Beyond “Alternatives to Research Papers” Applying Alternatives to Specific Subjects By Kendall Hobbs Reference/Instruction Librarian Wesleyan University NELIG Annual Program 2002

Why Alternatives? Research paper benefits and drawbacks. More systematic information literacy instruction and practice. Info lit integrated into course content. Virtually limitless possibilities.

Why a List? Librarians have seen such lists before, but faculty usually have not. Faculty were typically taught their subject but not how to teach it. Make it easy for faculty to rearrange assignments.

Before Making a List Do your homework: Education theory (active learning, critical thinking, learning styles, stages of intellectual development, etc). Course, department, school curricula. Your experience helping students, and knowledge of collection, resources, strategies, etc. Define and prioritize goals for list.

Putting the List Together What do faculty want their students to be able to do? How can their students learn to do this? What do students want to be able to do? And why would they want to do your assignments?

Applying the List What is important for this course or discipline? What is unique to this course or discipline? Keep in mind: info lit is a means, not an end.

Some Examples Phil 200 – Philosophical Methods Soc 202 – Sociological Analysis Anth 201 – Anthropological Theory

Philosophy – What’s Important or Unique Primary / secondary / reference overlap.

Philosophy – Assignments Compare reference sources: look up one topic in many sources. Search log: note databases used, search strategies, results, etc. Annotated bibliography: place each source in reference to others.

Sociology – What’s Important or Unique Statistics, surveys, etc.

Sociology – Assignments Update statistics: find latest statistics, compare with older analysis. Research proposal: include literature review, place proposal in context.

Anthropology – What’s Important or Unique Time

Anthropology – Assignments Pick a journal, trace its history. Pick a theorist, write a brief intellectual biography, referring to past and present critiques in the literature. A good idea that didn’t quite fit: compare an older and a recent ethnography.

Bibliography Farber, Evan I. Alternatives to the term paper. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, v. 18, June 1984, p Gibson, Craig. Alternatives to the term paper: an aid to critical thinking. The Reference Librarian, no. 24, 1989, p Rehmke, Denise M. Creating meaningful assignments for student learning. In: Learning and Libraries in an Information Age. Teacher Ideas Press, Souchek, Russell; Meier, Marjorie. Teaching information literacy and scientific process skills: an integrated approach. College Teaching, v. 45, no. 4, Fall 1997, p Winiarz, Elizabeth; Sullivan, S. John. Discovering the variety of library resources through bibliographic instruction and an assignment. Canadian Library Journal, v. 48, Oct 1991, p

Wesleyan’s List Integrating Information Literacy into the Curriculum (list of alternative assignments): Information Literacy for Wesleyan Students: