RM-Research

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A well-designed research assignment is an excellent teaching tool. Effective assignments develop not only students’ research skills, but their critical thinking abilities and subject knowledge. The exponential increases in the number of information resources and technology tools available today have made libraries more complex than ever. This phenomenon of “information overload” has led to the increased importance of Information Literacy and critical thinking skills on the part of today’s students. **An information literate student is able to recognize their information need and then locate, evaluate, and use effectively and ethically the needed information.** Enabling students to go beyond the confines of an assignment and focus on the process of seeking solutions to their information needs is crucial. Information literacy enables students to recognize the value of information and use it to make informed choices in their personal and academic lives. An important first step in laying the foundation for an information literate student body is the collaboration between teacher and librarian in creating effective research assignments. Assignment Ideas that develop Information Literacy Skills:=====

If you want your students to think critically…

 * //Provide students with two articles or editorials reflecting conservative and liberal views, ask students to compare and contrast the articles.//
 * //Ask students to research a topic using information published in different decades and ask them to compare and discuss what changes occurred and why.//
 * //Ask students to work as small teams to research// both //sides of an issue. Don’t tell the students which side they will be taking until the day of the debate.//
 * //Ask students to locate a popular magazine article, a newspaper article and a scholarly journal article on the same topic, then compare the articles for content, style, bias, audience, etc.//
 * //Ask students to compare and contrast primary and secondary sources on the same topic; ask them to contrast the sources, their content and treatment of the topic.//

If you want your students to develop problem solving skills...

 * //Ask students to propose a new action, procedure or activity in a particular setting and conduct research to locate materials that support the need for and the proposed new action.//
 * //As////k students to propose new legislation for a current issue. Conduct research to support the need for the legislation.//

If you want your students to develop their communication and presentation skills skills...


 * //Have students research a topic and present it as a poster session that other students will use to learn about the topic. This gives them experience with research as well as with expressing important points succinctly.//
 * //Ask// //them to prepare an audio presentation for the class, and ask them to locate and evaluate information sources to use as evidence in their presentations.//
 * //Have students construct a timeline or map that illustrates the cause and effect of incidents in an event.//
 * //Ask// //students to create a digital presentation incorporating images located by searching the Web.//

If you want your students to understand "the literature" in a discipline....

 * Assign students a scholar/researcher in the field. Ask students to explore that person’s career and ideas by locating biographical information, preparing a bibliography of the scholar’s writings, analyzing the reaction of the scholarly community to the researcher’s work, and examining the scholarly network in which the scholar works.
 * Provide for students – or have them locate - a relevant article from the literature and use its bibliography to track down other relevant sources.