Assignments for the First and Second Year That Build Research and Information Literacy Skills PETAL Winter Workshop January 9, 2007 Marianne Simmons Lavery Library

Research Skills Developing a search strategy Becoming familiar with major journals Becoming familiar with major reference works Improving analysis skills Citation mechanics

Developing a Search Strategy Topic Map Using Databases General Databases Subject specific databases Google Scholar

TOPIC Or RESEARCH QUESTION CONCEPT Break topic into major concepts CONCEPT Find synonyms and combine concepts to form a search statement CONCEPT SEARCH STATEMENT Look in the subject thesaurus of databases to find subject headings or descriptors in place of keywords Assignment 1A Topic Chart (courtesy of Kim Davies SUNY Geneseo

Should marijuana be legal in the US? legal*behavior marijuana SEARCH STATEMENT marijuana OR cannabis AND legal* AND behavior OR harm OR policy MEDLINE THESAURUS Marijuana OR cannabis Assignment 1A Topic Chart DATABASES Academic Search Premier Proquest Research Library Medline Sociological Abstracts CQ Researcher Science Direct

Using Databases Assignment 1B Using General Databases, Subject specific Databases and Google Scholar Use one general subject database to locate 2 journal articles that pertain to your topic Use one subject specific database such as Anthrosource (Anthropology) to locate 2 journal articles that pertain to your topic Use the advanced search of Google Scholar to locate 2 journal articles that pertain to your topic Print the citations and abstracts (you should have 6)

Becoming familiar with major journals in a field Assignment 2A Examine a copy (published within the past 3 years) of five of the journals listed American Journal of Sociology American Sociological Review Contexts Electronic Journal of Sociology Journal of Progressive Human Services Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare Prison Legal News Race and Class Social Forces Social Science and Modern Society Answer the following questions about each journal: Publisher Is this publication refereed or peer reviewed Intended Audience Relevance to field of Sociology Describe the advertisements Describe the book reviews (if applicable)

Becoming familiar with reference works in a field Assignment 3A Select a topic Find 2 scholarly journal articles on your topic Find one book title related to your topic Find two websites relevant to your topic Cite all these using correct APA format Find a relevant passage in a subject encyclopedia Find a relevant passage in 2 other books located in the reference area of the library Write a short statement of the scope of these reference materials

Improving Analysis Skills Assignment 4A Looking Beyond the Headlines (courtesy of Lindsey LaPlant, SJFC) Find an article in the popular press or newspaper that refers to a piece of research in psychology. Locate the original research in the scholarly literature. Describe your search strategy. Compare the popular literature’s description of the research with the actual research. Was the original research portrayed accurately in the popular literature? Describe the similarities and differences.

Improving Analysis Skills Assignment 4B Moving beyond an overview of your topic (CQ Researcher) Locate a report in CQ researcher that is older than 5 years. Read the Outlook section of this report. Describe the most recent research on this topic. That is, bring the report up to date. Was CQ researcher accurate with respect to future directions? Did events or “breakthroughs” occur that challenge the accuracy of this report? Examine the Chronology Update the chronology Look at the Pro/Con debate section of the CQ report. Would any arguments be different in light of new information or historical events within the past 5 years? Describe how arguments and conclusions might be the same or different

Citation Mechanics Assignment 5A Practice proper citation format Select a topic Use an electronic database to locate 6 scholarly journal articles in your field Prepare an annotated bibliography Prepare a works cited page Use APA format

Citation Mechanics Assignment 5B Learning to use NoodleBib (citation software) APA Style Create a NoodleBib account. You must use a library computer to create your account. Once you have established a username and password, you may access NoodleBib remotely off the library page. Convert Assignment 5A to a 6 paragraph paper. Use your topic as the title. Paste all 6 paragraphs of your annotated bibliography into NoodleBib Save your work in your NoodleBib account and in one other place Cite the source for each paragraph Prepare a Works Cited page