Term Paper Alternatives: Ideas for Information-Based Assignments
(Adapted
from materials developed by Queen Elizabeth II Library,
University of Newfoundland, St. John’s Newfoundland, Canada)
| Some
faculty members have lost confidence in the learning effectiveness of
the traditional research paper for undergraduates.
Concerns over “cut-and-paste” plagiarism and term paper
purchasing have created a need for different approaches towards
information-based assignments. Term
papers have been the most commonly used method of evaluating whether
students can successfully apply information skills, but there are other
ways to incorporate information resources into assignments without
requiring a full-scale research paper.
Students may actually respond better to alternative assignments
that enable them to focus on specific resources, aspects of the research
process or aspects of the discipline. Students need to acquire information skills. But the skills required to find, evaluate and use the best information in the most efficient manner must be taught and practiced in the context of a discipline. Information skills are tools for fostering mastery of a subject and achieving course objectives. Librarians are available to discuss various information resources and term-paper alternatives with you. A number of handouts are available to help students with different types of assignments such as writing annotated bibliographies, book reviews. Consultation with librarians helps to clarify their understanding of the assignment so that they can better assist your students. When adapting any of the ideas below, please note that the clarity of your directions, details and examples contribute to the assignment’s and your students’ success. Anatomy
of a term paper
Assignment:
Conduct the research for a term paper. Do everything except write it. At
various stages, students submit: 1) topic clearly defined, 2) annotated
bibliography of useful sources, Purpose:
Focuses on the stages of research and the parts of a paper, rather than
on the writing Annotated
Bibliography Assignment: Find a specified number of sources on a topic and write descriptive or evaluative annotations for each source. Purpose: Sharpens the skills of literature searching and mastering a bibliographic style. Students learn to identify the essential details of a work and its relevance to the topic. Abstracting
an Article or Book Assignment: Read and prepare a summary of an article, chapter or book. Purpose:
Learn to identify the basic information needed to determine if reading
the entire article or book is appropriate for a given project. Students learn to summarize without evaluative comment
while giving potential readers as much pertinent information as possible
in a brief format. Assignment: Provide a precise statement of the search topic. Run the search on the Web (try more than one search engine) and on a database (EBSCOhost, Lexis-Nexis, Wilson, etc). Present some representation of the search results and compare the findings. Was one source better than the other, if so why and how? Justify the choice of databases. Purpose:
Demonstrates the differences between these searches with respect to
content and search strategy. Teaches students that Internet access is
not just one thing and that Web searching is not the same as database
searching. Assignment: Review the literature on a specific topic for a given time period. Purpose:
Reveals the purpose of a literature review, and provides experience
doing one. Students must
identify appropriate articles and use them to describe the current
thinking or research on a topic. Assignment: Select (or assign) a topic on which a review article was written a number of years ago and update that review. Purpose: Introduces students to literature reviews, subject indexes and reference sources. Demonstrates the evolution of a particular topic and the scholarly communication surrounding it. Requires students to analyze, synthesize and integrate the ideas they find. Poster
Session Assignment: Research a topic and present it as a poster that other students will use to learn about the topic. Purpose: Gives the opportunity to conduct a search and requires students to express the important points succinctly. Understanding
the Structure of "the Literature"
Understanding
"The Literature" of a Discipline
Assignment: What does "the literature" of a discipline look like? What comprises it? How is it produced, disseminated and accessed in a given discipline? How is the knowledge produced? By whom? In which media is it presented? What is the publishing cycle? How important is informal communication in the field? Purpose: Demystifies the elusive term "the literature" and provides students with an understanding of the mechanisms, organization and structure of the literature in a given field. Examining
a Classical Work
Assignment: Explore through book reviews, biographical information, and indexes how and why a work becomes a "classic." What effect does a classical work have on a discipline? Purpose: Demonstrates the evolution of ideas and identifies factors that make a work "important". Following
Research Trends Assignment: Select a present day issue or concern. Search the past literature at 5 or 10-year intervals. How have theories or attitudes toward the issue changed? Purpose: Demonstrates that the problems and concerns of humankind have not really changed through the years. What have changed are our attitudes and understandings of these concerns. Illustrates the explosion of research and how its issues, content and methods change. Assignment: Forecasting in retrospect, what did articles written in the [1960s] predict about the future of [computers]. Did the forecasts come true or not? Why? Purpose: Demonstrates the importance of historical perspective and how unexamined assumptions and other variables can produce unexpected results. Tracing
a Scholar's Career
Assignment: Students choose (or are assigned) a scholar/researcher. Explore that person's career and ideas by locating biographical information, preparing a bibliography of the scholar’s writings, analyzing the reaction of the scholarly community to the researcher's work, and examining the scholarly network in which the scholar works. Purpose: Introduces students to the use of biographical and bibliographical tools, and exposes them to examples of scholarly dialogue. Identifying Major Journals Assignment: How many journals are published in a given field? Identify (with professor's help) journals "basic" to the discipline. Compare and contrast them. Analyze their content, tone, audience and impact. Purpose: Emphasizes the importance of journal literature. Makes the point that journals differ in approach and perspective. Understanding
