Anne Silva LIS688 Information Literacy 4/2/2011 Practitioner Issue: Considering Disciplines within Research While Teaching IL Sessions The Original Question was asked By Megan Dempsey, a Reference and Instruction Librarian at Raritan Valley Community College on and read as follows: “Hi all, Does anyone have an interesting and effective way (perhaps an analogy or visual aid) to help students understand the concept of “disciplines” in research? We are taking a new approach to one of our IL sessions, and want to focus on how a topic can be researched from a variety of approaches – psychological, sociological, historical, etc. I’m looking for a good way to introduce them to this idea. I recall previous discussions about using the way college classes are specific to a department, i.e. psychology classes, history classes, science classes, as a framework, but I’m trying to think of an inquiry or discussion based way to teach this concept. All suggestions are much appreciated! Thanks!” There were two responses to her question. The first came from Ellie Jones, an Instructional Services Librarian at the W. Frank Steely Library at Northern Kentucky University. Her response suggested breaking down disciplines in research into “tribes”, all having their own cultures, traditions and languages.
The second response came from John Maxstadt, the Head of Public Services at Killam Library at Texas A&M International University. He suggested that during the session it is explained how information and knowledge is created within a discipline to help students understand what information is available and how to go about finding it. I think that both of the above responses are good ideas. Looking at it from a tribe perspective might help students understand that various disciplines go about looking at the same thing from different perspectives, much as different tribes use perceive things differently depending on their history and situation. Explaining the hierarchy of the making of information and knowledge will help students know what to look for and where, and at what step in the process they might find the information needed. For example, if someone wanted to know the results of an experiment, they’d go to the experiment itself, if they wanted to check the validity of the results they might look for scholarly articles about the correctness of the process or look to seed if the experiment had been replicated with the same results. If their looking for commentary on the ramifications of the findings, they may again look in scholarly publications or in general magazines and newspapers. For specific information on a school of research within the sciences they may look to a governing body, such as the NIH or CDC for direction as to where to look for further information. While I do feel that the above suggestions would help in an IL classroom, I don’t think either completely answers the poster’s question. From what I took from the question, the asker wants to show and explain how different disciplines approach a single topic. If I were constructing an IL class around this idea, I might give the example of WWII. There is a ton of research and literature on the topic, so without knowing which
way to go at it, it may become overwhelming. Those looking at it from a historical perspective are going to want different information on the subject than those coming from a political, psychological, scientific, or literature based interest or background. Below are brief topical listings to help illustrate this idea. It could also be put into a Prezzi or other presentation tool, such as a cluster map to help make it more visual.
Historical Events leading to war By country By Battle Restructuring Long-term effects
Psychological PTSD The effects of loved ones serving over seas on family members The use of aid- dogs in combat situations Morale
Scientific Effects of weather and natural resources Inventions and advancements in technology Medical science during the war Disease outbreaks
Sociological Veterans Bonding and team building, comradery Reassimilation Lasting effects on different societies English/Literature Fiction about or written during Non-fiction about or written during (Auto)biographies of survivors, leaders, and soldiers Creative non-fiction about or during Compilations
While this list of disciplines and perspectives isn’t comprehensive, it does illustrate different interest areas of the disciplines under one main heading. This could also be done as a Venn Diagram to show how some interest areas overlap among disciplines. This could also be done as a way to engage students in an IL session, by brainstorming disciplines and different interest areas and perspectives either a whole or in
small groups. This will also help students use their individual interest areas and backgrounds and make the subject matter more relatable and relevant. This also meets the needs of the poster, because it’s inquiry and discussion based. These approaches can be tailored to meet the needs of the specific IL class and the demographic of students represented in it. I feel that using a combination of these three suggestions will help students understand how different disciplines create, view, and search for information as well as how one topic can approached from a variety of perspectives. Understanding how information and research is approached by different disciplines will help students know where to start and how to narrow down their scope into something manageable.