Health

Submitted by Elisa Acosta on May 15th, 2026
Short Description: 

This self-guided, active learning exercise for Zotero was originally created for a 1–1.5 hour standalone online workshop. Zotero is a free, open-source tool that helps users collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share references. It is easy enough for students to learn quickly, yet powerful enough to support dissertations, theses, and capstone projects. Zotero also provides a practical way to engage with the conceptual goals of the ACRL Framework, transforming abstract ideas such as “giving credit” and “joining a scholarly conversation” into concrete research practices.

The lesson plan focuses on importing sources related to “food insecurity” and “college students” into Zotero, correcting citation metadata, creating a quick bibliography, and generating a formatted bibliography in Microsoft Word using Zotero’s Word add-in. Students are provided with step-by-step instructions and supporting resources throughout each stage of the activity.

The exercise includes the following components:

  • Part 1: Practice Importing to Zotero.
  • Part 2: Practice: Correcting the Metadata.
  • Part 3: Creating a Quick Bibliography in Zotero.
  • Part 4: Citing and Creating a Bibliography in Word.

A sample research paper for Part 4 is available in both Microsoft Word and Google Docs formats.

Answer keys are provided in APA style.

A 15-minute instructional video covering Parts 1–3 is currently available. A second video covering Part 4 is in development.

Learning Outcomes: 
  1. Students will import citations from library databases and websites into a Zotero folder.
  2. Students will generate a bibliography in a specific citation style using Zotero.
  3. Students will create in-text citations using Microsoft Word integration feature.

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

Option 1 (Original format):
The first standalone online workshop was offered in 2022. An optional drop-in help session for Zotero installation was held at 4:00 p.m., followed by the workshop at 4:30 p.m. Students registered via Zoom and received access to the self-guided active learning exercise in advance. The session was delivered synchronously, with pauses after Parts 2, 3, and 4 for guided student practice. The workshop lasted approximately 1.5 hours.

Option 2 (Asynchronous implementation):

The Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) requested an asynchronous version of the workshop. The self-guided exercise was embedded in a LibGuide and integrated into a Blackboard (LMS) course.

Option 3 (Hybrid delivery):

The workshop was split into two one-hour sessions. The first session was an online presentation, followed by a second, in-person session in the library classroom. Students brought laptops for hands-on practice, and librarians provided installation support and Zotero troubleshooting during the in-person session.

Option 4 (Current version):

The current model is a one-hour standalone online workshop. Librarians demonstrate Zotero with brief pauses for questions rather than in-session practice activities. Students may complete the active learning exercise independently after the session or remain in the Zoom room to begin working. A second librarian provides Zotero installation support and troubleshooting in a breakout room. The optional installation help session now occurs after the workshop rather than before. This structure has improved flow, and students report preferring to see the full demonstration before deciding whether to adopt Zotero.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

Zotero LibGuide https://libguides.lmu.edu/zotero/workshop

Create a Zotero account https://www.zotero.org/

We now demonstrate ZoteroBib https://zbib.org/   (Education students, K-12 teachers, and parents like it)

Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
Students use the answer key for self-assessment by comparing their completed bibliography to the provided example. This process reinforces the importance of accurate metadata correction. Note: Asynchronous participants complete Parts 1–3. Part 4 is optional until a corresponding instructional video is available.
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

This workshop format is most effective with two librarians, one to lead instruction and one to monitor Zoom chat and respond to questions. After the session, one librarian remains in the main room while the other provides Zotero installation troubleshooting in a breakout room. (Sometimes more liaison librarians attend for additional graduate student support)

While attendees are encouraged to install Zotero prior to the workshop, installation issues are common. Offering technical support after the presentation, rather than before, has proven to be more effective.

All instructional materials currently use APA style. In the future we would like to offer the self-guided active learning exercise in both MLA Style and Chicago Style.

Updates to both Zotero and the library’s discovery tool have required revisions to instructional materials.

Online workshops consistently attract higher attendance than in-person sessions. Participants often include undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and staff. Workshops are typically scheduled between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., most often on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday evenings.

