Welcome to the Instruction Toolkit

Students and faculty will find several helpful learning modules in this site that will help you to locate, analyze and use information effectively.

Also available in presentation mode…

ACRL Standards

Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Standards - Abridged

ACRL Information Literacy Standards - Complete with Learning Outcomes

How is Information Created?

The Publication Cycle (from "Evolution of Scientific Information." From Allen Kent and Harold Lancour, eds., Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (New York, 1979), s.v. "Scientific Literature," by K. Subramanyam, 394.)

Where Can Scholarly Information Be Found?

Journals vs Magazines--recognize scholarly information quickly

Using Metadata--quickly find information you can trust

Search Techniques

Boolean (AND, OR, NOT)--a graphic simulator to visualize this technique (by Rockwell Schrock)
More Boolean!
Advanced search combining Boolean with (parentheses) (by CSU Libraries)
Truncation (by CSU Libraries)
Phrase
Constructing a complex search starting with common terminology (MPG4 Video) (PDF)

Evaluating Web Sites

QUAIL method PPT
Web site evaluation Worksheet
Alexa method of Web evaluation online tutorial (from the Library Information Online Network: LION)

Information Management...Keeping Track of Everything

It's difficult to keep track of large amounts of electronic information gathered from databases and the web. This process is made much simpler with online tools as well as software programs that run on your computer.