Skill 2: Carrying Out the Plan

Students access needed information effectively and efficiently by:

• Identifying the most appropriate information resources (journal database, reference sources, etc.)
• Choosing keywords, synonyms, and subject headings relevantto the research topic (brainstorming)
• Creating and implementing effective search strategies (using Boolean operators, truncation, etc.)

Ideas for Effective Assignments

1. Locate a popular magazine article and then find a scholarly article on the same subject. Compare the two articles for content, style, bias, intended audience, and usefulness in completing research assignments.

    

2. Using a variety of CSN databases and with a broad topic in hand, have groups of students brainstorm keywords, subject headings, and key Boolean phrases. Ask them to report on the key terms and phrases that seemed to deliver the most appropriate results for their topics.

    

3. Ask students to create a research guide of electronic resources on a narrow topic relevant to the course. Ask them to list all relevant key words, phrases, or subject headings that might be used for that topic area. Ask them to list all relevant web sites in addition to databases, e-journals, and e-books available to them via the CSN library web pages. Ask them to trade guides and then use those to answer some basic questions you provide in that topic area. Was the guide helpful? Why? If not, what was missing?

    

4. Using the library catalog, ask students to look up three authors relevant to course content. Ask them to list what the libraries own, the titles of the most recently published library holdings, and to locate three critical and biographical articles on that author.