How Do I Research My Assignment Text

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    purpose of research skills assignments

many students never develop good research skills during their years at penn. These students are often unaware of research tools or don't understand the expectations of scholarly disciplines. Assignments that teach research skills can help students gain confidence and facility in using research tools, a better understanding of disciplinary criteria, and a sense of how scholars use resources in their research. The most common research skills assignment is the research paper or project, which helps students learn to synthesize, analyze and interpret information using appropriate disciplinary content and methodology. In and of themselves, however, research papers may not help students learn the many intricacies of research that go into completing a good paper. What skills do you expect the students to learn, and how do they relate to scholarly practice in the discipline? don't assume that students understand basic concepts such as 'databases,' 'abstracts,' or citations.

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Successful assignments require students to work with information that is significant to them. Try to link research skills assignments to other assignments or otherwise integrate them into the course. Furthermore, assignments are more valuable if they require students to think critically about the resources' content, function, and relationship to the discipline.

For example, an assignment to teach students about types of disciplinary methods will work best when accompanied by a lecture or discussion on method. Using the library's resources to assist with your research skills assignment can provide students with a more valuable learning experience. Subject specialist librarians can provide a research skills session designed specifically to your class' needs in an electronic classroom. Librarians can visit your classroom or use the electronic classroom to teach particular skills, such as evaluating internet resources or locating primary materials.

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Librarians can work with your students individually or in small groups to teach advanced research techniques. Librarians can help during all steps in the process of creating research skills assignments. If you aren't certain what sort of assignment you want to create, a librarian can provide ideas and suggest assignments that have been successful in the past. If you're in the middle of creating an assignment, a librarian can suggest ways in which the library can support your efforts. If you've already designed an assignment, notifying a librarian will allow the library to flag problems and provide appropriate support when students have questions.

One effective way of teaching research skills is to divide a research assignment such as a paper or other project into its component parts. The requirement of completing each step and handing it in for approval motivates students to become familiar with the steps. Annotated bibliography, 10 points thereby emphasizing the importance of each step. For example, a research paper might be divided into the following steps, which must be handed in at intervals throughout the semester.

Define your topic using appropriate encyclopedia articles, class readings, or scholarly reviews of the literature for background information. Develop a list of relevant keywords and phrases to search in the library catalogs. Use databases to find books, articles and web sites that are relevant to your topic. Complete an annotated bibliography explaining why each resource is appropriate for your paper and how it will support the thesis. Hand in a rough draft, the instructor's critique of which will include an evaluation of the types and appropriateness of information used. assignment: browse relevant parts of the stacks, examine one or more subject specific encyclopedias and browse through articles in several appropriate journals.

With the information you have learned, describe themes, questions and methods that are important to the discipline how does the discipline relate to other disciplines? purpose: become acquainted with the sort of questions, issues and methodologies that are central to the discipline. assignment: browse through several years of a major journal in your discipline. Choose one of the articles, state the thesis and describe the sources the author used for evidence to support the thesis. Are those sources available at penn? purpose: become acquainted with the sort of questions, issues and methodologies that are central to the discipline.

assignment: use periodical and book indices to update a literature review done several years ago on a topic being addressed in the class. What criteria were used to evaluate resources? purpose: learn how to conduct a serious literature review. Gain a more thorough knowledge of the methods used and approaches taken in considering an issue. Identify how arguments, positions and ideas take different tracks in different parts of the literature. assignment: examine the importance of a seminal scholarly work or pivotal scholar by learning how the relevant ideas have impacted on and been developed by later works and figures. purpose: learn to trace the development of an idea through the scholarly literature. Gain a better understanding of how ideas evolve and of what make a work seminal to a discipline.

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