Thursday 1 January 2009

The role of information competencies and skills in learning to abstract

an article by Maria Pinto, Anne-Vinciane Doucet and Andrés Fernández-Ramos (University of Granada) in Journal of Information Science Volume 34 Number 6 (2008)

Abstract
The ability to abstract information is a basic competency in today's knowledge society, characterised by the mass diffusion of information and the need to manage and access it effectively. Yet abstracting is not an easy task, and requires a specific learning process. This paper examines the process of abstracting information from the perspective of competencies and skills-based learning of students of information and documentation. The competencies and skills necessary in this process, which are drawn from European sources on library science and documentation, are identified by analysing in detail the various stages and processes involved in writing an abstract. The general skills required for the whole process, as well as the specific skills for each stage, are determined. Guidelines and recommendations are put forward to facilitate the learning of these skills in the context of abstracting.

Hazel's comment:
Even at its most basic level, as in a quick summary of a learning opportunity, abstracting is still a skill which can be taught. I just wish that more opportunity databases realised the need for this skill!


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