Faculty Information: Effective Library Assignments

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We offer the following suggestions for you to consider when designing assignments that require library research.

• Consider research-based assignments that are not the traditional term paper. For instance, presentations to the class that utilize research, glossaries for the course that require research, etc. If you integrate library research into your other assignments, research will become more familiar to and comfortable for your students. The more scholarly research your students do, the better they will become at it.
• Before writing the assignment, make sure the library has the appropriate sources for the assignment you envision.
• Even if this is an assignment you’ve used in the past, it is best to double-check with our resources. What might have been a hard-copy journal may now be available through our databases.
• It is good practice to do this every time you make an assignment, even if you do a similar assignment every semester--our resources can change from semester-to-semester.
• Consider the size of our collection and avoid assignments that rely upon a limited number of sources in our collection that your class must all use. If everyone is assigned the same topic our collection will only assist those first few students who come to the library.
• Consider placing appropriate materials for the assignment on reserve.
• We have a great resource in OhioLink and OPAL, but it takes a few days for resources to get here once ordered. Consider this lag time when deciding when to give the assignment and when it is due. If students have sufficient time to order from these sources they will.
• Not every topic is addressed in scholarly research, especially new phenomena, ideas, or concepts. Other topics might not have received scholarly attention. Consider requiring students to do preliminary research on their topic (and perhaps turn in annotated bibliographies) for their sources before topics are approved. This will allow the student and yourself to understand the possible limits for research on the topic.
• Not everything is available on the Internet. Please check before you make an assignment that relies upon students finding information/sources on the Internet.
• “Test Run” your assignment with one of the Heidelberg librarians.
• We can catch potential problems with the assignment based on our knowledge of our resources, research terms, and source terms. We can also help you ensure that the assignment meets the research goals you set for the assignment.
• Explain the assignment clearly and in writing.
• This helps the student have more focus when they are doing their work in the library, but it also gives us a chance to read the assignment so we can better help your students. (However, we won’t hesitate to suggest that the student checks with her/his instructor.)
• Help your students develop specific, well-defined research topics.
• The more specific their research topic, the better we can help them find the sources they want and need.
• A well-defined research topic also makes for more efficient research than if they start general and later get more specific.
• Schedule library instruction
• Instruction works best in context with an assignment, so contact us well in advance so we can accommodate your schedule as much as possible soon after you’ve made the assignment. Library instruction is most effective when done after students have received the assignment and have selected a topic for that assignment.
• Send a copy of the assignment to the library
• The librarians will have access to the assignments so we can better assist your students.
• Be clear about your expectations of sources from the Internet
• Students should know how to evaluate Internet sources (a library instruction class can address this if you’d like) depending on your requirements for research and for their assignment.
• Be clear about the difference between academic, scholarly sources found via the Internet (through sources like Google Scholar and our databases) and those found from general Internet searches, including Wikipedia.
• Be clear about what sources you will accept and not accept in your assignment (we cannot make this call for your students as we did not write the assignment nor are we responsible for grading the assignment).
• Be specific about the sources you require for the assignment
• How many?
• What kind? (Academic articles, general periodicals, books, etc.)
• How many of what kind?
• Clearly explain the difference between your expectations of primary and secondary sources.
• Address the difference between just having the correct number of sources and having the correct number of good sources.
• Encourage your students to ask for help from the Reference Librarians.
• We won’t do their research for them, but we will help them with their research.
• Be clear about what citation style you require for the assignment (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.)
• We are often asked questions about how to cite quotations and sources and we direct them to our copies of the various style manuals and online sources that can assist them.

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