**2.1 The annotated bibliography**

One segment of the orientation course was the preparation of an annotated bibliography. The following overview provided the rationale and overall purpose of the activity:

For most of your essay writing, you will need to identify and select information based on the topic you are required to write about. You will draw that information from various sources. As an online student, you will find that most of your searches will take place online. For this activity, you will source material based on an essay topic and you will prepare an annotated bibliography based on the material sourced. You will also review and apply guidelines for referencing the materials sourced.

Four essay topics were provided and students were required to select one for the purposes of undertaking this activity. Specifically, they would write an annotation for each of four (4) sources selected to address the selected essay topic. This activity was to be carried out in teams of two.

The following guidelines were provided to support the task:

Even before you begin the search for resources, you need to get a clear understanding of the topic for which you will be conducting the search. Here are some questions you may ask yourself as you undertake this task:


Each annotation was expected to be between 100 – 150 words long.

Additional resource material to support the activity was drawn from two online websites.

One was the Online Information Literacy (OIL) programme and specifically Module 2 – the Annotated Bibliography. The OIL module was divided into three segments namely search for resources, cite information, write and present. One subsection under the heading 'Search for Resources' was 'Searching the WWW', with information provided on the following areas:

Search Engines

212 International Perspectives of Distance Learning in Higher Education

the fifteen Caribbean countries that support the parent institution, the University of the West Indies. The GPD is therefore aware of the need to provide optimum support for this distributed body of students who, though having the opportunity for interpersonal interaction through the web-based learning management system, must assume a high level

The main qualification for entry into either type of programme is an undergraduate degree. Many of those admitted would have also obtained this qualification through the online delivery facility of the Open Campus. Nonetheless, given the increased demands of study at the graduate level, and the fact that these mature students may not have a sustained postsecondary formal education experience, the GPD considered it important to include a compulsory three-week orientation programme to assist students in strengthening their

One segment of the orientation course was the preparation of an annotated bibliography.

Four essay topics were provided and students were required to select one for the purposes of undertaking this activity. Specifically, they would write an annotation for each of four (4) sources selected to address the selected essay topic. This activity was to be carried out in

Even before you begin the search for resources, you need to get a clear understanding of the topic for which you will be conducting the search. Here are some questions you

Do I have any prior knowledge and/or experience that I can draw on to write

What exactly am I expected to do with this topic? What task am I expected to carry

What type of resources should I use to carry out the search for information on this

Are there any related terms and/or synonyms that I should also consider?

Additional resource material to support the activity was drawn from two online websites.

For most of your essay writing, you will need to identify and select information based on the topic you are required to write about. You will draw that information from various sources. As an online student, you will find that most of your searches will take place online. For this activity, you will source material based on an essay topic and you will prepare an annotated bibliography based on the material sourced. You will also

The following overview provided the rationale and overall purpose of the activity:

review and apply guidelines for referencing the materials sourced.

What are the key words that I should pay special attention to?

Each annotation was expected to be between 100 – 150 words long.

The following guidelines were provided to support the task:

may ask yourself as you undertake this task:

out as I write about this topic?

about this topic?

topic?

Do I understand the topic taken as a whole?

capability to undertake graduate study in an online environment.

of responsibility for their learning.

**2.1 The annotated bibliography** 

teams of two.


#### http://oil.otago.ac.nz/oil/module2.html

The second was the Purdue Online Writing Lab and its section on Annotated Bibliographies. This resource identified the three main tasks to be undertaken when doing an annotation as summarize, assess, reflect. It also outlined the format to be used when writing the annotation, including the following:

**The annotations:** The annotations for each source are written in paragraph form. The lengths of the annotations can vary significantly from a couple of sentences to a couple of pages. The length will depend on the purpose. If you're just writing summaries of your sources, the annotations may not be very long. However, if you are writing an extensive analysis of each source, you'll need more space.

You can focus your annotations for your own needs. A few sentences of general summary followed by several sentences of how you can fit the work into your larger paper or project can serve you well when you go to draft.

#### http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resources/614/01

To complement the primary resource materials drawn from the websites, students were advised to review Chapter 5 of Crème and Lea's 2003 e-publication, *Writing at University.* In particular, they were advised to pay close attention to two sections of that chapter, namely 'Choosing reading for an assignment' and 'referencing and plagiarism'.

