AlfredUniversityLibraries

InformationLiteracyAssessmentPlanFall2014

IL Skills

Outcomes (AU students

will)

Assessment Activities

Choose topics appropriately sized

to their assignments (not too
broad or narrow)

A1: Students must submit their

appropriately sized topic

Create and refine research

questions and thesis statements

A2: Students must submit their

refined questions and/or thesis
statement.

Choose search terms (keywords)

relevant to their topics

A3: Students must submit a list of

search terms for their topic
(assess breadth and depth, use of
alternate terms and synonyms)

Select databases relevant to their

topics

B1: Have students select an

appropriate database(/appropriate
databases) for their topic and
defend their selection (assess

Research Process (A)

Search & Retrieval Strategies

(B)
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Rubrics
1 -Topic is too broad/narrow, or asks
a rudimentary question that is very
simple to answer.
2 - Topic is generally appropriate, but
a bit too broad/narrow, or asks a
somewhat basic question
3 - Topic is appropriate in terms of
scope, creativity, and depth
1 - Question/thesis statement is too
broad/narrow, or asks a rudimentary
question that is very simple to
answer.
2 - Question/thesis statement is
generally appropriate, but a bit too
broad/narrow, or asks a somewhat
basic question
3 - Question/thesis statement is
appropriate in terms of scope,
creativity, and depth
1 - Search terms are lacking in
breadth, depth, and use of alternate
terms/synonyms.
2 - Search terms are good, but are
somewhat lacking in breadth, depth,
and/or use of alternate
terms/synonyms.
3 - Search terms have excellent
breadth, depth, and use of alternate
terms/synonyms.
1 - Database is inappropriate for or
irrelevant to their topic

propriety of database in terms of

subject matter, coverage, etc.)

Construct search strings using

Boolean logic, quotation marks,
and truncation

Find subject headings on their

topics

Use databases to locate relevant

sources

B2: Provide students with a search

prompt (ex: Greek pottery from
Athens that is black-figure, not
red-figure) and have them
translate it into a search string
using Boolean (assess for
correctness and completeness of
search string/accuracy in reflecting
original prompt)
B3: Students must generate a
selection of three or more (?)
subject headings on their selected
topic (assessing appropriateness
of subject headings)
B4: Students must correctly cite
their source(s) in their assigned
citation style (Chicago/APA/MLA,
etc.) (assessing citation style)
B5: Students must locate one or
more relevant sources

Use call numbers to find books on

the shelf

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B6: Students must find three or

more books correctly by call
number

2 - Database is reasonable for their

topic, but not among the most
appropriate
3 - Database is highly appropriate for
their topic
1 - Search string misses most or all
aspects of the search prompt topic
2 - Search string reflects some
aspects of the search prompt topic
3 - Search string completely and
accurately reflects the search prompt
topic

1 - Most or all subject headings are

inappropriate for their topic
2 - Most subject headings are
appropriate to their topic OR all are
somewhat appropriate to their topic
3 - Subject headings are all
appropriate to their topic
1 - Sources not relevant to their topic
and generally cited incorrectly
2 - Sources generally relevant to their
topic and (mostly) correctly cited
3 - All sources relevant to their topic
and correctly cited
1 - Source(s) not relevant to their
topic
2 - Source(s) generally relevant to
their topic
3 - Source(s) completely relevant to
their topic
1 - Student failed to locate any books
2 - Student found some but not all of
the books
3 - Correct books located

Find full text articles from a

citation

B7: Students must be able to pull

up the full text of three or more
given articles

Distinguish between scholarly and

popular sources

C1: Upon being provided with a

selection of sources, students
must correctly identify them as
scholarly or popular

Evaluating Sources (C)

C2: Students must locate a

scholarly source

Distinguish between primary and

secondary sources

C3: Upon being provided with a

selection of sources, students
must correctly identify them as
primary or secondary

C4: Students must locate three or

more primary sources on a given
topic (their own topic or one
assigned to them)

Determine when it is best to use

various types of sources, such as
books, scholarly journals,
websites, etc.

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C5: Provide students with a

scenario or selection of scenarios
in which they would need some
kind of source (ex: beginning a
research project and seeking
background info), along with a
multiple choice selection of types

1 - Full text of articles not located

2 - Full text located for some but not
all articles
3 - Full text of articles located
1 - Fails to correctly identify most or
all of the sources as either scholarly or
popular
2 - Correctly identifies at least half of
the sources as either scholarly or
popular
3 - Correctly identifies all sources as
either scholarly or popular
1 - Selected source is far from
scholarly
2 - Selected source is decent, but not
quite scholarly
3 - Selected source is scholarly
1 - Fails to correctly identify most or
all of the sources as either primary or
secondary
2 - Correctly identifies at least half of
the sources as either primary or
secondary
3 - Correctly identifies all sources as
either primary or secondary
1 - Selected sources are not primary
or relevant
2 - Some but not all sources are
primary and relevant, or all sources
are primary but not relevant
3 - Selected sources are primary and
appropriate
1 - Fails to identify most or any of the
optimal sources, and provides no
explanation for their selections
2 - Correctly identifies most of the
appropriate sources for the scenario,
OR, correctly identifies all of the

appropriate sources but does not

successfully defend their selection
3 - Correctly identifies all optimal
sources for the scenario and provides
sound explanations for their source
selections
C6: Students must select a type of 1 - Justification is poor and fails to
connect the source to a solid reason
source for a particular task and
2 - Justification is well thought out but
provide justification for why the
the source type is not ideal for the
type of source they selected is
task OR Source type is appropriate,
appropriate.
but the justification lacks substance
3 - Justification shows clear
understanding, logic, and thinking
about their source
1 - Only addressed one or two of the
C7: Have students assess a source
evaluation criteria, and/or insufficient
using the criteria of currency,
accuracy, relevance, and credibility; evidence provided for claims across
all categories.
grade the assessment based on
2 - Provides evidence that the source
how well the student addressed
is scholarly and appropriate, using at
the 4 evaluation criteria
least three solid examples from the
five evaluation criteria, OR
Provides some evidence, but not of
the highest quality, for at least four of
the five resource evaluation criteria.
3 - Provides compelling evidence that
the source cited is scholarly and
appropriate, using solid examples to
support claims related to all five of
the evaluation criteria.
1 - Insufficient, incorrect, or irrelevant
C8: Have students assess a source
evidence provided
according to one aspect of the
2 - Some decent evidence provided
evaluation criteria
to support or refute the sources
propriety
3 - Provides compelling evidence
within the criterion to either support
or contest the source

of sources; students must

correctly identify the kind or kinds
of sources most useful.

Evaluate resources using criteria

such as currency, relevance,
authority, accuracy, and purpose

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Using Information (D)

Create a product (paper,

presentation, annotated
bibliography, etc.) with the
information
Cite sources in a citation style

Documenting Sources (E)

Understanding Economic, Legal,
and Social Issues (F)

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Understand and avoid plagiarism

D1:

E1: Students must correctly cite

their source(s) in their assigned
citation style (Chicago/APA/MLA,
etc.) (assessing citation style)
F1:

1 - Few sources are correctly cited

2 - Most sources are correctly cited
3 - All (or nearly all) sources are
correctly cited