Suggested Citation: 
Acosta, Elisa. "Citations in the Wild: Wrangling Your Citations with Zotero." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2026. https://projectcora.org/assignment/citations-wild-wrangling-your-citations-zotero.
Submitted by Lauren deLaubell on January 17th, 2025
Short Description: 

The most powerful wizards have gathered to battle one another.  Only one will win.  Wizards must use reliable sources to research incantations for the battle, or their spells will fizzle.  Truly wise wizards must learn to tell the difference. 

Research Wizards is an information literacy card game designed to teach students ages 12+ about source evaluation.  Research Wizards corresponds to the Frame Authority Is Constructed and Contextual, from the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.  Players will discuss and challenge the relative value of various sources, each representing a different suit in the game.  The game includes four major actions/phases:  Parley, when players discuss and decide for themselves the relative value of each suit; Battle, which includes competition, player actions, and Challenges; Vengeance, for eliminated players to impact and speed up the remainder of the game; and Victory.

The Research Wizards website contains free game files, player directions, and printing tips for librarians and teachers who wish to use the game in their classrooms.  The website includes an editable, Microsoft Publisher version of the game.  Noncommercial use of the game is free for educational purposes with attribution to the author.  Librarians and teachers are encouraged to adapt the game as needed for their subject areas, student needs, and as the sources in the game evolve over time.  Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.

Players:  3-5 per deck

Play Time:  20-30 minutes, plus discussion

This work was primarily human-created. Adobe Firefly AI was used to generate icons. AI was prompted for its contributions, then reviewed, edited, and approved by the author.

Research Wizards by Lauren deLaubell is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0  To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Player directionsdisplayed 1904 times1.02 MB
Printing tipsdisplayed 1713 times26.71 KB
Card deckdisplayed 1943 times2.51 MB
Learning Outcomes: 
    • Wizards will define a variety of traditional and emerging information formats.
    • Wizards will compare a variety of information formats and discuss their relative reliability.
    • Wizards will explore the variation in quality found within specific categories of information (e.g., the wildcard of using resources located by or generated with artificial intelligence).

Individual or Group:

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

It is recommended to review directions out loud with students, with pauses for students to sort their decks and conduct the Parley phase of play.  To contextualize and reinforce learning, it is recommended to conclude the game with discussion questions; sample questions are provided at the bottom of the player directions file but may be adjusted as needed.

Suggested Citation: 
deLaubell, Lauren. "Research Wizards." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2025. https://projectcora.org/assignment/research-wizards.
Submitted by Michelle Keba Knecht on May 23rd, 2023
Short Description: 

In this session, first year medical students in their second semester of study are introduced to the concept of critical appraisal. During the first hour, students will receive an introductory lecture on critical appraisal and the CASP checklist tool. During the second hour, students will be provided with discussion questions and an article on labor induction versus expectant management in low-risk nulliparous women. Students will review the article and answer the discussion questions in their small groups with their small group facilitators.

The session introduces critical appraisal topics including blinding, randomization, concealment allocation, intention-to-treat analysis, power, statistical significance, and clinical significance.

This lesson is one component of the Evidence Based Medicine Curriculum for Undergraduate Medical Education at Florida Atlantic University.

Learning Outcomes: 
  • Recognize basic statistical and epidemiologic principles and methods in a randomized control trial.
  • Critically appraise a randomized control trial that is published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Discipline: 
Health

Individual or Group:

Suggested Citation: 
Keba Knecht, Michelle. "Introduction to Critical Appraisal for Medical Students." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2023. https://projectcora.org/assignment/introduction-critical-appraisal-medical-students.
Submitted by Kelleen Maluski on April 17th, 2023
Short Description: 

This is the first of three sessions where the instructor works with pharmacy students to help then understand how to conduct literature searching and research from an inclusive perspective. The students have already seen the instructor once so emphasis is placed on understanding their current search knowledge, addressing the needs of the group, and then on them exploring how to research topics of patient care with a myriad of voices (not just relying on scholarly works). This is done with many activities and group work. Talking is encouraged and while students work in groups lo-fi music is played to further disrupt the silence. The topic that the group works with surrounds inclusive gender-diverse care and therefore the instructor works to show how important cultural humility and understanding are for working with these patients. It is suggested that if you are not familiar with this topic that you familiarize yourself before attempting this lesson as more harm could be caused if not approached from a inclusive space.

