Keep encouraging your students in their new skills

Thanks to this faculty library learning community at BGSU, I have seen tremendous growth in my students' independent use of their EBSCO accounts and folders, and of their ability to find articles. Now they tell me they check there first, before heading out to Yahoo or Google. They are now aware also of Google Scholar, of keyword searches, of checking out books from the library (I have to tell you it does my heart good to see students with library books!), of ordering books through OhioLink, to just name the beginnings. I also see students who give up the fight too easily, who want to "change their topics because they can't find anything."Instead of letting them change their topics, I call them in to work beside me, questioning them about other key ideas, suggesting possible key words, and in this way, they feel I care about their own work, that I am a "literate responder" to their scholarly interests--and they get better at deepening their thinking about their topic and at performing their database searches.These are first-year students in ENG112 at BGSU and it is a real joy to see them progress. The more able ones dive right in and ask very advanced questions, which keep me breathing as a teacher!Namaste