General Information

To satisfy the ILAC requirement in the MCSP department the student must execute a specified number of information searches on subjects related to their major field. The content and specifications are to be negotiated between the student and a department faculty member. Usually these will be done as part of a paper or presentation for a class but need not be. The usual number of information searches required is three.

A qualifying search is an annotated bibliography of at least seven (topic dependent and determined by the faculty sponsor) reputable sources on a topic related to the student's major. In order to receive credit, the student must identify a problem requiring an information solution and seek approval for the project from an MCSP faculty member before work begins. An MCSP faculty member must also certify that the information solution was successfully executed, meeting or exceeding minimal standards for information literacy. (See the form for the specific standards used.) The information searches may be performed as part of assigned coursework, a non-graded component of a course, or in conjunction with an MCSP presentation.

The spirit of related to the major means that they probably will occur in required/elective courses within the major with at least one in a course with the specific MCSP prefix for the major (CS for CS/CIS, MA for MA/MAED, PHY for Physics or Physics ED and EG for Engineering Science). e.g., A CS or CIS major will do information searches in required CS courses. A CS/MA double major will split them between CS and MA courses.

Students who have only one major and that one is in the MCSP department

You are required to do at least three ILAC information searches related to the major.

Students with multiple majors all of which are in the MCSP department

You are required to do at least three ILAC information searches. At least one must be in each major. e.g., a Math/CS double major does a minimum of three including one in CS, one in Math, and a third in either.

Students with multiple majors at least one in MCSP and at least one outside MCSP

Students with at least one major outside the department must meet the ILAC requirements of the outside major(s) and do one ILAC information search in each of their MCSP majors.

General Procedure

1. The student will approach a faculty member in their discipline and (kindly) request that they sponsor an ILAC information search. This will usually be an instructor in a major class they are currently taking.
2. After the faculty members agrees, they will negotiate the specifications.
3. The student will fill out the first half of the ILAC form and have the sponsor sign the pre-information search portion.
4. The faculty member will complete the evaluation portion during/after the information search, sign it and return the form to the student.
5. If the information search was rated successful, the student will turn the form to Dr. Breutzmann for recording and storage.

Manhattan Records

Records of successful information searches will be kept by Dr. Breutzmann and uploaded regularly to a manhattan site for student/faculty viewing. İUpon completion of the first successful OCAC presentation or ILAC information search, the student will be entered into the database and be given an account and password for the manhattan site or they may request one prior to meeting their first ILAC/OCAC requirement.

Here are some links to the ILAC forms in a few different formats:

ILAC form (rtf)

ILAC form (.doc)

ILAC form (.pdf)

ILAC form (html)