PCC Library
Library Assignments

Creating Effective Library Assignments

The proliferation of information in every imaginable format increases the need for teaching information seeking skills. The card catalog no longer exist; print indexes are mirrored, or improved upon, by electronic versions; and the Internet provides a new universe of mixed information. Developing the skills to locate, analyze, critically evaluate and use information is a critical part of each student's education and a skill that promotes lifelong learning. Polk Community College's Libraries are here to assist you in developing library assignments that will enable students to refine the skills that will benefit them throughout their educational careers, as well as in their professional and private lives. Well constructed and purposeful information skills course assignments are excellent and valuable tools for acquainting students with the Library and its resources, as well as the world of information now available electronically.

WHAT EFFECTIVE LIBRARY ASSIGNMENTS DO . . .

GUIDELINES FOR CREATING EFFECTIVE LIBRARY ASSIGNMENTS

WHY SHOULD YOU INCORPORATE
LIBRARY ASSIGNMENTS IN YOUR COURSE INSTRUCTION?

EXAMPLE OF A GENERIC LIBRARY ASSIGNMENT

EXAMPLES OF LIBRARY ASSIGNMENTS FROM OTHER COLLEGES

WHAT EFFECTIVE LIBRARY ASSIGNMENTS DO:

 teach research strategies

 match the educational level of the student

 relate directly to course objectives

 communicate specific learning objectives

 take advantage of library instruction resources

 contain clear instructions

 stress tasks/resources as well as topic

 survive regular test runs or are teacher-tested or librarian tested to minimize student frustrations

 involve collaboration with librarians

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GUIDELINES FOR CREATING EFFECTIVE LIBRARY ASSIGNMENTS

PURPOSE -- Be sure the students know what you want them to accomplish. Explain what the students are expected to learn. If students have difficulty understanding what they are supposed to do, they will have trouble doing it. State the purpose and how it relates to the course subject matter. Does it lead to a better understanding of the subject? Will it teach them how to locate information related to the subject? If specific sources are required to complete the assignment, provide a list to the students and check with the library to make sure they are available and the students will have access to them. If necessary, request materials be put on Reserve.

FEASIBILITY -- Try doing the assignment yourself first to make sure the necessary materials are in the library (not missing, checked out, etc.). Assume the students have minimal knowledge of the library and may not be familiar with the variety and format of resources in it. Consult a reference librarian before the assignment to ensure the library staff understand what the students will be researching. The librarian may have some helpful hints on how to direct the students in the assignment.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS -- Encourage critical analysis of what the students find in the library during their research. Ask the students to evaluate, analyze or comment as part of the assignment rather than compile a list or find a specific fact or article. The assignment should lead to information that can be used in a meaningful way.

VARIETY -- Assign a variety of topics. This ensure that an adequate number of materials will be available for large groups. When one topic is assigned the problem of too few resources for too many people may arise. If an entire class has the same assignment, adequate and appropriate sources will be limited, disappear or be vandalized. If it is necessary for an entire class to use specific materials, consider putting them on RESERVE.

RELEVANCE -- When possible create assignments that relate to some aspect of the course work. Avoid scavenger hunts. Scavenger hunts are frustrating for both the students and the librarians. They lack a clear purpose and teach little. Usually the librarian is the one who locates the information or one student will find the information and just pass it onto the other classmates. Students resent irrelevant assignments.

REQUEST LIBRARY INSTRUCTION -- If you wish to arrange library instruction, call the Reference Desk. Call ext. 6207 at Lakeland or ext. 5326 at Winter Haven.

GETTING HELP -- If you have any questions or would like assistance in developing a library assignment, please contact Bill Foege (ext. 6203), Chris Fullerton (ext. 5326), or Helen Schmidt (ext. 6203). Send a copy of your assignments to of these librarians so we can review the assignment and be prepared to serve and instruct your students at the library.

Well-designed assignments help to create positive experiences that build confidence in doing meaningful research. Working together, the instructors and the librarians can create assignments that will teach information seeking skills that will benefit Polk Community College students throughout their college careers.

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WHY SHOULD YOU INCORPORATE LIBRARY ASSIGNMENTS
IN YOUR COURSE INSTRUCTION?

Students master library and information skills better when those skills are integrated into the curriculum. Include information seeking skills in assignments or when your students start selecting research topics. Your students will have better grades, because they will retrieve and use more in depth and better quality information to support their written assignments. By incorporating information seeking skills into your curriculum you will reduce the frustration and anxiety that your students have about using the library and with surfing databases and the Internet. Information research in not a linear process. By addressing information seeking skills your students will will learn how to refine their research strategy and to successfully find their way through the maze of resources offered through the Polk Community College Libraries and the Internet.

Steps to creating a library assignment

Meet with librarian to discuss assignment. The librarian will work with you to design an appropriate assignment based on sound information literacy principles that will achieve your course objectives. Or, send a copy of the assignments you create to a librarian to critique and/or to ensure that the library staff is ready to help you students.

Create a list of specific sources you would recommend as useful for the assignments. Give complete and accurate citations for these materials. The librarian can provide a list of useful sources, or types of sources. The librarian can also help you verify that the particular sources you have in mind are available at PCC. Librarians may be aware of new resources that may be useful to your students.

