How to Design EFFECTIVE Library Research Assignments

INFORMATION LITERACY:  “… the ability to locate, evaluate and use information to become independent lifelong learners.” Commission on Colleges, Southern Assoc. of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

PARTNER

• Work with a librarian before giving your students the assignment. You will not have to read as many poor quality papers and bibliographies! We can tell you which sources are available.  We will also suggest incorporating a mix of sources and research strategies that are relevant to the discipline/research topics and that will further information literacy. 



• Samples of successful past assignments are available for your review at the Reference Desk.



• Leave a copy of the assignment at the Reference Desk.  This is particularly helpful to our part-time evening and weekend librarians.



• Finally, check back with the same librarian when the class has finished the assignment.  We can exchange feedback on aspects of the assignment that may need fine-tuning.

RELEVANCE

• Explain the purpose of the assignment to the class.  This can include developing expertise in using specific search tools and strategies, identifying key sources in the field of study, exercising critical thinking skills in evaluating different types of sources, and gaining deeper knowledge of the subject matter.



• Create a specific library assignment tied directly to the learning objectives of the course.  Students resent busy-work scavenger hunts.  We are not crazy about them either since it is usually the librarians that find the answers to the trivia questions!



• Give credit for completion of the research portion of the assignment.

CLARITY

• Put the assignment in writing.  It amazes us how many different ways students misinterpret assignments that were given orally.



• Be specific about which sources are and are not permissible. For example, some teachers will not allow students to use general encyclopedias (e.g. World Book) but do allow subject specialized encyclopedias (e.g. Encyclopedia of Social Work).



• Avoid ambiguous terms like “online sources,” “Internet,” “computer sources,” or “electronic sources.”  All of these terms apply equally to the OPAC (online card catalog), material on the free Internet, and the library district’s online subscription databases.  The same applies to the term “periodicals.”  Do you mean newspaper, magazine, journal articles or Internet e-zines?

CRITICAL THINKING

• Sources such as Reference books, circulating books, magazine, newspaper and journal articles differ in their levels of scholarship, coverage and currency.  Schedule a library workshop that will lead students through the strengths and weaknesses of the different sources.



• Require students to evaluate the quality of sources, including issues of bias, authority, and accuracy (especially important with sources available on the free Internet). 



• Students must learn to analyze the potential use of each source based on the above criteria.  Require an annotated bibliography or note cards with an analytical abstract for each source.

ETHICS AND SCHOLARSHIP

• Plagiarism.  Include your policy on plagiarism in your syllabus and discuss it in class.  For more information on plagiarism, visit http://www.epcc.edu/vvlib/cheat.htm.



• Most plagiarism is of the cut-and-paste variety. If your students use any electronic full-text sources, including the Internet, require them to turn in a printout of the full-text.



• Mentoring is the best “anti-plagiarism” strategy. Plagiarism is often a crime of panic.  Require your students to do their research in logical, reasonable steps with timelines and feedback at each stage, e.g. note cards/bibliography of potential sources, outline, final annotated bibliography, rough draft, and final paper.



• Other Mentors: 1) The V.V. Library service “Dr. Research” allows students to schedule private consultations with a librarian directed at a specific research assignment. 2) The V.V. Writing Center tutors can help students through each stage of the writing process, including note cards, outline, rough drafts, bibliographies (Room A-1421, 831-2144). 3) Students with physical/learning disabilities can register with the Center for Students with Disabilities to receive additional free tutoring (Room C-112, 831-2426).



• Citing is covered only briefly in most library workshops, due to time limitations.  Instructors may also request a special library workshop for their class that focuses solely on citing.  The library further provides numerous handouts on how to cite specific types of sources. Workshops on citing are also offered at the V.V. Writing Center; students can contact the Center directly for dates/times (Room: A-1421, 831-2144).

TERM PAPER ALTERNATIVES

• Select an important scholar in the discipline and prepare a brief biography of that person’s life and contributions to the field of study.



• Select an important concept in the discipline and analyze how it has been applied in the field of study.  Use a subject specialized encyclopedia and a current journal article as the basis for your analysis.



• Find a popular magazine article and a scholarly journal article on the same topic.  Using the V.V. Library’s checklist http://www.epcc.edu/vvlib/ Handouts/magjour3.htm, compare and contrast how the two articles approach the subject matter.



• Find two Internet pages devoted to the same topic.  Compare and contrast the value of the two sites based on the following criteria:  authority, coverage, currency, accuracy and bias. 

PITFALLS TO AVOID

• Assigning the entire class the same topic, such as euthanasia.  All the books on the topic get checked out very quickly.



• Requiring students to get books or journal articles on a very new current event.  The scholarly publication cycle always lags behind current events and coverage of this topic may be available only in magazine, newspaper or Internet articles.



• Requiring Reference book sources not available at the V.V. campus library. Reference books at one library cannot be transferred to another campus.



• Requiring a large number of print periodical sources or older periodical articles. The print-format periodical collection is very limited.  Most of our periodicals are only available in electronic format. Electronic format periodicals usually only go back 5-10 years.



• Requiring that students access the “Government Documents” collection.  We do not have a separate area for government publications. Most government documents are available only from the Internet, University of Texas-El Paso Library or the main branch of the El Paso Public Library.

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Created December 20, 2002; last revised Aug 1, 2008

Created and maintained by K. A. Gardner, E.P.C.C. Librarian.

Send Your Comments to: askalib

URL: http://www.epcc.edu/vvlib/infoliteracy.htm