Author Archives: Anne Leonard

Notes from today, and reading for Wednesday, November 16

On Wednesday we’ll begin to discuss the rationale for documentation and citation. Please read Hauptman pp. 7-13; if you missed class get the book on reserve in the library (call number PN171 .F56 H38 2008), as well as Howard, Hot Type: A Modern Scholar’s Ailments: Link Rot and Footnote Flight

The research paper draft is due one week from today, on Monday, November 21 at the beginning of class. Please get in touch early if you have questions or issues about the research paper draft — do not wait until the weekend.

Slides from today are available here.

~Prof. Leonard

Notes for today, reminder about the outline due Friday, and reading and blogging for Monday, November 14

Today we finished crowdsourcing website evaluation criteria and determined that currency, expertise, objectivity, and accuracy were some important criteria on which to evaluate web content. We also played the evaluation game in class. We have a winning team: Randell, Jonathan, and Lukasz scored the most points with the websites they found, a piece on the site TriplePundit and an article from USA Today.

Your outline for the research paper is due by 10 a.m. Friday. Refer to the guidelines or ask me if you have any questions about that assignment. On Monday we’ll discuss the writing of an academic research paper. Please read Badke, chapter 10 and Appendix 1, pp. 196-203 and write a research journal blog post; see prompt below:

You should receive annotated bibliographies with my comments and a grade by the end of the day Thursday. Those of you writing on cyberbullying and teens’ use of social networking sites and social media might be interested in this report, out today from the Pew Internet Project, an authoritative and reliable research center for current research on how the internet affects our lives.

Here is the prompt for your final research journal blog post:

Last week we read about and worked on:
1.advanced internet searching
2.searching library catalogs
3.searching article databases.
•What have you learned in these classes that’s new to you?
•How do you see yourself using your new skills outside of our course?

Slides from today are available here.

Have a good weekend!

Notes from today, and reading and blogging homework for Wednesday, November 9

Please note that the new due date for the research paper outline is Friday, November 11 by 10 am as an email attachment to me. Send either .doc, .docx, or .rtf formats, please!

On Wednesday, we’ll be discussing evaluation of sources in any format: how to evaluate. We’ll play the evaluation game with some of the criteria we came up with today in class.
You have two short reading assignments and a research blog post for Wednesday. Please read through the following two websites: Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask from UC Berkeley, and Critically Analyzing Information Sources from Cornell University.

Please write one research journal blog post addressing this prompt:

You’ve now written your research proposal and annotated bibliography – the next major step will be to write the first draft of your research paper. What strategies will you use when writing your first draft? What’s worked well for you when you’ve written other research papers? Do you feel uncertain or have any questions about writing the research paper?

Slides for today are available here.

Any questions about the upcoming research paper and related assignments? Feel free to ask by email or bring your questions to class.

~Prof. Leonard

Notes from today, and readings and homework for Monday, November 7

On Monday 11/7 we’ll move into a discussion of the evaluation of sources in any format and why to evaluate. We’ll also play an evaluation game.
Please read the following two articles:

Fister, B. (2003). The devil in the details: Media representation of ritual abuse and evaluation of sources. SIMILE: Studies in Media and Information Literacy Education, 3(2), 1-14.
Grimmelman, J. (2008/2009). The Google dilemma. New York Law School Law Review, 53, 939-950.

DUE: Annotated bibliography

Please follow the guidelines for the annotated bibliography, and include a more focused research question at the top of the document. I prefer to receive your assignments as email attachments in .doc, .docx, or .rtf format, though you can turn a paper copy in at the beginning of class.

As you search for (and find!) sources for the bibliography and research paper, don’t forget about all of your options via the A-Z list on the library’s website. When you are in any EBSCO database, you can cross-search across several at once by clicking the Choose Databases link at the top of the advanced search screen. Try some other databases, including Science Direct, JSTOR or Project Muse for scholarly articles, and Lexis-Nexis for newspapers. For background information on your topic, try Gale Virtual Reference Library or Oxford Reference Online Premium.

Slides from today are available here.

Have a good weekend!

~Prof. L.

Words of Wisdom from William Badke

I am a regular reader of ILI-L, an email list for librarians interested in information literacy and library instruction, and just came across our textbook author Bill Badke’s recent post offering advice to college faculty on teaching students how to research:

The Top 10 Things we All Should Know about Today’s Research Environment.

