SKIL Assignments

Purpose: Each of the brief assignments or activities below offers an engaging and useful way for you to incorporate the benefits gained from SKIL into your course, at the right time in the quarter, and in the most helpful way for your students. By asking students to complete these short tasks, you can maximize the learning from SKIL and help students develop best as researchers at Stanford. By completing these activities throughout the course, students also have a chance to progress through the SKIL modules one at a time. This will maximize retention from the online tutorial and make the hands-on library workshop an opportunity for deep learning and advanced lessons.

Introduction (Information Literacy and Brainstorming) and Module 1: Searching
Task: Document, step by step, your stratey for finding two resources in Socrates.
Module II: Selecting Sources
Task: Select three sources in Socrates and define them, e.g. peer reviewed, primary or secondary, government document, etc. Print out the record for each and submit it with your assignment. Demonstrate versatility in types of documents.
Module III: Databases
Task: Search Academic Search Premier and find two articles on your topic. Submit the records of each. Write on the record whether the article is available full text, available in some other format but on campus (show which library and call number) or not available in any format on campus.
Module IV: Locating
Task: Find a book on your topic, get the book from the shelf and check it out. Bring it to class.
Module V: The Web
Task: Try a couple of different search engines and write a paragraph about their results.
Module VI: Use Criteria
Task: Use class time to discuss plagiarism and how to avoid it.

Last modified: September 27, 2005