Teaching faculty are the strongest influence on a student's ability to become information literate. Often, a student's best chance at developing critical thinking skills comes from the assignments faculty create for classes. In the information age, students are less aware of scholarly resources and often do not have the research skills necessary when they arrive at Trinity University. They may not understand how to narrow a topic, find background information or evaluate information resources. Even students who have more advanced skills often do not understand the nature of scholarly communication in different disciplines. Their class work and assignments help them learn the difference between Internet resources and subscription-based databases, indexes and abstracts and library catalogs, peer-reviewed articles and popular magazines.

Well-designed library and research assignments can help students learn critical information literacy skills and improve the quality of their work. Sometimes, however, library assignments can be frustrating to students and do nothing more than make them develop a distaste for the library and underestimate the value of its sources.

Some things to keep in mind when designing assignments:

 

Set objectives and make them clear to the students.

 

Make sure students understand what you want them to be able to accomplish by completing the assignment.

EXAMPLE: Students will understand the difference between popular magazines and scholarly, peer-reviewed journals.

 

Teach students research strategies when appropriate.

 

Today's students do not all have the same experiences with scholarly research and are often unfamiliar with the process. Even though they may say they've been to the library before for a class, they also may lack experience with resources in new subjects. Sometimes breaking down an assignment into specific steps will help them along the way.

EXAMPLE:

1. Define your topic using an academic encyclopedia for background information.
2. Develop a list of relevant subject headings and keyword searches to use in Quest.
3. Use Quest to find books on your topic.
4. Use Academic Search Premier to find more recent information in magazines and journals.

 

Provide students with a starting point.

 

Providing students with a specific resource list or bibliography as a starting point can be very helpful. Librarians in the Coates Library can work with faculty to create class-specific bibliographies and also have a variety of subject-specific resource guides available. Please contact your departmental liaison for more information.

 

Consider alternative assignment designs.

 

Sometimes specific alternate assignments accomplish the goals of the course without overwhelming students, while also still introducing them to the research methods that are key to ensuring students are information competent.

EXAMPLES:

Students prepare an annotated bibliography
Comparing scholarly websites (or finding a scholarly website)
Examining a list of peer-reviewed journals and reporting the contents, tone, purpose back to the class
Writing a book review
Examining changes in scholarship over time
Putting primary sources or classics in their context

 

Do your homework.

 

Before giving out an assignment, make sure the library still has the resources you assigned. Your liaison can assist you with this as well. You might also want to check to see if the library has subscribed to new alternatives your students have used in the past. You should also check to make sure the assignment is doable, given your students' skill levels.

 

Prepare your students for success.

 

Survey your students' understanding of library resources. Do they know how to find which electronic AND print journals the library subscribes to? Do they understand the difference between scholarly and popular resources? If not, contact your liaison librarian and ask to schedule an instruction session!

 

Avoid these common problems.

 

These problems can often lead to student frustration and resentment in terms of library research.

EXAMPLES:
An entire class looking for one piece of information or researching the same, very specific topic; especially when printed materials are involved.
Students forbidden from using online resources, including the library's electronic resources. Scholarly communication is moving towards electronic publications and the Coates Library aggressively acquires journals in electronic format for a variety of reasons.
Students working on excessively vague topics or those that are too specific.
Students given obscure "trivia" type questions and told to find the answers, without any direct correlation to what they are studying in class.

 

Consult with your librarian.

 

Librarians are available to meet with faculty to discuss new assignments or revising assignments that are using out-of-date resources. Collaborating helps to generate assignments that utilize the best sources and result in excellent research projects and papers. Liaison librarians can also provide your class with class-integrated library instruction or assist in preparing resource lists and bibliographies. Please contact your departmental liaison for more information.

Questions?
Contact Michelle S. Millet, Information Literacy Coordinator

Adapted with permission from University of California-Berkeley, Ball State University, and Cleveland State University.