Skip to Main Content

Creating Effective Research Assignments

Library Research Assignments: What Works, What Doesn’t

What Librarians Can Do

Before:

Help you design an assignment.
Test the assignment and determine if resources are available.
Discuss what databases and reference materials are appropriate.
Develop a research strategy for the assignment.
Collaborate on developing a custom library research guide.

During:

Provide course-related library instruction on specific resources and research strategies.
Provide reference assistance to your students.

After:

Librarians can help you revise your assignment after your students have completed it. If you are not happy with the results, we may have suggestions.

What Instructors Can Do

Before:

Meet with a librarian to go over assignments.
Provide copies of assignments to the reference librarians.
Consider putting some materials on Reserve.

During:

Encourage your students to seek assistance from the librarians.
If necessary, arrange for a librarian to visit your classroom for a portion of a class or schedule your class to visit the library for a specific purpose or for a general orientation.

After:

Identify the pitfalls encountered by your students and revise the assignment accordingly. Librarians can help you.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Except where otherwise noted, the content in these guides by Mohawk Valley Community College Libraries is licensed under CC BY NC SA 4.0. This openly licensed content allows others to cite, share, or modify this content non-commercially, with credit to MVCC Libraries.

When reusing or adapting this content, include this statement in the new document: This content was originally created by Mohawk Valley Community College Libraries and shared with a CC BY NC SA 4.0 license.

Mohawk Valley Community College Libraries - 1101 Sherman Drive, Utica, NY, 13501- P. 315.792.5561