The Big Six Skills Approach
to Library and Information Skills

Step 1: Task Definition

• What do I need to do?
• What do I need to know to do it?

Step 2: Information Seeking Strategies

• Where can I find what I need to know?
• What resources can I use?

Step 3: Location and Access

• Where can I find these resources? in the school or public library? on the Internet? do I know an expert on the subject?
• After I find the book, magazine, Web site, or expert, what do I need to find out?

Step 4: Use of Information

• This is where you read, listen, watch your source of information.
• This is where you pick out the parts of the information that are useful to you and your topic.

Step 5: Synthesis

• What can I do to finish the job?
• How can I organize these pieces of information?
• How can I present this information so that it is clear to my audience? so that they understand what I understand?

Step 6: Evaluation

• How did I do with the project?
• Did I have trouble finding information?
• Was I able to organize it so that it made sense to others?
• What did I learn about the topic and about how to do research more effectively next time?

*These 6 steps are part of The Big Six, a process developed by Michael B. Eisenberg and Robert E Berkowitz of Syracuse University.

Source: Eisenberg, M.B. and Berkowitz, R.E., Information Problem-Solving: The Big Six Skills Approach to Library and Information Skills. Ablex Publishing Corp., 1990.