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.

These slides were developed for a high school class visiting our academic library. Their assignment was to learn how to do legal research to write a history paper on a Congressional bill or Supreme Court case.

Learn how to go beneath the headlines and current debates to examine the text of laws and/or proposed legislation with a focus on Congress, the Supreme Court, Executive Orders, and state legislatures. This introductory workshop will highlight library resources, open government resources, and search strategies to support researchers across many disciplines and interest areas to navigate legal and legislative history resources.

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.

The SIFT* & PICK approach to evaluating sources adapts and builds on Mike Caulfield's SIFT method to help students select quality sources by practicing:

• Lateral Reading (SIFT): fact-checking by examining other sources and internet fact-checking tools; and
• Vertical Reading (PICK): examining the source itself to decide whether it is the best choice for their needs.

*The SIFT method was created by Mike Caulfield under a CC BY 4.0 International License.

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.)

Description: The Database Scavenger Hunt engages pairs of students in locating specific information or performing specific tasks across multiple resources. Each team works through a series of 16 questions/tasks, with verification of correct answers from the librarian/professor after every 1 or 2 questions, then places a mark on the corresponding wall grid of questions once an answer is deemed correct. The process repeats until the team completes all questions.

The wall grid acts as a way to track where teams are in the game and creates a light-weight race to finish first. (Optional: provide a small prize to either the first team to finish or do a drawing of all teams that finished to give out a prize). See image below of completed wall-grid, with each color/shape of sticky note representing a different team.

Verifying answers after each/every 2 questions ensures students are finding the correct information and completing the tasks. Once a majority of teams complete all 16 questions, there is a group discussion of difficult questions and demoing of any specific problem areas. Before the activity begins, the librarian/instructor can demo where to find databases & database descriptions on the library webpage and mention how to log in. 

Questions can be customized to match the class/subject area. The example attached below is for an undergraduate research group. Examples of changes include: switching databases & examples, focusing on different types of information (patents, standards, handbooks, webpages, etc.), changing tasks based on assignment needs, etc.

Note: Because of the verification step, this activity is best with groups of 20 or less and with the assistance of either the professor or another colleague. 

Materials Needed:

• Question sheet for each student
• Answer sheet for each librarian/professor/instructor
• Wall grid, cut into half-size pages
• Sticky notes (or some method of distinguishing team marks on grid)
• Tape to adhere grid to wall
• Prize (optional)

Algorithms are not neutral but this does not mean they are not useful tools for research. In this workshop on algorithmic bias, student learn how algorithms can perpetuate bias and discrimination and how to critically evaluate their search results.

The assignment supports students' ability to explain their research in less than 50 words effectively. Students briefly introduce themselves and their research projects by answering the following questions in the discussion board post:

• Your dissertation committee chair
• The topic of your research. See the topic structure (elements).
• Research Questions. See research question structure
• Research design. See the guide to research design
• Where are you in the dissertation process? See the guide to the Education Dissertation.
• Students are also asked to critique other students' theses.