ENGL101

ENGL 101 Library Research Sessions

Research sessions are a chance for students to explore resources offered through the Libraries' and participate in active learning activities designed around academic research. Sessions are designed to reflect the students' stage in the research process, with early sessions focusing on topic development and later sessions focusing on evaluating sources for credibility and authority. 

To schedule your session, please review our Teaching & Learning policies page and fill out the ENGL 101 request form. Your library instructor will reach out a week before the scheduled session to confirm your students' assignments and learning needs.

Learning Outcomes: 

• identify types of authority, such as subject expertise, societal position, or special experiences
• differentiate a scholarly article from other information formats by describing characteristics of a scholarly article
• recognize the limitations of citation generators and identify citation guideline resources such as Purdue OWL
• formulate effective search strategies in Academic Search Complete to locate relevant information sources for their topic
• identify at least three ways to contact a librarian for research assistance.

Depending on the timing of the session in the semester, students may also: 

• identify which types of authority are best suited for specific assignments (for example, the digital forum assignment vs. the argument of inquiry assignment)
• recognize that scholarly sources are not always the most appropriate format for their information need.
• formulate a simple research question by completing a brainstorming activity that examines facets of their general research topic
• identify stakeholders for their topic.
• locate sources that represent a specific stakeholder's viewpoint.
• differentiate between CQ Researcher (a database that provides background information) and Academic Search Complete (a database that provides primary and/or secondary research)

Standard Activities

Evaluating Authority Activity: Students are given a brief article to read. Using the article, we have a conversation about evaluating sources for authority, relevance, and credibility. We also discuss some of the differences between scholarly and popular sources. Students are provided with a worksheet they can use to evaluate sources that they discover in their own research.

Concept Mapping: Students explore lines of inquiry by mapping related topics, events, stakeholders to visualize connections around their research topic of choice. Concept maps can be used to narrow or broaden a research topic or to generate keywords for searching.

Identifying Keywords: Using a worksheet, students collaborate with each other to generate potential keywords to search in academic databases for themselves and their classmates.