Introducing Information Literacy in the Teaching and Learning of Cervantes' Don Quijote

Course name: Spanish 365: "Cervantes and Quijote"
Faculty: Julian Arribas, Assistant Professor of Spanish
Librarian: Paul Burnam, Public Services Librarian

This proposal describes a project to create and integrate a segment of information literacy into the following course: Spanish 365, Cervantes and the Quijote. I teach this course every Fall with an average number of ten students, mostly Spanish majors. This segment will consist of several sessions of instruction in and out of the library, as outlined below, written exercises, and a web page for the segment and possibly for the course.

The major focus of this proposal is to generate active learning exercises which will allow individual students to practice their information literacy skills as they acquire them. These exercises will address issues such as understanding the different types of literary research (textual analysis, criticism, etc.), the different types of resources (primary and secondary sources, manuscripts and printed books), how to find information about this work (Cervantes' Don Quijote) and other works by the same author, and how to evaluate that information. While finding and understanding information are the critical first steps in any research project, incorporating and integrating the information into some form of communication (e.g. a research paper) is a vital step for which students often get little instruction. We often assume that students will simply pick up these skills without having them explicitly taught. The proposed series of exercises will work to solve this problem.

While I propose to work on these exercises for this specific course, I hope to generate a system of instruction which could be used in all Spanish courses in my area. Currently, faculty are spending a fair amount of time with individual students on information literacy concepts on a need by need basis, while the students are doing research on term-paper topics without having the necessary background. The information literacy segment will change this situation.

The information literacy segment will be taught simultaneously with the course, once a week during the first month of class. Basic and advanced library research skills will be emphasized, such as knowing the difference between primary and secondary sources and when to use them, and how to search online catalogs or databases. Several active learning exercises will reinforce and expand upon the type of instruction that is currently available from the Librarian. A web page will serve as a long-term guide and reference for the students.

Specific Goals for Active Learning Exercises

1. Identify different types of resources for different types of research.
   e.g., know the difference between primary and secondary sources and when to use them
2. Find resources using various tools such as online catalog and search engines.
   e.g., using MLA Bibliography
3. Evaluate sources of information, including books and journals as well as the world wide web and popular media sources.
   e.g., determining the credentials and credibility of sources
4. Appropriately acknowledge sources when writing papers.
   e.g., how to cite in MLA style, types of unintentional plagiarism and why they occur

Specific Tasks for Active Learning Exercises

1. Choosing topics for papers, and beginning research.
   e.g., starting a search in an unfamiliar area and narrowing a topic using preliminary resource materials
2. Learning and using advanced search techniques.
   e.g., knowing when and how to do citation
3. Writing a clear argument while appropriately bringing in evidence.
   e.g., using textual evidence to support general statements, and learning how much textual evidence to give in an introduction or discussion section of an article
4. Appropriately using citations in writing.
   e.g., reviewing forms of citations in MLA style, citing secondary sources
5. Locating and evaluating web sites on topics of Spanish literature.
   e.g., finding information on the web, evaluating sites

Timeline.
This segment of information literacy in the course outline represents a major restructuring of the course. I will work on this project with Joy He, the librarian collaborator, during the Spring semester of 2001 on an average of two to three hours per week. First, we will define areas of literary research, such as editing, annotating, criticizing, analyzing texts, etc. Second, we will put together a guide of resource materials, both in print and on line, to carry on each type of research. Third, we will create examples to illustrate the notions and exercises to further develop understanding. Finally, we will redesign all information into a web page, which will be posted in May 2001. This project will be implemented in the Fall of 2001, and subsequently evaluated.

Return to top

Return to list of proposals