Better Sources

Better Sources, Better Learning, Better Contributions to Courses: Improving Student Research, Learning and Writing

Jim Nichols (on behalf of SUNYLA)

Definition of Information Literacy include:

• Literacy
• Formulating your question
• Uses of informative sources

Assignment / Break-out Groups:

• Describe a "problem" research assignment
• What is the primary learning goal for the assignment?
• What is the primary learning goal in regard to student research and scholarhship abilities?
• What is the pedagogical challenge?
• Possible solutions

Notes from breakout:

1. Math for Diverse Learners course where primary goal was not specific enough.
   • Needed to add an affective piece to the assignment.
   • Affective piece will give the teacher candidates a chance to reflect on why they're researching what they research.
2. Math/Computer Science courses
   • Having students do citations is like "throwing bricks against the wall"
     • There was a bibliography but not really any in-text citation
   • Solution: Annotated bibliography
3. Access and utilize a print source not online for musicology / music students.
   • Print resources are encyclopedias.
   • How to change the student mindset: If it's not online then it doesn't really exist...
   • Teach students how to read and paraphrase
4. Pro/Con research assignment for a beginning writer's course
   • eg Walmart and is it good or bad for the people?
   • Results of the assignment would not have a lot of critical thinking; ignoring the other side of the issue
   • Reading but not critically evaluating the source "As long as it's from the database it's okay" -- illusion of safety and prevention of thinking once in a database
   • Solution: Use classroom discussion to evaluate research
     • Have students find an article with left, center and right bias.
5. Primary learning goal: demonstrate original thought, find quality articles
   • Students have difficult distinguishing between quality of sources
   • Students don't understand how to extract thoughts from text
   • Lack of access prevent students from doing a lot of research
   • It's easier / more familiar to Google or use Wikipedia because it's writen in a simple language they can understand
   • Solution: Help simply searches, specify good databases, etc.
6. How do we teach students to develop a group of online experts
   • Using social networking, RSS, http://del.icio.us
   • Teach one or two tools well instead of several in a mediocre way
   • A social network is not social, but a search mechanism.
7. Write a paper on the origins of the Cold War in context of 20th c. history
   • Project ended up being What was the Cold War
     • Discuss primary v. secondary sources
     • Many use wikipedia
   • Small events were related... how do we teach them that... isolated versus

Dirty secret: Our students are still learning how to read Librarians need assignments and context for everything to work.