General
syllabus
LIBR 100
Spring 2007
Information Research
Syllabus
Thomas Hunter, Rm. 402
Instructor: Tony Doyle, tdoyle@hunter.cuny.edu
Office hours: By appointment
Course
Description
Since the arrival
of the internet a chief problem for students and researchers alike has become
not too little information but too much. This embarrassment of riches means
that it is more important now than ever to have the skills for homing in on relevant
and credible sources. This one credit course strives to meet this need.
We will cover the
following topics: (1) The many ways in which information gets to researchers:
books, magazines, journals, websites, wikis, and blogs, as well as the
different degrees of reliability accruing to each; the role of peer review in
scholarly books and journals. (2) Electronic research: selecting a manageable
topic; choosing an appropriate database; identifying keywords; combining
keywords with the boolean operators and,
or, and not; the different types of databases (full text, index and
abstract, and index). (3) Books: How is searching for books by subject in a
catalog different from searching for magazine or journal articles by subject in
a database? Why do books remain a valuable source for research? (4) How to cite
sources. (5) Working with bibliographies. (6) Print indexes. (7) Evaluating
sources: print, organizational websites, blogs, and wikis. (8) Information
ethics: intellectual freedom, censorship, intellectual property, copyright, and
privacy. (9) Plagiarism and academic integrity.
Course Goals.
At the end of the
course you should be able to:
1. Identify an
appropriate topic.
2. Find relevant
print and electronic sources on your topic.
3. Use the free
web effectively.
4. Evaluate sources,
both print and electronic, as to authority, reliability, and bias.
5. Cite your
sources correctly
6. Know what
constitutes plagiarism
Required text:
Arlene Rodda Quaratiello, The
College Student’s Research Companion, 3rd Edition (On reserve)
Recommended text:
Myrtle Bolner and
Gayle Poirier, The Research Process: Book
and Beyond, 4th Edition. (On
reserve)
Blackboard site:
This course has a Blackboard site. You are expected to check the site in time
to be prepared to your next class.
Assignments:
Quizzes and
participation: 15%
Midterm: 10%
Homework: 15%
Final project:
Oral Component: 10%
Written Component: 30%
Final exam: 20%
Homework. There
will be four short assignments.
Final project
The project: Choose a controversial topic related to
the Bush administration. Here are some examples of topics you might choose:
* The evidence
for weapons of mass destruction in
* The treatment
of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison
* The
* No Child Left
Behind
* Stem cell
research
* Hurricane
Katrina
* Logging in
national forests
Other topics are
also possible, subject to my approval.
You will be
expected to give an informed and accessible discussion of your topic and your
sources. You should evaluate your sources and explain how you located them. You
will need to find at least 6 types of sources to support your discussion. These
sources are
* One scholarly
book
* One scholarly
article
* One article
from a respected and serious magazine (other than for instance Time, Newsweek, US News and World
Report, or the like; articles should be least 1500 words)
* One article
from The New York Times (at least
1000 words)
* One website
* One reference
source
Focus. The paper should focus on a discussion of your research
strategy. In it you should address the following questions: What keywords and
subject terms did you use? Which ones worked? Which ones didn’t? What databases
did you use? Which yielded the best results? Did you have to refine or revise
your topic? If so, why? You should also discuss your sources. Did they deal
with your topic? Were they biased? What were the authors’ credentials? What
bearing did these credentials have on the credibility or objectivity of the
source?
All the sources
that you use have to be available here at Hunter. If you have trouble finding a
source, let me know. Please don’t go to the reference desk.
Purpose: to choose a plausible topic, refine it, locate credible
and relevant sources, and to defend the choices that you’ve made. Avoid
editorializing.
Length: five pages, double spaced, one inch
margins, 12 pt. Times Roman font. Citations in MLA format. See the
Oral component: Between May 2 and May 16 everyone will be
expected to talk about their project for 5 minutes. I will ask people to sign
up for a time during the first class. Things you should discuss include: (1)
the databases you used to find your magazine, journal, and newspaper articles;
(2) the book(s) you used; (3) the website(s) you used. For this you will need
to turn in an outline of at least twelve components. You can refer to this
outline during your presentation, but you shouldn’t read from a text. You can
show relevant websites and use Powerpoint if you’d like.
Audience: Imagine that you’re a policy analyst for
a member of the House of Representatives. You’re providing House members with a
briefing in the form of a research guide on your topic.
Assessment of final project.
In your oral presentation
I will be looking for lucid coverage of the four themes mentioned above. Your
essay will be graded on the overall quality of your presentation: (1) the
clarity of your prose, (2) the coherence of your essay, (3) the extent to which
you address the questions mentioned above in focus, and (4) the quality of the
sources that you have chosen.
All assignments are due at the beginning
of class. I will accept nothing electronically. I will accept no late work
without a legitimate documented excuse.
Lateness and absences: You will not pass
the course if you miss more than two classes unless you have a compelling
documented excuse. Lateness after 5 minutes will be counted as half an absence;
lateness after 15 minutes will be counted as a full absence. You are
responsible for everything covered in classes that you miss.
Please turn off your cell phone during
class.
