Teaching for Information Literacy

Once a student has selected a topic and done substantial background reading they should be able to focus on one specific issue related to the topic. It should be a manageable aspect that is not too big nor too small.

If the focus is too specific than they may not find sufficient resources and if it is too large they may find themselves overwhelmed with information and not able to deal with the topic effectively.

It should be an important problem or a controversy within the topic itself. This does not mean that student should only choose major societal controversies to research but they should reflect on the issues within the field in which they are interested. For example, snow boarding… any type of musical genre… horse care and maintenance…

Controversial issues produce provocative essays, videos, blog postings, and podcasts because they are usually widely written about and they provide an opportunity to test conflicting interpretations, perspectives and values.