This article considers students’ perceptions of the academic research process so as to guide librarians and classroom faculty to enhance students’ ability to find and evaluate research sources and thus develop students’ information literacy capabilities. Instructional design for information literacy should begin by examining how students approach research using the world wide web. While some students may feel qualified to find research information, the authors contend that every student can benefit from using information literacy skills to improve the way they glean information from the Internet. The content for the article is gathered from student interviews and faculty insights on students’ research behaviors as observed in the library and also in classroom computer labs in introductory through advanced college composition classes. It concludes that Librarians can partner with composition faculty to change traditional curriculum by adding specific learning goals that help students understand how to rethink the Internet as their only research resource and to value the instruction that librarians can provide in helping learners to evaluate and manage the avalanche of information now available online.
The article contains the insights and conclusions of an LIS professor and a professor of composition, each with over thirty years of field experience of teaching research skills to students.