Prior to beginning work on this assignment, review the

Research Guides

and

Tutorials

under the

Getting Research help

 tabs in the Ashford University Library.

Prepare: Knowing how to thoroughly research a topic is extremely important while achieving your education. You may be asked to support your information with peer-reviewed scholarly resources, but how can you find this type of resource? The Ashford University Library allows you to search through different avenues to find the requested types of resources. You can narrow your search by the author, year published, title, subject, and by indicating what type of resource you are looking for. You even have access to a librarian if you need some guidance in finding more resources on your topic.

Reflect: Given that you have been in college for awhile, it’s time to reflect on what you have learned through the use of the Ashford University Library in relation to how you learned to acquire new information from a variety of sources.

Write: This week, you will take the

Threshold Achievement Test for Information Literacy (TATIL) (Links to an external site.)

. This test is not graded, and your results are anonymous. The TATIL assesses students’ ability to recall and apply their knowledge and their metacognition about core information literacy dispositions that underly their behaviors. Through this combination of knowledge and dispositional assessment, TATIL offers a unique and valuable measure of the complexities of information literacy. The results of this assessment will guide Ashford University in developing the best possible library resources and research methodologies training.

After completing the

TATIL (Links to an external site.)

, in a two- to three-paragraph response with each paragraph consisting of five or more sentences,

• Describe your experiences using resources, including concerns encountered when conducting academic research through the Ashford University Library. Areas of concern may include developing a research strategy, using the search function within a database, or evaluating sources.
• Explain how using the Ashford University Library has improved your experience in conducting research. For example, you could identify and explain how specific tutorials that you have used have helped improve your ability to conduct research.

The Information Literacy paper

• Must include at least two paragraphs (of at least five sentences each) that respond to the two prompts, and that are formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.) resource.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:

  Title of paper
  Student’s name
  Course name and number
  Instructor’s name
  Date submitted

For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to

APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.)

.

• Must have no more than 15% quoted material in the body of your essay based on the Turnitin report.
• Must include a separate references page when citing specific sections and/or tutorials of the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.

Running head:

INFORMATION LITERACY

1

INFORMATION LITERACY 2

INFORMATION LITERACY

GEN 499: General Education Capstone

October 14, 2019.

Ashford University Library has good resources for any academic material one wants to read. I am a business student and when I joined Ashford University I was a little worried about what might happen if I could not find the necessary academic materials to support my education. Another issue I found overwhelming at first was how to navigate the library database because there were so many options. If you click on a particular option at times they are not relevant to the topic under research. A friend directed me on how to navigate in the Databases A-Z. Nowadays it is easier because I followed all the instructions to the later.

I like the ProQuest Database because it has so many options someone can choose from and the resources are very helpful, (Brannon, 2017). I do not have any concerns but don’t like the fact that Ashford Library pulls up student’s research papers as references that have to be changed. In these databases, one has to use the subject topic to find readings or scholarly articles, (Nelson & Huffman, 2015). Some databases may not have the articles one is looking for because they are all specified for certain course work, if you are new it can be very overwhelming. I also realized that if I download a full PDF then all the details about the authors and references will be readily available.

Ashford University Library has improved skills in my business course because before the exams approach I am always equipped with adequate information. This keeps me away from using search engines like Google and some of the resources may not be credible. The best part with the resources that come from Ashford Library is that they help one reduce the reference format mistakes because they are already located on the articles, (Omar, et.al, 2018). The newspapers and other articles that are on the internet can be very difficult to cite at times. In general, the Ashford University Library is effective and reliable because it has good resources and citations which are accurate.

References

Brannon, P. C. (2017). ProQuest Regulatory Insight. Law Library Journal, 109(3), 484.

Nelson, N., & Huffman, J. (2015). Predatory journals in library databases: How much should we worry?. The serials librarian, 69(2), 169-192.

Omar, D., Preater, A., Clark, I., & Liebert, R. J. (2018). Inclusive reading lists: how libraries can support student and academic leadership.