3.093 | Fall 2006 | Undergraduate

Information Exploration: Becoming a Savvy Scholar

Assignments

Students are expected to submit reviews of each tutorial module, and complete several homework assignments plus accompanying research logs.

Tutorial Module Reviews

Module Review assignments are an important part of this course; they are worth 30% of your total grade. The course instructors expect your honest feedback on these modules, as they will be revised for future use by 3.091 students.

For each Module Review, please include the following elements, or answer these questions:

  • Describe what you learned from each module. Tell us if you learned new information, or if you already knew that content.
  • Did the module meet your expectations of what you needed to learn? Why or why not?
  • Relate your preference for how you would ideally like to learn the content presented in the module: via an online module, via a lecture, or via another method (e.g. read it on a Web page).
  • Describe how you liked the delivery. Did the module move too slowly, too quickly? Were the graphics interesting? Was the module interactive enough?
  • Provide feedback on the quiz at the end of the module. Were the questions challenging enough? Were there too many or too few questions?
  • Give any other feedback you have about the content, presentation, or delivery of the modules.
  • For the second time you review this module, were there things discussed in class that were not included in the module? Do you think it should be included in the module? In what way?

Assignments

Assignment 1: Literature Review (PDF)

Assignment 2: Find an Expert (PDF)

Assignment 3: Forward Citation (PDF)

Assignment 4: Secondary Sources (PDF)

Assignment 5: Corroborating Information (PDF)

Assignment 6: Final Literature Review (PDF)

Research Logs

Research logs will accompany each assignment for this course, and are worth 30% of your total grade. The purpose of these is to make you think about your search process as you record your steps, and for the instructors to get a sense of how your search process is improving over the semester.

For each Research Log, please include the following elements, regardless of format (text, screen shots, charts, tables, etc.):

  • The name(s) of the database(s), Web site(s), book(s), or other source(s) you used to find information for the assignment
  • Describe why you chose those sources for your information search. Try to be specific and justify your choices.
  • Describe your search process (the steps you took, the keywords you searched, how you went about searching).
  • Explain the results you got from each source. Did you find what the information you expected to find? Were your results scholarly/academic in nature? Which results did you select, and why did you choose them?
  • The amount of time you spent searching each source.
  • Describe your emotional response to the experience. Were you frustrated, confused, confident, worried about time, etc.?

Sample Research Logs are given below. Email your Research Logs to Angie Locknar before class begins on the date the assignment is due.

Sample 1 (PDF)

Sample 2 (PDF)

Course Info

Learning Resource Types
Tutorial Videos
Written Assignments