Information Literacy for Teaching and Learning – May 9-11, 2006
Evaluation of Assignment in Technical and Scientific Communication
Lucy Bednar (instructor) Reba Leiding (liaison librarian)
Introduction
My goal in TSC 230, Research in Technical and Scientific Communication, is to emphasize how practical topics and everyday problems can be investigated through the methodologies we discuss in class. I ask my students to pose research questions that have a real-world dimension, and I emphasize the importance of primary research. However, I also require that my students do secondary research on the question they’re posing, and I ask them to submit a relatively short annotated bibliography. By participating in the Information Literacy Workshop I hoped to design an assignment that would improve the quality of the annotated bibliography, help students refine a research question, and, most importantly, illustrate how secondary source material could be incorporated effectively into a research report.
Results of Using the Assignment
This past fall I used the assignment that Reba Leiding and I developed during the workshop last May. I used the assignment with two relatively small groups of TSC 230 students. Total number of students was 20. Based on the annotated bibliographies that students submitted, I believe I was able to convey more efficiently and more precisely what an annotated bibliography should contain. However, I saw very little improvement in the way students used secondary source material to refine a question or improve a report.
I devoted three entire class sessions to the assignment that Ms. Leiding and I developed. We both were available during two of those sessions to field student questions and make suggestions. Nonetheless, most students still had difficulty identifying what secondary source material would be of possible use to them in their research, as well as how secondary source material could be adapted to the questions they were posing. They kept looking for research specific to their question and often failed to identify perfectly appropriate material that explored an analogous question or situation, even when we demonstrated how that could be done.
To my surprise, when I asked students for their feedback on the assignment, they suggested that Ms. Leiding do a general intro to library resources rather than focusing directly on their tentative questions. When I asked if such an approach wouldn’t repeat what they had all learned in the Go for the Gold program, they admitted that they hadn’t paid much attention to Go for the Gold, especially since the program can be completed without much effort.
What’s Next?
Perhaps the real problem is the proliferation of information, especially online, which makes it difficult for students to recognize quality secondary source material when they see it. Perhaps students need to see a specific example of what I expect from them before the library work begins.
This semester I have only one section of TSC 230, and I have decided to use a modified version of the assignment that Ms. Leiding and I developed. I still think that with some revision the assignment we developed will work. I plan to continue with that revision.