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First Year Students – Library Goals

First Year Students will be familiar with the following at the end of their academic year:

Know: students will have a basic understanding of the nature and extent of the information required to analyze a given topic, or produce an academic paper or other work. The student will be able to
  • - Develop a sufficiently narrow/focused topic appropriate for their assignment(s)
  • Determine the type of information needed
  • Determine the quantity of information needed

Access: Students will be able to access needed information effectively and efficiently, using basic tools and strategies appropriate to their topic. Students should be able to use

  • WorldCat, to discover books, articles, DVD's, government documents, and ebooks
  • Academic Search Premier, to discover articles and related materials
  • Resources that provide overview/background information on a given topic, including encyclopedias, Wikipedia, and review/research services.
  • Find-It, to discover additional sources of full-text materials and submitting Interlibrary Loan requests
  • Identify and utilize appropriate support services, including the Writing Center and Librarians, via appointment services.

Evaluate: Students will be able to evaluate information and its sources critically and analytically, including evaluation techniques/tools such as

  • Popular vs. Scholarly publications – have a general understanding of the differences between these two groups of resources
  • Identifying (potential) bias in publications, by investigating the authors/sources of the publications
  • Identifying alternative points of view

Use: Students will be able to use information to create a specific academic paper or other work, by

  • Integrating information into an academic paper or other work
  • Presenting an academic paper or other work in an appropriate manner

Ethical/Legal: Students will have a good understanding of the economic, legal and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally, including

  • Avoiding plagiarism/academic misconduct in general
  • Using proper citation styles
  • Appropriate citing of materials created by others