Can meet with librarians or attend a Ready, Set, Cite! workshop.
From Instructor Eric Lee:
I would like students to be exposed to:
-Databases, search engines, and/or other online resources for substantive and scholarly articles
-Other library resources, such as the inter-library loan system
The signature verifies that they attended a class or met with a librarian and that they have had some exposure to the library's resources.
The objective is not for them to do an in-depth research project (please see what they should turn-in, outlined below). Rather, I want them to see some of the research tools available that will direct them to more specialized and in-depth resources. The purpose is NOT (sorry for stating the obvious) to have the librarian or class walk them through an entire research process.
It would be great if the students are given the basics with the librarian or research skills class, then they go and do the research themselves. My teaching style tends towards, "Try this, wrestle with it, and learn from the process," but please feel free to determine the best way to approach teaching research skills; I know I learned a lot about how to conduct thoughtful and thorough research from the librarians when I was in college.
Also, students should only be working on ONE research question; I had them brainstorm three, but I want them to focus on one.
What students should submit
Please understand, I do not expect what I outline below to come from the session with the librarian or the research class. I'm including this to give an idea of where the project is headed, in case it helps.
For their one question, students should submit:
1) The references (with a link, if an online source) to two scholarly or substantive sources
2) A summary they wrote of each source
3) Whether they have answered their initial question.
If they have answered it, then they should come up with the "next question in this line of inquiry."
4) Regardless of whether they are still working on their original question or the next question, they will then create a educated guess on what the answer is (i.e. their hypothesis). Then they move on to part 3, where they get to design an experiment to test if they are correct or not; they do not have the instructions for part 3 yet, as I am releasing the project in pieces.
I will be work with them to review part 2, checking if they have answered their question or not, whether their follow-up question makes sense, whether they have a testable hypothesis, etc. Again, what they should be turning is their responsibility and shouldn't come out of the research session or class.
I hope that helps clarify things.
Thank you.
-Eric