Tips for Creating Effective Library Research Assignments

Effective library research assignments promote student learning of subject matter and foster lifelong information literacy and critical thinking skills. Many students do not develop these lifelong research skills because they are unaware of the research tools or do not understand the expectations of scholarly disciplines. Assignments that teach research skills and critical thinking help students in using research tools and a better understanding of their discipline. Poorly designed library research assignments, though, can turn students off from a subject or library research forever.

Effective library research assignments include:

• Consulting with a library faculty member.

Librarians are the experts on information sources and the research process. A librarian, particularly a subject specialist, can provide ideas and suggest assignments that have been successful in the past. If you have already designed an assignment, notifying the librarians will allow the Library to note potential problems and provide appropriate support when students have questions.

• Library Instruction near the time the assignment is given or due.

Please do not assume your students have had prior training in doing college-level research or that searching the Web will give them the skills they need. They need training and practice in gathering information. Students are most receptive to training when it is delivered near the time a research assignment is given or due. When they can immediately apply the skills they were taught, Library Instruction is most useful.

• Clear objectives.

Be clear about what the assignment is meant to accomplish. If students view research assignments as busy work, they will resent the assignments and the research process. Also, students do not always understand what you mean when you give them directions about what steps to take or what sources to consult when doing research. For example, saying "no Internet resources" makes students think they cannot use the library databases which are accessed over the Internet rather than websites found through search engines.

• Pre-testing the assignment to determine if there are adequate information resources.

Before giving any research assignment to your students, try to complete it yourself using only the library resources and services that are available to your students. If key resources were difficult to locate or checked out, you may want to reconsider the assignment. You may also consider placing items that every student must look at on Reserve. Just another reason to consult a librarian about the assignment!

• Avoiding scavenger hunts.

Students find these frustrating and librarians usually end up doing the work. Asking students to find little bits of data on various topics is not an effective way to promote library research skills. Most students do not have the research skills to do more than find resources relating to broad topics. They lack the familiarity with information sources to find pieces of information from almanacs, handbooks, statistical sources, etc. Librarians usually end up finding these bits of data for students who learn little from the process.

• Accurate and complete citations.

When giving students a specific resource, please make sure the citation is accurate and complete. Sometimes the most important instructional objective is that students read and become familiar with specific resources. If so, give students all the information they will need to locate that resource within the library. The point of this exercise should not be overcoming great difficulties in getting to the reading material! The citations to the resource should be complete and correct including the author, title, publication information, call number and location within the library. If possible, provide this information to students in writing.

Click here for some example assignments

Send comments and questions to instruct@mail.ucf.edu

Last update: 17 January 2007