Learning Outcomes: 

Please see lesson plan

Discipline: 
Health

Individual or Group:

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: 
Maluski, Kelleen. "Aspects of Patient Care: Layering Voices for Inclusive Decision Making." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2023. https://projectcora.org/assignment/aspects-patient-care-layering-voices-inclusive-decision-making.
Submitted by Kelleen Maluski on January 20th, 2023
Short Description: 

The sixth in a series of 6 courses, students focus on the Pharmacists’ Patient Care Plan involving prescription medications, patient history, and more complex patient cases. The librarian has already met with these students in other courses so this is and scaffolded approach with this being their last session with the librarian. The purpose of the librarian session is to make sure they feel comfortable doing advanced research on drug information pertaining to specific topics that will be communicated to patients. In a previous session the librarian covered disparities and discrimination in both search engines and scholarly databases so this is to reinforce those lessons. The session starts with a brief Kahoot quiz (with prizes for winners) and discussion of any sticking points that become clear through this quiz. This is to allow students to teach and learn from each other and to assess their needs as opposed to assuming what they might be needing reinforcement on. Then the students break out into groups to create a patient education zine on smoking cessation for members of the LGBTQ2S+ communities. The zine has to have at least 2 background sources, 1 scholarly article, and 1 drug information portal source. All sources have to be cited in correct APA format. There also has to be at least one page where the group communicates to the patients how they found this information (in otherwords their search strategy). At the end of the class there is about 20 minutes set aside for the groups to present on their zines, what information they included, and why. The librarian makes copies of the zines for all members of the class afterwards, thus helping to build intrinsic motivation for sharing with their cohorts. The librarian for this course pre-makes the zine booklets and brings all supplies for making zines (such as markers, glue sticks, scissors, paper, magazines to cut up, etc.)

Learning Outcomes: 

Reinforce concepts reviewed in previous classes while allowing students to teach each other and come away with a learning object they have built.

Discipline: 
Health

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This is the 3rd in a series of scaffolded classes for pharmacy students

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

Will need to provide supplies and that obviously requires a budget. Also need knowledge on how to make zines. 

Suggested Citation: 
Maluski, Kelleen. "Reinforcement of Cultural Humility in Searching and Patient Communications." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2023. https://projectcora.org/assignment/reinforcement-cultural-humility-searching-and-patient-communications.
Submitted by Kelleen Maluski on March 31st, 2022
Short Description: 

The first in a series of six courses, students focus on the Pharmacists’ Patient Care Plan involving prescription medications, patient history and more complex patient cases with an emphasis on culture humility. This one-shot is intended to help solidfy the lessons taught in previous classes I have with the students (such as Boolean and library services) and allow them to explore the needs of searching for traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine. This is less about structuring a perfect search and more about reviewing different types of search interfaces and the results within them. While I use Padlet and Kahoot I also print out all questions and prompts to better adhere to universal design standards. Each group is given a prompt based on a plant and information that is taken from the book "Iwigara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science" by Enrique Salmon and they are given a print out of the section their prompt is from. This way they read about the plant's history, medicinal properties, cultural importance, and more before beginning their searches.

Learning Outcomes: 
  1. Students will feel comfortable with analyzing and evaluating different types of resources, beginning to confront critical issues within research, such as who writes the prevalent narrative and how implicit bias and cultural norms are represented within said research.

  2. Students will understand research as an iterative process, with various search strategies and the need to adapt based on the resource they are using. This will also require understanding how to evaluate the search mechanisms and resources they find. 

