Community of Online Research Assignments

Peer mind mapping for research question development

The lesson plan template provides a detailed description on engaging students in a peer mind mapping activity that builds on their curiosities and critical thinking along with writing a provisional research question in a social science course. There is consideration for universal design, a library assignment, and reflective practice and writing. The learning outcomes are based on Research as Inquiry and Searching as Strategic Exploration. Attachments include worksheets.

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.

Voter Workshop

Two librarians at NKU developed an Informed Voting workshop to help students navigate information during the 2024 election season. Attendees were provided a worksheet to learn about the candidates/issues on their ballot and dig into one issue/race to investigate during the workshop.

Researching Laws & Legislation

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.

Pharmacy: Aspects of Patient Care Literature Searching

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.

Visualizing Research

An icebreaker activity for students at any level, “Visualizing Research” employs tactile or kinesthetic learning techniques to illustrate research as inquiry. This group activity can be used in a variety of disciplines and contexts. By having students create and share visual models of their ideas or experiences with research, the lesson plan increases classroom engagement and supports an understanding of the iterative process of research.

Annotated Bibliographies: Shining a Light on Source Evaluation with the BEAM Method

Annotated bibliographies have become a popular assignment in college courses and a way to scaffold research papers. Gathering a bibliography before turning in a completed research project allows students to focus on searching strategically and get feedback on the sources they obtained. Annotating that bibliography requires them to think critically about the sources they choose and their relationship to the research at hand.

Research matrix: synthesizing search results

This assignment was created to help undergraduate students use research articles to help inform their argument about a "text."  This exercise has been used in library instruction sessions for art history, composition, english literature, women's studies, and history classes. After reflecting on what they know about a text (or image or multimedia), brainstorming search terms, and tracking relevant patterns in search results, students can synthesize information from a variety of sources in an organized, methodological fashion. 

Pharmacy: Introduction to Evidence Based Medicine: Building PICO

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.

Evaluating Sources through Problem-Based Learning

How can we facilitate first-year student engagement with critical Framework concepts, especially in a one-shot class? This active learning activity is designed to teach source evaluation in a 50-minute class. The activity, which incorporates elements of problem-based learning and uses a flipped classroom approach, was added to our institution’s first-year experience course.

Zine Workshop

This workshop introduces zines to a First Year Women's and Gender Studies class including what they are, general history and culture in the United States, and the process of making zines. This workshop supported a class assignment where students make zines featuring class readings and a reflective essay including original creative works. In the sessions, students recieve "handout" zines for note-taking and reflective work, a short lecture on zines, and work with databases to find pieces for their zine topics or ideas.