During this presentation two reference and instruction librarians from CSU Channel Islands will demonstrate how to effectively engage students by using a “lo-fi” activity that teaches them how to determine the scholarly merit of a research source without the use of common technologies frequently used in instruction sessions. This activity allows students to physically handle, examine, and discuss with their classmates different research sources ranging from a physical book to a print-out of a peer-reviewed journal article in order to determine where each source belongs on the scholarly spectrum. This presentation will cover the specific details for implementing this activity in a library instruction session and will discuss the different benefits of using this activity to teach students about how to determine the scholarly worth of a source.
