Spring 2009

INLS 200-002: Retrieving & Analyzing Information

　

[Overview] [Schedule & Reading] [Blackboard]

[Research Question] [Source Evaluation] [Research Project: Final Report]

[Research Database Review]

 

Research Project (Research Portfolio)

　

 

Overview

 

This course has one major assignment, which is broken up into several components due over the course of the semester. This assignment requires you to:

  1. explore the field of Information & Library Science, and

  2. develop strategies to retrieve information, evaluate the information retrieved, and use that information to respond to a question.

This one assignment is a research paper, and the components into which this assignment is broken up are the smaller steps that you must go through to research and write a research paper (this or any other research paper).

 

You will develop a question of interest to you in the field of Information & Library Science. Then, you will explore (i.e., examine, evaluate, and use) various sources to retrieve information relevant to your question. Finally, you will critique your information sources in portfolio entries, list your sources in a bibliography, and assemble the information into a brief report responding to the question.

 

　

Deliverables

 

The final deliverables for this assignment are:

Some of these deliverables are due throughout the semester (three source evaluations, a research question development draft). See the descriptions for these assignments in the Assignments section on Blackboard. These intermediate deliverables will be graded when they are submitted. The final report will be graded separately from these intermediate deliverables.

 

The final report should include all intermediate deliverables. Let me repeat that: your final report should contain everything that you have handed in all semester, plus additional material. The final report should be submitted as one file.

 

Note: You need to revise anything that you have handed in previously, responding to my feedback on your materials, and make a note in your final report of what was revised.

 

The final report is due the week following the final class session for this course. There is no final exam for this course.

　

　

A journal of Your Research Question's Development

　

Every change to your question should be documented, with a brief description of the reason(s) for the revision. You will submit this journal, combining your first and second drafts of research prospectus, explaining how they evolved during the semester and why you made changes. Please keep it mind that you need to include this journal to the final portfolio whenever you made changes on your research questions.

　

Report

 

The response to your research question should be developed as a brief formal report. The report should integrate the knowledge acquired from the sources consulted, citing each source as appropriate.

 

The report should be a 3-4 page paper (double-spaced). The report should explore (and answer, if there is an answer) your research question.

 

All sources that you use in answering your research question should be clearly cited in the report. This page contains a good overview of how to create citations in text. You must cite a source if you quote directly from it, but also if you simply use an idea from it.

 

There are many ways of making use of a source in a paper, but they all boil down to two basic ideas: direct quotes and summarizing. A quote is an actual passage from another person's writing, that you include in your own writing. When you quote a source, you must put the quotation inside "quotation marks," and cite the source by indicating the author, date, and page number (if applicable) that the quotation comes from. The author Isaac Asimov, for example, has this to say about using other people's writing in your own:

 

"... you must understand how learned books are written in case you ever want to write a learned book. First thing you do is get a thousand references, chosen at random... You then put them into the book, in the order you reach them... And stick two or three lines of your own between each of them to act as mortar... And you're all set" (Asimov, 1974).

 

No really, he's kidding. On the other hand, a summary of someone else's writing is just that, a summary. It's not a direct quote, but you're using an idea from the other person's writing. When you summarize someone else's writing, you still need to provide a citation to the work that the idea came from. For example, I believe that in order to be a well-informed person in the information age, you must possess information literacy skills, and so I have designed this course as Shapiro and Hughes (1996) suggest, as the foundation of an entire educational curriculum based on information. Once you cite a source, you must include that source in your bibliography.

 

 

Bibliography

 

An annotated bibliography must be included with the report, which must include all of the sources that you use in writing your report. These sources may be books, journal or magazine or newspaper articles, webpages, videotapes, whatever... in other words, the sources from which you are getting the content that you are using to answer your research question. These sources should not be databases, websites, etc... in other words, not the places where you found these sources.

 

The bibliography must be annotated: in other words, for each item in the bibliography, you must write a corresponding description of the item. These descriptions should be a paragraph or so in length, and must include the same type of information that you include in your source evaluations, only shorter: how you found the source, how you searched within the source, what information you gleaned from the source that was useful to you, the criteria by which you evaluated the source. If you use any of the sources that you evaluated for your 3 source evaluations in your final report, you do not need to write a new annotation for those.

