Most elementary and secondary students have been raised in an age where the use of electronics has become second nature in all areas of their lives. Even Toddlers can be seen holding their parent’s cell phones and playing games. Preschoolers play games correctly on tablets. There are even tablets marketed for this age group. There is no longer a need for a message center in the home where phone messages once were recorded by hand, then placed in this center to be retrieved by family members when they return to the home. Instead, most people are now reached instantly, with the availability of cellular phones. No longer do most families share the same phone number, as most people have their own cellular phone and their own phone number. No longer are members of today’s society used to waiting for or working hard to find anything, including information for research purposes.
There are many students today in the college setting that have never used anything other than the internet for sources when writing scholarly papers. For some, it was a lack of resources during their K-12 years that fueled their reliance on the internet for information. Others just do not have the knowledge or understanding that is needed on how to use the system within a library to do research (Badke, 2009). Writing is a skill that should be taught to students in their elementary and secondary school years. But today, so many students write papers by using the cut and paste tools, in essence stealing their information from the internet as they turn this written work in as work that they had done themselves (Davies & Birbill, 2000).
Students Struggle to Identify Scholarly Material
Many students type their paper topic into a Google or Google Scholar, or similar search engine and use whatever sources appear on the first page of the search, sometimes assuming that this is the best information that is available for researching their topic. Many, if not most, students do not understand how to determine if their information challenges the higher level thinking skills and do not associate how using the more scholarly information is an important component of their academic success. These challenges do continue to the post-secondary level. The question posed by Pia Russell is very relevant to what many educators in the post-secondary world face today: “Should librarians and instructors simply throw up their hands and give up (Russell, 2009, Why Universities Need Information Literacy Now More than Ever, para. 2)?
Students need to learn how to effectively use the framework of literacy that is available to them, whether it is internet resources which have been deemed as scholarly work or doing the research the way previous generations did in the library (Russell, 2009). There is debate among academics as to how much research knowledge should be assumed that today’s students have upon entering their baccalaureate programs (Remenyi, 1998). Librarians are available to assist students in their search for this information. Librarians have been specifically trained to collaborate with the instructors of their institutions and are uniquely qualified to assist the student in need, no matter what discipline the research involves (Russell, 2009). Post-secondary students need to know how to disseminate the information that is relevant, evaluate the material, and then write both effectively and using their own voice (Turusheva, 2009).
Post-Secondary Library Education
Most post-secondary students would benefit from a course that introduces them to all of the different components of the library, perhaps through their new student orientation. During such a course, which is offered and/or required at many institutions, students would learn about different research tools that the library has to offer, such as data sources, electronic journals as well as incorporate different elements and tools that could be used for using the internet as an effective tool to get scholarly worthy information as a component of the research being completed by the students. Many students would be best served by doing the research themselves during such a class rather than have a lecture which demonstrates the available information to the students. “educators did a magnificent job of contributing valuable teaching resources to the web and they encouraged students to use discernment in choosing websites. (Turusheva, 2009, More Guidance Needed, para. 1)” A course on research, library use, and other available tools is not just for the remedial students, it should be available to any post-secondary student who is not competent or comfortable with library based research, and perhaps required, since many of these students do not realize that they are, in fact, deficient. (Turusheva, 2009).
Screen-based Reading
There has also been a shift from reading books and articles that are paper based to reading on a screen. E-readers, online textbooks, as well as the use of the internet have influenced many elements in our society. On-line textbooks are available now for many college students and even some K-12 students that are further making the rift between print-based and screen-based publications (Russell, 2009). The question must be asked: Do students retain information that is read differently if it is screen-based vs. being on paper?” Researchers are split on this issue. That determination may continue to change the way information is taught, especially if the retention is close to the same, since Net Gen-ers prefer to do just about everything that they do electronically (Smart, 2010).
Conclusion
Post-secondary students have had to, are, and will continue to do research and write as they have for centuries. Just as other developments have changed how papers are written and information is processed over the past century, further changes will continue. Due to the information age, these changes will probably continue at an ever increasing rate of rapidity, but the core will remain the same. Not all information is scholarly or note-worthy, and students need the knowledge to discern which material is appropriate for their research and which material is just information that is out there, but not scholarly, and therefore, should not be used as the basis of research.
The need for students to improve their research and writing skills transcends all socio-economic backgrounds, exists in school districts of all socio-economic levels, and is applicable in students of all ethnicities throughout the United States. This is a national problem, compounded by a generation of students that have learned most of what they know from technology and its resources. Most of the youth understand technology better than the educators that are trying to teach them substance. The students know that in the area of technology, they are the knowledgeable ones. This needs to stop being a battle of the fittest and become an acceptance of learning to learn and research the ethical way, through using the tools of technology for research, not as a method of plagiarism.
References
Badke, W. (2009, July/August). How We Failed the Net Generation. Online, 33(4), 47-50.
Davies, C., & Birbill, M. (2000). What Do People Need to Know About Writing in Order to
write in Their Jobs?. British Journal of Educational Studies, 48(4), 429. Retrieved from
EBSCOhost.
Remenyi, D. (1998). Central Ethical Considerations for Master’s and Doctoral Research in
Business and Management Studies. South African Journal of Business Management,
29(3), 109. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Russell, P. (2009). Why Universities Need Information Literacy Now More than Ever. Feliciter,
55(3), 92-94.
Turusheva, L. (2009). Students' Information Competence and Its Importance For Life-Long
Education. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 12(7), 126-132.
Smart, E. (Speaker). (2010, September 20). Internet and Education [Audio podcast]. Retrieved
