Searching as Strategic Exploration (Frame 6)

Submitted by William (Bill) Badke on March 26th, 2019
Short Description: 

A two-credit online undergraduate information literacy course used in an adult degree completion bachelor's program.

Learning Outcomes: 

The student will:

Gain an understanding of the characteristics of information and its dissemination in the information age.
Develop an appreciation for topic analysis and research focused around a question or hypothesis.
Learn to strategize research procedures using a wide variety of tools and information sources, based on an understanding of information systems and their manner of operation.
Acquire a deeper ability to use critical thinking to interact with diverse concepts, evaluate truth claims, synthesize data and make conclusions.
Show an appreciation for the ethical requirements of research and writing within Christian and marketplace contexts.

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.): 

All resources are linked in the course site.

Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
Graded assignments, rubrics
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

Online instruction requires a great deal of interaction with students, ready availability, and a 24 hour turnaround time on assignment grading.

Suggested Citation: 
Badke, William (Bill). "UNIV 110 OL - Scholarly Inquiry and Research Methods (online)." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2019. https://projectcora.org/assignment/univ-110-ol-scholarly-inquiry-and-research-methods-online.
Submitted by Anaya Jones on March 19th, 2019
Short Description: 

This is a participatory, variable lesson frame ready for you to modify to suit your instruction needs. This lesson and it's variations focuses on encouraging students to see themselves as information creators and part of the scholarly conversation and can also variously include conversations about about the scholarly information cycle and/or authority depending on instruction constraints and configuration.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
StudentScholarLessonPlanTermCourse.pdfdisplayed 1908 times745.53 KB
StudentScholarLessonPlanTermCourse.docxdisplayed 1126 times22.84 KB
StudentScholarLessonPlanSingleSessionScholarlyProcessFocus.pdfdisplayed 1621 times440.62 KB
StudentScholarLessonPlanSingleSessionScholarlyProcessFocus.docxdisplayed 1101 times20.46 KB
StudentScholarLessonPlanSingleSessionAuthorityFocus.pdfdisplayed 1424 times437.39 KB
StudentScholarLessonPlanSingleSessionAuthorityFocus.docxdisplayed 1091 times20.03 KB
Student Scholar Lesson Plan Start Heredisplayed 1566 times572.13 KB
AttachmentSize
Sample Artifact.pdfdisplayed 1836 times149.96 KB
StudentScholarAssignmentInstructions.pdfdisplayed 2602 times782.72 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will consider the value and authority of various sources and analyze the strengths of different types of information on their topic.
Students will be able to summarize the scholarly information process and see themselves as actual and potential information creators.
-More possible, see documentation.

Individual or Group:

Suggested Citation: 
Jones, Anaya. "Cast Your Students as Scholars." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2019. https://projectcora.org/assignment/cast-your-students-scholars.
Submitted by Nataly Blas on November 28th, 2018
Short Description: 

The Business Task Cards is a 1-hour team-based activity. The activity was created for a business management course that needed to complete a business opportunity project. The activity requires students to complete four tasks: 1) Find company information, 2) Find a company's income statement, 3) Find articles on a company's management strategy, and 4) Find current industry trends that will impact the company. A print and online version of the activity is provided.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Business Task Cards Activity.pdfdisplayed 1519 times402.96 KB
Template for the print task cards.displayed 1295 times44.74 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

LO #1: Students will match information needs to business search tools in order to locate relevant company information. LO #2: Students will recognize the information type and evaluate how it meets their information need.

Discipline: 
Business

Individual or Group:

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

This activity was used for an upper-division business management course.

Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
Print version - collect task cards at the end of the course for assessment purposes. Online version - student submissions are collected via Google Forms.
Suggested Citation: 
Blas, Nataly. "Business Task Cards Activity." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/business-task-cards-activity.
Submitted by Jessea Young on October 18th, 2018
Short Description: 

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.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Lesson Plandisplayed 2032 times1.18 MB
Presentation Slidesdisplayed 1499 times2.2 MB
Information Privilege Worksheetdisplayed 1307 times21.4 KB
Open Access Only Worksheetdisplayed 1193 times21 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

1. Students will be able to define the following terms: open access, paywalls, and information privilege.
2. Students will appreciate the impact of open access scholarship and it’s benefit to the public good.
3. Students will be able to search the appropriate open access tool in order to find free scholarly content.

