Library Instruction Menu

Librarians provide a variety of information literacy lessons depending on the needs of your students and the assignment. Below are some options that can be adapted for use for in-person or remote learning environments and used in any combination. You can work with us to create a customized plan that meets the requirements of your specific course.

Students will learn how to navigate the Library’s homepage with particular attention paid to:

What is the Discovery Search box
What is the Databases list
How to use the different types of research guides
How to find the Library’s hours
How to get more help

Students will get an overview of what Discovery Search is and how it works. Session also includes

how to use Discovery Search filters
how to access the full text of resources
how to use Advanced Search
how to use other features such as email, abstracts, subject terms, thesaurus, cite, save, etc.

Overview of Library of Congress Classification System
Use Discovery Search to search for and locate books in the Purchase College Library collection
Use Discovery Search to search for books held at other SUNY libraries and beyond (Worldcat)
Demonstrate Worldcat.org
Request books via Interlibrary Loan

Investigate a variety of source types and learn their differences and advantages
Sources may be books; academic, popular, and trade journals; newspapers; primary sources; social media; and/or others depending on course needs
Overview of the peer review process and what it tells you about how to use scholarly sources
Identify and use other characteristics to determine source credibility (CAARP test)

Understand why and when to cite
Use the Citation help guide
Creating references and in-text citations using a certain style (MLA, APA, Chicago)
Find citation information in source
Ethically and efficiently use citation generations
Analyze examples for plagiarism characteristics

Download Zotero desktop client and browser add-on
Create Zotero account and turn on syncing
Capture citations using browser add-on
Manage and organize citations in Zotero library
Save and mark-up pdf full text of articles
Create bibliographies in style of choice

To request an information literacy/research skills instruction session, please contact your Subject liaison librarian. If your discipline does not have a liaison listed, or you are not sure who to contact, please email Kim Detterbeck, Instruction Coordinator, or fill out the Library Instruction Request Form to schedule a session, workshop, or tour.