Information Literacy and Research Skills - TCC OER Subject Guide: OER starting points
This guide compiles starting points for OER and freely available resources for interdisciplinary research, digital literacy, and information literacy courses and topics. This OER subject guide was created for TCC faculty and staff and reflects support for TCC learning outcomes, courses, and curriculum. The purpose of this guide is to help faculty and staff more easily find and review OER in their areas so that they can make decisions about quality, accuracy, relevancy, and potential use.
OER starting points for Information Literacy, by course/topic area and material type
Research skills and information literacy
TCC-created resources:
- LS 101: Introduction to Research (OER Canvas course)To view: First, log into your TCC Canvas faculty account, then click on the Canvas Commons link/icon in the global navigation menu, and then finally click this link to view this Canvas course content. TCC Library, 2020. "This 2-credit course provides an introduction to research by learning to identify, find, evaluate, incorporate, and cite appropriate sources using a range of research tools. This course is designed for an online class environment. The course materials have been collaboratively developed by Tacoma Community College librarians, and uses a combination of openly licensed, open access, and library resources." Organized into 10 modules, with readings and assignments. CC BY SA (Creative Commons - Attribution - ShareAlike) license.
- LS 301: Research Skills for Healthcare (OER Canvas course)To view: First, log into your TCC Canvas faculty account, then click on the Canvas Commons link/icon in the global navigation menu, and then finally click this link to view this Canvas course content. TCC Library, 2019. "This course helps students meet course-related research needs by developing strategies to identify, find, evaluate, incorporate, and cite appropriate sources used in healthcare. Evaluation and use of sources specific to healthcare are emphasized. This is a 2-credit course for a Health Information Management (HIM) Bachelor program. It is designed to be taken concurrently with HIM 320: Healthcare Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security." Organized into 10 modules, with readings and assignments. CC BY SA (Creative Commons - Attribution - ShareAlike) license.
Textbooks, courses, and readers:
- Introduction to College Research (OER textbook)Walter D. Butler, Aloha Sargent, and Kelsey Smith, California Community Colleges, 2021. "This book acknowledges our changing information landscape, covering key concepts in information literacy to support a research process with intention." Organized into 12 main sections, each with critical thinking questions. Reviewed for accessibility. Supplemental Canvas resources are linked in the Introduction page. Online (Pressbooks) format. CC BY (Creative Commons - Attribution) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- Information Literacy – Basic Research Skills (OER textbook)Carol M. Withers, San Diego City College Library, 2019. "This resource is designed to be used in the teaching of a one-unit information literacy course" for community college students. Organized into 10 chapters, including a glossary. PDF format. CC BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- Introduction to Finding Information (OER textbook)Kirsten Hostetler, Central Oregon Community College, published by Open Oregon, 2023. "This open textbook serves as the course material for Central Oregon Community College’s 1-credit library course, LIB100: Introduction to Finding Information." Organized into 4 parts, including starting your research process, search strategies, valuing sources, and using the library. Online (Pressbooks), PDF, and EPUB formats. CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- Critical Thinking in Academic Research (OER textbook)Cindy Gruwell and Robin Ewing, Minnesota State Colleges & Universities, 2nd ed., 2023. "[P]rovides examples and easy-to-understand explanations to equip students with the skills to develop research questions, evaluate and choose the right sources, search for information, and understand arguments. This 2nd Edition includes new content based on student feedback as well as additional interactive elements throughout the text." Organized into 11 chapters, including chapters on "Analyzing Arguments," "Making an Argument," "Research Questions," and more. Faculty peer reviews of this text available on this site. Online (Pressbooks), PDF, and EPUB formats. CC BY-SA (Creative Commons - Attribution - ShareAlike) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research (OER textbook)Cheryl Lowry, Ohio State University, 2016. "[P]resents a process for academic research and writing, from formulating your research question to selecting good information and using it effectively in your research assignments. Additional chapters cover understanding types of sources, searching for information, and avoiding plagiarism. Each chapter includes self-quizzes and activities to reinforce core concepts and help you apply them." Organized into 13 chapters. Online (Pressbooks), PDF, andEPUB formats. CC BY (Creative Commons - Attribution) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- Doing Research: A Student's Guide to Finding and Using the Best Sources (OER textbook)Celia Brinkerhoff, Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Canada), 2019. "A modules-based approach to learning research skills that emphasizes the reflective nature of information discovery, the contextual basis for evaluating that information, and a recognition that information has value." Organized into 4 main parts, with 32 chapters. Online, EPUB, PDF, and editable OpenDocument formats. CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- Writing for Inquiry and Research (OER textbook)Jeffrey Kessler, et al., University of Illinois Chicago, 2023. "Guides students through the composition process of writing a research paper. The book divides this process into