Please note: There will be no incompletes.
Also, there will be no class on the
following days: Feb 21 and April 4
Communication: Occasionally I will want to get in touch
with the whole class by email. I will address all emails to your Hunter
account. If you're not in the habit of checking your Hunter account, please
have your emails forwarded from it to the account that you do check regularly.
Plagiarism and
cheating. Cheating on an exam will result in an automatic F for the exercise. I
will also pass your name along to the college's student disciplinary committee
for possible further sanctions. Plagiarism is any attempt to pass someone
else's ideas or research off as your own, through either unattributed direct
quotation or paraphrasing. It's a kind of theft. Plagiarism on either of the
essays will also result in an automatic F for the assignment, and I will again
pass your name along to the student disciplinary committee. Plagiarism doesn't
pay: if you try it, you will almost certainly get caught.
Turn-it-in.com.
If I suspect plagiarism I will aks that you submit your essay to Turn-it-in.
CUNY POLICY ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/english2/plagiarism.html
Academic Dishonesty is prohibited in The City University of New York and is punishable
by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion.
Cheating is the unauthorized use or attempted use of material, information,
notes, study aids, devices or communication during an academic exercise.
The following are some examples of cheating, but by no means is it an
exhaustive list:
* Copying from another student during an examination or allowing another to
copy your work.
* Unauthorized collaboration on a take home assignment or examination.
* Using notes during a closed book examination.
* Taking an examination for another student, or asking or allowing another
student to take an examination for you.
* Changing a graded exam and returning it for more credit.
* Submitting substantial portions of the same paper to more than one course
without consulting with each instructor.
* Preparing answers or writing notes in a blue book (exam booklet) before an
examination. Allowing others to research and write assigned papers or do
assigned projects, including use of commercial term paper services. o Giving
assistance to acts of academic misconduct! dishonesty
* Fabricating data (all or in part).
* Submitting someone else's work as your own.
* Unauthorized use during an examination of any electronic devices such as cell
phones, palm pilots, computers or other technologies to retrieve or send
information.
Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person's ideas, research or
writings as your own.
The following are some examples of plagiarism, but by no means is it an
exhaustive list:
* Copying another person's actual words without the use of quotation marks and
footnotes attributing the words to their source..
* Presenting another person's ideas or theories in your own words without
acknowledging the source.
* Using information that is not common knowledge without acknowledging the
source.
* Failing to acknowledge collaborators on homework and laboratory assignments.
Internet plagiarism includes submitting downloaded term papers or parts of term
papers, paraphrasing or copying information from the internet without citing
the source, and "cutting & pasting" from various sources without
proper attribution.
Obtaining Unfair Advantage is any activity that intentionally or
unintentionally gives a student an unfair advantage in his/her academic work
over another student.
The following are some examples of obtaining an unfair advantage, but by no
means it is an exhaustive list:
* Stealing, reproducing, circulating or otherwise gaining advance access to
examination materials.
* Depriving other students of access to library materials by stealing,
destroying, defacing, or concealing them.
* Retaining, using or circulating examination materials which clearly indicate
that they should be returned at the end of the exam.
* Intentionally obstructing or interfering with another student's work.
Adapted with permission from
Course
schedule
January 31: Information, choosing a topic, and
database searching
1. Pre-test:
VOILA!
2. Information
a. How is information produced?
b. How does it find its way to you?
c. How do we assess its credibility?
d. Peer review
e. Primary vs. secondary sources
Homework: Please
send me an email indicating your major or potential major. Due Feb 7, 10 AM.
February 7: Research topics
1. Choosing a
viable research topic
2. Topic vs
thesis
3. What is a
database?
a. Indexes
b. Indexes with abstracts
c. Full text databases
4. Choosing the
right databases:
a. General databases vs. specialized
databases
b. Scholarly databases vs. non-scholarly
databases
Recommended:
Bolner: pp. 23-26
Homework (due Feb
14): Choose a topic for your final project and write three questions you want
answered about that topic.
February 14: Search methods and databases
1. Boolean
methods and proximity operators
2. Subject
indexing/headings; thesauruses
3. Searching with
controlled vocabulary
4. Field
searching vs. full text searching
5. Working with
specific databases
a. Academic Search Premier
b. Lexis-Nexis
c. Specialized databases
Recommended:
Bolner, pp. 47-60.
February 28: Magazines, Journals; political bias or
orientation in magazines
1. Scholarly,
trade, and popular sources
2. Scholarly
communication
3. Determining
whether the article has a bias—for instance, political or religious—or
orientation
4. Plausibility
of information
5. Older vs.
newer articles
Recommended:
Bolner, pp. 30-31; 139-45
Homework (due
March 7): Provide citations and annotations for two magazine articles—that is,
articles from non-scholarly periodicals—that are relevant to the topic of your
final project. Make sure your articles comes from a high quality source. Avoid,
for instance, Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report. Your annotations
should justify your choice of articles. The annotations should be between 100
and 150 words each.
