University Libraries: Resources and links to help Student researchers - March 2020

Hi First Year Writing instructors!

WE CAN HELP!!

We know many of you have research assignments beginning or in progress (and had in-person library research workshops scheduled). We want to give you a bunch of options as you plan. We are also open to your ideas and want to collaborate during these interesting times!

First, keep in mind:

We have many online tutorials and services to support students as they do research remotely and from off-campus.
As you know, we have millions of online journals, magazines, newspapers, ebooks, etc. The vast majority of these can be accessed from any computer/device anywhere with Internet access.
AND our physical campus libraries are open (likely with reduced hours) and we can provide students with support if they are on-campus.
Chat with a Librarian 24/7
Students can get questions about research answered 24/7. This is a robust service model which will be available for the duration.
Students can request an online consultation
Students (and you) can request a consultation, either in person or virtually. Simply fill out the request form and we will work with the individual to set up a time to meet.
Note: We are still working on whether we will be able to offer our Peer Research Consultations virtually (we will let you know).

Feel free to contact me (katep@umn.edu) or Lacie McMillin (mice0018@umn.edu) with questions, rescheduling options, or other ideas/concerns.

Online research-based assignments
Note: These apply to both WRIT 1301 and WRIT 1401.

We have created a series of assignments built on our existing video tutorials.
Instead of asking students to do all of these at once or relying on just one tutorial -- we want to encourage you to assign all of these over a few days or weeks while students work on their research. There is some planned redundancy and we talk about similar concepts in a recursive way in order to meet students where they are at while they are doing research. This helps support their learning and building skills over time.

For each of the assignments below - students will answer questions after watching a video or going through a tutorial. They will get an email with their answers. They can forward this to you for credit (or we can share student answers directly with you). Each of these gives students the option of getting additional help and we will follow up via email with individual students based on their questions.

Early stages of research

Getting Started with Research Assignment (20 minutes)

This assignment introduces students to the University Libraries and discusses how library research may differ from internet searching in general. It includes a welcome video, information about choosing a topic, and explains what databases are and how they might help students with their research.

Middle stages of research

Intro to library Research Assignment (30 minutes)
The assignment asks students to go through 4 modules and covers the entire research paper process at a high level. Students are asked to find 3 sources, how did the research go, do you want follow up from the Libraries). Students will get an email with their answers. They can forward this to you (or we can share results).

Learn more about Sources Assignment (25 minutes)

This assignment is focused on helping students understand some of the differences between types of sources -- such as scholarly journal articles vs. popular sources such as magazines and asking students to think about how and why to use a variety of sources. This assignment also explains the peer review process.

Academic honesty and plagiarism Assignment (30 minutes)

We have a brand new Academic Honesty tutorial via Canvas. This includes two modules introducing students to the concepts of academic integrity and scholastic dishonesty. The second module focuses on using sources in academic writing.

Zoom synchronous session

If you are planning on bringing students together synchronously (not sure if this is even a possibility) -- we can teach a modified workshop via Zoom during your regularly scheduled class time. We can change the scheduled date for this as well. If you are interested in this, let us know and we can match you up with a librarian to work on it.

EVEN MORE

If you want to build your own assignments or add links to individual tutorials
Tip: We know that these get used significantly more when they are added as part of an “assignment” in Canvas (e.g. asking students to watch and then answer questions or reflect etc.) versus just adding them as a link in a module.

Tutorial: Choosing a research paper topic
Tutorial: What does it mean to be a scholarly source?
Tutorial: How scholarly research gets published in peer-reviewed journals and where to find it all
Tutorial: Creating an effective search strategy
Tutorial: What Is a library database and why should I use one?
Tutorial: What are citations?

Thank you,

Kate (and Lacie)