Northern Kentucky University

Please note that English 291 is one of the foundational courses in NKU's information literacy sequential curriculum. The English 291 library component provides students with more advanced research knowledge than they receive in English 101. Basic research components are introduced in University 101, Public Speaking 101, and English 101 and are not duplicated in the library's English 291 curriculum. This approach addresses students' concerns that they not receive redundant instruction. See our handbook, which accompanies NKU's Writing Instruction Program faculty handbook, for complete information on the program.

The library component of English 291 emphasizes the following competencies:

1. Learn that as information needs grow more complex, a greater variety of sources are needed to satisfy individual aspects of a research question.
2. Understand that knowledge is organized into subject disciplines that directly affect the manner in which information is collected, evaluated, and communicated within that discipline
3. Formulate research questions from a topic
4. Analyze research questions to determine information needs:
   • Identify key and tangential issues
   • Target need for appropriate types of information
5. Understand how information is prepared and use by scholars and professionals and how scholarly/professional information sources different from consumer information sources
6. Construct an information-seeking strategy appropriate to the scope and complexity of the research question:
   • Develop search parameters
   • Identify and select appropriate access tools (general vs. specialized indexes, local vs. non-local databases, published vs. unpublished sources)
7. Understand that the process of information seeking is not necessarily linear and that steps may have to be repeated as the process evolves
8. Develop the ability to use controlled vocabularies and keywords effectively in searching
9. Understand more advanced Boolean searching concepts (OR, NOT, and proximity operators) and use them effectively in searching
10. Develop the ability to distinguish between primary and secondary sources
11. Evaluate the information-seeking process. Assess the quantity, quality, and relevance of the search results to determine whether the search strategy should be revised.
12. Repeat the search using the revised strategy as necessary
13. Acknowledge works of others through accurate citations; select an appropriate documentation style and use it consistently to cite sources
14. Discuss issues related to privacy in the electronic environment
15. Discuss issues related to free vs. fee-based access to information
16. Discuss issues related to freedom of speech