This activity was used in a first-year writing course that did not include in-depth research, but students were encouraged to use a variety of sources, including primary sources. The assignment asked students to analyze a cultural artifact and how it has changed over time, such as the telephone or automobile. At the beginning of the class, the instruction librarian introduced the Information Spectrum concept map and asked students to collaboratively define characteristics of an information source in terms of traditional, emerging, public, and exclusive. With the Information Spectrum projected on a whiteboard, each student was given a slip of paper with a type of information source (e.g. print book, online news article, tweet) and a piece of tape to place on the grid. Students were asked to give a rationale for why they placed their source where they did. Students then worked in groups of 2-3 to evaluate a specific source related to an example topic. At the end of class, each group was given another slip of paper with their example source to map on the grid and provide a rationale.

Students worked in groups of three. Video tutorials were made to teach them how to use Timeline JS and the digital scholarship librarian checked in on them periodically and made herself available when they needed help.

This assignment was given out as one of many exercises that introduced students to digital tools and digital humanities methods.

I frequently use this activity for first year research classes across a wide variety of disciplines when the faculty member teaching the class has asked me to demo databases. I have also used it with great success in higher-level discipline specific classes including biology and my colleagues have used it with graduate students. This activity works best for classes with a research assignment and when students have received the research assignment and are starting to think about their research topic prior to the IL session. However, I've also had classes where students have not yet received their research assignment and working with a single research question as a whole class works just fine. In that case, I usually have a research question that I've created that we can work with but with discipline specific classes we've also created research questions together at the beginning of class.

Students were asked to write either their preliminary or final research questions on a sheet of paper. Questions were then assessed using the rubric.

This set of videos and interspersed searching and reflection exercises was developed by a librarian and two writing instructors as part of a project in the third year of the ACRL Assessment in Action program. It has since been used more widely in the Boston University College of Arts & Sciences Writing Program.

This was created at the request of a history professor for integration into their lower-level history survey. The professor wanted to be able to have a reusable resource to help students evaluate the quality of materials they were using for their research. They also wanted the students to have a quick visual reminder of what constitutes a primary or secondary source in relationship to their research question.