School of Information and Library Science
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
INLS 881 – Research Issues and Questions
[Last Updated: 2018-08-26]

Fall 2018
Meeting Time: 2:00-4:45
Location: Manning 303
Credits: 3
Instructor: Cal Lee
Office: Manning 212
Phone: 919-962-7024
E-Mail: callee [at][ils - DOT - unc DOT - edu]
Office Hours: By appointment
Course Web Site: http://sakai.unc.edu/

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Overview. Intensive and systematic investigation of the fundamental ideas in information and library science. Exploration and discussion in seminar format.

The goal of this year-long course is to prepare students to become productive scholars. Students will be introduced to the range of research questions and issues that arise in the field of information and library science, with particular emphasis on the research interests of the current SILS faculty and doctoral students. The role of both theory and prior empirical research in generating research questions will be discussed. The variety of methods available to conduct ILS research will be reviewed.

The class members will participate in reading, reviewing, analyzing, and discussing, in some detail, relevant research literature in six particular facets of information and library science:

• Describing and organizing information,
• Curation, management, and preservation of materials,
• Information services and the organizations that provide them,
• Information needs, information seeking, and information sources,
• Information retrieval systems, interactive information retrieval, and human-computer interaction, and
• Information use and sharing, with special emphasis on scholarly communication.

As we explore each of these areas, you will be asked to consider how your own research interests interact with them. Is your research interest fully included in one of these areas? Is it a combination of two or more of the areas? Is it related to one or more of these areas, but also brings in the perspectives of other disciplines? Through our discussion and the assignments, you will have the opportunity to further develop your own interests in relation to the larger field of information and library science.

A second goal of this seminar is to assist the participants in being successful as doctoral students at SILS and as future scholars. This goal will be addressed by providing opportunities for you to develop particular research-related knowledge and skills, particularly in the following areas:

• Literature searching, managing your literature, and writing a literature review,
• Peer reviewing, and receiving and giving feedback,
• Project management,
• Research ethics and working with human subjects/participants,
• Presenting your work in various formats (orally, in a poster, in a paper),
• Collaboration, including interdisciplinary collaboration,
• Proposal writing, and
• Data management.

Rationale and relationship to the current curriculum. It is required that students take INLS 881 and INLS 882 in consecutive semesters at or near the beginning of their doctoral studies. The discussions in this seminar will help students identify research questions of particular interest to them and will provide a context within which initial explorations of those questions can be conducted.

Diversity Statement
"In support of the University’s diversity goals and the mission of the School of Information and Library Science, SILS embraces diversity as an ethical and societal value. We broadly define diversity to include race, gender, national origin, ethnicity, religion, social class, age, sexual orientation and physical and learning ability. As an academic community committed to preparing our graduates to be leaders in an increasingly multicultural and global society we strive to:

• Ensure inclusive leadership, policies and practices;
• Integrate diversity into the curriculum and research;
• Foster a mutually respectful intellectual environment in which diverse opinions are valued;
• Recruit traditionally underrepresented groups of students, faculty and staff; and
• Participate in outreach to underserved groups in the State. 

The statement represents a commitment of resources to the development and maintenance of an academic environment that is open, representative, reflective and committed to the concepts of equity and fairness."

~The faculty of the School of Information and Library Science (http://sils.unc.edu/about/diversity)

NOTE ON WRITING IN YOUR OWN WORDS

It is very important that you both attribute your sources and avoid excessive use of quotes (see separate document called "In Your Own Words"). Be aware of the University of North Carolina policy on plagiarism. Your written work must be original. Ask if you have any doubts about what this means.

All cases of plagiarism (unattributed quotation or paraphrasing) of anyone else's work, whether from someone else's answers to homework or from published materials, will be officially reported and dealt with according to UNC policies (Instrument of Student Judicial Governance, Section II.B.1. and III.D.2, http://instrument.unc.edu).

EVALUATION AND ASSIGNMENTS

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. They include:

Seminar participation and contributions (15%)

You are expected to complete reading assignments prior to the class in which they will be discussed. I will be expecting you to be an active participant in class, remembering that the quality of your comments and questions is as important as 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.

Seminal works; inspirational works/events (5%)

As we read and discuss important topics in information and library science this year, we will have the task of exploring each area’s underlying theories, the methods used, and current work in the area. We’ll increase our exposure to these research areas through your contributions. Each semester, each student will be expected to select, read, and report on (a) one seminal work and (b) one inspirational work or event, in the context of a class discussion.

