401 Joy McGregor article on information literacy

Wow, I just read a really interesting, clearly written and succinct information literacy article by Joy McGregor titled Teaching the research process: Helping students become lifelong learners. NASSP Bulletin, Vol. 83, No. 605, 27-34 (1999)

http://bul.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/83/605/27

It's brought home to me the importance of making sure students understand the research process. Most students will not admit they find the process very difficult. They have to be taught the PROCESS. It is complex, multifaceted, "requiring students to use multiple skills and strategies. Higher order thinking skills, critical thinking and creating thinking all play a vital role at various points" (McGregor, 1999: p. 30).
Too often teachers, including myself, have just thought that students know how to undertake research for their assignments. Oh no, they don't. McGregor says that teachers impose time straints on studnets that send them directly to the information collection stage, without giving them time to form a focus. Students need the time to think about their ideas and discoveries from their research in order to create an original, well thought out and executed task.

I cannot believe that in the past (before my move to the library this year) that I am GUILTY, like many teachers, of leaving students to work on their own once the assignment is introduced "believing studetns can carry on independently ... Rarely do teachers initiate conversations about the research process, or information, or making meaning" (p. 32).

McGregor says that by providing opportunities for students to discuss the meaning of their research findings BEFORE taking notes will give them the chance to consider their ideas and construct their understanding of what they've found. "Reminding students to paraphrase is not enough ... (as) students still tend to interpret the task as a matter of finding synonyms for occasional words and rearranging phrases and clauses" (p. 33).

McGregor recommends that TLs need to be involved with student information gathering and use. This requires a whole school acceptance of collaboration between teachers and TLs as discussions with students can help them to synthesise the information and create their own meanings.
As a TL it is important to remember that students "need guidance to make the (research) experience enjoyable, engaging, enriching, and meaningful" (p. 32). Therefore it is essential that TLs and teachers both acknowledge that the research process is complex and work collaboratively to assist students to become comfortable with the process so it isn't so daunting for them.