School
of Information and Library Science
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Final
product / Seminar participation / Interest
groups / Mini-reviews / Current
work in... / Seminal work in... / Inspirational
works/events
Grading / Honor Code
The assignments for the two-semester seminar aim to foster your growth as a scholar and researcher in information and library science, through participation in discussions, reviews of current issues and the relevant literature, and development of research questions and proposals. The assignments described below should be considered starting point; they may be modified according to your needs and interests. Please discuss any changes you are considering with one of the course instructors.
The major product for this seminar will be a significant work: a scholarly literature review, a proposal for a research study, an application for a research fellowship, or an article resulting from a research project. You may work collaboratively with another student in the seminar, in which case we will expect a larger effort. You will give a presentation of your work to the class at the end of the spring semester. You should start planning your work by the end of the fall term, at the latest, so that you can share your plans as part of our discussion of goals for the spring.
Milestones:
Your final product is due no later than the scheduled time of the final exam in April.
Evaluation criteria. The criteria used to evaluate your final product will be similar to the criteria routinely applied to scholarly publications. These include the significance of the question/problem to the field, originality, the appropriateness and quality of the methods used (where relevant), the adequacy of the citations to previous work, the validity and logic of your claims and interpretation, and the organization, clarity, and style of your presentation. This assignment will account for 40% of your grade for the seminar.
As a doctoral student, it is important that you be an active participant in our community. Conversations over lunch, comments on a paper, questions after a talk, interesting postings to one of the SILS listervs/blogs, are all ways of contributing to the community. We will be expecting you to be an active participant in class, remembering that the quality of your comments and questions is more important than the quantity. Other contributions to the seminar are also important, such as sharing interesting articles you have read, things you have learned, or questions to which you do not know the answer. As a researcher, you are expected to express opinions, as well as the reasons and evidence for them!
This assignment will account for 15% of your grade for the seminar.
It's often easier to explore a new area with a partner. You can debate the ideas with each other before expressing them "in public". We'll set aside time during the second class meeting for forming interest groups.
Each interest group is responsible for organizing a class discussion on a topic that falls within their interests. This includes identifying articles for the class to read, posting thought-provoking discussion questions, and running the discussion. Interest group presentations will be October 2, 2007, and should take about 30 minutes each. We'll discuss further details in class.
Evaluation criteria. The in-class presentations will be evaluated, as well as some of the preparatory activities. They will be evaluated in terms of the depth with which you tackle the problem your group identified, the clarity with which you present your ideas to the class, and the extent to which you can get the class engaged with your interests. Each member of the group will receive the same grade for this assignment. This assignment will account for 10% of your grade for the seminar.
You will develop two brief literature reviews that explore specific topics of interest. You may wish to explore a topic we discuss in class in more detail, or review the work of a single researcher or research project, or find out what's behind some topic in the news, or... A mini-review could even be the start of your final project!
Each literature review will be presented in a different form. The first will be presented orally, and will be videotaped. The presentation should be 10-15 minutes long; it will be relatively formal and may be supported with slides. The second will be presented in writing, following the guidelines for literature reviews that we discuss in class, and be 5-10 pages long. The first (oral) reviews will be presented in class on November 13, 2007; the second (written) reviews are due no later than Monday, December 10, 2006, 5pm.
Evaluation criteria: The criteria used to evaluate your mini-reviews will be similar to the criteria routinely applied to published literature reviews. These include the significance of the question/problem to the field, the adequacy of the citations to previous work, the validity and logic of your claims and interpretation, and the organization, clarity, and style of your presentation. Each mini-review will account for 10% of your grade for the seminar.
As we read and discuss important topics of research in information and library science this year, we will have the difficult task of exploring both background and theory, and current work. We'll be able to cover a lot of material, however, because you will each read and summarize an article about current work on the topic for the class.
Read a current scholarly article (since 2000) that describes research on, or interesting applications of, the topic. Are there issues or questions from the literature we discussed that are important or should be considered? Are there new issues or problems concerning knowledge representation that are important? Are there new issues or problems concerning information behaviors that are important? Be prepared to give a brief, informal summary of the selected article and your thoughts and ideas about it. (5 minutes, no PowerPoint.)
Topics and dates will be available throughout the year. Please examine the class schedule and select a topic in which you're interested. Select an article of interest to you; feel free to contact either of us for assistance in identifying an appropriate article. Please notify us a couple of days before you'd like to present/discuss your article summary. Please send the article citation to the class list, as well.
Evaluation criteria. This assignment will be evaluated in terms of the selection of the article (i.e., it raises important issues for the topic at hand), the clarity of your summarization and analysis of the article, and the originality of your ideas about it. This assignment will account for 5% of your grade for the seminar.
As we read and discuss important topics of research in information and library science this year, we will have the difficult task of exploring both background and theory, and current work. We'll be able to cover a lot of material, however, because you will each read and summarize a seminarl article on the topic for the class. A seminal article is one that initiates a new area of research - it might propose a different way of understanding some phenomenon, it might be a ground-breaking empirical study. In all cases, it was work that later scholars built upon fruitfully. For the purposes of this assignment, any article that was published prior to 2000, that has been cited more than 50 times, and that you believe was important to the development of the field is eligible.
Read a seminar article. Are there issues or questions from the literature we discussed that built on this work or were informed by it? In what way is this article still important for current research? Be prepared to give a brief, informal summary of the selected article and your thoughts and ideas about it. (5 minutes, no PowerPoint.)
Topics and dates will be available throughout the year. Please examine the class schedule and select a topic in which you're interested. It may be the same topic for which you read a current research article, or it may be a different topic. Select an article of interest to you; feel free to contact either of us for assistance in identifying an appropriate article. Please notify us a couple of days before you'd like to present/discuss your article summary. Please send the article citation to the class list, as well.
Evaluation criteria. This assignment will be evaluated in terms of the selection of the article (i.e., it was important for the field and relevant to the topic at hand), the clarity of your summarization and analysis of the article, and the originality of your ideas about it. This assignment will account for 5% of your grade for the seminar.
It's always exciting to read an inspirational article or attend an inspirational presentation. It may help you develop or understand a research question, make you think about something you thought you understood in a new way, serve as the basis for a line of research, model a particular research method, drive you to demonstrate that the author/speaker is wrong, or be an example of excellent research.
What article or event has inspired you this year? It may be an article you use in a literature review for your final paper, something you heard at a recent conference or a lecture on campus, something you have read in another class, something you heard via a Web broadcast, an article that is giving you ideas for your future work, or...
Select your inspirational work or event (it could be an article, a book chapter, a web site, a lecture, a video, or a conference presentation). In class on April 8, 2008, share with us why you find this work or event inspirational, and how it is helping you or will help you with your work. (Note that we are not asking you to summarize it.) Please send the article/link citation to the class list, as well.
This assignment will account for 5% of your grade for the seminar.
Since this seminar lasts for two semesters, you will receive an "S" (assuming satisfactory progress) for the fall semester grade, and a grade reflecting the quality of your work for the spring (H, P, L, or F). You will receive evaluations of your participation and contributions to the class, as well as of your presentations and papers.
The Honor Code, which prohibits giving or receiving unauthorized aid in the completion of assignments, is in effect in this class.
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