Individual or Group:

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

This workshop was created for the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP). Faculty mentors and Librarians hold workshops and seminars throughout the summer to help SURP students build their research and presentation skills. Three international students suggested the workshop topic! They wanted to know more about ResearchGate and how to find free scholarly information once they left LMU.

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

Further Readings

"Information Privilege Outreach for Undergraduate Students" by Sarah Hare, Cara Evanson.
https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/article/view/16767

You’re a Researcher Without a Library: What Do You Do? by Jake Orlowitz.
https://medium.com/a-wikipedia-librarian/youre-a-researcher-without-a-li...

Assessment or Criteria for Success
Assessment Short Description: 
Students were asked to reflect on the workshop and submit their comments via Google Forms. Students really liked the Case Study.
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

Originally, the workshop was scheduled for 1 hour. Next year we would like to schedule a longer 1.5 hour workshop or assign the case study article as homework. Technology was an issue too. There’s no way to “turn off” database access (or turn off Information Privilege) while on campus. It’s difficult to simulate an Open Access Only environment so that students could practice using OA tools and strategies. We tried with Google Scholar and PubMed by turning off the “Library links” settings. Also we asked the students to pretend or imagine that they didn’t have access.

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Young, Jessea. "Open Access: Strategies and Tools for Life after College ." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/open-access-strategies-and-tools-life-after-college.
Submitted by Pascal Martinolli on July 24th, 2018
Short Description: 

The purpose of this activity is to inspire students to adopt structured methods when they explore and retrieve information. It is based on lab notebooking methods and on managing and documenting the flow of references in Zotero, a reference management software.

The first principle is based on a tree of collections to manage the references arriving in the Zotero library. Some basic methods are suggested and the students are invited to create their own. The second principle is based on standalone notes to document all the research process through online database, libraries and experts.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Description of the activity (in English)displayed 2227 times587.94 KB
Description de l'activité (en français)displayed 2268 times753.58 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Adopting structured methods when exploring and retrieving informations;
Managing and documenting the flow of references in Zotero.

Individual or Group:

Suggested Citation: 
Martinolli, Pascal. "ZotLog: Inspiring students to adopt structured methods in Zotero." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/zotlog-inspiring-students-adopt-structured-methods-zotero.
Submitted by Jennifer Smith on July 11th, 2018
Short Description: 

This short lesson introduces identifying search terms with a Koosh ball. The 10 minute activity can be used in one-shot instruction sessions or built in to credit bearing information literacy courses.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Activity instructionsdisplayed 3522 times250.75 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Identify relevant search terms for a given topic.

Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Individual or Group:

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

This activity was originally designed for a patent searching session for an upper level engineering course. I used it to prepare groups for brainstorming keywords for their group invention. I have found that it easily translates to other multidisciplinary courses and can be used with groups or individuals.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
Smith, Jennifer. "What is this thing? Koosh balls and search terms." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/what-thing-koosh-balls-and-search-terms.
Submitted by Amanda M. on May 11th, 2018
Short Description: 

This lesson was developed for HIS484 (Topics in the History of Gender and Sexuality/Pride in the time of HIV/AIDS) in the Spring of 2018. The students’ final assignment culminated in a multimedia or digital research project on a topic of their choosing and heavily relied on primary source and visual materials. This lesson focuses on how students, as content curators and analysts, can engage in deeper analysis and contextualization of the sources they present through their projects. Students collectively analyzed one example from a particular resource that they are already acquainted with and considered the language used by both systems of knowledge and the communities that they are studying, in order to help them form thoughtful, critical, and reflective perspectives.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Lesson plan with links to google doc worksheet and google slidesdisplayed 1590 times92.09 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will be able to analyze and contextualize primary source and visual materials related to HIV/AIDS. Students will be able to articulate how knowledge is socially constructed and contested and how/why language evolves over time. Students will engage with art as a primary source related to their research topics.

Individual or Group:

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

See full lesson plan/pdf

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

This worked well with a small class, but may be more challenging with a larger class. I would likely have students work in groups to evaluate different works of art using the google worksheet instead of doing one for the whole class.

