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Faculty and Staff
Do's (and a Few Don'ts) of Effective Library Assignments
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DO consult with a librarian - this may help make the assignment better and will help us provide better assistance to your students.
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DO schedule library instruction and/or require the Information Skills Tutorial - even upper level students need instruction in new library tools. Schedule instruction to coincide with giving a research assignment.
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DO make the assignment crystal clear - a handout is never a bad idea.
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DO, if you are assigning a general topic, make sure students understand they need to focus, rather than try to cover the whole topic.
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DO talk about format, about citation style, even about when something should be cited. Encourage questions and discussion.
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DO provide guidance: define "research journal" (hand out a list of those most pertinent that are available in University Libraries), provide some idea of what is and is not an acceptable source.
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DO remember that many periodical articles are only available through the Libraries' online databases. The best source may not be in print or microfilm.
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DO take time to talk about evaluating information critically.
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DO point students to University Libraries's Web Subject pages as starting points for finding quality information on the Web (and let us know about sites that should be added).
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DO NOT exclude Web sources without very careful consideration - many excellent sources (including much government information) are only available online.
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DO be sure that the library owns the material (you might want to check the shelf to be sure it is there; consider Reserves).
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DO NOT have all the students looking for one thing unless it is on Reserve - it will disappear!
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DO remind students of the University's Academic Honesty policy; be sure they know you will enforce it.
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DO consider alternatives to the traditional "term paper" such as:
a. Problem solving - require students to present background/history/data and then present a solution to a problem - analysis, not just gathering facts but using them.
b. Make research the topic - require students to find information on a topic in different types of sources, using different types of finding tools, and write about both the process & the differences in the information they found.
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DO consider group projects - a whole group is less likely to plagiarize blatantly; on the other hand, one member of a group frequently carries the load, and getting groups together to work can be difficult.
- DO consider requiring "progress reports," working bibliographies, outlines, drafts, etc.
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