four chapters that each focus on a genre connected to research writing: the annotated bibliography, proposal, literature review, and research essay. Each chapter provides significant guidance with reading, writing, and research strategies, along with significant examples and links to external resources. This book serves to help students and instructors with a writing-project-based approach, transforming the research process into an accessible series of smaller, more attainable steps for a semester-long course in research writing." Faculty peer reviews of this OER textbook available on this site. Online (Pressbooks) and PDF formats. CC BY NC (Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- The Process of Research Writing (OER textbook)Steven D. Krause, Eastern Michigan University, 2007. "The goal of this book is to guide you through this process of research writing by emphasizing a series of exercises that touch on different and related parts of the research process." Organized into 12 chapters. Online and PDF formats. Faculty peer reviews of this text available on this site. CC BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- The Research Process: Strategies for Undergraduate StudentsEdited by Rebecca Marrall and Jenny Oleen, Western Washington Univ. Libraries, 2016. Designed for undergraduate students. Chapters on “The Research Process,” “Web Literacy” and “Writing as Inquiry, Writing as Thinking” particularly useful. Includes an instructor workbook with sample assignments. Chapters available as online or PDF formats. CC BY NC (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- The Information Literacy User’s Guide: An Open, Online TextbookAllison Hosier, et al., SUNY Albany, 2014. "[I]ntroduces students to critical concepts of information literacy as defined for the information-infused and technology-rich environment in which they find themselves. This book helps students examine their roles as information creators and sharers and enables them to more effectively deploy related skills. This textbook includes relatable case studies and scenarios, many hands-on exercises, and interactive quizzes." Online, PDF, and EPUB formats. CC BY NC SA (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike). Eligible for Print on Demand.
Supplemental tools and materials (incl. games, lessons, videos, exercises, etc.):
- Writability PodcastPodcast series developed by English faculty and librarians at the College of the Sequoias, 2020-21. This is an openly licensed series of conversations about writing tips and topics. Length varies for each episode, 25+ episodes total. Topics include: Finding Sources You Can Trust, Should We Use Wikipedia?, Avoiding Plagiarism, and more. Audio files + transcripts. CC BY-NC (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial) license.
- Navigating Digital Information - Crash Course video playlistPlaylist of 10+ short videos with innovative graphics, last updated 2020. Includes videos on: fact checking, evaluating evidence, evaluating photos, and more. Crash Course videos are high-quality, with a mix of live-action and animated graphics. Not openly licensed but you can link/embed them in Canvas courses.
Digital and media literacy
Textbooks, courses, and readers:
- Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers (OER textbook)Michael A. Caulfield, Washington State University Vancouver, 2017. "This is an unabashedly practical guide for the student fact-checker. It supplements generic information literacy with the specific web-based techniques that can get you closer to the truth on the web more quickly." Organized into 6 sections with 43 chapters, with multiple activities. Faculty peer reviews of this text available on this site. PDF and e-book formats. CC BY (Creative Commons - Attribution) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- Clickbait, Bias, and Propaganda in Information Networks (OER handbook)Barbara Fisterm et al., Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library, 2019. "Based on Mike Caulfield's Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers, this is a short handbook for understanding and evaluating information in a networked environment that bombards us with misinformation, opinion, news, satire, memes, and all the feels." Organized into 3 sections, with readings and practical tips for fact-checking fake and misleading news and social media. Online (Pressbooks) format. CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- Be Credible: Information Literacy for Journalism, Public Relations, Advertising and Marketing Students (OER textbook)Peter Bobkowski and Karna Younger, Kansas State Univ., 2nd ed., 2018. "Using the themes of credibility and information literacy, the book helps today’s students, who start out all their research with Google and Wikipedia, to specialize in accessing, evaluating, and managing information that often is not accessible through Google searches. The book includes chapters on public records, freedom of information requests, nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies, scholarly research, public data, interviews and more. Through current examples, instructional videos, suggested classroom activities, and practitioner insights, the authors challenge students to examine the credibility of the sources they use as current and future professional communicators." Online (Pressbooks) format. CC BY NC (Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
E-books
The psychology of fake news: Accepting, sharing, and correcting misinformationCall Number: OnlinePublication Date: 2020From Taylor & Francis's Open Access Book Collection. "This volume examines the phenomenon of fake news by bringing together leading experts from different fields within psychology and related areas. Provides guidance on how to handle misinformation in an age of "alternative facts," this is a fascinating and vital reading for students in psychology, communication, and political science." Online and PDF formats. CC BY NC ND (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives) license.
