Transcript Applying Alternatives to Specific Subjects

Beyond “Alternatives to
Research Papers”
Applying Alternatives to Specific Subjects
By
Kendall Hobbs
Reference/Instruction Librarian
Wesleyan University
NELIG Annual Program 2002
Why Alternatives?
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Research paper benefits and
drawbacks.
More systematic information literacy
instruction and practice.
Info lit integrated into course content.
Virtually limitless possibilities.
Why a List?
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Librarians have seen such lists before,
but faculty usually have not.
Faculty were typically taught their
subject but not how to teach it.
Make it easy for faculty to rearrange
assignments.
Before Making a List
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Do your homework:
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Education theory (active learning, critical
thinking, learning styles, stages of
intellectual development, etc).
Course, department, school curricula.
Your experience helping students, and
knowledge of collection, resources,
strategies, etc.
Define and prioritize goals for list.
Putting the List Together
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What do faculty want their students to
be able to do?
How can their students learn to do this?
What do students want to be able to
do? And why would they want to do
your assignments?
Applying the List
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What is important for this course or
discipline?
What is unique to this course or
discipline?
Keep in mind: info lit is a means, not an
end.
Some Examples
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Phil 200 – Philosophical Methods
Soc 202 – Sociological Analysis
Anth 201 – Anthropological Theory
Philosophy –
What’s Important or Unique
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Primary / secondary / reference
overlap.
Philosophy – Assignments
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Compare reference sources: look up
one topic in many sources.
Search log: note databases used,
search strategies, results, etc.
Annotated bibliography: place each
source in reference to others.
Sociology –
What’s Important or Unique
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Statistics, surveys, etc.
Sociology – Assignments
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Update statistics: find latest statistics,
compare with older analysis.
Research proposal: include literature
review, place proposal in context.
Anthropology –
What’s Important or Unique
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Time
Anthropology – Assignments
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Pick a journal, trace its history.
Pick a theorist, write a brief intellectual
biography, referring to past and present
critiques in the literature.
A good idea that didn’t quite fit:
compare an older and a recent
ethnography.
Bibliography
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Farber, Evan I. Alternatives to the term paper. New Directions
for Teaching and Learning, v. 18, June 1984, p. 45-53.
Gibson, Craig. Alternatives to the term paper: an aid to critical
thinking. The Reference Librarian, no. 24, 1989, p. 297-309.
Rehmke, Denise M. Creating meaningful assignments for
student learning. In: Learning and Libraries in an Information
Age. Teacher Ideas Press, 1999.
Souchek, Russell; Meier, Marjorie. Teaching information literacy
and scientific process skills: an integrated approach. College
Teaching, v. 45, no. 4, Fall 1997, p. 128-31.
Winiarz, Elizabeth; Sullivan, S. John. Discovering the variety of
library resources through bibliographic instruction and an
assignment. Canadian Library Journal, v. 48, Oct 1991, p. 3358.
Wesleyan’s List
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Integrating Information Literacy into the
Curriculum
(list of alternative assignments):
http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/instruction/infolit2.pdf
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Information Literacy for Wesleyan Students:
http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/instruction/infolit1.pdf