Whereas instruction on how to conduct original research can build on beginning college students' tacit information literacies, the explicit articulation of existing processes for information gathering is rarely elicited by instructors prior to students' submission of a final research paper. In this essay, authors Nicholas Bauch and Christina Sheldon introduce surf maps and concept ladders as potential assignments to guide beginning college students in producing original scholarship in their Cultural Geography course. They find that these tools help novice researchers realize their information-seeking patterns and skills as well as potential gaps in their current practices. For students, a key outcome of harnessing their tacit information literacies is that it offers broader disciplinary relevance to their research projects, introducing them to the complexities of making claims and, most generally, the production of knowledge. For educators, identifying students' tacit information-seeking skills and shortcomings helps in the creation of assignments that further advance students' research skills.