In your syllabus, explain library assignments clearly and how they will relate to the course work.

Testing the assignment. Is it too long or hard? Is it just right? Do the suggested resources work? The library can help with this.

Set up an orientation session to have a librarian or you to teach the research principle or skill desired and to demonstrate how to access the resources you wish to have your students use for the assignment. Assume the students have minimal knowledge of how to use the library, online databases, and Internet.

Relate the assignments to the course material. Incorporate their research results into class discussions.

Emphasize that their research methods are adaptable for lifelong learning.

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EXAMPLE OF A GENERIC LIBRARY ASSIGNMENT

Part I: Book, Database & Article Coverage of Topics

Step 1: Choose a ________________ topic of interest to you. The following sources will be helpful:

A+ Research and Writing

Global Ideas Bank

Step 2: Access the Online Catalog of PCC and locate a book on your topic.

Do a Title keyword search for your topic. Review the results of the search and write down the following information for one title that would be a good resource for a research paper. This means locating the book on the shelf and looking at the table of contents and sections of the book

Title

Author/Editor

Place of Publication and Publisher

Year of Publication

Call number

Campus ( Winter Haven or Lakeland)

The first 4 are needed to do an entry in a Reference List for a research paper. The last two are needed to locate the book in the correct library.

Step 3: Find an article in a periodical that is related to your topic.

A. See PCC Library Full Text Electronic Resources for databases that will provide full-text articles to use in this section of the assignment. NOTE: Enter your student ID number (your SSN)

B. Locate an index for magazines, such as Reader's guide to Periodical Literature in REFERENCE. Look up your topic. You may need to break down your topic into keywords and make a choice on which is most important.

C. Which was easier/quicker and gave you the most items to review? (Print or electronic)

D. Evaluate the articles to determine if it comes from a scholarly or popular publication.

E. Record :

Title of the publication

Author of the article

Title of the article

Volume no. and Issue no. and the date of issue and the page numbers of the article. If it was a full text article from an electronic database, record the same information plus the date of access, who produced the database, the URL of the database. Consult the aids for formatting a citation and record the information needed to do an entry for the Reference List for a paper.

F. Record :

Title of the publication

Author of the article

Title of the article

Volume no. and Issue no. and the date of issue and the page numbers of the article. If it was a full text article from an electronic database, record the same information plus the date of access, who produced the database, the URL of the database. Consult the aids for formatting a citation and record the information needed to do an entry for the Reference List for a paper.

Part II: Primary versus Secondary Sources: What’s the Difference?

Step 1: Become familiar with the difference between primary and secondary
resources. Check out this hyperlink to see the comparison between primary and secondary sources. http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/infosrv/lue/primary.html

Step 2: Locate a secondary source in a periodicals database. Periodical databases can be accessed from the Remote Access Databases link on the PCC Library homepage. Note that many of the databases provided by the PCC Library contain full-text and/or full-image articles.

Step 3: Make sure your secondary source provides:

a) Information on where the primary source, the results of the study or
experiment, was published; or

b) Provides the name and/or author of the primary source, which can be
used to search for the primary journal article

Note: To make certain that the secondary source provides a reference to a
primary source use the words study and journal in your search. For example
if searching for articles on child abuse use the search term child abuse
and study and journal.

Step 4: Locate your primary source in the PCC library periodicals collection. Use the LINCC online catalog to check to see if we have the periodical you need or see PCC Periodical Holdings list in the blue notebooks or on the library's website), or in a database which provides access to full-text scholarly or research journals.

Abstracts to locate citations or abstracts for journal articles which may be available in PCC libraries or from other libraries via interlibrary loan. Remember that you must allow at least ten days to retrieve a photocopy
of an article via interlibrary loan.

Part III: Learning and Writing about Research

For this part of the assignment you must locate several additional sources. Find two
different popular press articles, one scholarly or research journal, and two Internet sites.

Step 1: Try to locate articles in a full-text periodicals index such as Academic Universe or Academic Search Premier. These resources are available from the Remote Access Databases link on the PCC Library homepage.

Step 2: If you cannot find full-text articles on your chosen topic, you will have to use specialized
abstracting and indexing databases that provide citations to articles. These tools will indicate in what periodical and which issue a particular article appears, but will not provide online the full-text or full image of the article. The researcher must obtain the article from the actual periodical or find it in another full-text database. To verify whether PCC has a particular periodical in its collections, check the PCC Periodical
Holdings list (located in blue notebooks near all research computers) to determine if an article is available at an PCC library or look the title up in the library's online catalog. You may make an interlibrary loan request at the reference desk to obtain articles not available at PCC.

Step 3: Locate reliable Internet resources by using Internet search engines and directories, or Web site references from expert sites provided by the library or other resources. Remember, there are two methods for evaluating quality on the Web. You can evaluate sites yourself or you can have someone evaluate them for you. See "How to find reliable information on the Internet" located under the How To section of the PCC Library Web site.

Internet Search Tools [search engines and directories on the PCC Library Web site]

PCC Library Subject Guides[Internet]

Step 4: When making citations to the resources you have discovered, make sure
you use the either Modern Language Association (MLA) or American Psychological Association (APA) citation style to properly cite your articles. For resources on how to construct citations in these and other formats see Citing Sources on the PCC Library Web site How To page.

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