Faculty and other instructors are encouraged to use this checklist when designing a research assignment for their class. The checklist includes action items for communicating with students assignment requirements, research guidance, and ways of getting research and writing assistance. Not all checklist items will apply to all assignments, classes, or disciplines; feel free to adapt the list to meet your needs.
Collaborating with UDC librarians when designing your assignment can help anticipate student stumbling blocks and can equip you with resources to guide students successfully through the research process. Reach out to UDC librarians at ask@udc.libanswers.com to start a conversation.
The Designing a Research Assignment Checklist pairs well with the Source Guidelines Template (see below). Several checklist items suggest consulting the Source Guidelines Template for recommended language to include in your assignment instructions or syllabus.
Click the link below to access the checklist as a Microsoft Word document. Please email ask@udc.libanswers.com if you need the checklist in another format.
In many ways, learning to be an effective researcher requires students to learn a new language. Faculty and instructors regularly incorporate many terms into their instructions for research-based assignments that may be unfamiliar to students. The meaning of some terms can vary across disciplines, or terms may have an “everyday” meaning that is different from their meaning within the context of academic research.
UDC Library's Source Guidelines Template is meant to help faculty and instructors standardize language about the types of sources students should find, use, and cite in their research. This template also includes recommendations for search strategies and guidelines on evaluating sources.
Faculty and instructors can borrow and modify the language in the Source Guidelines Template to reflect the expectations of their course, their discipline, or a specific assignment. Fill in the blanks (marked in red) where appropriate and look for highlighted sections where you need to choose between two or more options.
Click the link below to access the Source Guidelines Template as a Microsoft Word document. Please email ask@udc.libanswers.com if you need the template in another format.
