Yes, I'm talking to you! Clearly, if you have linked to this entry, something about the title grabbed your attention. Regardless of the reason for your dazed and confused state, the library has put into place a series of library orientation units or modules that, if you take the time to work through them, will clear the fog and haze of disillusion and bring you a brighter day!
The librarians have recognized for some time that our transfer students are at the biggest disadvantage coming new to campus after many (most) of our beginning freshmen have come to the library with their college composition classes. It doesn't matter whether you are a new Rowan campus member having come from obtaining your associate's degree at a two-year institution, or whether you are still a freshman, but spent your first semester at another campus, or whether you are one of our many mature students returning to the campus setting after a number of years away. These orientation modules will help each of you gain the footing you need to compete favorably with your class colleagues in producing research-whether the two-age paper or the twenty-two page history research paper.
Each module is organized in the same fashion. There is an introduction to the module's topic, followed by the goals and objectives of the unit. This introduction is then amplified with what is called "static pages" of information that teach you about the topic of the unit. After the teaching pages there is a page of activities. Each of these hands on activities is designed to reinforce what you have just read.
At the end of each unit there is a link to an assessment piece. This is the only part of the orientation guide you won't be able to complete as it is tied into Blackboard and only those students enrolled in Comp I and II sections have access.
Units 1 through 5 cover the basics. This is the information that first semester freshmen students are taught when their Comp I class comes to the library's teaching lab for a face-to-face orientation session. Units 5 - 9 (yes, Unit 5 is purposefully covered twice) are designed to cover the materials that second semester freshmen should know in order to conduct successful research for writing assignments.
No unit takes more than five to ten minutes. We do not, however, recommend that you try to go through them all at one time. TMI! (for you non-texters, this is "too much information.")
To reach this path of enlightenment, from the library's homepage, please go to the menu item "Using the Libraries." Scroll down to Research Assistance, and then click on "Orientation to the Library."
