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 lesson plan focuses on importing sources related to “food insecurity” and “college students” into Zotero, correcting citation metadata, creating a quick bibliography, and generating a formatted bibliography in Microsoft Word using Zotero’s Word add-in. Students are provided with step-by-step instructions and supporting resources throughout each stage of the activity.

The exercise includes the following components:

• Part 1: Practice Importing to Zotero.
• Part 2: Practice: Correcting the Metadata.
• Part 3: Creating a Quick Bibliography in Zotero.
• Part 4: Citing and Creating a Bibliography in Word.

A sample research paper for Part 4 is available in both Microsoft Word and Google Docs formats.

Answer keys are provided in APA style.

A 15-minute instructional video covering Parts 1–3 is currently available. A second video covering Part 4 is in development.

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. While there are numerous guides and examples that show students the format of an annotation, there are very few that connect annotations to research questions or guide students through making those connections. This lesson plan Uses Joseph Bizup’s BEAM Method from the realm of rhetoric studies to help students think about how sources are used and adds an additional layer of support. This support bridges the gap between a student recognizing a source is generally related to their topic, and thinking critically about how that source is used to answer a research question. 

Bizup, Joseph. "BEAM: A rhetorical vocabulary for teaching research-based writing." Rhetoric Review 27, no. 1 (2008): 72-86.

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

This activity provides an interactive, student-centered, fun opportunity to explore skills of critical thinking and evaluation of resources. By allowing students to connect those things that they already know (even if they don’t know they know it) to larger concepts, we encourage them to trust themselves and to begin to develop their intuition as scholars, moving away from checklists and formulas for resource evaluation and toward a thoughtful critique of sources based on individual need and use.

A scholarly character sheet for self-assessment about information literacy skills - gamification around quantified self, badging and young researcher identity.

Une feuille d'autoévaluation pour suivre les apprentissages en compétences informationnelles acquises sur le moyen ou le long terme. Elle est ludifiée avec des éléments de mesure de soi, de badge et d'identité de jeune chercheur.

Comment envoyer une minorité d'étudiants surmotivés sur des objectifs pédagogiques intégrés et connexes dont le parcours est structuré ?
1) Faire une courte introduction engageante (15min.)
2) Identifier la minorité surmotivée et leur distribuer un parcours.
3) Assurer une supervision mininal avec un suivi distant et ponctuel au besoin.
Avec 2 exemples de parcours: une auto-initiation en 5 niveaux pour contribuer à Wikipédia; et un programme de 12 semaines pour démarrer un blogue sur un sujet de recherche.

How to get the few really motivated students involved? By asking them to fulfil « side-quests » learning activities in a structured itinerary :
1) Present a short but engaging initiation [sur quoi?] (15 min.) ;
2) After identifying the motivated students, give them a formal checklist [pour quoi?];
3) If needed, provide minimum mentoring and follow-up
Here are two examples : 5-steps self-initiation on how to contribute to Wikipedia and 12-weeks program to start a blog on research topic.

Synthèse ludique des ateliers d'évaluation des sources. Peut être utilisé comme récompense : un exemplaire plastifié est offert à l'étudiant qui trouve l'erreur volontairement insérée dans la formation (les autres n'ont que la feuille en papier). Autre utilisation : trouver le document le plus faible parmi vos références, ou parmi les références du syllabus de tel cours.

Gamified summary for the evaluation of sources activity. A laminated copy could be used as award for the first student who discovers the mistake deliberately put in the learning activity; the other participants only get a paper copy of the sheet. Another use : in a list of bibliographic references, find the weakest one.

The purpose of this activity is to inspire students to adopt structured methods when they explore and retrieve information. It is based on lab notebooking methods and on managing and documenting the flow of references in Zotero, a reference management software.

The first principle is based on a tree of collections to manage the references arriving in the Zotero library. Some basic methods are suggested and the students are invited to create their own. The second principle is based on standalone notes to document all the research process through online database, libraries and experts.

Environmental science students critically analyzed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) website and its treatment of climate change during the Trump, Obama, and Bush presidencies. This library “warm-up” activity was designed to raise awareness of data fragility and the long-term accessibility of government websites. As future science professionals, it’s important to think about how this impacts scientists and their work. Students were introduced to several tools including: The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, End of Term Archive, and Data Refuge. What happens when government web pages are hidden, moved, or deleted?