Touro College Libraries

Creating & Evaluating Effective Library & Web Assignments

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1. Introduction

As a member of the Touro College faculty, you are the key to teaching thinking and reasoning skills. These skills are the core of Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (adapted in 2000 by the Association of College & Research Libraries). Many students are not information literate when they start at the College, nor when they begin to study a new subject area. They may be computer and library literate, but they do not have the critical and creative thinking skills required to recognize when information is needed, nor to locate, evaluate, and effectively use the needed information. Your coursework is an opportunity for them to develop and appreciate the importance of information literacy for career success, as well as a set of skills they can use throughout their lives

Library and Web assignments instill elements of information literacy (computer and library literacy, critical thinking and lifelong learning skills) when they are course-driven research projects, not add-ons that simply review resources. Well-designed research assignments can teach students flexibility and adaptability and improve the quality of their work. Lesser assignments can confuse and frustrate them and lead to poorly executed products. To ensure a good result, keep the following suggestions in mind when developing assignments that require the use of information sources.

1. Introduction	4. Teach Research	7. Alternative Designs	10. Consult Librarians
2. Examine Goals	5. Provide Lists	8. Avoid Problems
3. Set Objectives	6. Test Assignments	9. Evaluate Research

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2. Examine Departmental Goals

Departmental faculty are in the process of meeting with librarians to discuss the Touro Information Literacy Initiative (TILI) and select liasons to coordinate the identification of curricular information competencies and their integration into teaching and learning plans. Examples of general and subject-specific competencies and their integration can be found by perusing the LOEX directory and Directory of Online Resources for Information Literacy: Information Literacy Plans, and by searching PRIMO: Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online Database.

Until your department is enveloped in TILI, examine its goals and objectives as expressed in the Touro College bulletins and determine how to incorporate them into your syllabi. You may want to review the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education (a March 1987 AAHE Bulletin article by Chickering and Gamson) and consider how you can achieve them in your courses. You may also want to review Tilt Group Resources and Services for information on how to use technology to support these facets (faculty-student contact, active learning, etc.). Bloom's Taxonomy of educational objectives will be useful when examining the language, expectations, organization, and rationale of your assignments.

3. Set Clear Objectives

Setting objectives helps students focus on what they should learn from their assignments and how this will help them in the long run. Objectives should involve a progressive plan of action for finding information to analyze a problem. They should also include what students are to do with the information they find. A possible statement of objectives for a term paper in the humanities follows.

As a result of this assignment, students should learn to:

Develop a managable research topic using an encyclopedia or textbook for background information.
Use the library catalog and search appropriate ebook and ejournal databases and Web search tools to locate relevant and timely sources.
Distinguish between primary and secondary, and scholarly, trade, and popular sources, whether the material is in print or electronic.
Quote and document sources in a way that gives proper credit and avoids plagiarism.

For other examples, refer to Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education set by the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). It provides an extensive list of objectives or outcomes for a variety of performance indicators.

4. Teach Research Strategies

Teaching research strategies helps students plan their projects before and as they find information. These strategies should demonstrate that reading, refining a topic, and discovering the types and quantity of information available are all parts of the process. Strategies should also stress the need for continuous evaluation. A possible research strategy for the term paper described above follows.

Define your topic using an encyclopedia article or textbook chapter for background information.
Develop a list of potential relevant keywords and phrases to use in searching for additional information.
When using electronic resources, look for online help and read about search techniques that may improve your results.
Search the library catalog to find print and nonprint material on your topic.
Search appropriate ebook and ejournal databases to find more recent information in print and electronic journal, magazine, and newspaper articles.
Use search engines and subject directories to locate authoritative, high-quality Web sites.

Your librarians have developed resources to support your assignments. There are links to them on our Guides & Tutorials page. Included are a Site Map that outlines our Virtual Library (www.touro.edu/library/), a Library Guide on how to find information at Touro College, subject-specific resource lists, and a Research & Writing Guide on how to do research and write term papers. Some information (see below) has been reformatted separately. You may print and distribute, copy from, or link to any of these resources.

Research Strategies (graphic)
Search Techniques (descriptive)
Search Strategies (graphic)
Finding Web Resources (descriptive)
Evaluating Web Resources (descriptive)
Primary and Secondary Sources (descriptive)
Scholarly, Trade and Popular Materials (descriptive)

5. Provide Resource Lists

Providing resource lists gives students a starting point and directs them to the most useful information sources for a particular project. These lists should include only resources that the libraries own or are licensed to access. If material you require is not available, consult with your librarian who may be able to purchase it in time, obtain it via interlibrary loan, or suggest a suitable alternative. If necessary, your personal copy may be placed on reserve.

To include the best sources on your lists, consult our Guides & Tutorials page. It includes a Site Map that outlines the library and Web resources available via our Virtual Library (www.touro.edu/library/), a Library Guide on how to find information at Touro College, subject-specific resource lists, and a Research & Writing Guide on how to do research and write term papers. You may print and distribute, copy from, or link to any of these resources.