1.       Sources of information are changing
2.       Search in today’s databases is complex
3.       Students don’t understand the research process
4.       Students don’t know they don’t understand the research process
5.       Faculty are increasingly baffled by research technology, and that can be corrected
6.       Librarians hold the key to the information kingdom
7.       You need librarians, and so do your students
8.       Today’s academic databases offer so much more than keyword searching
9.       Electronic full text is winning the day
10.   Wikipedia is not Public Enemy Number One

Badke, William B. (2011, October 31). RE: faculty instruction. [Msg 9]. Message posted to http://lists.ala.org/sympa/arc/ili-l/2011-10/msg00266.html

Any comments? You know what to do.
~Prof. L.

Notes from today, and reading & blogging homework for Wednesday, November 2

Today we discussed library catalogs, struggled to use CUNY+ and had a bit more success with WorldCat. I hear that the CUNY+ technical difficulties are well on their way to resolution, so try searching from home and report your success in the comments below.
On Wednesday, we’ll continue our discussion on searching (and finding) sources for the annotated bibliography and research paper, moving into a discussion on using library databases to find articles. For Wednesday, please read Badke Ch. 5 (pp. 76-95) and write one research journal blog post. Below is the prompt for the research journal blog post for Wednesday:

Do a search on your research topic in at least one internet search engine and one library resource, like the CUNY+ catalog.
What words or phrases did you use to search?
What are the similarities and differences between the results of your two searches?

Don’t forget that next week you have two written assignments due: the annotated bibliography on Monday 11/7 and the research paper outline on Wednesday 11/9.

Slides for today are available here.

~Prof. Leonard

Notes from today, and reading & blogging for Monday, October 31

Today we discussed advanced internet searching and tried out some of the techniques and strategies from class discussion and from Badke, chapter 6. Don’t forget to set up your google scholar preferences on computers you use off-campus so that you can connect to City Tech library resources through the Find It! button.

On Monday we’ll discuss library catalogs and how to search (and find!) books and other media in them. Please read Badke chapter 5 pp. 71-76 and review the Library of Congress Classification Outline. Your second research journal  blog post is also due on Monday; prompt is below:

In class today you tried out advanced search strategies and scholarly internet resources from the Badke reading to search for sources on your research topic.
Describe 1 advanced strategy or scholarly resource you used.
Did you find different information sources than you found doing a regular internet search (just using Google, Yahoo, etc.), and if so, how are they different?
Did you encounter any difficulties that you haven’t encountered in a regular internet search?

Slides for today are available here.

~Prof. L

Notes from today, and assignment for Wednesday October 26

On Wednesday we’ll discuss advanced internet searching. Please read
Reading: Badke Ch. 6 (all) and Ch. 7 pp. 122-124 and watch the Common Craft video on web search strategies.

Your research paper topic proposal is due on Wednesday at the beginning of class. I’ll accept either a word document attached to an email or a printed copy.  Please refer to the guidelines (also distributed in class), and do not hesitate to get in touch by email if you have any questions about the assignment.

Slides from today are available here.
~Prof. Leonard

Notes from today, and reading & blogging for Monday, October 24

I hope the bubbl.us activity helped you begin to organize your thoughts and see relationships among your ideas for the research paper topic.If you want to share your mind map or get feedback, you can post your bubbl in a new post on the blog (see my post below). If you are still generating an idea for the research paper and wish to review class notes, visit the Slides page of the course site.

On Monday, we’ll continue our discussion about the process of research: refining a topic and creating search strategies. Please read Badke, appendix 1 pp. 177-195 and review Badke Ch. 3 pp. 34-41. Your first research journal blog post is due Monday as well. Here is prompt for that post:

You are working on choosing a topic and developing a research question for your paper. What difficulties (if any) have you encountered as you work on your research proposal?
What strategies (if any) have you used successfully during this work?
What questions (if any) do you have about the assignment?

Slides from today are available here.

~Prof. L.

bubbl.us – brainstorming and mind mapping in class

using bubbl.us to brainstorm and map ideas for the research project

Feel free to post your own mind maps from today’s class. If you have any questions about how bubbl.us works, ask in the comments. If you have answers to those questions, feel free to answer in the comments! ~Prof. L.