ESL 005/006

ESL 005, 006

Class assignment: Students need to find background information related to the novel they are reading.

Concepts to Be Covered in Library Instruction (developed in consultation with instructor):

Introduction to the library (where to get library card, hours, where to ask for help)

Finding and Using Reference Books

· Reference vs. circulating books

· Using call numbers to find a book on the shelf

· Finding information in encyclopedias and more specialized reference books (index)

Finding Information in Circulating Books [get topics in advance and start a cart of books to be set aside for the class with books at an appropriate reading level]

· Selecting books from the cart likely to have information on their topics (e.g., if their topic is air pollution, a book titled The Environment might be useful)

· Using the Table of Contents and the Index

Finding and evaluating more books OR Finding and evaluating articles (whichever’s more appropriate for the class’s topics)

· Selecting search terms/using AND and “”

· Searching in the catalog OR Searching in SIRS, Magill’s, Contemporary Authors (whichever’s appropriate)

· Understanding results page

· Evaluating books/articles

Identifying citation elements for books/articles

Finding and Evaluating Web Pages (if time)

· Using Subject Directories

· Evaluating Web pages using criteria

Handouts/Exercises:

Handout: List of Reference books (with call numbers) suitable for topics and reading level. Examples: Like Water for Chocolate (Word document), Animal Dreams (Word document)

Exercise: After learning about reference books, students will find one of the books on their topic, locate an article, and write the page number down on their handout.

Handout: Handout for Catalog OR SIRS (Word document), etc. (whichever’s appropriate)

Handout/Exercise: Evaluating Books handout and exercise. In pairs, students evaluate and note citation information for a book they’re given – good ones can then be added to the cart. Then, in pairs, find a book in the catalog on one of the topics. OR, Evaluating Articles handout and exercise. In pairs, students find and evaluate an article from one of the online databases.

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