Course: Journalism 101
Faculty: Trace Regan
Librarian: Danielle Clarke
Description Of The Project
Information literacy is of course important to researching any topic, including the wide array of subjects involving the mass media and their impact on the culture. Journalism 101 is an introduction to the mass media. An information literacy component would mesh well with this course, which also has a unit on media literacy to help students to better understand and influence the processes of mass communication. When I teach this course I do not require a term paper, though instructors in many other programs, who teach essentially the same course, do; nor am I about to suggest requiring a term paper as a way of accommodating information literacy as a component of the course. However, I do think it would be useful for students in my introduction to the mass media course to prepare an annotated bibliography as if they were going to do a full blown term paper. A properly prepared annotated bibliography could be a substantive information literacy project that would dovetail with the course and allow me to keep current course elements without overloading my students (I would in all likelihood cut back on some assignments but not eliminate any component to make way for the annotated bibliography). My proposal for integrating information literacy into journalism 101 is as follows:
Students would receive instruction in information literacy, perhaps focused on how to prepare an annotated bibliography. The subject matter for the bibliography would be a topical issue involving the mass media, such as media violence and aggressive behavior in adolescent children; the objectification of women and men in advertising; or the image of gays in the mainstream media. Students would have a thesis or hypothesis to guide them in finding sources that contribute to an examination of that issue.
The information literacy component would perhaps require four to six complete sessions. Among other things, students would be given instruction in how to obtain information about their thesis from a variety of sources, including scholarly journals, books, the popular press and the Internet. In consultation with Danielle Clarke, I'm sure we would want to require X number of sources from each of several categories to help ensure an effort that fully engages the student in a productive information literacy project.
I would probably want to introduce the information literacy component during the third week of the semester, right after our examination of culture and introduction to media literacy and before we start exploring the nature, scope and cultural impact of various mass media such as books and television.
A Timeline For The Project
Several sessions during the summer with librarian Danielle Clarke, who would teach the information literacy section of the course. The actual instruction would take place during the first half of the fall 2002 semester.
Faculty Member's Time Spent on Project
Don't know exactly. Perhaps not much more than the time involved in the several sessions I would have with Danielle Clarke this summer.