Reading Response 2: Information Navigation 101

In the article retrieved from Chronicle of Higher Education, Information Navigation 101 explains how the majority of college students are information illiterate. College students depend on searches through Google and Wikipedia for their source of information when doing research. Many college students are very technologically savvy, but when it comes to performing scholarly searches they are ill-equipped and unprepared to find relevant information. University libraries offer access to many online databases and college students usually do not know how to use them. Universities are now trying to measure the adequacy of students’ knowledge in finding information through tests and courses. They will combat the lack of researching skills with classes and presentations offered by librarians to equip the students.

Before coming to college I had never used online databases as a way of finding information for papers and things related to classes. Since I had no experience using them, I reverted to what I did know... using search engines to find information. I agree with the article that most students just do not know the new resources available to them once they reach University level, much less do they know how to use them. These resources are not self-explanatory, but somewhat difficult to navigate. I do not think that schools should require a course about research, but perhaps every freshman should be informed of the tools available at their disposal. They need to be taught about online databases and how to use them. I have seen in the past two semesters a librarian coming into my business classes and explaining the good databases to use and how to use them. These sessions were very informative, but somewhat late on delivery. I am a senior and it is a bit late in the education career to be learning all this information. We should have been told at the very beginning so as to take full advantage during our college careers. I agree with this article that most students are somewhat information illiterate and that Universities should take some course of action to make them aware of tools they can use for research. (Word count: 350)