Guidelines for Creating Effective Assignments
When you are designing an assignment, it is worthwhile to review these criteria to avoid common pitfalls and help ensure the usefulness of your assignment.
Good practices
Do
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Communicate specific learning objectives (e.g. using Bloom's taxonomy)
Try the assignment yourself to see where students might get hung-up
Take advantage of the library’s research services (e.g. instruction, research consultations)
Emphasize the research process and tools for conducting research in addition to the research
topic itself.
Teach database research strategies like using key terms and synonyms, using subject-specific databases to find credible sources, evaluating credibility and citing references appropriately
Collaborate with your reference librarians to design assignments that best utilize the library’s collections and services
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Things to avoid
Don’t
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The Mob Scene -- sending the entire class to look for the same information, book, or article; use a variety of resources, give students different assignments
The Shot in the Dark -- inadvertently giving incomplete or incorrect information
The Scavenger Hunt -- sending students to search for information without a defined set of possible sources
The Old Curiosity Shop -- assigning use of outdated reference sources: make sure your links are current and the library has recent editions
The Elusive Topic -- assuming students will be able to select a manageable topic without faculty or librarian assistance
Lost in Space -- sending students off to begin their research without demonstrating how to approach the assignment: provide some hands-on time to try the assignment when the faculty member is available for consultation |
Additional recommendations for effective design of information literacy assignments are available from St. John's University Libraries.
Adapted and used with permission from the University of Maryland University College.