Suggested Citation: 
M., Amanda. "Visual Aids and Descriptors in Primary Source Evaluation & Curation." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/visual-aids-and-descriptors-primary-source-evaluation-curation.
Submitted by McKenzie Hyde on April 27th, 2018
Short Description: 

This lesson, created for English 2010, or Argumentative Writing, teaches students how to use library databases and keywords in order to focus their research topics. Most students come prepared with a general or broad topic in mind, but they need to narrow their focus in order to get more relevant search results. Here they simultaneously learn to search in and use the library databases and to focus their research topics.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Narrowing a Topic Handoutdisplayed 2999 times142.65 KB
Narrowing a Topic Lesson Outlinedisplayed 1959 times150.64 KB
Narrowing a Topic Lesson Plandisplayed 3461 times299.2 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

-Understanding how to use library resources and why we use them (instead of Google, for example)
-Searching in library databases using Boolean operators, relevant keyword searches, and other library tools
-Focusing a general research question for a specific audience

Individual or Group:

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

We collaborate with the English faculty and instructors on campus to make sure students are ready to choose a topic for their final research paper before they come to the library for this lesson. The English 2010 curriculum generally stipulates that students do small assignments throughout the semester to work up to this final research paper. Coming to the library for our Narrowing a Topic and Synthesis lessons are important steps in this research process. Some professors like to adapt these lesson plans to their students' needs.

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Hyde, McKenzie. "Narrowing a Topic." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/narrowing-topic.
Submitted by Kirsten Hansen on December 19th, 2017
Short Description: 

During this activity, students work in small groups to explore assigned databases and then share back what they learn in a Google Doc projected at the front of the classroom.

Attachments: 
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Database_Exploration_with_Google_docs.docxdisplayed 2153 times287.4 KB
AttachmentSize
Sample_Lesson_Plan_databases and google docs.docdisplayed 1772 times120.5 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

• Students will construct a search using their keywords in a designated database in order to find three articles are superficially relevant to their research topic. • Students will analyze one database in order to articulate one useful feature of the database for their research assignment, and explain why or how the feature might be useful to their assignment.

Individual or Group:

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

I frequently use this activity for first year research classes across a wide variety of disciplines when the faculty member teaching the class has asked me to demo databases. I have also used it with great success in higher-level discipline specific classes including biology and my colleagues have used it with graduate students. This activity works best for classes with a research assignment and when students have received the research assignment and are starting to think about their research topic prior to the IL session. However, I've also had classes where students have not yet received their research assignment and working with a single research question as a whole class works just fine. In that case, I usually have a research question that I've created that we can work with but with discipline specific classes we've also created research questions together at the beginning of class.

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

To see how this activity fits into my somewhat-typical first year instruction session, see the sample lesson plan below. Please note: This is a real lesson plan and thus refers to class activities not explained here. The lesson plan is mostly meant to show how the google doc exercise can fit into a larger class session. If you have questions about the other activities mentioned in the lesson plan, please ask!

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Hansen, Kirsten. "Exploring Databases with Google Docs." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/exploring-databases-google-docs.
Submitted by Ken Liss on November 18th, 2017
Short Description: 

In this lesson students view a series of short videos about searching library resources, interspersed with exercises in which they conduct searches on their topics and reflect on what they find and on the research process. (The first two videos and accompanying activities are done outside of class; the third can be done in class.)

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Links to videos and descriptions of accompanying searching and reflection activitiesdisplayed 1233 times122.27 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

• Students will learn that research is about exploring the scholarly conversation about a topic and not just about finding answers to questions.
• Students will learn that exploring library (and non-library) resources can help them develop different directions and ways of approaching their topics than they initially had in mind.
• Students will learn how to create strategies for overcoming common obstacles encountered while researching a topic.
• Students will learn how to follow paths from one scholarly source to others.

Individual or Group:

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

This set of videos and interspersed searching and reflection exercises was developed by a librarian and two writing instructors as part of a project in the third year of the ACRL Assessment in Action program. It has since been used more widely in the Boston University College of Arts & Sciences Writing Program.

Suggested Citation: 
Liss, Ken. "Exploring the Scholarly Territory Using Library Resources." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/exploring-scholarly-territory-using-library-resources.

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