Students will be familiar with the following by the time they graduate from CSB and SJU:

Authority is Constructed and Contextual

Students will be able to:

• Discover that many disciplines have acknowledged authorities in the sense of well-known scholars and publications.
• Develop their own authoritative voices in a particular area and recognize the responsibilities this entails, including seeking accuracy and reliability, respecting intellectual property, and participating in communities of practice.
• Develop awareness of the importance of assessing content with a skeptical stance and with a self-awareness of their own biases and worldview.

Information Creation as a Process

Students will be able to:

• Recognize that the creation of information may begin initially through communicating in a range of formats or modes.
• Articulate the traditional and emerging processes of information creation and dissemination in a particular discipline.
• Critically use different methods of information dissemination to meet a particular purpose.

Information has Value

Students will be able to:

• Recognize that they are contributors as well as consumers in the information marketplace.
• Articulate the purpose and distinguishing characteristics of copyright, fair use, open access and the public domain, and understand that these concepts may vary across cultures.
• Articulate how and why some individuals or groups may be underrepresented or systematically marginalized within the systems that produce and disseminate information.

Research as Inquiry

Students will be able to:

• Formulate research questions based on the examination of existing, possibly conflicting, information.
• Limit the scope of their research by breaking complex questions into simple ones.
• Use various research methods, based on need, circumstance, and type of inquiry.
• Consider research as an open-ended exploration and engagement with information.
• Synthesize ideas gathered from multiple sources.

Searching as Strategic Exploration

Students will be able to:

• Explore the initial scope and sequence of the research required to meet their information needs.
• Identify interested individuals, organizations, governments, and industries, which might produce information about a topic and determine how to access that information.
• Use different searching techniques (e.g., controlled vocabulary, keywords, natural language).
• Seek guidance from experts, such as librarians, researchers and professionals.

Scholarship as Conversation

Students will be able to:

• Recognize that communities of scholars, researchers, or professionals engage in sustained discourse with new insights and discoveries occurring over time as a result of varied perspectives and interpretations.
• Critically evaluate contributions made by others.
• Summarize the changes in scholarly perspective over time on a particular topic.
• Integrate the original ideas of others through proper attribution in their work.
• Produce work that contributes to scholarship.