1) Number of participants?

15

2) Who was the audience for the class/workshop/activity?

First-year students or students new to research.

3) Describe your experience planning with the instructor.

I had worked with this FYW instructor a few times before but had never actually seen the assignment students were working on! After having a good conversation with this instructor informally after a class, I managed to convince them to send me the assignment. Turns out, no actual research was required (the assignment was to write an essay about either a curious behavior; OR, write about an artifact/figure that is a sign of the times). Some students had topics already chosen by the time I got to the class, some were still exploring ideas.

4) What were your goals for the class/workshop/activity?

The main goal of this session was to encourage students to incorporate research into their argumentative essays. The secondary goals were for students to understand that different resources exist (both within and outside of the library) for finding evidence for their papers, and that there are strategies to help them navigate the vast array of information out there.

5) Describe the session(s) and the logistics of any hands-on activities.

• I started out by asking students to pair up and share with each other what their experience with “research” had been so far. We then discussed their experiences, shared tips/tricks, and then talked about how Google & Tisch Library related to one another.
• I introduced the BEAM model, and talked about why adding external sources improves an essay.
• The class then split into small groups of 3-4 to complete a Jigsaw exercise.
  • Each group explored a different search tool (either: Credo Reference, JumboSearch, or Google Scholar) to find a source related to a topic that I provided.
  • The groups explained how they’d use that source in an essay, explored different ways to improve/manage their search results, and used the search tool to create a citation.
  • Each group shared their experience and findings with the class.

6) What went well? What might you do differently next time?

• Students enjoyed working together in groups and seemed to “get” the BEAM model, based on what they reported out from their Jigsaws.
• I think I tried to cover too much ground in the Jigsaw activity (ie. generating citations, identifying keywords) and thus diluted my main goal for the class, which was to get students to use external sources as evidence. Going forward, I would remove those aspects of the Jigsaw and focus on the bigger picture (practicing using BEAM to characterize different source formats).
• I also think that having students think about BEAM in the context of their own assignments would make this class more successful (rather than understanding BEAM “in theory”). Next time, I would have students spend time exploring evidence individually, before having any sort of group discussion.