Learning Outcomes for Graduates
Students will be familiar with the following by the time they graduate from CSB and SJU:
Authority is Constructed and Contextual
Students will be able to:
- Discover that many disciplines have acknowledged authorities in the sense of well-known scholars and publications.
- Develop their own authoritative voices in a particular area and recognize the responsibilities this entails, including seeking accuracy and reliability, respecting intellectual property, and participating in communities of practice.
- Develop awareness of the importance of assessing content with a skeptical stance and with a self-awareness of their own biases and worldview.
Information Creation as a Process
Students will be able to:
- Recognize that the creation of information may begin initially through communicating in a range of formats or modes.
- Articulate the traditional and emerging processes of information creation and dissemination in a particular discipline.
- Critically use different methods of information dissemination to meet a particular purpose.
Information has Value
Students will be able to:
- Recognize that they are contributors as well as consumers in the information marketplace.
- Articulate the purpose and distinguishing characteristics of copyright, fair use, open access and the public domain, and understand that these concepts may vary across cultures.
- Articulate how and why some individuals or groups may be underrepresented or systematically marginalized within the systems that produce and disseminate information.
Research as Inquiry
Students will be able to:
- Formulate research questions based on the examination of existing, possibly conflicting, information.
- Limit the scope of their research by breaking complex questions into simple ones.
- Use various research methods, based on need, circumstance, and type of inquiry.
- Consider research as an open-ended exploration and engagement with information.
- Synthesize ideas gathered from multiple sources.
Searching as Strategic Exploration
Students will be able to:
- Explore the initial scope and sequence of the research required to meet their information needs.
- Identify interested individuals, organizations, governments, and industries, which might produce information about a topic and determine how to access that information.
- Use different searching techniques (e.g., controlled vocabulary, keywords, natural language).
- Seek guidance from experts, such as librarians, researchers and professionals.
Scholarship as Conversation
Students will be able to:
- Recognize that communities of scholars, researchers, or professionals engage in sustained discourse with new insights and discoveries occurring over time as a result of varied perspectives and interpretations.
- Critically evaluate contributions made by others.
- Summarize the changes in scholarly perspective over time on a particular topic.
- Integrate the original ideas of others through proper attribution in their work.
- Produce work that contributes to scholarship.
College of Saint Benedict
Clemens Library
37 South College Ave.
St. Joseph, MN 56374-2099
320-363-5611
Saint John’s University
Alcuin Library
PO Box 2500
2835 Abbey Plaza
Collegeville, MN 56321
320-363-2122