Security and Global Studies Information Literacy for Global Citizenship

This course is Information Literacy for Global Citizenship that helps builds students’ information literacy skills in the international relations/global studies context. Students analyze scholarly sources in the discipline, identifying the types of issues and questions scholars pursue the discursive conventions they employ, and the methods they use to engage in dialogue with and cite scholarly sources. After identifying their own discipline-specific research question, students select and use appropriate research tools, developing complex search strategies that help them to find relevant scholarly information on their topics. They evaluate sources and information to determine their authority, reliability, timeliness as well as the quality and underlying assumptions of the arguments presented. They synthesize the information they’ve found with their own ideas, effectively integrating source material into their papers and citing that material appropriately. Finally, the course asks students to reflect upon the ways in which the information literacy skills they’ve acquired provide a foundation for both global citizenship and lifelong learning.

€¢ References to our textbook and to authoritative scholarly sources to support your claims. The Forum is not a place where we post our opinions without any credible evidence to support them. Rather, it is an academic space where we practice developing strong arguments that are supported by scholarly sources. €¢ Proper citations of relevant academic sources using the Turabian format. If you refer to information that you did not know prior to reading it somewhere, you must properly cite your source at the point where you used it in your text. Simply including references at the end of the assignment is not enough. Place a parenthetical citation containing the author’s last name and the year of publication followed by a comma and the page number where you found the material. Example: (Campbell 2008, 234). Remember the period goes AFTER the parenthesis. Then add a references section at the end of your post that includes all sources that you cited within your post. For more information, please see the Turabian Quick Guide in the Resources section of our classroom or visit: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/turabian/turabian_citationguide.html. We use the reference list style, so look at the examples with the [P] and [R] labels. €¢ Proper spelling and grammar and an appropriately formal and professional tone. €¢ Please keep in mind that the sources you use in your posts and assignments must be considered reputable, academic sources. In other words, don’t use Wikipedia, politically biased news sites (like Fox and MSNBC), or random websites and blogs by authors who are not experts. While you may find interesting information on Wikipedia and good links to actual sources, it is not reliable. Likewise, at this level, we do not use encyclopedias or dictionaries as sources. Scholarly academic works should be used. That is, you should use sources that are written by experts (scholars and/or recognized experts with vast experience in a field appropriate to the topic at hand) and published by reputable publishers (primarily scholarly books and journal articles; in some cases, depending on the topic, reputable news sources and governmental sites are excellent sources as well). When in doubt about whether a source is appropriate for academic use, email me and I’ll be happy to clarify. Keep in mind that the best place to find scholarly works is our Online Library. €¢ Be thoughtful. Be thorough. Always support your claims with evidence and specific examples from our readings and other relevant academic sources. Anticipate your readers’ questions and develop your points fully. Strive to avoid clichés and simplistic answers. Instead, be thoughtful, aiming for insight rather than the repetition of common knowledge.

Use this as your primary source: Campbell, Patricia J., Aran MacKinnon, and Christy Stevens. 2010. An introduction to global studies. London: Wiley Blackwell.

Information Literacy Discussion

The reading (CHAPTER 9) for this week discusses the concept of information literacy, which, as it happens, is also a main focus of this course! In your post, please answer ALL of the following questions:

1. Define the term information literacy, putting the material you read in the text into your own words (but still citing the page number where you first learned about the concept!)

2. Explain why information literacy could be considered a critical set of skills in this age of information and globalization.

3. What relationship do you see between information literacy and global citizenship? Please Please look at Chapter 9 to answer these questions.