Assignment
Strategic Searching and Research Question Evaluation
This an an active learning class using a jigsaw for teaching how to use Web of Science (25 minutes) and a modified Send-A-Problem (renamed Send Along) activity (15 minutes) that covers keyword brainstorming, practicing searching, evaluating the relevance of sources for a given topic, and considering whether that research topic is right-sized.
The lesson was designed for an environmental studies class with 6 students, though it can be scaled up. The Web of Science jigsaw had 3 groups of 2 each teaching themselves in their pairs the contents of one of the handouts. Students were then shuffled so that each student in each of the 2 new groups of 3 had worked on a separate handout. The students then taught each other what they learned, combining the knowledge of the three handouts. Students were put in pairs for the Send Along activity. All groups completed #1, then passed their paper to the left, and this was repeated for #2 and #3. Papers were passed once more after #3 was complete so that groups ended up with their original paper. The topics of the send along activity were curated such that one topic was too specific, one was right sized, and the other too broad. Reflection on the activity (5-10 minutes) included discussion around what makes a right-sized research question, how useful some Web of Science features were for their searches, how keyword choices impacted their searches, and what they might do differently in future.
This lesson was created by Tricia Martone, Alexis Gomez, and Abigail Murdy during the 2024 Librarians Active Learning Institute (LALI) at Dartmouth Libraries, and has been used by Tricia in one-shot library instruction in undergraduate classes.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Worksheets for a jigsaw active learning activity about using Web of Science.displayed 8 times | 907.34 KB |
| Modified Send-A-Problem active learning activity for source evaluation and considering what a right sized research question is.displayed 6 times | 101.28 KB |
- Students will be able to identify primary peer-reviewed literature relevant to their topic.
- Students will be able to apply search strategies to locate relevant peer-reviewed sources for their topic.
- Students will be able to distinguish whether a research topic is broad, too specific, or just right.
Information Literacy concepts:
Individual or Group:
Ability Level:
This was created for and used in the Librarians Active Learning Institute (LALI) 2024 practicum. Tricia has since used it in an earth sciences undergraduate class (5 students), and created a modified version of the jigsaw for ProQuest Central in a first-year writing seminar in the earth sciences department (16 students).
For numbers that aren't even, like the 5 students, I asked the instructor to step in to fill the 6th spot so that the jigsaw could function. It's important to have at least one person in each group that worked on each handout. For the class of 16 students, I still had 3 handouts and kept close to a 3 by 5. For teaching themselves, I had 2 groups of 5 and 1 group of 6, then for mixing, I had 4 groups of 3 and 1 group of 4. The group of 4 had two people who worked on the same handout, so those two team-taught the others in their group. This worked well scaled up, though the classroom can get loud. Scaling beyond 16 may require separating the class into a couple groups and then doing the jigsaw among each group (i.e. 36 students might become 3 groups of 12, and then you break it down from there).
The jigsaw will need a room where students can group up. A lecture hall or room with immovable furniture that's far apart may not accomodate this activity. Students also need to bring laptops to class, so if the instructor doesn't want this, the activity won't be possible.
The send-along that teaches about how to right-size a research question needs very curated topics in order to get this particular part of the lesson across. This landed really well with the topics included in these handouts, but different prompts I used in the Earth Sciences class I taught this in fell flat, though students still got something out of the activity. They instead reflected on what makes a paper relevant to a topic, which was also valuable for them.
