who have never conducted college-level research before? Though the challenges students face when selecting an interesting and manageable research topic are well known to librarians and instructors, little information literacy research has been conducted that systematically analyzes student research topics. Two librarians and an English composition instructor at the University of Nevada, Las

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how academic libraries can directly contribute to campus student success initiatives through student employment programs. Case studies from supervisors at two different universities demonstrate how library student employment programs can intentionally incorporate the characteristics of High-Impact Practices. This paper builds upon a previously published systematic review of the academic library literature on student employment, which found a significant gap in the discussion of employment as a mechanism for learning and retention. This paper aims to address this gap by focusing on practical applications for creating more learner-centered student employment programs.