Contact Information
Malia Willey
- 504-864-7138
- mewilley@loyno.edu
Malia is available to answer any questions you have about instruction in the library.
Library Instruction
Designing Research Assignments
Creating a research assignment? The Monroe Library faculty can offer effective and creative ideas and collaborations.
Best Practices for Research Assignments
An effective research assignment:
- Challenges and offers guidance to students at the appropriate level
- Relates to the learning goals of the assignment and course
- Explains the purpose and learning goals of the assignment
- Includes the contact information of the professor and librarian
- Indicates the number, type, and format of sources required
- Identifies relevant library and other information resources
- Addresses how to evaluate sources in a variety of formats
- Provides guidance on how to incorporate and cite information
- Instructs students on academic honesty and how to avoid plagiarism
- Defines the criteria for how the assignment will be evaluated
- Incorporates the research process and library instruction into class time as needed
- Creates opportunities to incorporate feedback from the professor
- Consults or informs the library of the assignment as needed
Research Assignment Alternatives
- Advertising campaign
- Advocate for a cause
- Annotated bibliography
- Article summaries
- Blog, website, or wiki creation
- Book review
- Browse a periodical for characteristics, scope, and trends
- Class compilation
- Compare coverage of a topic from a popular and a scholarly source
- Compare information on the same topic from different disciplines
- Debate
- Exhibition
- Follow a current event
- Group discussion with discussion leaders
- Group presentation
- Letter to an editor
- Literature review
- Performance
- Poster or infographic session
- Presentation or speech
- Research journal
- Trace a reference in a popular publication to the original source
- Video or screen capture project
- Website evaluation
- Write a grant
Learn More
Assigning Inquiry: How Handouts for Research Assignments Guide Today's College Students
Course Assignments Fail to Train Undergraduates for Research in the Digital Age
Major Findings: The Project Information Literacy 2010 Student Survey