Information Literacy

Submitted by Lauren deLaubell on January 17th, 2025
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Short Description: 

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. 

Research Wizards is an information literacy card game designed to teach students ages 12+ about source evaluation.  Research Wizards corresponds to the Frame Authority Is Constructed and Contextual, from the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.  Players will discuss and challenge the relative value of various sources, each representing a different suit in the game.  The game includes four major actions/phases:  Parley, when players discuss and decide for themselves the relative value of each suit; Battle, which includes competition, player actions, and Challenges; Vengeance, for eliminated players to impact and speed up the remainder of the game; and Victory.

The Research Wizards website contains free game files, player directions, and printing tips for librarians and teachers who wish to use the game in their classrooms.  The website includes an editable, Microsoft Publisher version of the game.  Noncommercial use of the game is free for educational purposes with attribution to the author.  Librarians and teachers are encouraged to adapt the game as needed for their subject areas, student needs, and as the sources in the game evolve over time.  Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.

Players:  3-5 per deck

Play Time:  20-30 minutes, plus discussion

Research Wizards by Lauren deLaubell is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0  To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Player directionsdisplayed 1595 times1.02 MB
Printing tipsdisplayed 1512 times26.71 KB
Card deckdisplayed 1560 times2.51 MB
Learning Outcomes: 
    • Wizards will define a variety of traditional and emerging information formats.
    • Wizards will compare a variety of information formats and discuss their relative reliability.
    • Wizards will explore the variation in quality found within specific categories of information (e.g., the wildcard of using resources located by or generated with artificial intelligence).

Individual or Group:

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

It is recommended to review directions out loud with students, with pauses for students to sort their decks and conduct the Parley phase of play.  To contextualize and reinforce learning, it is recommended to conclude the game with discussion questions; sample questions are provided at the bottom of the player directions file but may be adjusted as needed.

Suggested Citation: 
deLaubell, Lauren. "Research Wizards." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2025. https://projectcora.org/assignment/research-wizards.
Submitted by Andrea Brooks on October 14th, 2024
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Short Description: 

Two librarians at NKU developed an Informed Voting workshop to help students navigate information during the 2024 election season. Attendees were provided a worksheet to learn about the candidates/issues on their ballot and dig into one issue/race to investigate during the workshop.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Voting Workshop Plandisplayed 574 times36.13 KB
Voting Workshop Slidesdisplayed 637 times2.95 MB
Voter Workshop Worksheetdisplayed 577 times25.1 KB
Learning Outcomes: 
Locate voter information to identify who and what is on their ballot
Use relevant and credible news sources to make informed voting decisions

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This was a workshop designed for our campus community and open for anyone, though marketing targeted the student population. We are also considering how to offer this workshop as an option for a class.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Brooks, Andrea. "Voter Workshop." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2024. https://projectcora.org/assignment/voter-workshop.

Teaching Resource

Informationliteracy.gov disseminates successful practices, tools, and programs related to financial, health, digital, and other information literacy subject areas.

Submitted by Shelby Hallman on August 16th, 2022
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Short Description: 

Description: The Database Scavenger Hunt engages pairs of students in locating specific information or performing specific tasks across multiple resources. Each team works through a series of 16 questions/tasks, with verification of correct answers from the librarian/professor after every 1 or 2 questions, then places a mark on the corresponding wall grid of questions once an answer is deemed correct. The process repeats until the team completes all questions.

The wall grid acts as a way to track where teams are in the game and creates a light-weight race to finish first. (Optional: provide a small prize to either the first team to finish or do a drawing of all teams that finished to give out a prize). See image below of completed wall-grid, with each color/shape of sticky note representing a different team.

Verifying answers after each/every 2 questions ensures students are finding the correct information and completing the tasks. Once a majority of teams complete all 16 questions, there is a group discussion of difficult questions and demoing of any specific problem areas. Before the activity begins, the librarian/instructor can demo where to find databases & database descriptions on the library webpage and mention how to log in. 

Questions can be customized to match the class/subject area. The example attached below is for an undergraduate research group. Examples of changes include: switching databases & examples, focusing on different types of information (patents, standards, handbooks, webpages, etc.), changing tasks based on assignment needs, etc.

Note: Because of the verification step, this activity is best with groups of 20 or less and with the assistance of either the professor or another colleague. 

Materials Needed:

  • Question sheet for each student
  • Answer sheet for each librarian/professor/instructor
  • Wall grid, cut into half-size pages
  • Sticky notes (or some method of distinguishing team marks on grid)
  • Tape to adhere grid to wall
  • Prize (optional)
Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Wall Grid_Undergraduate Researchers Exampledisplayed 1486 times16.58 KB
Handout_Undergraduate Researchers Exampledisplayed 1525 times16.45 KB
Answers_Undergraduate Researchers Exampledisplayed 1049 times19.29 KB
Answers_Bio and Ag Engineering Example_Scavenger Hunt.docxdisplayed 845 times18.42 KB
Answers_STEM Multi-Subject Example_Database Scavenger Hunt.docxdisplayed 807 times18.41 KB
Image of Wall Grid Post-Database Scavenger Hunt.pdfdisplayed 1193 times505.65 KB
Learning Outcomes: 
  • Students will know how to identify databases relevant to their needs and topic.
  • Students will have basic familiarity with multiple database interfaces.

