Teaching Information Seeking: Rethinking How We Teach Research in the Information Age

Teaching Information Seeking redefines how we approach research and information literacy in today's information-rich world, inviting teachers to re-imagine teaching research.

The book combines insights from fields such as library and information sciences, journalism, and media literacy to offer fresh strategies and perspectives for guiding students through evolving landscapes of information.

While a focus on concepts and skills has long been important in teaching research, this book integrates significant new understandings about the role dispositions play in how well students embrace and utilize skill-based knowledge. The book provides conceptual knowledge and learning activities that support writing teachers as they help students learn throughout the research or inquiry process of asking questions, finding information, and sharing their learning purposefully and ethically. Chapters with a pedagogical focus and approach include activities informed by the author’s decades of experience teaching writing. These activities are described in depth, including assignment prompts, sample work, and scripts for think-aloud protocols and discussions the author has led that engage students in deeper learning around these critical skills and dispositions. Teaching Information Seeking serves as a comprehensive guide for educators looking to foster meaningful information literacy and critical thinking skills in their students.

This book is ideal for teachers and teacher educators who want to equip students with the skills and dispositions needed for effective research and information literacy. Readers will find teacher-friendly, research-grounded insights and activities that can be readily applied in the classroom.

Jon Ostenson is an associate professor in the English Education program at Brigham Young University where he teaches methods courses in writing pedagogy and young adult literature. He spent several years in the administration of the university’s writing program where he oversaw ongoing development of the First-Year Composition (FYC) curriculum and taught many FYC courses.