Assignment
Stump the Database
Short Description:
This is a simple activity intended to warm up students, break the ice, and introduce the concept of keyword searching. Ask students to come up with a single word search that gives zero results. It’s harder than it sounds. It may be too elementary for graduate students or upperclassmen; use your judgement about students’ abilities and familiarity with searching. This activity can be a great segue in to a lesson on keyword development, Boolean operators, popular terminology vs. technical jargon, and the differences between different kinds of databases.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will discuss the importance of keywords in database searching.
Students will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of different search strategies.
Discipline:
MultidisciplinaryInformation Literacy concepts:
Individual or Group:
Ability Level:
Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated):
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.):
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips:
Suggested Citation:
Mahan, Natalie. "Stump the Database." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2019. https://projectcora.org/assignment/stump-database.All assignments contributed to this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike United States License