Supplemental tools and materials (incl. games, lessons, videos, exercises, etc.):
- Civic Online Reasoning CurriculumCreated and hosted by Stanford’s Graduate School of Education. "The COR curriculum provides free lessons and assessments that help you teach students to evaluate online information that affects them, their communities, and the world." Collection of lessons, assessments, and videos about web literacy topics, including lateral reading, evaluating evidence, and verifying claims on social media. Includes teacher materials, student materials, and slides. A free sign-in is required to access OER materials. All CC licensed materials.
- Media Literacy - Crash Course video playlistPlaylist of 12+ short videos with innovative graphics, last updated 2020. Includes videos on: history of media literacy, media influence & persuasion, online advertising, the darker side of media, and more. Crash Course videos are high-quality, with a mix of live-action and animated graphics. Not openly licensed but you can link/embed them in Canvas courses.
- Navigating Digital Information - Crash Course video playlistPlaylist of 10+ short videos with innovative graphics, last updated 2020. Includes videos on: fact checking, evaluating evidence, evaluating photos, and more. Crash Course videos are high-quality, with a mix of live-action and animated graphics. Not openly licensed but you can link/embed them in Canvas courses.
- Study Hall: Data Literacy - Crash Course video playlistCrash Course and Arizona State University collaboration of 15+ short videos with innovative graphics, updated 2025. "[B]uild data literacy skills to help you make sense of the numbers behind our daily lives, from health to sports to politics." Crash Course videos are high-quality, with a mix of live-action and animated graphics. Not openly licensed but you can link/embed them in Canvas courses.
Academic integrity and plagiarism
Textbooks, courses, and readers:
- Academic Integrity (OER textbook)Ulrike Kestler, Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Canada), 2020. "An interactive approach to conveying the values of academic integrity, clarifying the meaning of plagiarism, and introducing the basics of citations, quoting and paraphrasing." Sections on Academic Integrity, Understanding Plagiarism, Citation Skills, Writing Skills, APA Style, MLA Style, and Chicago Style. CC BY NC SA (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- Copy(write): Intellectual Property in the Writing Classroom (OER textbook)Martine Courant Rife, et al, WAC Clearinghouse, 2011. "[B]ring[s] together stories, theories, and research that can further inform the ways in which we situate and address intellectual property issues in our writing classrooms." Faculty peer reviews of this text available on this site. PDF and EPUB formats. CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons - Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- Our Voices: A Guide to Citing Personal Experience and Interviews in Research (OER guide)Emily Willard, et al., Univ. of Washington, 2023. This OER guide supports "students to produce their own knowledge, as well as honoring the academic value of their lived experience and the experiences of their families and communities [...] We propose this set of guidelines are an important practical tool for critical, feminist, and anti-racist pedagogy, as well as a method for teaching ethical research." Online (Pressbooks) format. CC BY NC SA (Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- Writability PodcastPodcast series developed by English faculty and librarians at the College of the Sequoias, 2020-21. This is an openly licensed series of conversations about writing tips and topics. Length varies for each episode, 25+ episodes total. Topics include: Avoiding Plagiarism, and more. Audio files + transcripts. CC BY-NC (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial) license.
Research and writing
Textbooks, courses, and readers:
- Writing for Inquiry and Research (OER textbook)Jeffrey Kessler, et al., University of Illinois Chicago, 2023. "Guides students through the composition process of writing a research paper. The book divides this process into four chapters that each focus on a genre connected to research writing: the annotated bibliography, proposal, literature review, and research essay. Each chapter provides significant guidance with reading, writing, and research strategies, along with significant examples and links to external resources. This book serves to help students and instructors with a writing-project-based approach, transforming the research process into an accessible series of smaller, more attainable steps for a semester-long course in research writing." Faculty peer reviews of this OER textbook available on this site. Online (Pressbooks) and PDF formats. CC BY NC (Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- Sourcing, summarizing, and synthesizing: Skills for effective research writing (OER textbook)Wendy L. McBride, University of Arkansas, 2023. Reviews research and writing skills, useful for abstracts, annotated bibliographies, and literature reviews. Organized into 4 major sections: Academic writing, Research foundations, Writing foundations, and Final products. Online, PDF, and EPUB formats. CC BY NC SA (Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
- The Process of Research Writing (OER textbook)Steven D. Krause, Eastern Michigan University, 2007. "The goal of this book is to guide you through this process of research writing by emphasizing a series of exercises that touch on different and related parts of the research process." Organized into 12 chapters. Online and PDF formats. Faculty peer reviews of this text available on this site. CC BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
Supplemental tools and materials (incl. games, lessons, videos, exercises, etc.):
- Writability PodcastPodcast series developed by English faculty and librarians at the College of the Sequoias, 2020-22. This is an openly licensed series of conversations about writing tips and topics. Length varies for each episode, 25+ episodes total. Topics include: Using Instructor Feedback, Beyond the 5 Paragraph Essay, Sending Professional Emails to Professors, Should We Use Wikipedia?, Writing And Talking About Race In Class, and more. Audio files + transcripts. CC BY-NC (Creative Commons - Attribution - NonCommercial) license.