 

While the number of items included in the bibliography will vary from topic to topic (i.e., student to student), each bibliography must contain at least 7 high-quality resources, which were cited in the report. Each information resource should be cited in American Psychological Association (APA) format. The bibliography should be organized alphabetically, by author's last name.

 

APA is the citation format most commonly used in the social sciences. If you are not familiar with this format, you should look at the APA Publication Manual, 5th edition, which is in nearly every library on campus. The following links may be helpful with this format:

　

3 Source Evaluations: Revisions

　

See the description for this assignment in the Assignments section on Blackboard. You will hand in three of these source evaluations during the semester: one each on a website, a reference source, and a database.

　

When you completed the source evaluations, the instructor will give you the feedback on your evaluations. You need to revise the evaluations based on the feedback of the instructor and include them in this final portfolio. You need to make notes on the evaluations, pointing which parts have revised. Whether you considered the instructor's feedback seriously and made an effort to update the evaluations will be counted for grading.

　

　

Presentation

　

Each of you will do a presentation on the final response to your research question for about 10 minutes (+3 minutes for Q&A).

 

Your presentation may include the following information.

 

The rest of the class is required to participate in the presentation actively, as asking questions, and writing feedback to the speakers (Asking questions, and feedback writing will be counted as a part of the class participation). Papers with the feedback will be prepared and collected by the instructor and given to the speakers eventually.

　

The following table describes the rubric for evaluating both individual and group presentations.

 

 

Points

 

1

2

3

4

Organization

Audience cannot understand presentation because there is no sequence of information.

Audience has difficulty following presentation because student jumps around.

Student presents information in logical sequence which audience can follow.

Student presents information in logical, interesting sequence which audience can follow.

Subject Knowledge

Student does not have grasp of information; student cannot answer questions about subject.

Student is uncomfortable with information and is able to answer only rudimentary questions.

Student is at ease with expected answers to all questions, but fails to elaborate.

Student demonstrates full knowledge (more than required) by answering all class questions with explanations and elaboration.

Graphics

Student uses superfluous graphics or no graphics

Student occasionally uses graphics that rarely support text and presentation.

Student's graphics relate to text and presentation.

Student's graphics explain and reinforce screen text and presentation.

Spelling & Grammar

Student's presentation has more than one misspelling and more than one grammatical error.

Presentation has exactly one misspelling and/or exactly one grammatical error, which a spell- or grammar checker would catch.

Presentation has exactly one misspelling and exactly one grammatical error, which a spell- or grammar checker would not catch.

Presentation has no misspellings or grammatical errors.

Eye Contact

Student reads all of report with no eye contact.

Student occasionally makes eye contact, but still reads most of report.

Student maintains eye contact most of the time but frequently returns to notes.

Student maintains eye contact with audience, seldom returning to notes.

Elocution

Student mumbles, incorrectly pronounces terms, and speaks too quietly for students in the back of class to hear.

Student's voice is low. Student incorrectly pronounces terms. Audience members have difficulty hearing presentation.

Student's voice is clear. Student pronounces most words correctly. Most audience members can hear presentation.

Student uses a clear voice and correct, precise pronunciation of terms so that all audience members can hear presentation.

 

Credits: This rubric was developed by Information Technology Evaluation Services, NC Department of Public Instruction: Presentation Rubric.

 

 

　

Criteria Used to Evaluate This Assignment (Total: 20)

　

This assignment will be evaluated based on the quality of the portfolio entries (evaluations and search strategies), the annotated bibliography, the quality of the final report, and the completeness of the portfolio. The documentation of the question evolution will be used only to clarify the selection of sources and the final report.

 

Each portfolio entry should provide evidence that you have closely examined and evaluated the source, that you have developed an effective strategy (or strategies) for searching the source (using the explanatory and supporting material provided by the source), and that you have gleaned from the source the information that is pertinent to your question.

 

The final report should be a clear, focused, well-integrated discussion responding to the research question in its final form. Appropriate sources, including a mix of electronic and print sources, should be clearly cited in the final report.

　

　

Assignment Submission

　

The due date of the final portfolio is April 27. All of the deliverables need to be combined as one file (See the Final Portfolio Template file on Blackboard). Submit the electronic file of the final portfolio (file name example: "Sanghee Oh_Final Portfolio.doc") by 5:00pm on the due date.

　

　

Last Updated: 01/09/2008