School of Information and Library Science
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

INLS 881/882, Research Issues and Questions I & II
Fall 2016 & Spring 2017

Schedule

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Syllabus / Assignments / Sakai class site

This course covers a wide range of topics (denoted with a T in this schedule), as well as some of the skills that novice researchers need to acquire (denoted with an S in this schedule). Most class sessions include both type of activities.

SESSION 1: AUGUST 23

Introductions; Scope of ILS (T)
What are your current interests? What does it mean to pursue those interests as a doctoral student? What subjects and approaches characterize information and library science?

Being a doctoral student (S)

SESSION 2: AUGUST 30

Anatomy of a research question (S)
What subjects and approaches characterize information and library science? What are the important research questions in information and library science today?

SESSION 3: SEPTEMBER 6

Representing/describing knowledge objects so they can be retrieved (T)
Information/knowledge objects may exist, but they are not useful unless the person needing them can discover them. One important role of the information professional is to represent/describe individual information/knowledge objects in ways that support effective information retrieval.

Class ended early, due to illness

Assignments

SESSION 4: SEPTEMBER 13

Organizing knowledge objects so they can be retrieved (T)
In addition to describing individual knowledge objects, information professionals develop schemes (including classification systems, semantic frameworks, ontologies, etc.) to organize collections of objects.

Conducting a literature review search (S)
There are many ways to identify the relevant literature to include in a literature review. During this session, we'll consider (and practice) some of these.

SESSION 5: SEPTEMBER 20

Personal information management (T)
Today, we'll consider issues of description and organization in two particular contexts: personal collections, and collections of scientific data.

Scientific data management (T)

Reading literature reviews (S)
Different literature reviews serve different purposes; we'll consider the ways that you can get the most from reading a literature review.

SESSION 6: SEPTEMBER 27

Locating your research interests within this area

Organizing and analyzing the literature you find (S)
If your searching has been successful, you've identified a large number of items that will be useful for your current purposes or in the future. Today, we'll consider tools that can help you manage this literature over the long term.

SESSION 7: OCTOBER 4

Special guest: Cassidy Sugimoto, Indiana University (2:00-3:00)

Seminal article: Colin

Two critical aspects of scholarly work: theory and methods (S)
What is theory, and why do researchers use/need theory? What methods are used in ILS research, and why?

SESSION 8: OCTOBER 11

Inspirational article: Yuan

Current research issues in archives and curation (T)
A variety of questions are now being addressed in the area of archives and curation. We'll be introduced to several of them during this discussion.

Peer reviewing (S)
Beginning next week, you'll be peer reviewing each others' work, so this week, we'll consider how to approach this task.

OCTOBER 18, ASIST: No class

SESSION 9: OCTOBER 25

Inspirational article (Charlene)

Social issues in archives and curation (T)
Some of the research issues being raised in relation to archives are focused on their role in society. Today, we'll look at some examples of work raising social/political issues, as well as Web archiving and its implications.

Writing a literature review (S)
Once you've identified the literature that is pertinent for a particular review, you need to synthesize it and present it to your readers. We'll consider this process today.

SESSION 10: NOVEMBER 1

Locating your research interests within this area (T)

Issues faced during the transition into a doctoral program (S)

Project management (S)

SESSION 11: NOVEMBER 8

Inspirational article (Colin)

Information/technology services (T)
Information professionals provide information and technology services. Today, we'll consider the nature of these services, as well as the characteristics of the information professionals that design and provide them.

Information professions and the workforce (T)

SESSION 12: NOVEMBER 15

Methods article (Charlene)

Information organizations and their management (T); Information behaviors within organizational contexts (T)
Information activities happen within organizational settings, and many of the activities are supported by professionals working in those organizations. In this session, we'll consider some of the organizational and staffing issues associated with the information professions, as well as the information behaviors that have been studied within an organizational context.

Diversity, inclusion, and cultural competency (S)
Diversity and cultural competency are important among and for information professionals, as well as in your academic/research future.

Assignments

SESSION 13: NOVEMBER 22

Seminal article: Yuan

Locating your research interests within the areas of information services and the organizations that provide them

SESSION 14, NOVEMBER 29

Professional ethics (T)
Information professionals are guided by codes of ethics, as well as their own moral reasoning about emerging information issues. These considerations often evolve into federal/governmental information policies. Today's discussion will touch on a variety of current ethical and policy issues.

Information policy (T)

Research ethics, including research with human subjects (S)
Particular issues arise when your research involves human subjects/participants. This session will cover research ethics generally and, more specifically, the ethical issues associated with working with human subjects.

