One of the most important goals of any research assignment is to help students develop skills in locating, using, and evaluating information, and ultimately help them become more thoughtful and well-informed users of information. The librarians at Hekman want to assist you and your students in this goal.

1. Assume that your students know little about libraries and the research process. Today’s students profess great confidence in their ability to find the best information and find it fast. This is often a false confidence. The research component of English 101 will raise the research literacy level of most students, but what they acquire there will be basic knowledge.  
2. Be clear about why the assignment is important. Is your aim to teach them searching techniques? Critical reading skills? Evaluating sources? Judicious use of free Web resources? An understanding of research practices and expectations in your discipline?  All of these? If students are aware of your pedagogical objectives, they will be more inclined to view the assignment positively. 
3. Enlist the support of a librarian. After you have an idea for a research assignment, a librarian can help you identify appropriate research tools and techniques. Each academic department has a contact person in the library. (Find your library liaison.) A librarian can also provide your students with a research skills session that focuses on the assignment.
4. Encourage students to use the Research Assistance Desk. Make sure your students know what the Research Assistance Desk is for and that there are professional reference librarians who staff the desk and who can assist them in their research. Highlight this fact on the assignment sheet.

Characteristics of Effective Research Assignments*

1. Clarity. Give assignments in writing (rather than verbally) to reduce confusion.
2. Carefully selected and well-defined terminology. Students tend to take library research assignments at face value and may be confused by terms that they or a librarian cannot interpret definitively.  For example, some instructors differentiate between magazines and journals, whereas others use the terms interchangably.[...] Additionally, do students understand what is meant by "primary" or "secondary" sources (if you require their use)?
3. Currency. The library regularly updates and adds to its resources. New sources and ways of accessing information frequently become available. By checking your assignments regularly, you can make certain that you are not asking your students to use outdated or withdrawn sources.
4. Appropriate time-frame. Remember to allow for students' inexperience and for the availability of materials.

*Tips taken from: "Navigating the Library - What Students (and Faculty) Need to Know," College Teaching, vol. 51/No.2 (Spring 2003).

Alternative Research Assignments

See these pages for more tips as well as ideas for alternative research or library-related assignments: 

• Ideas for Library/Information Assignments - Memorial University, Newfoundland
• Designing Research Assignments - Drew University
• Ideas for Library-Related Assignments - University of Puget Sound

Examples of shorter assignments or activities:

• Compare different types of research sources on a topic (e.g., primary vs. secondary, popular vs. scholarly, free Web vs. database)
• Locate an original research study cited in a popular article  
• Locate the "best" and "worst" free Websites on a topic 
• Find an editorial and find facts to support it
• Present to fellow students background information on a topic covered in discussion

Examples of alternatives to the longer "term paper":

• Annotated bibliography
• Research proposal
• Literature review
• Update a review article of a major topic in the field
• Analyze the major disciplinary journals or literature
• Compare book reviews of a work
• Create a poster session
• Create a webpage, or contribute research to a collaborative website such as Wikipedia

A well-designed assignment can also go a long way towards discouraging plagiarism on the part of students. See these additional tips and resources for handling plagiarism.