March 7: Books
1. Library of
Congress classification
2. Using Library
of Congress subject headings
3. Deciphering
catalog records
4. Books as sources
of bibliographies
5. Scholarly
books vs. trade books
6. Finding book
reviews
7. Sources for
book reviews: The New York Review of
Books and The Times Literary
Supplement (TLS)
Recommended:
Bolner, 333-337; 65-72
March 14: Working with bibliographies; print
reference sources
1. Reading
citations
2. Putting
together a bibliography/proper documentation
3. Annotated
bibliographies
4. Writing
annotations
5. Conventional
(print) reference sources
a. Atlases
b. Statistical
c. Biographical
d. Specialized (subject) encyclopedias/dictionaries
e. Directories
f. Handbooks
g. Quotation sources
h. Chronological sources
i. Bibliographies
Homework (due
March 21): Provide citations and annotations for two scholarly books that are
relevant to the topic of your final project. Your annotations should justify
your choice of the books. The annotations should be between 100 and 150 words
each.
Quaratiello, pp.
49-64
Raimes, The Open Handbook, p. 402 (eres)
March 21: Demographic and Congressional information
with guest speaker Professor Danise Hoover
1. Demographic
information
a.
b. New York City Department of
Planning
c. Infoshare
2. Congressional
Information: Lexis-Nexis Congressional
March 28: Midterm
1. Midterm (25
minutes): will cover Jan 31-March 21; format: several questions requiring short
answers.
2. Print
reference sources (continued from March 14)
April 11: Evaluating scholarly sources; research on
the web
1. Evaluating the
quality of scholarly articles
a. Citation counts
b. How to use a citation index
c. Citation counts in Google Scholar
2. Research on
the web
a. Credibility: the internet vs. print
Homework (due
April 18): Provide citations and annotations for peer reviewed articles that
are relevant to the topic of your final project. Your annotations should
justify your choice of articles. The annotations should be between 100 and 150
words each.
April 18: Research on the web continued
1. Criteria for
evaluating websites
a. Authorship; sponsoring institution
b. Authority
c. Purpose
d. Quality of writing; tendentious language
e. How recent?
f. Can factual claims be corroborated?
g. Domain
Also:
Fallis, D. 2004. “On Verifying the
Accuracy of Information: Philosophical Perspectives.” Library Trends 52
(3): 463-466, paragraph 2; 470 (bottom)-472 (bottom).
Rothenberg, D.
1997. “How the Web Destroys the Quality of Students’ Research Papers." Chronicle of Higher
Education 32 (August 15): A44. (eres)
Vedder, A. &
Wachbroit, R. 2003. “Reliability of Information on the Internet: Some
Distinctions.” Ethics and Information
Technology 5 (4): 211-15.
Recommended:
Bolner, 139-45
April 25: Research on the web continued
1. Research on
the web, continued
a. Search engines and search directories
b. Effective web search strategies
2. Blogs
3. Wikipedia
Giles, J. 2005.
“Internet Encyclopedias Go Head to Head.” Nature
438 (7070; December 15: 900-01.
The Library Bill of Rights (http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/statementsif/librarybillrights.htm)
Poe, M. 2006.
“The Hive.” Atlantic 298 (September):
86-94.
Reed, B. 2006. “
‘Wikimania’ Participants Give the Online Encyclopedia Mixed Reviews.” The Chronicle of Higher Education 53 (September 1): 62.
Schiff, S.
(2006). “Know it all.” New Yorker 82
(July 23): 36-43.
Recommended: Bolner,
pp. 123-27
Homework (due May
2): Provide citations and annotations for two credible and content-rich
websites that are relevant to the topic of your final project. Your annotations
should justify your choice of the websites in the light of the main criteria
for evaluating websites above. The annotations should be between 100 and 150
words each. Helpful source: Hunter’s Reading/Writing Center’s handout on web
evaluation at http://rwc.hunter.cuny.edu/reading-writing/on-line/evaluating-web-sources.pdf
May 2: Information ethics I
1. Information
ethics: Copyright, intellectual property, fair use, and plagiarism and academic
integrity
2. Presentations
Hettinger, E.
1989. “Justifying Intellectual Property.” Philosophy and Public Affairs
18 (1): 31-32.2; 47.4-49.
Raimes, A. The Open Handbook, pp. 363-67 (eres).
Recommened:
Bolner, pp. 31-32
May 9: Information ethics II
1. Censorship and
intellectual freedom
2. Privacy
3. Presentations
Frické, M.,
Mathiesen, K., and Fallis, D. 2000. “The Ethical Presuppositions behind the Library
Bill of Rights.” Library
Quarterly 29 (4): 470.2; 473.3-77.4; 478.3-79.1.
The Library Bill of Rights (http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/statementsif/librarybillrights.htm)
Moor, J. “The
Ethics of Privacy Protection.” Library
Trends 39 (1/2): 76.3-80.1
Recommended:
Fallis, D. 2004.
“Epistemic Value Theory and Information Ethics.” Minds and Machines 14 (1): 101-17.
Garoogian, R. 1991. “Librarian/Patron Confidentiality: An Ethical
Challenge.” Library Trends 40 (Fall):
216-33
May 16:
1. Student
presentations
2. Voila!
Post-test