for faculty

Give us a copy of the assignment with recommended sources in advance and tell us a few other things:

• How many students are in the class?
• What is the purpose of this assignment?
• How much should we help?

Are they expected to use specific books for the assignment? If so, what are they?

• We will need to put the books in an area where everyone can use them, and where they will be free from theft, misplacement, and vandalism.

Avoid sending entire classes to use a single volume or find a single journal article.

• Students will be frustrated with the item's constant absence.
• The item will be hidden, vandalized, or lost.
• When feasible, place copies of the item on Reserve
• Design the assignment so that students can use of a variety of similar resources to complete it.

Be sure what you ask for is in the Library.

• Titles are sometimes discontinued, lost, vandalized, stolen, hidden, or misshelved.
• Check before the project is assigned.
• Call or email us--we will be happy to check for you.
  
  

Use the correct terminology and exact titles:

• Differentiate between magazines and journals.
• Specify by name the reference book, database, or index that students should use.
• Clarify with students that a database is not the same thing as the Internet or the Web.
• Elucidate. For example, to your students, the phrase "library computer" could mean the Library's online catalog, a CD-ROM standalone computer, any computer connected to the Internet, InfoTrac, a computer in the Instructional Media Center or the library webpage accessed at home.
• If you were to refer to the "chemical handbook," to a librarian you could mean Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook, Chemical Technicians' Ready Reference Handbook, Lange's Handbook of Chemistry, or the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. To a student the possibilities become enormous.

Be mindful of the fact that the Library's resources are continually changing.

• New databases arrive monthly
• Old databases change contents and search methods
• New electronic resources may require specialized instruction and substantial practice for effective use.
  
  

Do not assume that students have had prior experience in using the Library.

• Students tend to overestimate their understanding of the library
• New freshmen, transfer students, international students, or new graduate students may have had no experience with our library system.
• Basic library skills may be inadequate for complicated research assignments
• Match the assignment to the educational level of the students.
  
  

Don't do "scavenger hunts" that ask students to locate random facts.

• They lack a clear purpose and teach little
• They require the same sources for numerous hunters
• They are often very frustrating for students AND librarians.
• Frequently it is the librarians who end up locating the information for self-preservation.

Use assignments which:

• take the students through the steps of locating the literature
• demonstrate how research is done in the profession
• require an integration of knowledge
• which ask for critical thinking and evaluation of resources
  

Recall that the typical undergraduate's approach to research is not as:

• rigorous,
• patient,
• thorough
• or timely as a graduate student's or a professor's.
  
  

Help students pace the assignment so they don't procrastinate.

• If the assignment is an extended project, establish deadlines for different stages of the assignment
• Require initial research to focus a topic
• Ask for ever increasing number of sources
• Ask for annotations
• Require a formatted bibiliography before the paper is due
  
  

Emphasize respect for library materials.

• Ripping pages out of a journal is selfish and vile
• Theft increases university expenses, therefore increases tuition
• Theft is against the whole University Community, not just the librarians

Be sure that students know why and how to cite information they find in the Library.

• Share information with them about the documentation style required
  
  

List some relevant resources available in the Library to get students started.

Visit the Library often to familiarize yourself with the changes, improvements, and new materials.

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To make comments or suggestions, or to get more information, call (334) 460-6045 or e-mail Jan Sauer.
  Last updated: 03/27/01. js
This page: http://www.usouthal.edu/univlib/sauer/faculty/assign.html