Many of these assignments were taken from actual courses at the University at Buffalo, while others were created by librarians. These assignments were selected because they efficiently introduce students to library research. The assignments cross many disciplines.

Have students prepare an annotated bibliography of ten sources on a topic related to the experiences of first year college students, such as dating violence, college drinking, time management, or study skills. The sources should be two books, two articles from peer-reviewed journals, one general interest magazine (i.e. Time, Newsweek ), one newspaper, two Web sites and two additional sources of their choice. All should be dated from 1995 to the present. Students should begin with a two or three sentence introductory paragraph on the topic, to help the reader understand the focus of the research. The ten sources should be cited properly using a style specified by the instructor (e.g., American Psychological Association (APA), University of Chicago , or Modern Language Association (MLA)).

Would you like to see a concrete example of a research paper written in APA style? Designed for undergraduates or those new to research, this paper is graciously shared courtesy of its author, English Professor Maxine M. Long of Genesee Community College, and the Genesee Community College Library, 2002.

Adapted from Katherine Grimes, Ph.D. (Ferrum College, Virginia) FS 101: The Freshman Seminar, Fall 2000.

Students are to obtain an interesting empirical article on a topic of their choice from a published APA (American Psychological Association) journal. PsycARTICLES is an excellent source.

Articles from other sources will not be accepted. An empirical article reports the results of a study, not a review of several studies or someone's opinion.

Students are to read the article then prepare a 1- to 2-page commentary on the article in their own words.

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Adapted from Psychology 101, Fall 2000.

Have students choose one ancient city from a list prepared by the instructor. As a minimum they must cover the following:

Geographic features of the location of the city.

Estimated total population or number of households or family groupings.

Occupations of the original historic populace, e.g., subsistence farming, hunting and gathering, herding, trading, etc.

Nature and influence of religion/religious beliefs, significant folklore, and/or legends.

Structure of secular/civil authority, brief description of governance system.

Noteworthy achievements in the arts (music, poetry, painting, sculpture, other?) with special attention to architecture and building technology (What were the major communal buildings made of, how were they constructed, etc.? What do we know of the ordinary dwellings of the people?).

Nature, description, and illustration of the city's physical form, its plan or layout.

Students must summarize the importance of the city and civilization in a ten-page research paper, using at least five sources.

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Adapted from Professor Alfred Price, UGC 111: World Civilizations Prehistory to 1500, Fall 2002.

Have students choose any issue that has been the subject of protest or propaganda at any time in the past 500 years in any part of the world. Then write a paper detailing the issues of the protest/propaganda, putting the issues in the context of some sort of text or object. The text/object can be a film; a literary or musical work; a poster; a pamphlet; a sculpture or painting; a building; a symbolic act; or a historical moment.

The overarching questions you need to address in your paper are:

What historical forces--technological, political, cultural--brought this protested issue or point of propaganda to a critical point at the moment you are looking at?

What are the specific arguments being raised in the protest or propaganda?

How does your object/text embody these historical forces and detailed arguments?

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Adapted from Professor Don McGuire, UGC 112D: World Civilizations After 1500, Spring 2001.

Have students create a pathfinder. A pathfinder is an introductory checklist of sources on a specific topic that serves as a guide to sources. Pathfinders can be applied to any topic. It is not intended to serve as an exhaustive guide to the literature, but to aid a user in systematically locating materials on a topic. This assignment will help students understand the organization of traditional reference information as well as Internet reference information and its organization. The following must be included in their pathfinder.

Topic, what the pathfinder is covering.

Brief summary (scope note) of the topic. This should be four or five sentences. The summary should reflect the scope of the research, and which aspects of the topic are to be included in the pathfinder.

Subject headings to use for finding information on the topic. Use the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) .

Broader Term(s) (BT)

Narrower Term(s) (NT)

Related Term(s) (RT)

Sources, give two to three sentence description of each source.

Cite three relevant books.

Cite two books from the library's reference collection.

Cite two electronic discussion lists.

List two databases to be used to find articles on the topic in scholarly journals.

Cite three articles from scholarly journals.

List two relevant Web sites.

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Adapted from Dr. Lorna Peterson, LIS 518 Reference and Information Sources and Services, Fall 2000.

Have students write a ten-page research paper comparing the Vietnam and Gulf wars. They are to find information from the following sources: newspaper articles, journal/magazine articles, books, and general or specialized encyclopedias.

Students may look into one of the following issues:

Reasons why America got involved in both wars.

How did the mainstream media, such as The New York Times , feel about American involvement in both wars? What did their editorials say?

What impact did television play in the reporting of the wars?

What were some of the issues surrounding those who opposed the wars?

How were soldiers in each war treated? Discuss the similarities and differences.

Have students locate a peer-reviewed or refereed journal article through Academic Search Premier on a topic of their choice. Then have students locate a non peer-reviewed article on the same topic from the database. The assignment is to write a five-page response paper comparing and contrasting the two articles.

Have students keep a journal of their weekly experiences as first-year college students. Have students research first-year college students' experiences, and then write a five-page research paper comparing their experiences with what is stated in the literature.

Have students find articles about the 2000 presidential election from news or general interest magazines, i.e. New York Times or Newsweek , and articles from a journal of commentary and opinion, i.e. Mother Jones or The Progressive . They are to write a five-page research paper discussing their findings on how the two sources reported a topic relating to the aftermath of the election.

To learn the about the different types of periodicals, students may visit: Types of Periodicals and also use the Web guide Finding Articles.

Have students prepare a research translation from a selected scientific research journal. A research translation describes the scientific results of the paper. Note that the research translation consists of the following paragraphs:

Description of the problem (summary)

Description of the researchers and what they tested

Description of the study

Description of the research results

The journals from which the students can select a research paper from are:

Journal of Operations Management

Decision Sciences

Academy of Management Journal

The International Journal of Operations and Producton Management

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