Research methods across the curriculum
TCC-created resources:
- LS 301: Research Skills for Healthcare (OER Canvas course)To view: First, log into your TCC Canvas faculty account, then click on the Canvas Commons link/icon in the global navigation menu, and then finally click this link to view this Canvas course content. TCC Library, 2019. "This course helps students meet course-related research needs by developing strategies to identify, find, evaluate, incorporate, and cite appropriate sources used in healthcare. Evaluation and use of sources specific to healthcare are emphasized. This is a 2-credit course for a Health Information Management (HIM) Bachelor program. It is designed to be taken concurrently with HIM 320: Healthcare Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security." Organized into 10 modules, with readings and assignments. CC BY SA (Creative Commons - Attribution - ShareAlike) license.
Textbooks, courses, and readers:
- Be Credible: Information Literacy for Journalism, Public Relations, Advertising and Marketing Students (OER textbook)Peter Bobkowski and Karna Younger, Kansas State Univ., 2nd ed., 2018. "Using the themes of credibility and information literacy, the book helps today’s students, who start out all their research with Google and Wikipedia, to specialize in accessing, evaluating, and managing information that often is not accessible through Google searches. The book includes chapters on public records, freedom of information requests, nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies, scholarly research, public data, interviews and more. Through current examples, instructional videos, suggested classroom activities, and practitioner insights, the authors challenge students to examine the credibility of the sources they use as current and future professional communicators." Online (Pressbooks) format. CC BY NC (Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial) license. Eligible for Print on Demand.
Additional resources for research methods:
For resources on research methods and courses in specific fields, please explore the related OER subject guides linked below.
On the Psychology OER subject guide >> click on the sub-tab for "Research methods for healthcare"
On the Sociology OER subject guide >> click on the sub-tab for "Research methods for sociology"
On the Biology and Botany OER subject guide >> click on the sub-tab for "Biology research":
Culturally responsive and inclusive pedagogy
The Culturally Responsive and Inclusive Pedagogy OER Subject Guide, linked below, provides a starting point for OER professional development and curricular materials relating to issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion; trauma-informed practices; and culturally responsive, inclusive, and anti-racist pedagogy and practices. This guide includes concepts and keywords; TCC OEDI resources; introductory and more in-depth professional development resources (toolkits, guides, etc.); curriculum resources (activities, assignments, etc.); OER and EDI rubrics; instructional design; accessibility; as well as EDI-focused OER in different disciplines across the curriculum, including Writing.
How to work with your TCC librarians
- Work with a Faculty LibrarianSchedule a class with your TCC librarians by completing the TCC Library instruction request form and learn more about how your librarians teach library and research skills.
Your OER librarian
Jennifer Snoek-Brown
she/her
Contact:
Email: jsnoek-brown@tacomacc.edu (the fastest way to contact me)
Office: Bldg 7, Library (please wear a face mask)
Phone: 253.460.3936 (forwards to my email)
Book an appointment Click the "book now" button above to book a personal appointment with me via Zoom.
Website
Office: Bldg 7, Library (please wear a face mask)
Phone: 253.460.3936 (forwards to my email)
Book an appointment Click the "book now" button above to book a personal appointment with me via Zoom.
Attributions
Except where otherwise noted, the content in this guide was compiled by Jennifer Snoek-Brown, Tacoma Community College Library, and is licensed under a CC BY SA 4.0 license.
Except where otherwise noted, the content in these guides by Tacoma Community College Library is licensed under CC BY SA 4.0.
This openly licensed content allows others to cite, share, or modify this content, with credit to TCC Library. When reusing or adapting this content, include this statement in the new document: This content was originally created by Tacoma Community College Library and shared with a CC BY SA 4.0 license.
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