Assignments

SESSION 15, DECEMBER 6

Reflections on what we've learned so far

FINAL EXAM DAY: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, NOON


SESSION 16: JANUARY 17

Information needs and their expression (T)
It could be argued that the raison d'etre of the ILS profession is to bring together information that has been created with the people who need it for their own purposes. This will be the first of a series of sessions examining the processes by which this professional goal can be reached. We'll begin from the perspective of the person needing information, looking at some of the important theoretical models in this field.

Presenting orally (S)
You'll make a variety of types of oral presentations as part of your academic/research career. Today, we'll share advice on making each of those presentations successful.

SESSION 17: JANUARY 24

Information seeking behaviors: models and frameworks, future directions (T)
When someone experiences an information need, what happens next? What theoretical models and frameworks can we use to anticipate people's information seeking behaviors?

SESSION 18: JANUARY 31

Special guest: Heather O'Brien, University of British Columbia

Information sources: documentary, social (T)
When people are seeking information, they identify and use particular information sources. We'll look at three empirical studies of source selection, each taking a slightly different approach to understanding this phenomenon.

Interdisciplinary collaboration in research(S)
Most social science research today is conducted in collaborative teams, and often in interdisciplinary teams. What's the most effective way to identify potential collaborators? Why is interdisciplinary research important and what are its key characteristics?

SESSION 19: FEBRUARY 7

Locating your research interests within this area

SESSION 20: FEBRUARY 14

Information retrieval systems (T)
Information retrieval systems provide access to recorded information/knowledge objects. The design and evaluation of such systems is a core area of research in ILS.

SESSION 21: FEBRUARY 21

Interactive information retrieval (T)

Assignments

SESSION 22: FEBRUARY 28

Creating and presenting a poster (S)
Especially as you get your research program started, you are likely to be presenting a poster at a conference. The benefit of that effort may hinge on the effectiveness of your poster design.

Human-computer interaction (T)
Several SILS faculty incorporate issues of human-computer interaction in their research. We'll look at several studies they've conducted, with a focus on the questions asked and the methods used. Consider each in light of the types of contributions identified by Wobbrock and Kientz.

SESSION 23: MARCH 7

Locating your research interests within this area

Developing a research proposal (S)
Writing a research proposal is a critical skill that doctoral students must develop; in addition, you need to be able to manage a research project,if approved/funded. Some of these basic skills will be discussed in this session.

MARCH 14, SPRING BREAK: No class

SESSION 24: MARCH 21

Information use (T)
We might conceptualize the use of information along a whole spectrum of activities, from just examining or reading an information object, through to absorbing it into one's knowledge base and applying it to a particular problem or activity.

Grant writing and finding funding (S)
With additional funding, your research program can expand. While most of your grant writing will be after you complete your doctoral studies, you can get started on it any time.

Assignments

SESSION 25: MARCH 28

Information and data sharing (T)
The expectation that scientists will share their data with others (including the public) are increasing, particularly with research funded by the public. Yet scientists' behaviors are not yet meeting this expectation. We'll look at these issues in light of current research on information and data sharing.

Data management (S)
We'll discuss options for managing your research data, so that future sharing is more possible.

Social media (T)
With Web 2.0 applications, Web users have been more actively involved in generating information content, rather than just consuming it. Sometimes this occurs within a defined community or social network, and so social interactions within the community are also of interest.

Assignments

SESSION 26: APRIL 4

Creation of knowledge (T); The scholarly publication process (T)
The information life cycle begins when someone records their current knowledge. These information objects are of great interest to information professionals, and their later use is affected by how they are created and recorded. They are also the means by which scholars' work can have an impact, and so may be viewed as an indicator of scholarly productivity.

Writing refereed articles and conference papers (S)
Refereed articles are the bread and butter of academic life in the social sciences. We'll discuss writing, and how to keep your own writing moving forward.

Assignments

SESSION 27: APRIL 11

Impact of scholarly communication (T); Bibliometrics, webmetrics, altmetrics (T)

Assignments

SESSION 28: APRIL 18

Locating your research interests within this area

SESSION 29: APRIL 25

Year-end review: What have you learned?
What have you learned? Consider the two Looking Inward assignments you've completed. What research opportunities and hot topics now interest you? How do you want to contribute to them in the next year? During the rest of your doctoral studies? Afterwards? What do you need to learn to accomplish these goals?

FINAL EXAM DATE, TBA


Syllabus / Assignments / Sakai class site


Creative Commons LicenseThe INLS 881-882 website, UNC-CH, 2016, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Address all comments and questions to Barbara M. Wildemuth at wildem@ils.unc.edu. This page was last modified on November 28, 2016, by Barbara M. Wildemuth.