Week 2 assignment | GEN 499 General Education Capstone | Ashford University

Prior to beginning work on this assignment, review the Research Guides and Tutorials under the Getting Research help tabs in the Ashford University Library.

Prepare: Knowing how to thoroughly research a topic is extremely important while achieving your education. You may be asked to support your information with peer-reviewed scholarly resources, but how can you find this type of resource? The Ashford University Library allows you to search through different avenues to find the requested types of resources. You can narrow your search by the author, year published, title, subject, and by indicating what type of resource you are looking for. You even have access to a librarian if you need some guidance in finding more resources on your topic.

Reflect: Given that you have been in college for awhile, it’s time to reflect on what you have learned through the use of the Ashford University Library in relation to how you learned to acquire new information from a variety of sources.

Write: This week, you will take the Threshold Achievement Test for Information Literacy (TATIL) (Links to an external site.). This test is not graded, and your results are anonymous. The TATIL assesses students’ ability to recall and apply their knowledge and their metacognition about core information literacy dispositions that underly their behaviors. Through this combination of knowledge and dispositional assessment, TATIL offers a unique and valuable measure of the complexities of information literacy. The results of this assessment will guide Ashford University in developing the best possible library resources and research methodologies training.

After completing the TATIL (Links to an external site.), in a two- to three-paragraph response with each paragraph consisting of five or more sentences,

• Describe your experiences using resources, including concerns encountered when conducting academic research through the Ashford University Library. Areas of concern may include developing a research strategy, using the search function within a database, or evaluating sources.
• Explain how using the Ashford University Library has improved your experience in conducting research. For example, you could identify and explain how specific tutorials that you have used have helped improve your ability to conduct research.

The Information Literacy paper

• Must include at least two paragraphs (of at least five sentences each) that respond to the two prompts, and that are formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.) resource.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
  • Running header with page numbers

For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).

• Must have no more than 15% quoted material in the body of your essay based on the Turnitin report.
• Must include a separate references page when citing specific sections and/or tutorials of the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.