Rather than doing a full-blown research paper in here, I thought we'd work on two projects that, taken together, will give you some hands-on research skills as well as build those "information literacy" skills which I began to talk about yesterday.

Topic

Your research project will be driven by your own major, not by some topic we derive from the particular contents of this course (which might work) nor some arbitrary topic which I might assign (a sure recipe for disaster).  Instead, you will be asked to go explore the resources which our library provides for study in the major you've chosen.  (If you're one of the lucky undecided ones, just use this as an opportunity to do a bit of research into a field you think you might like to study.)

Part I:  Annotated Bibliography

The first part of this assignment, due Monday, December 6, is to generate a three-entry "annotated bibliography."  If you click the link above (or before, or after!), you will be taken to a page which explains in detail what ought to go into an annotated bibliography's entry.  I will expect your entries to emulate the "long form" I give more than the "short form."  Your entries are to be both summary and evaluation, as in the examples; that is, they need both to summarize the contents of the work accurately and they need to evaluate for which audience the particular work might be valuable.  Your three entries must be:

  •     A book from the Hewes Library stacks;
     
  •     An article which relates to your major from a popular magazine; and
     
  •     An article from a scholarly journal which relates to your major.

Part II:  A Comparison of Sources

Due at the time of the Final Exam will be a brief comparison paper, probably no more than three pages in length.  In it you will analyze the content, tone, style and audience of three journals (not just articles) central to your discipline.  In addition to looking at the overall contents of several issues and the way articles seem to be written and for whom, be sure to examine the instructions for authors for each journal, which, if you can't find them in the journal itself, are frequently available on the Web.  Your goal here is to differentiate between the various outlets for scholarship in your major field, to see why, for instance, any given discipline has so many different places where information is disseminated.

In the alternative, you will be allowed to compare two journals and one website central to your discipline, provided that you evaluate the website given the criteria detailed on the Hewes Library page.  (Click here to access it.)