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

Assignment Pairings:

Pairs well with search strategy, in-depth database/resource demo or usage, guided searching, assessing sources, and literature reviews.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
Assessment is conducted via formative assessment during the game by monitoring difficult questions/tasks and immediately after the game via discussion and review.
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

Note: Because of the verification step, this activity is best with groups of 20 or less and with the assistance of either the professor or another colleague. 

Suggested Citation: 
Hallman, Shelby. "Database Scavenger Hunt." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2022. https://projectcora.org/assignment/database-scavenger-hunt.
Submitted by Kelly Drifmeyer on February 7th, 2022
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Short Description: 

Embedded library modules in online, stand-alone website used by second semester English Composition classes for freshman level students.  This set of modules is co-authored with Mario Leyva, Assistant Director, Instruction and User Services at Our Lady of the Lake University, and Forrest Davidson. All coursework and assignments are available for download; quizzes available upon request.

Learning Outcomes: 

Library Learning Outcomes 1.) The student will be able to develop and apply keywords to conduct iterative Boolean searching in a library database. 2.) The student will be able to differentiate types of sources by analyzing the need and purposes of information sources. 3.) The student will be able to locate and choose sources based on their specific subject needs. 4.)The student will be able to analyze and critique information sources by applying evaluation criteria. 5.) The student will be able to accurately compose and / or edit a scholarly citation in their assigned citation style.

Individual or Group:

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Drifmeyer, Kelly. "Academic Library Information Literacy Modules: First year / freshman embedded coursework." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2022. https://projectcora.org/assignment/academic-library-information-literacy-modules-first-year-freshman-embedded-coursework.
Submitted by Nicole Hennig on September 8th, 2021
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Short Description: 

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

Learning Outcomes: 

    Know the difference between primary and secondary sources.
    Understand that the same source can sometimes be used as either a primary or secondary source.
    Know the difference between popular and scholarly sources.

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This tutorial can serve as a stand-alone tutorial or can be used in the flipped classroom.

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Hennig, Nicole. "What Types of Sources Do I Need?." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/what-types-sources-do-i-need.
Submitted by Evelyn Hudson on May 5th, 2021
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Short Description: 

In this hands on activity, students will find and compare/contrast news stories on a single current event/topical discussion to learn the importance of lateral reading and understand how bias can influence information production. 

Learning Outcomes: 
  • Students will be able to find a variety of resources relating to a topic
  • Students will learn to evaluate credibility of information and information creators
  • Students will learn to read laterally relating to current events

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
Hudson, Evelyn. "OMG, Laterally!: Objective media gathering and lateral reading Activity." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/omg-laterally-objective-media-gathering-and-lateral-reading-activity.
Submitted by Justin de la Cruz on October 22nd, 2020
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Short Description: 

Background information, assignment, and reflection on analyzing popular information.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Verifying Popular Information.pdfdisplayed 992 times76.51 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will learn how to analyze popular information.

Students will reflect on how they receive and share information.

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
de la Cruz, Justin. "Verifying Popular Information." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2020. https://projectcora.org/assignment/verifying-popular-information.
Submitted by Justin de la Cruz on October 22nd, 2020
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Short Description: 

Background information, assignment, and reflection on analyzing information received from the news.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Verifying Information in the News.pdfdisplayed 1048 times78.14 KB
Learning Outcomes: 
Students will learn how to analyze the information they receive from the news.
Students will reflect on how they receive and share information.

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
de la Cruz, Justin. "Verifying Information in the News." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2020. https://projectcora.org/assignment/verifying-information-news.
Submitted by Duke University Libraries RIS Team on December 4th, 2019
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Short Description: 

This lesson on journal prestige could be taught by itself, as part of a series on scholarly communication, or as a small part of a larger lesson on information prestige.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Citations for Info Privilege Lessons Mediadisplayed 908 times10.84 KB
Lesson Plandisplayed 1057 times377.57 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will recognize the practices of scholarly publishers

Students will evaluate whether citation count is a good indicator of authority

Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Individual or Group:

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

This topic could fit well into instruction sessions that include significant treatment of source evaluation and is one potential approach as you move beyond simple categorization of sources as scholarly/non-scholarly or primary/secondary. It stops short of a critical examination of construction of authority but could be used to hint at greater subtlety and complexity. This topic has particular relevance for upper level undergraduates engaged in research, who may be starting to think about publication from an author’s perspective.

Suggested Citation: 
RIS Team, Duke University Libraries. "Journal Prestige." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2019. https://projectcora.org/assignment/journal-prestige.

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