INLS 110-037: CIP - ISSUES AND TRENDS IN LIS

Topic Selection and Written Description. Select a topic you would like to explore. It can be an issue, a technology, a particular setting, or a particular population. Some possibilities for issue selection include, but are not limited to, topics like open source, information literacy, blogging, creative commons, new information professional roles (or one new role), digital libraries or digital information services, the digital divide, intellectual freedom, copyright, privacy, new media, new means of collecting and organizing information; there are many more possibilities. Examples of an information technology choice might be wireless networking, cell phones and devices that combine phone service with other services, instant messaging, new techniques for databasing, RFID; you will think of others. If you choose a setting as your area of emerging expertise, your topic would be something like "Information Use in ____ Environment"; if you choose a user group, your topic might be "Information Use by ______" (e.g., teenagers, a particular ethnic group, a sub-culture, researchers in a particular subject area, jazz musicians, etc.).

Once you have chosen a topic (your instructor is available for consultation), your first step will be to do a preliminary exploration to determine what some of your best information sources will be. This will be a good time to examine some current issues of journals that interest you from the list on the syllabus.

For the first topic assignment due October 19, turn in a short paper (1-3 pages with a bibiliography of at least five items) describing and defining your topic and giving your reasons for selecting it. Describe your preliminary information search and identify some of the source material you will read first. If possible, state the particular slant or focus you are considering in respect to your topic.

Class Presentation and Leading Class Discussion. You will be assigned a time slot of 30 minutes for you to present important knowledge about your topic to the class. Presentation dates will begin on November 21 and continue through the 5th of December. For your presentation, your first task will be to engage the class so that they want to hear and talk about your topic. This will mean thinking about your classmates' interests as well as what you know on the topic and organizing your presentation accordingly. Plan to spend about 15-20 minutes on the presentation portion. You can argue for a particular position or present the state-of-the-art or discuss the pros and cons of a debatable aspect of your topic. Visuals are usually helpful but not required; Power Point slides are generally the most common medium used but not your only option of course.

Prepare one or two questions to seed the discussion following your formal presentation. Part of your task will be to elicit and manage the conversation after your presentation. For a model of the presentation and discussion, think of a professional conference where formal presentations are followed by audience questions and discussion.

I will also ask each of you to act as "first responders" in the discussion period of one of your fellow students. And you will have an opportunity to provide direct feedback to one another that your instructor will not see but that may be helpful to you in future presentations and in writing your paper.
Term Paper. The final assignment, the term paper, is due December 15. As the last class will be December 7, you will have a week following this date to polish your paper. Your final paper on the same topic as your presentation will have the benefit of your already articulated main ideas plus potentially useful feedback from your classmates. Your final paper should be about 5000 words (15-20 word-processed pages) although that will vary according to the topic and your personal style of writing.

To continue the professional theme, we will use the call for the best LIBRI student paper as our guideline. These guidelines are available at http://www.librijournal.org/ (see both "Student Award" and "Instructions to Authors"). I will use the same criteria for grading the paper:

• originality of thought and observation
• depth of research and scholarship
• topicality of problems addressed
• interest for an international audience

LIBRI's instructions to authors provides format information. Note they ask you to use the Chicago Manual of Style as the authority for references.

You may submit your paper as an email attachment to me or you can give me a print copy. Double space the paper and use 11 or 12 point type. I will provide some feedback on how to improve the paper with your final grade in case you want to consider submitting your paper to LIBRI for its 2006 award (due date will probably be in the spring at approximately the same time as last year (May 31)).

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Revised September 15, 2005.
If you have questions or want to modify the assignment in any way, email Evelyn Daniel.