English 101 Rockett
Information Guidance
- Communication EssentialsThis four-part streaming video series from Films On Demand helps college students improve their communication skills in four critical areas: listening, speaking, writing, and reading. Viewers are challenged to improve their habits and aim for several concrete goals—such as the ability to actively participate in discussions and meetings, to craft effective messages in speech or text, to process and understand workplace communication, and more.
- Understanding Media LiteracyTV and radio commercials, Web sites and banner ads, magazine ads, pop songs, photos, and even news articles and textbooks: all of them are sending messages to influence the reader/viewer/listener. How do they grab their attention? What are they selling—a product or service? a lifestyle? an ideology?—and why? Would a different media consumer interpret the message differently? This program raises more questions than it answers, which is the whole point: to prompt students to question, question, question the messages they are bombarded with daily. Savvy media consumers aren’t born—they’re made; and this program is an excellent tool for shaping the classroom dialogue. (35 minutes)
- Introduction to Information LiteracyInformation Literacy is a crucial skill in obtaining knowledge. In this episode, learn how to find credible sources on the internet, read and evaluate a topic critically, and notate your sources. Ethical issues are also addressed.
- Recognizing Online BiasFrom Films On Demand, this video explores ways to identify bias and propaganda on the Internet and sift through the various influences, such as political or corporate interests, that may be behind some Web content.
- How To Recognize Fake NewsThink of fake news as a disease. Without knowing how to identify and stop its spread, information literacy is at risk, especially among audiences whose critical thinking skills are vulnerable. This video series equips viewers with tools to spot the stories and images that are false, biased, altered or slanted, even those shared by trusted friends or family. Easy tips to detect and check fake news will encourage scrutinizing material for opinion, inaccuracy or misrepresentation. Target audiences learn how to avoid being duped by fake news and may be less quick to click until they know what’s real and what’s not.
Research & Writing Skills
- College Success Skills from PrepStep This link opens in a new windowNavigate to the Information Literacy tab to learn and practice research and writing skills using interactive guides on each of the topics listed below.
Find and Cite Sources
One of the most time-consuming tasks when writing a paper or other assignment is digging through the vast number of sources to find what you need. Don’t get overwhelmed with all the information out there—use strategies to stay on top of it all. In this tutorial, learn how to find and evaluate different sources, and properly format your citations.
Introduction to Research Skills: Information Literacy
When you’re bombarded with information, how do you cut through it all and pick out the most important information? The key is information literacy: knowing how to effectively find, evaluate, integrate, and cite sources. When you think about all of the research you’ll do in school, it’s clear that information literacy is a skill you’ll use again and again. In this tutorial, you’ll learn the basics of information literacy as well as how to apply these skills toward your assignments.
Making Sense of Today’s Media
Understanding media means understanding what is happening around you—being a more conscious member of society and a more informed human being. This tutorial is designed to help you understand how media works and how the media (and especially news) landscape has changed with the movement of information onto the Internet.
Mastering Social Media
This tutorial will familiarize you with the most popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and more! You’ll learn to get the most out of your usage while keeping away from the very real online pitfalls. Educate yourself about what each platform is for and how best to use it, whether for personal life, your hobbies, networking, or career development.
Understand and Avoid Plagiarism
Whether you intentionally turn in an essay that you didn’t write yourself or simply forget to add the proper citation, it’s considered plagiarism. If you don’t give credit where it’s due, there can be significant and long-term consequences. In this tutorial, learn how—with planning and good study habits—you can avoid plagiarism. That’s all it takes!
Write Like a Scholar
Get the skills you need to write like a scholar! While you may have done a lot of writing in high school, you’ll need to go beyond just noting observations. In college, you’ll read and interpret various works and use them to support your own assignments. In this tutorial, you’ll learn about the main parts of scholarly writing, sources and citations, and where to turn to for help if you need it.
MLA Formatting from Purdue's Online Writing Lab
- MLA Formatting and Style GuideFrom the Purdue Online Writing Lab.
The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2021.
Process of Writing
- Writing Guide with Handbook (OpenStax)Writing Guide with Handbook aligns to the goals, topics, and objectives of many first-year writing and composition courses.
- Elements of Style, 4th EditionCall Number: OnlineISBN: 9789897782442This edition of 'The Elements of Style'details eight elementary rules of usage, ten elementary principles of composition,'a few matters of form', and a list of commonly misused words and expressions.
Formatting & Citations
Evaluating Sources
Avoid Plagiarism