  3. Students will be able to manage their searches and research.

Discipline: 
Health

Individual or Group:

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: 
Maluski, Kelleen. "Pharmacy: Aspects of Patient Care Literature Searching." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2022. https://projectcora.org/assignment/pharmacy-aspects-patient-care-literature-searching.
Submitted by Kelleen Maluski on February 28th, 2022
Short Description: 

This lesson was created to help further discuss issues surrounding plagiarism after a quick introduction at orientation. It was created for pharmacy PhD students but I do believe it could be useful for many learner types. A large focus on this lesson was why it is important not to plagiarize with emphasis on oppression through traditional citation and review practices. Inspiration and/or content obtained from: Conner-Gaten, Aisha. "Politics of Citation Discussion Activity." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2020. https://www.projectcora.org/assignment/politics-citation-discussion-activity.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Lesson and activity outlinesdisplayed 1050 times66.89 KB
Presentationdisplayed 1121 times1 MB
Parts of the article that we readdisplayed 1042 times75.46 KB
Activity where learners answered questions about the articledisplayed 930 times59.19 KB
2nd Activity where learners had to track down original researchdisplayed 937 times43.76 KB
Learning Outcomes: 
  1. Students will understand the impact of plagiarism and why citing is important

  2. Students will reflect on oppression as perpetrated through traditional, textual citation and review practice

  3. Students will identify definitions of erasure and punitive and opportunistic plagiarism 

  4. Students will develop a strategy for citing

Discipline: 
Health

Individual or Group:

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: 
Maluski, Kelleen. "Advanced Avoiding Plagiarism." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2022. https://projectcora.org/assignment/advanced-avoiding-plagiarism.
Submitted by Kelleen Maluski on November 3rd, 2021
Short Description: 

This lesson was given to a health career academy that consists of high school and undergraduate students. The students have a strong interest in careers in the health sciences but have yet to start their education through health sciences programs. The point of the session was to understand how disparities and health literacy intersect and will be important factors in the work they do as learners and providers and to empower the students to use their cultural wealth and voices to make change. I am attaching the slides with notes (which acted as my lesson plan for this session). The slides were originally animated.  I am including a PDF with the notes. Unfortunately I am not able to load a Power Point due to size, but feel free to reach out if you need an editable file. 

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
PDF of the slides and notesdisplayed 1204 times1.94 MB
Learning Outcomes: 

Learners will be able to explain what health disparities are and how they are a part of a system of discrimination, colonization, and white supremacy. Learners will be able to explain what health literacy is and how understanding it will make them better providers. Learners will begin to think about their role and the health sciences profession's role in restructuring the systems of oppression.

Discipline: 
Health

Individual or Group:

Suggested Citation: 
Maluski, Kelleen. "Health Disparities and Literacy for Future Health Care Providers." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/health-disparities-and-literacy-future-health-care-providers.
Submitted by Carolyn Schubert on June 14th, 2021
Short Description: 

This scaffolded assignment was developed for senior Dietetic students enrolled in a research methods course. The lessons were collaboratively created via a librarian-faculty partnership.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Lesson plan for Lesson 1displayed 981 times30.96 KB
Lesson plan for Lesson 2displayed 803 times32.54 KB
Lesson plan for Lesson 3displayed 833 times31.32 KB
Slides for Lesson 3displayed 1090 times307.11 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

In general, question development using PICO format, database searching, and evidence evaluation. More specific learning goals described in individual lesson plans materials.

Discipline: 
Health

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

Lessons have been implemented in-person and online, both synchronously.

Suggested Citation: 
Schubert, Carolyn. "Critical Reading Strategies for Dietetics Students." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/critical-reading-strategies-dietetics-students.
Submitted by Kelleen Maluski on February 8th, 2021
Short Description: 

This is session 1 of 3 sessions that I do for Introduction to Evidence Based Medicine in Pharmacy. For this session I had about an hour so the majority of the session is group work. Included are the materials to build the activity, an overview of the lesson (since so much was group work, I wouldn't call it a lesson plan), and the rubric for assessing /grading the activity. This was designed for Zoom/online synchronous teaching. A guide was created to assist with the work in the class (with links to all class activities) and be a place for students to refer back to later. Some content in this guide was hidden until they completed their work for each session (since to help with metacognition the examples on the guide are the same as what they worked through in the sessions).

Learning Outcomes: 
  1. Accurately describe the PICO framework and how it can be used to answer a clinical question.

  2. Identify elements in a PICO question and formulate a concise clinical question.

Discipline: 
Health

Individual or Group:

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: 
Maluski, Kelleen. "Pharmacy: Introduction to Evidence Based Medicine: Building PICO." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2021. https://projectcora.org/assignment/pharmacy-introduction-evidence-based-medicine-building-pico.

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