Creating Effective Research Assignments

"Students need to acquire information literacy appropriate to the demands of the 21st century citizen, and campuses must have flexibility to implement and assess these learning outcomes across a diverse range of academic programs. 

The Information Literacy core competency is not necessarily associated with any one course, though the student learning outcomes may be required in one or more specific courses. In either case, campuses must ensure that the required learning outcomes are included in each undergraduate degree curriculum." 

Quoted from SUNY Gen Ed guidance

Outcome 1: 

Locate information effectively using tools appropriate to their need and discipline

• Ask students to find and annotate or summarize an article about a given topic in a particular widely-respected source from your field.

• Ask students to research and briefly report upon assigned authorities/sources using specific prompts: when founded, past or current controversies, why widely respected, purpose/mission, etc.  

• Create an annotated bibliography, analyzing the strengths and limitations of each source

• Have students locate an article from a citation in another article and describe how the later article builds upon or reacts to the first.

• Wikipedia vs. Library source activity: start with a Ted Talk, research background information on Wikipedia, compare information and authority w/ a comparable source in library databases, complete a KWL worksheet - this can be a scaffold to creating thesis statements and a larger research project.

Outcome 2:

Evaluate information with an awareness of authority, validity, and bias

• Analyze sample articles for their purpose, audience, type of publication, publication conventions (language formal, informal, citations?, pictures?), and potential trouble spots for a researcher. 

• Compare someone’s interpretation of a research study to the actual study. Example: Senator Flake’s Wastebook report on wasteful gov’t spending vs. actual studies (example of political bias)

• Summarize a TED Talk that excites their curiosity. Analyze the presenter’s expertise and gaps/weaknesses of argument. Post to online forum to get feedback from instructor and classmates

Outcome 3:

Demonstrate an understanding of the ethical dimensions of information use, creation, and dissemination

• Invite students to compare and contrast academic norms around plagiarism to norms in a culture they’re familiar with, from GIFs to TikTok to other countries.

• Model citing information and images in your instruction materials

• Note to students where applicable how information is used, re-used, and cited in course materials: readings, videos, etc.

• Invite a guest speaker to talk about citations, publishing an academic journal article or discipline-specific work, professional ethics/laws regarding confidentiality, etc. 

Library research should be enjoyable.  Good assignments foster an appreciation for scholarship and the research process. They also challenge students to think critically about information.  You will find below a few ideas.

Scholarly vs Popular Resources

• Purpose: Learn how different scholarly and popular resources are from one another
• How: Find a reference to a scholarly study in a newspaper or magazine article such as Time or The Washington Post.  You may have the students themselves do the research to find the article, or you may decide to select it yourself.  Then, have students find the original scholarly article reporting on the research and compare the two articles in a brief written report.  

Internet vs Database Searches

• Purpose: Learn the difference between search tools in terms of the search experience and content found.
• How: Have students find a search topic that they must run in a search engine, and also in a library-subscribed database such as Academic Search Complete or Academic Onefile.  Have them compare their search results and comment on the different search strategies used.   

Group Resource Evaluation

• Purpose: Expose students to a wide variety of resources on the same topic.
• How: Organize students in small groups.  Assign each group a research topic and then assign each person one or more types of resources (subject encyclopedia, bibliography, popular periodical article, journal article, website, book, ebook, etc.). Have each group member report on his/her resource, including how it was found, a summary of the information it contains, and an evaluation of the reliability of the author/editor/source.

Examine the Coverage of a Controversial Issue

• Purpose: Help students see how there can be multiple perspectives on any issue.
• How:  Have students examine the treatment of a controversial issue in several sources (newspaper editorial, scholarly journal, popular magazines, blogs, etc.)

Create a Pathfinder

• Purpose: Help student develop a thorough approach to research.
• How:  Students go through the research process, determining the information need, researching, evaluating materials, and then creating a resource list, which should include the following:

- A description of the topic.

- A list of keywords that were useful for finding information.

 - A list of library call numbers and web sites where information could be found.

- A description of the research process.

- An annotated bibliography of the best sources.