Primary Sources
Assignment: Compare and contrast primary and secondary sources on the same topic. Contrast the sources, their content and treatment of the topic. Purpose: Teaches students to differentiate between primary/secondary sources in a discipline. Shows when and why to use each. Assignment: Find a short article in the popular press and the original research findings on which the popular article was based. Review related findings, discuss the relationship between the popular article and the original research, and critique the accuracy of the popular article. Purpose: Helps students to critically evaluate resources and their contents. Simulations
of Real-Life Projects Assignment: Prepare a grant or research proposal, marketing or business plan, or solution to a tax, accounting or financial problem. State the specific problem to be solved or task to be accomplished. Provide background on the problem. How have these issues been dealt with in the past? What is the current thinking on this issue? How do you propose to solve the problem or what are the questions you need to ask to solve the problem? What support can you offer for your solution? Purpose: Simulates for students how they will apply their information skills in the context of problems they will encounter in their discipline or career. Critical
Reading
Look
Behind the Book
Assignment: Examine the credibility of a major monograph in the field. Who wrote it? What are the author's credentials? What is the point of view of the book? Find three reviews of it and compare them. Suggest comparable works (with reasons). Purpose: Emphasizes that ideas and people have contexts. Analyze
the Argument Assignment: Identify and examine the assumptions implicit in an article. Identify the author's thesis. Outline the theoretical framework used to account for the results. [Professor may want to hand out specific questions, in order to focus on different aspects of the article]. Purpose: Provides practice in reading what is implicit, rather than explicit, in a paper. Assignment: Examine the experimental design, data, and interpretation of the data in a research paper for adequacy and consistency. [Professor may want to hand out questions, to pinpoint specific aspects of the article]. Purpose: Focuses on the critical evaluation of research. Compare
Book Reviews Assignment: Locate and read [three, four, etc.] reviews of a work. Do the reviews vary? If so, why? What viewpoints, biases or assumptions do the reviewers exhibit? Purpose: provides insight to the importance of critical reception. Contrast
Journal Articles
Assignment: Use an index to locate two articles that present differing viewpoints (scholarly/popular, conservative/liberal). Purpose: Reveals that most journals appeal to a defined constituency and that their reporting and editorial policies reflect the attitudes of that constituency. Assignment: Read several articles that appear to address the same question but reach different conclusions. Account for the differences by examining the methods used, the experimental design, and the interpretation of the results. [Professor would select the articles]. Purpose: Encourages students to approach research with a healthy skepticism, and develops evaluative skills. Assignment: Review a book/film (either of the students' choice or one assigned to them). What is the author’s thesis? Identify the author’s main ideas and how they are developed? Discuss the author's credentials. Compare the book/film to similar works in the field. A film can also be compared to its source e.g. a book, a play. Purpose: To place a book/film in its intellectual context. Read
the References Assignment: Read the articles cited in a research paper. Explain how each is related to the paper. In what circumstances is it appropriate to cite other papers? What different purposes do the citations serve? Purpose: Shows when it is appropriate to recognize the contributions of previous authors in the development of new work. Examine
Coverage of a Controversial Issue or Event Assignment: Examine the treatment of a controversial issue or event in several sources [newspapers, editorials, magazines, scholarly journal, journals from different disciplines, etc.]. Purpose: Emphasizes that there are multiple perspectives on any issue or event. Using
the Web
Finding
Additional Information
Assignment: Give students an article to critique. Have them locate two Internet sources that support their response to the topic. Have them cite the URLs and highlight the points that show support of their response. Purpose: Gives students an opportunity to appreciate that information can come from a variety of sources. Finding
Suitable Information
Assignment: Give the students a set of Web pages to look at. Have them note any reasons why these pages are or are not appropriate for college level student research or for in-class use. Purpose: A source that is useful in one instance may not be useful in all instances. Either scholarly or popular sites might be appropriate depending on the requirements of the class assignment. Locating
and Evaluating Internet Sites
Assignment:
Have the students find a Web page or site of interest to them, or one
that is appropriate to a project they are working on. Have them cite
this page using a style manual and write 2-3 paragraphs evaluating the
site they have chosen. Ask
them to include a print copy of Purpose: Helps students learn to use appropriate criteria when evaluating Web sites. Comparing
print and Web resources
Assignment: In groups of 3-5, have students examine pairs of items (books, articles, web sites) to determine indicators of quality in each item, where exactly they found those indicators, and the appropriate use for each item. Have them report their findings to the class after the class has also had a chance to evaluate the sites. Purpose: Students learn that the Web has not replaced print resources, but it should be used as a complement to them. |
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