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Research Guide

Information Problem Solving – becoming Information Literate

One of the most important skills a student today can have is information problem-solving. It is the critical thinking process that enables a person to find and use appropriate information to complete a task or resolve a problem. Information Literacy is the way for our students to become users of knowledge.

Because knowledge is forever growing and changing and no one can know everything or deal with all information, students need to learn process as well as specific facts. They need to know how to find accurate facts and use them. More than ever school librarians or media specialists are essential because this is exactly what they teach.

There are many models for the information problem-solving process. One of the most successful used by schools is the Big6, developed by Michael B. Eisenberg and Robert E. Berkowitz, when they were teaching at Syracuse University in New York. For more, information go to their website.

Basically, Eisenberg and Berkowitz pinpointed six steps in the information problem-solving process:

  1. Task Definition
  2. Information Seeking Strategies
  3. Location and Access
  4. Use of Information
  5. Synthesis
  6. Evaluation

The school library media specialists in North Andover have adapted these steps into seven questions for students to consider as they solve any problem that required information:

1. Information Problem Solving Model
  • What is my task?
  • Do I need to find a good book?
  • Do I need to write a report?
  • Do I need to find information to plan a trip?
2. What information do I need?
  • What do I already know? (brainstorming, webbing)
  • What do I need to know?
  • What essential questions do I need to answer?
  • What key words and concepts do I need to know?
3. What resources can I use?
  • Should I use print - books, periodicals, newspapers?
  • Would non-print - video, TV, radio, CD-ROM, internet - be the best resource?
  • Do I need a primary source like an interview or speeches?
4. What skills do I need to find the information?
  • Can I locate the resource?
  • Can I access or find the information within the resource?
  • Do I understand how the information in the resource is organized?
    e.g. keywords, alphabetical order, table of contents, index, glossary, search engines and strategies, periodical index 
5. How do I interpret and record my information?
  • How do I identify the answers to my questions?
  • By listening, viewing, skimming, reading, interviewing?
  • How do I extract and record the answers to my questions?
  • By identifying keywords, paraphrasing, taking notes, citing sources?
6. How do I organize and present my information?
  • How do I assemble all relevant information?
  • By organizing notecards, outlining, using a graphic organizer?
  • How do I create a final product with the information?
  • By choosing a format - written, multimedia, oral?
  • By constructing the product - report, illustrations, graphics, bibliography?
7. How do I evaluate my work?
  • How do I judge the product? - based on the original task, questions?
  • How do I judge the process? - did I do all the steps? What worked well?
  • What would I do differently next time?
 
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