It should be noted that while the materials provided were organized relative to the objectives to be attained, much of it was in the form of resources from the two websites identified earlier and these were not necessarily specifically tailored to meet the requirements of the learning activity of the orientation course. While some attempt was made to provide guidance on how to use these resources, students were still required to do their own selection based on their understanding of the overall task.

#### **2.1.1 The annotated bibliography and information literacy**

The writing of an annotated bibliography falls within the broad range of information literacy tasks. The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) of the United Kingdom defines the broader set of skills as follows:

Information literacy is knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner. http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/advocacy/information-literacy/Pages/ definition.aspx

An Analysis of the Search Skills of Online Graduate Students as

processes once they leave the classroom.

perspectives are very relevant.

she asserts,

the Basis for the Development of Appropriate Instructional Strategies 215

instruction does not go far enough to address the core learning capabilities that are required if students are to function to their fullest potential as information literate persons. This issue of the need to focus on learner needs is also a concern of practitioners and analysts in the field of information literacy. The work of two analysts will be examined in this regard. Even though the context of their concern is not the online environment, their fundamental

Shelley (2009), even though writing about skills development in the face-to-face context, offers some thoughts that are equally applicable to the online. Making the case that "critical thinking or higher-order thinking is a crucial component of achieving information literacy",

The concept of information literacy should go far beyond users' acquisition of banked skills. The competence to execute a keyword search in a specific database, navigate a library catalog, or memorize a certain call number does not indicate users are able to think on their feet. Users who are truly information literate have the capacities to solve problems, think independently, and they are able to structure their own research

In light of the above, she recommends, inter alia, the use of strategies to stimulate students' intellectual curiosity in seeking information, motivate students to exercise systemic thinking, apply exploratory questions toward an area of interest. Shelley's work is somewhat superficial and largely prescriptive rather than analytical and evaluative. Nonetheless, it represents an important departure from the conventional task-focused approach to

Kavanagh (2011) reports on a study conducted over a three-year period aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of an information literacy module integrated into subject-specific academic programmes. This approach of integrating or embedding instruction about information literacy into a course being studied is, according to Kavanagh, regarded by library information specialists as being more effective than the generic approach. The development of a marketing plan, done as a group project, was the area of study selected. The main assessment was the development of a plan to introduce a new product to the Irish market. Each group was also required to keep a research strategy log to document the library resources used to conduct secondary market research and to find academic articles for their

This allowed the library team to assess each group's research process rather than its results, thereby ensuring that those groups who chose a product for which market research information was not readily available were not penalized for the unavoidable

A handout was prepared to assist groups in undertaking the research strategy activity. The author acknowledges that it did not have the desired effect in the first year of the project since most groups did not submit a log. Improvements were made to the tool in the second year and the submission rate in both the second and third years increased. However, in her conclusion, the author seems to suggest that the log strategy was not as successful as initially hoped for, since students continued to find the exercise difficult. It is not the purpose of this paper to assess the strengths and/or weaknesses of the strategy employed to ensure that students prepared the log. What is important here is that learners were provided

articulating the competencies required for developing information literacy.

marketing plan. The author justifies the inclusion of the log this way:

absence of market research reports from their reference list. (p.8)

The definition that is most commonly referred to is that developed by the American Library Association (ALA). One point to be noted is the way the ALA frames its definition as an attribute of the information literate person. Thus, it states,

To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information. (1989) http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla70/papers/059e-Campbell.pdf

While this area of skill-building has always been considered key in formal education, it has assumed special significance for online learners given the fact that for most of these learners, the physical library, with all the human resources that are an integral part of that facility, is no longer available. The one-on-one support of the human library information specialist is no longer a feature of education in the web-based environment. Further the vast increase in the quantity of accessible information on the Internet, means that an even higher level of information literacy capability is required of students if they are to be successful in their information-searching, evaluating and using tasks.

The writing of annotated bibliographies was included in the orientation course for graduate students preparing to begin a fully online programme of study, since it embodies all the key information literacy skills and serves as an effective vehicle to allow students the opportunity to develop those skills.

This study is based on an analysis of the annotations prepared by the students who participated in the course conducted in January 2011. The course was itself a fully online course.