You will also want to use EReserves. EReserves is resource used to link to required electronic course material selected by you for your students. When you present your library with required course material, we file with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). If approved, we enter links to the material (ebooks, ejournal articles, scanned book chapters and journal articles, and Web sites, documents, and databases) in EReserves. When material is not approved by the CCC, it is placed in your library's reserve collection for student use on-site, and identified as Library Catalog Course Reserves. This Course Reserves list will then be linked on your EReserves list. In addition, your Blackboard courses that require online course material will have a link to EReserves. To learn more about the importance of copyright compliance in general, consult Copyright & Fair Use and Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Fair Use Resources.

6. Test Your Assignments

Test your assignments before presenting them to your classes. Try them out yourself to ensure that objectives are stated clearly, resources are listed correctly, deadlines are reasonable, and critical thinking skills are required.

Ask others to try out your assignments. Departmental colleagues may have suggestions regarding subject content and librarians may detect practical problems you may have overlooked.

7. Consider Alternative Designs

There are many alternatives to the term paper writing assignment described above. Examples follow.

Research logs that document where students looked for information, analyze what search techniques worked and what did not, and discuss how material found affected their thinking about a topic
Research guides that introduce new majors to information resources and research strategies in their field
Selecting a popular magazine article and turning it into a scholarly journal article
Comparing search results from a general search engine, topical subject directory, and scholarly article database

There are variant information sources to use depending on the discipline. Examples follow.

Marketing students develop ad campaigns based on reviews of market research and consumer psychology, and demographic and income trends
MIS students measure the impact of government regulation on a communication medium based on newspaper analyses, legislative records, and trade journal articles
Political science students follow a piece of legislation through Congress and trace its politics in the news media
Psychology students determine the adequacy of a psychological test based on the literature and develop a test for a particular clinical situation based on their review

Other general and discipline-specific alternative library and Web activities and assignments can be found on our Syllabi Collections page.

8. Avoid Common Problems

Students often encounter the situations below when attempting to complete assignments.

They are not allowed to use Web resources even though many scholarly resources are only available online.
Their entire class is looking for one piece of printed information or researching the same narrow topic.
They are required to use printed materials the libraries do not own.
They are required to use online sources the libraries are not licensed to access.
They are working from incomplete or incorrect information.
They are assigned vague or general topics with no guidance on how to narrow them.
They are given obscure trivia questions and told to find the answers.

Situations like these do not foster an appreciation of research, but build student resentment toward the libraries. Students conclude that they will never find what they need in the libraries or that the libraries do not have what they need. Assignments are meaningful when students can find and use information for tasks originating from topics covered in your course.

9. Evaluate Student Research

When evaluating research assignments, create an assessment tool and compare student results to determine their level of success in completing the project. A possible tool for assessing a term paper in the humanities follows.

Is the selected topic narrow enough to be researched thoroughly?
Is the thesis statement clearly formulated?
Were the most relevant resources used?
Were various types of publications (books, journal articles, statistical sources, technical reports, etc.) consulted?
Were appropriate types of sources (primary, secondary) and materials (scholarly, trade or professional, popular) consulted?
Is the method of documentation understood and used consistently?
Has the student demonstrated that s/he can identify points of view, compare and contrast them, interject his/her own?

You will also want to be aware of NoodleTools. NoodleTools is a NoodleBib MLA citation and APA reference generator. With this program, you can create a NoodleBib Class Name so your students can share their citation/reference lists with you. This will enable you to assist students by viewing their progress and adding helpful comments. For detail on using this program, read our Creating Your Bibliography with NoodleTools. To learn more about citation and reference formats and generators, consult Style Guides.

10. Consult With Librarians

Your librarians are available to work with you when you develop or revise your research assignments. Such collaboration ensures the best use of information resources while emphasizing course content. It also allows for special arrangements to acommodate assignments. For example, in some cases the libraries may be able to obtain needed resources or set them aside in a special area.

For general consultations, contact our Information Literacy Librarian.

To be announced

For specific collaborative efforts, contact one of the following librarians.

Chaya Drillman (Brooklyn) at 718.252.7800, ext. 260 or chayad@touro.edu
Dr. David Levy (Manhattan) at 212.287.3531 or david.levy@touro.edu
Zhanna Marina (Queens) at 718.820.4894 or zhannama@touro.edu
Myra Reisman (Suffolk County) at 631.665.1600, ext. 224 or myrar@touro.edu
Sal Russo (Manhattan) at 212.463.0400, ext. 222 or salvator@touro.edu
Bashe Simon (Brooklyn) at 718.252.7800, ext. 226 or simonb@touro.edu
Marina Zilberman (Manhattan) at 212.463.0400, ext. 221 or marinaz@touro.edu

Schedule one-session course-integrated library orientation classes early each semester; consult Library Locations & Hours for contact information. Also contact your library throughout the semester to arrange for a class instructing students on how to effectively do research for a specific assignment. These classes may be hands-on and will utilize our Library Guide and Research & Writing Guide. They will describe Search Techniques, searching for Books and Media, searching for articles in Journals, finding Gray Literature, Finding Web Resources and Evaluating Web Sites, and using our Web & Search Sites directory. They will also discuss the differences between Primary and Secondary Sources and Scholarly, Trade and Popular Materials.

Your librarians are here to help you. Please notify them when you plan to visit a library with your class to work on an assignment. This avoids conflicts when more than one class visits at the same time. Also, send your librarian copies of your assignments and resource lists so s/he can help refer students to what you want them to use.

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