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Researchers developed an information evaluation activity used in one-shot library instruction for English composition classes. The activity guided students through evaluation using the "Five Ws" method of inquiry (who, what, when, etc.). A summative assessment determined student recall and application of the method. Findings, consistent over two semesters, include that 66.0 percent of students applied or recalled at least one of the Five Ws, and 20.8 percent of students applied or recalled more than one of its six criteria. Instructors were also surveyed, with 100 percent finding value in the method and 83.3 percent using or planning to use it in their own teaching.
Undergraduate instruction librarians face the common challenge of addressing a wide variety of information literacy competencies in sessions that follow short, one-shot, guest lecturer formats. Of these competencies, one of the most complicated and timeconsuming to teach is the evaluation of information sources. It can also be one of the most difficult competencies for students to effectively learn.1 In this study, the researchers aimed to find or develop a framework that would efficiently assist students in the acquisition and application of information evaluation skills. The desired framework would be memorable, familiar to students, scalable (used in face-toface sessions or asynchronous, online instruction), and valuable to course instructors.
The following study introduces an information evaluation method based on a well-known framework of inquiry-the "Five Ws," or who, what, when, where, why, and how. Researchers modified the Five Ws to create a formative assessment that introduced evaluation skills to students and piloted it in fall 2011 during one-shot library instruction sessions for English composition classes. Full implementation followed in fall 2012. In both the pilot and formal study, a summative assessment was sent to students an average of three weeks after the library session to assess recall and application of the evaluation method. Composition instructors were also surveyed to assess their responses to the Five Ws evaluation method and determine whether they had added, or would consider adding, the method to their own instruction. The findings of these assessments may be relevant to instruction librarians and composition instructors, as well as those interested in the connections between information literacy competencies and student learning outcomes in general education.
LITERATURE REVIEW
In 2000, the Association...