Research and Information Literacy

Research and Information Literacy falls under the Intellectual Toolkit Capacity.

Scholarly research—the process of posing problems, designing effective investigative strategies, collecting and evaluating information, drawing conclusions, and presenting findings—drives the creation and dissemination of new knowledge in and across all academic disciplines, professions, and walks of life.

Today’s information explosion places a particular requirement on anyone doing research to develop the abilities associated with information literacy—knowing how to locate needed information, assess the accuracy of sources, and use them to good effect. BU’s mission as a research university embraces the conviction that research and information literacy should be central to an undergraduate education. By learning from scholars on the BU faculty how new knowledge is created and disseminated, and by conducting or participating in research, BU students join a community of inquiry with a commitment to the pursuit of knowledge that crosses borders and connects generations.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Students will be able to critically assess both scholarly and public-facing sources, recognizing a variety of ways that sources can be credible; use sources ethically in domains such as attribution of ideas and treatment of human subjects; and interpret and analyze information.
  2. Students will demonstrate understanding of the overall research process and its component parts. As a result, they will be able to formulate good research questions or hypotheses, use disciplinary methods of inquiry, select and deploy sources strategically to address research questions or hypotheses, and contribute to knowledge production.

Courses

Search for currently scheduled courses with combinations of other Hub requirements in MyBU Student.