Information Redesign- Student perspective
Here is a few notes on what I think students would need. It is mainly just brainstorming . I think giving them a place to start and an initial search strategy is important. I am a big fan of the classic search strategy of Encyclopedia, book, article to get people started. For this to work though, up-to date subject guides with appropriate titles are essential.
I also think that it is important to keep repeating the usefulness of the librarian either at the ref desk or through livehelp. I know as an undergrad, I had no idea how helpful a librarian could be and caused myself a lot of needless pain and confusion.
1. What is a:
- library catalogue
- scholarly journal
- popular source
- database
2. What is a simple catch-all search strategy :
eg. Encyclopedia/Dictionaries->Books->journal articles
3. What can a/an
-Encyclopedia
-Dictionary
-Index
-Subject guides
do for me?
4. Where is a good place to start looking for my subject?
5. What are and how can I use
-Subject headings
-Boolean Operators
-Proximity Operators
-wild cards
-truncation
6. What can the librarian do for me?
7. Tips for choosing an appropriate topic
-what is too broad?
-what is too narrow?
8. Tips for matching the appropriate source to my topic
-Do I need journal articles?
-Is the internet enough?
9. Primary/ Secondary sources
-what are they?
10 What is the difference between an index and a full text database?
(why can't I get the article?)
11. How do I cite my paper?
-what are the guidelines for the different types?
-what is citation management software?
-How do I use this tool?
-How do I know when i need to make a citation?
12. How can I tell a good source from a bad source?