Seminal works

A seminal work is one that initiates a new area of research – it might propose a different way of understanding some phenomenon and/or 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 1998, that has been cited more than 50 times, and that you believe was important to the development of the field is eligible.

Read a seminal article of your choosing. 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 slides). You should report on the seminar work during the section of the course to which it is pertinent. Send the article citation to the class list before the class session in which you will present it, as well as posting the full text in the Resources section of our Sakai site.

Inspirational works/events

An inspirational article or event 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.

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). As soon as possible after you’ve identified the inspirational work or event, you will share it with us in class.

Please notify me when you’re ready to tell us about this work or event — why you find this work or event inspirational, and how it is helping you or will help you with your work. (Note that I am not asking you to summarize it.) Send the work’s citation or a link to the event’s website to the class list before the class session in which you will present it, as well as posting the full text (if applicable) in the Resources section of our Sakai site.

Evaluation criteria

This assignment will be evaluated in terms of the selection of the works/event (i.e., it was important for the field and relevant to the topic at hand), the clarity of your summation and analysis, and the originality of your ideas about it. This assignment (seminal work and inspirational work/event combined) will account for 5% of your grade each semester.

Looking outward: Understanding the field in relation to your own research interests (60%)

Throughout the course, we will examine current research questions (including current studies, relevant theories, and applicable methods) in six areas:

•     describing and organizing information;
•     curation, data management, and preservation;
•     information services and the organizations that provide them;
•     information needs, seeking, and sources;
•     information retrieval (IR), interactive IR, and human-computer interaction; and
•     information use and sharing, with particular emphasis on scholarly communication.

You will be asked to conduct an analytical literature review in each of these areas (three in the fall and three in the spring), with a focus on how your own research interests are related to the area.  In each review, you should focus on the literature in a particular area that connects with your own research interests.

Milestones

You will write a brief description (about 1 paragraph) focused on the particular facet of our field that the review will cover, along with how your own research interests connect with that facet of the field.  You will then informally discuss your work with your classmates.

Schedule of due dates

Evaluation criteria

Looking inward: Developing your own research interests in relation to specific aspects of the field (20%) [Due: December 11 at 5pm]

Evaluation criteria

The criteria used to evaluate your final product will be similar to the criteria routinely applied to research proposals. These include the significance of the question/problem to the field, the adequacy of the citations to previous work, the feasibility, validity and logic of your plans for a study, and the organization, clarity, and style of your presentation.

Week 1 (August 21) - Course Introduction

(S) - Being a doctoral student and beyond

Week 2 (August 28) - Scope of Library and Information Science (T)

Assigned Readings:

Week 3 (September 4) - Anatomy of a Research Question (S)

Assigned Readings:

Week 4 (September 11)  - Work-Life Balance, Health and Wellness (S)

Assigned Readings:

Week 5 (September 18) - No Class

Week 6 (September 25) - Representing/describing knowledge objects (T); Conducting a Literature Review Search (S)

Assigned Readings:

Week 7 (October 2) - Organizing knowledge objects (T); Reading Literature Reviews (S)

Assigned Readings:

Week 8 (October 9) - Personal Information Management (T); Scientific Data Management (T); Managing the Literature you Find (S)

Assigned Readings:

Week 9 (October 16) - Locating your Research Interests within this Area; Two Critical Aspects of Scholarly Work: Theory and Methods (S)

Assigned Readings:

Week 10 (October 23) - Current Research in Archives and Curation (T); Writing a Literature Review (S)

Assigned Readings:

Week 11 (October 30) - Information and Health (T); Peer Reviewing (S)

Assigned Readings:

Week 12 (November 6) - Information Technology Services (T); Information Professions and the Workforce (T) 

Assigned Readings:

Week 13 (November 13) - Locating your Research Interests within this Area (T); Project Management (S)

Assigned Readings:

Week 14 (November 20) - Information organizations and their management (T); Information behaviors within organizational contexts (T); Diversity, inclusion, and cultural competency (S)

Assigned Readings:

Week 15 (November 27) - Professional ethics (T); Information policy (T); Locating your research interests within the areas of information services and the organizations that provide them

Assigned Readings:

Week 16 (December 4) - Research ethics, including research with human subjects (S); Reflections on what we’ve learned so far

Assigned Readings: