Skip to main content

Community of Online Research Assignments

An open access resource for librarians and educators

Streamlining LIS Research: A Compendium of Tried and True Tests, Measurements, and Other Instruments

This book by Amy J. Catalano houses the leading library research instruments in use for the past 15 years, providing one-page evaluations to help expedite your research validation. The work features a variety of tests—such as the Beile Test of Information Literacy for Educators, Project SAILS, and the Library Anxiety Scale—and contains full text of each test when available.

Four Moves: Adventures in Fact-Checking for Students

The Four Moves blog is maintained by Mike Caulfield, who has been helping teachers integrate digital citizenship skills into the classroom for over 10 years. It is based on research conducted by Sam Wineburg and Sarah McGrew, which found that students lack knowledge of basic web techniques for verification and source assessment, which puts them at the mercy of misinformation.

#researchspeeddate (think/pair/share for an online or hybrid class)

This assignment/activity works to pair students in fully online or hybrid courses in order to discuss, via phone or messaging app, any topic of choice. In this example, students in a 100-level composition course discuss their research topic of interest with their partner and offer each other suggestions for refinement. This assignment could be adapted in a variety of ways to support other research assignments or projects.

A Peer-to-Peer Introduction to the University Library

This low-stakes, in-class assignment is designed to help first-year seminar students learn about important library resources and present their findings to their fellow students. In teams, students complete a series of authentic research tasks (called challenges) such as selecting and citing images from our digital collection and using our discovery tool to find books on the library shelves. Each team is also assigned a unique challenge to learn more about the library.

Problem-based Scenarios for Library Instruction

The goal of this activity is to explore spaces, services, and information literacy (IL) concepts through problem-based scenarios, guided discovery, and peer teaching. Ideal for orientations for K-12, undergraduate, transfer, or graduate students, but can also be used for instruction requests with no clear research assignment or at the start of a research project. Students work in groups to find solutions to a scenario using guided directions and tools, and then teach the rest of the class based on their findings.

Who’s an Authority? Recognizing Scholarly Sources in the Library

Are you finding reliable sources for your research papers and projects? Has your professor asked you to use scholarly sources? What is a scholarly source anyway? In this workshop, learn how to critically evaluate the information you find through books, articles, and websites. **This lesson plan was adapted from "Establishing and Applying Evaluation Criteria" p. 74 -78 in Teaching Information Literacy Threshold Concepts Lesson Plans for Librarians, edited by Bravender, McClure, and Schaub (2015).**

Exploring Google Scholar with a Summer Bridge Program

This 30-minute activity demonstrates how to search in Google Scholar and explains how results are ranked. It requires students to explore Google Scholar and encourages students to reflect on potential biases this tool might have in regards to research. This lesson plan was Part 2 of an hour-long workshop that also included a 30 minute search engine algorithmic bias lesson. Please see Elisa Slater Acosta's page for part 1: https://www.projectcora.org/assignment/exploring-algorithmic-bias-summer-bridge-program

Exploring Algorithmic Bias with a Summer Bridge Program

This 30-minute activity was a quick introduction to algorithmic bias and the importance of critically evaluating search engine results. Algorithms increasingly shape modern life and can perpetuate bias and discrimination. In pairs, students analyzed the results from Google Image searches and Google Autocomplete suggestions. This activity was based on “Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism,” by Safiya Umoja Noble. This lesson plan was Part 1 of an hour-long workshop that also included a 30 minute Google Scholar activity.

Digital Texts and Reading Strategies

Reading an academic text in a paper format can be challenging, and reading it online adds complexity to the task. The growing number of adult learners using digital texts for academic purposes provides an opportunity for educators to teach students how to effectively read these texts for comprehension and critical thinking. Articles and ideas for teaching digital reading to elementary or secondary students abound, but there are few resources for teaching adult learners how to interact effectively with digital texts.

Frameworks For Blended and Online Course Design

Learning technologists have been developing frameworks for course design, development, delivery, and evaluation. A framework, typically in the form of a rubric or checklist, describes the characteristics of a successful online course. These course design frameworks provide entry points for collaboration and input into the course design process, and open the door into greater librarian participation in blended and online learning. Written by Sarah McDaniel.

Open Access: Strategies and Tools for Life after College

The “Open Access: Strategies and Tools for Life after College” workshop was developed to give students the tools to continue academic research after graduation. Students may not recognize that the library provides many electronic resources for their research that is automatically given to them during their enrollment; by acknowledging their privileged access to information, they are prepared to be responsible researchers beyond campus. The workshop was requested by international students who were concerned about losing access to LMU resources when they returned home.
Subscribe to Library and Information Science