Library Assignments and Research and Library Skills
This page provides tips and links to useful web sites that will assist you when designing library research assignments. At the bottom of this page are links to sites about research and library skills (information literacy). Consult with a librarian by calling x4121 before designing an assignment. We can:
- Give advise on the availability of adequate library resources for the assignment, both print and electronic;
- Suggest library resources to use with the assignment;
- Design subject guides to library resources to accompany the assignment; and
- Arrange for instruction for your class prior to the assignment.
We are an excellent resource for developing library assignments. Generally, we will not create an assignment for you, but we will be glad to work with you in developing and reviewing your assignment. Since students will be coming to the reference librarians for help, it would aid us (and therefore the students) to have an advance copy of the assignment and recommended sources. When an assignment is over, we may be able to give you feedback. Did any students seems confused or have trouble understanding the assignment? Were there any resource access problems related to the assignment? Faculty and librarians working together can make library assignments better learning experiences for students.
Tips to follow when designing a library assignment are:
1. Design assignments that encourage students to develop critical thinking skills.
Choose assignments that require students to learn about resources in a specific discipline, develop skills to evaluate information and integrate knowledge, or learn the research process. Avoid assignments, like scavenger hunts, that ask them to find specific facts. Librarians can help you design assignments that will help students develop critical thinking skills.
2. Verify that our library resources are adequate for the assignment.
If you are designing a new course or new assignment, contact a librarian to verify that your students will be able to find what they need. Occasionally, students may need to borrow materials from other libraries (ILL - interlibrary loan). The bulk of their research should rely on our collection, both print and electronic. Encourage students to exhaust our collection first before considering ILL. If our collection is insufficient, let us know what we should add to satisfy your class needs.
3. Give students options.
Build variety into the assignment. Craft the assignment so that students will not be competing for the same sources. If you expect many students to use the same sources, or a limited number of sources, consider placing those sources on Reserve so that everyone will have equal access. Call Linda Bartic at 367-4733 regarding placing materials on reserve.
4. Clearly explain the expectations and elements of the assignment, preferably in writing.
Common questions are: How many pages or the length of the assignment? How many sources? What types of sources do you expect and what types are unacceptable? Which citation style should they use? If the students need assistance from the librarian, it is useful to us to see your expectations exactly in writing.
5. Provide guidance on the types of sources your expect students to use.
Many students, predominately freshmen and sophomores, are unfamiliar with the different types of sources available to them. They assume that anything owned by the library is appropriate for them to use as a resource for their assignment. Coach them along by explaining expectations in detail. If you expect them to not to use web sites, explain that information from the electronic resources and databases on the library’s web site are appropriate sources since they are most often the online equivalent of print sources. If you expect students to find and use articles from scholarly sources, then you should explain the difference between scholarly and popular sources, or ask a librarian to talk with the class. We are glad to help.
6. Present a realistic picture of what is, and what is not, on the web.
In general, refrain from encouraging students to use the Web as the only source for information. Students need to know that the online databases on the library web site to which libraries subscribe usually provide quality information that is much easier to find than the kind of hit-or-miss Web searching students often do.
Our databases are grouped by broad subjects under “Subject List of Databases”. Many of the databases provide not only full text articles from magazines and journals but to articles from reference works, essays, working papers from institutes and learned societies, biographical sketches, government and law documents, archives to earlier articles from scholarly journals, and other types of information sources that CAN NOT be found using a search engine.
When the Web is the best or sole source for the kind of information you require, recommend specific sites, specific expert lists of links, or specific directories to help them find authoritative, timely and useful information. For web subject directories, refer students to “Reference Links” on the library web page.
7. Help students pace themselves when completing an assignment.
Novice researchers tend to look at the final product rather than the process involved in getting there. Help them understand the time and steps involved in completing your assignment. If appropriate, provide them with an outline of the stages involved in completing the assignment and deadlines for the different stages. If some of the stages require library research, librarians are willing to work with students a number of times in order to help them understand and complete the process.
8. Test drive the assignment.
If your assignment is instructor-tested, then you will know that it meets your objectives adequately and minimizes student frustrations. Ask a colleague or a librarian for input.
9. Explain Your Preferred Citation Style.
If you wish your students to cite sources using a specific style (APA, MLA, etc.), explain your style expectations to them. The library has the latest editions of style guides and manuals for APA and MLA at the library's Reference desk. Useful web sites on “How to Cite Sources” can be found on the library web page under “Reference Links”. If the guides and books do not answer a student's citation question, librarians will refer the student to the professor for a clarification of expectations.
10. Encourage students to ask for help from our librarians.
The librarian can give your students assistance on selecting and focusing their topics, choosing and locating appropriate resources, using word processing and PowerPoint, how to cite sources, etc.. Students may consult with the librarians in person at the reference desk or call the reference desk at 367-4121. If your students are not near the campus they may send their questions via e-mail at Ask-A-Librarian.
Library Assignments: Useful links for ideas and tips
Ideas for Library / Information Assignments – Memorial University
of Newfoundland - Topics covered are: Learning Research Skills, Learning to
Use Access Tools, Understanding the Structure of "the Literature",
Critical Reading, and Using the Web
http://www.library.mun.ca/qeii/instruction/assignment_ideas.php
Ideas for Library Assignments – San Diego State University –
Brief descriptions of examples.
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/dept/ivc/library/ideas.htm
Effective Assignments Using Library and Internet Resources - UC Berkeley
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/assignments.html
Also use “Tips for Effective Library Assignments” from UC Berkeley
-
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Tips.html
Ideas for Library Related Assignments - University of Puget Sound –
Lots of good ideas plus Tips for Creating Library Related Assignments
http://library.ups.edu/instruct/assign.htm
Create an Assignment - Oakton Community College – Sections include: Before the Assignment, During the Assignment, After the Assignment, Alternatives to the Research Paper, and some useful web sites. http://servercc.oakton.edu/~jmayzel/247/effectiv.htm
“Library
Assignments: Challenges that Students Face and How to Help”. Necia
Parker-Gibson. College Teaching, Spring 2001 49.2 p65.
(Good article on what students face when completing an assignment and advise
and tips when designing assignments. )
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