Practical strategies for teaching AI-assisted lit reviews while keeping human analysis and critical thinking central.

This self-guided, active learning exercise for Zotero was originally created for a 1–1.5 hour standalone online workshop. Zotero is a free, open-source tool that helps users collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share references. It is easy enough for students to learn quickly, yet powerful enough to support dissertations, theses, and capstone projects. Zotero also provides a practical way to engage with the conceptual goals of the ACRL Framework, transforming abstract ideas such as “giving credit” and “joining a scholarly conversation” into concrete research practices.

The most powerful wizards have gathered to battle one another.  Only one will win.  Wizards must use reliable sources to research incantations for the battle, or their spells will fizzle.  Truly wise wizards must learn to tell the difference. 

This is part of an introductory first-year class to the university where students are introduced to the library and asked to think critically about how information is organized using the framework of critical cataloging. After watching a short video on the idea of classification and its problems with fixing identity categories, students analyze and categorize selected book from the collection, and then reflect on how knowledge is organized and their choices as authors.

Use this virtual mind-map to focus a topic and generate keywords for searching.

Learn how to read a scholarly article and identify the parts.

It's important to credit others when you use parts of their work. Complete this tutorial to learn when and how to best give credit to the work of others.

Searching for information in library resources is often like exploring a new land. You often won’t find what you're looking for the first time you search. Complete this tutorial to learn strategies for rethinking your search for better results.

Library databases work differently from Google. Learn how to create a search strategy for these databases.

Understand the difference between primary and secondary sources, and between popular and scholarly sources.

Annotated bibliographies have become a popular assignment in college courses and a way to scaffold research papers. Gathering a bibliography before turning in a completed research project allows students to focus on searching strategically and get feedback on the sources they obtained. Annotating that bibliography requires them to think critically about the sources they choose and their relationship to the research at hand.

This assignment was created to help undergraduate students use research articles to help inform their argument about a "text."  This exercise has been used in library instruction sessions for art history, composition, english literature, women's studies, and history classes. After reflecting on what they know about a text (or image or multimedia), brainstorming search terms, and tracking relevant patterns in search results, students can synthesize information from a variety of sources in an organized, methodological fashion. 

The assignment was created by Librarian Paizha Stoothoff in collaboration with a Professor teaching Literary Los Angeles. In lieu of a physical tour, students worked on a 3-week project to create digital maps (see assignment attached for details about what maps included). 

This assignment was created in lieu of a physical tour of Literary Los Angeles (for a Literary L.A. course). Students worked on a 3-week project to create digital maps (see assignment attached for details about what maps included). The library workshop occured in week 1, after students formed groups and shared to a discussion post in Canvas what author/region/text they would focus on. The Liaison Librarian and Archivist led the library session.

Digital timelines enable us to tell stories visually by connecting non-linear moments: events, reactions, and experiences. This assignment includes a lesson plan and worksheet for teaching with timelines. Timelines work best when they are created as a project for a course, since they take time to develop.

Developed in order to move students away from an outdated checklist approach to evaluating online content, we developed this tutorial to teach students how to read laterally and think critically. This tutorial consists of several small chunks of microlearning activities including an assignment. Students can complete as much or as little as they feel they need.

For this project you will be creating a digital resource that can be used to help teach about the Southern California Library’s mission and materials, how to work with archival materials, and, in general, how to work with and research primary sources.  

This syllabus is a sample for an online literature course. I created this sample around Victorian studies, but any literature subject is applicable. I've provided examples of online projects. The goal of a syllabus like this one is to introduce students to literature, making online objects, and utilizing open resources effectively.

Below is a link to a sample learning object:

https://ajthomp55.wixsite.com/lispractvanhelsing

This syllabus is a sample for an online literature course. I created this sample around Victorian studies, but any literature subject is applicable. I've provided examples of online projects. The goal of a syllabus like this one is to introduce students to literature, making online objects, and utilizing open resources effectively.

Below is a link to a sample learning object:

https://ajthomp55.wixsite.com/lispractvanhelsing

An open access MOOC in French to bonify the information literacy skills of university students (with Moodle).