3. Applying Teaching & Learning Strategies
Teaching Troublesome Tasks
Students often struggle more than we might realize when completing research assignments. While novice researchers can discover roadblocks at any stage of the research process, particularly troublesome tasks commonly include:
- Defining an appropriate topic.
- Estimating the time required to find, read, and analyze sources.
- Understanding how keywords and algorithms impact their search results.
- Navigating proprietary library databases.
- Identifying scholarly sources vs. popular or trade sources of information.
- Contextualizing authority.
- Understanding the purpose of citation and when to cite.
Supporting students throughout the research process and focusing the assessment on mastering specific research tasks or information literacy concepts enriches the learning experience and helps ensure students develop a positive identity as a researcher and stay motivated and engaged throughout the research project.
Librarians at your institution can help identify and address troublesome tasks for your assignment.
Strategies for Success
- Provide formative activities. Have students practice the tasks they’ll need to complete for the assignment. For example, they could:
- Identify and/or contrast thesis statements from published research articles.
- Create a concept map for their topic.
- Read and compare similar or different types of articles.
- Compare attributes of different types of sources.
- Choose appropriate sources for different information needs.
- Write in-text citations and reference lists.
- Scaffold research tasks. To avoid overwhelming students with a full, independent research project, narrow or remove some of the tasks required. For example, you could:
- Provide a list of topics.
- Provide a list of articles for each topic.
- Require one type of source only (e.g., original research articles from scholarly journals).
- Recommend a specific database or search tool.
- Provide worksheets or templates to help guide students through new or difficult tasks.
- Use generative artificial intelligence tools, like ChatGPT, to support some of the planning and writing tasks.
- Have students complete all of the research steps that would be required for an essay, without submitting a final essay.
Example: World War I Project [1] – in this example, the professor helps students narrow their topics and select appropriate sources by providing a list of potential population groups and scholarly articles to choose from. - Chunk a larger research project into multiple smaller assignments. Novice researchers often struggle with planning out a large project or even just getting started. By breaking down the activity into smaller chunks or low stakes assignments, students begin to internalize healthy research practices, can better manage their time and expectations for the project, and are less tempted to breach academic integrity standards. When chunking assignments, consider the following:
- Common chunks often include: (a) topic formulation, (b) annotated bibliography, (c) first draft, (d) final project. Feedback and instruction should mark each stage (whether by peers or instructors).
- Avoid forcing students to stick with their initial ideas. Instead, encourage students to modify their thesis and outline as they find sources, and then again as they begin to write and put together their thoughts.
- Emphasize how the process of reading, writing, and revision helps students organize their thoughts and express their ideas more clearly and articulately.
Example: PSYC 110 Assignment [2] – in this example the instructions are broken down into three separate assignments that build on each other, guiding students through the three different stages.
Helpful Resources
Decoding the Disciplines[3]
A process for identifying and addressing a particular place in an activity where significant numbers of students are unable to adequately perform essential tasks.
Community of Online Research Assignments: Project CORA[4]
A repository of research activities and lesson plans.
ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Sandbox[5]
A repository of resources contributed by librarians and other educational partners.
- World War 1 Project: https://4fbab5b5-0ad1-47bc-aa0d-33d9b6b7e250.filesusr.com/ugd/c11fb0_5c05f19c9f7f4f38a36c79ec57591b7d.pdf ↵
- PSYC 110 Assignment: https://www.ala.org/acrl/issues/infolit/standards/using/exampleassignments ↵
- Decoding the Disciplines: https://decodingthedisciplines.org ↵
- Project CORA: https://projectcora.org/ ↵
- ACRL Framework Sandbox: https://sandbox.acrl.org/ ↵
