Assignment #1: Information Comparison Exercise
Purpose:

• to place information in a broader context
• to give students an idea where information comes from and to give students a chance to analyze the relationship between scholarly and popular information
• to expose students to the scholarly publishing cycle.

a) Ask students to brainstorm criteria for identifying scholarly information (be sure to address knowledge as dynamic and changing over time, disciplinary differences).

b) Address primary, secondary, and tertiary information.

c) Have students identify and locate:

• a journal article on a topic using a scholarly database such as JSTOR
• a newspaper article from Lexis-Nexis
• a web site.

d) Ask students to compare articles with web site using the student-generated criteria brainstormed in class.

Assignment #2: Research Web Log Creation
Purpose:

• to introduce a reflective component to student's research
• to have students create a place to document sources and to demonstrate their thinking.

Research web logs allow ongoing, rich reflection and a way for faculty to monitor student growth and progress.

a) In some electronic forums, faculty can prompt students with particular questions (see below)

b) Research web logs are typically used for individual research but can also be used for group projects.

c) Students are encouraged to use full citations and to think of their log as a good place to jot notes that may be used later for annotating their bibliography.

d) Research web logs are public documents. As part of the assignment, students begin to understand that false starts, dead ends, and confusion are integral parts of the research process. Everyone is learning as they progress through the process.

e) Require students to log progress on their research. This research log should be used as a place to record ideas, questions, concerns, frustrations, insights, and realizations. They can reflect upon any of the following:

• where they searched for information
• what they've found
• ideas related to project,
• ways in which the course readings have influenced their thinking
• what they've found interesting or puzzling
• individuals/experts with whom they've spoken
• what they plan to do next
• reflections on classmates' contributions to their project
• instances in which the student contributes to a classmate's project.

Students should have approximately one to two log entries a week, with the frequency typically higher at the beginning of the term.

Example Resources: http://www.blogger.com; http://townhall.gmu.edu

Assignment #3: Electronic Concept Maps
Purpose:

• To help students represent their topics visually and to help them understand complex information patterns
• to create multiple "graphical" versions of a student's topic that express a relational quality.

a) There are many different kinds of concept maps (spider, hierarchy, flowchart, or systems maps are examples). Concept maps are diagrams for exploring knowledge and gathering and sharing information. A concept map consists of cells (circles, squares or other shapes) that contain a concept, item, or question. The "links" that connect the cells can denote direction with an arrow or symbol. Links can be labeled to explain relationships between the cells.

b)Concepts maps can be created with paper and pencil. The intention of this exercise is to get students to create multiple versions of a concept map that builds as the student's research topic evolves and changes.

Example resources: Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Visio, http://www.microsoft.com/office/visio/default.asp

Assignment #4: Creation of a Personalized MyLibrary Site
Purpose:

• to motivate students to create a dynamic web page of
  • their research process
  • the databases they regularly visit
  • favorite e-journals
  • interesting web sites.

The MyLibrary site's central function is as resource portal. MyLibrary is a user-driven, customizable information service. MyLibrary allows you to create a portable Web page listing information resources available from the GMU Libraries.

MyLibrary is:

• Content rich - The database supporting MyLibrary contains links to information-rich content necessary to do research in an academic environment. Types of information include full-text databases, data sets, bibliographic databases, electronic texts, ready reference materials and direct access to librarians.
• Customizable - By selecting the customizable options, you choose which items you want displayed.
• Platform independent - To use MyLibrary all you need is a Web browser. The browser must support cookies and it must be configured to not look in its cache for its content.

Example resource: http://mylibrary.gmu.edu

Assignment #5: Database Selection, Searching and Evaluation Log Purpose:

• to help students understand the relationship among sources
• to give students a sense of "what's come before" and "what's come after"
• to give students practice searching "citation" databases.

a) This log is similar to the research web log in that students are encouraged to record and reflect upon what they find and to pose questions about their research. However, students should be focused much more on the functional aspects of their research here:

• what databases have they tried?
• Which databases did they find to be reliable? Why?
• Which ones were successful? Which ones were unsuccessful?
• What kinds of information did they find? What information did they not find?
• What is available in full-text? What is not? Why?
• What keywords did they use?

b) Students should be encouraged to address the distinctions between bibliographic information, citations with abstracts, full-text and full-image databases

c) You also might want to have students compare how different databases handle the same topic. This may help student to think about disciplinary differences and the distinctions between scholarly and popular information

Assignment #6: Creation of a Database to Organize, Sort, and Annotate Research Sources
Purpose

• to help students better understand the relationship between argument and evidence, a document and its sources
• to help students create a dynamic, organized list of databases searched and sources cited
• to help students keep track of their annotations.

a) Utilize a bibliographic tool such as EndNote. EndNote is an application for organizing references. Timesaving features allow you to:

• transfer citations retrieved from online bibliographic databases into a personalized database called a "library"
• create bibliographies automatically in your word processing program.

b) Using a program such as EndNote, students are constructing a database. This helps them understand how databases work, how they are constructed, and helps them distinguish between fields and records.

c) Creating a database of their own while accessing/interacting with commercial database providers gives students a rich perspective on the research process.

d) Students will start to see logical relationships between their text, their arguments, their evidence, and their sources. Research becomes more dynamic. Students can start see relationships between information and knowledge construction.