Information Literacy: Scholarship as Conversation

Knowledge Practices

Learners who are developing their information literate abilities

• cite the contributing work of others in their own information production;
• contribute to scholarly conversation at an appropriate level, such as local online community, guided discussion, undergraduate research journal, conference presentation/poster session;
• identify barriers to entering scholarly conversation via various venues;
• critically evaluate contributions made by others in participatory information environments;
• identify the contribution that particular articles, books, and other scholarly pieces make to disciplinary knowledge;
• summarize the changes in scholarly perspective over time on a particular topic within a specific discipline;
• recognize that a given scholarly work may not represent the only or even the majority perspective on the issue.

Dispositions

Learners who are developing their information literate abilities

• recognize they are often entering into an ongoing scholarly conversation and not a finished conversation;
• seek out conversations taking place in their research area;
• see themselves as contributors to scholarship rather than only consumers of it;
• recognize that scholarly conversations take place in various venues;
• suspend judgment on the value of a particular piece of scholarship until the larger context for the scholarly conversation is better understood;
• understand the responsibility that comes with entering the conversation through participatory channels;
• value user-generated content and evaluate contributions made by others;
• recognize that systems privilege authorities and that not having a fluency in the language and process of a discipline disempowers their ability to participate and engage.

• Give students a two-part assignment: one having them trace the development of scholarship on a particular topic using the traditional “information cycle” model with the “invisible college” and print publication outlets; then have them expand/refine that model by tracing changes based on social media forums or online communities.
• Assign an entire class to conduct an investigation of a particular topic from its treatment in the popular media, and then trace its origin in conversations among scholars and researchers.
• Have students select a seminal work on a topic, and then identify sources that preceded and continued the conversation, analyzing the impact of the seminal work on the field.
• Create a timeline to track the evolving threads of a continuing scholarly conversation.
• Select a topic on which students have some knowledge or experience. Identify a venue (blog, discussion forum, other social media site) in which a scholarly conversation is taking place. Ask students to:
  • Identify key players and their perspectives.
  • Compare a related scholarly article by one of the players to the online conversation.
  • Consider how to involve themselves in the conversation.