Class Topic

Readings

Assignments Due/Class Notes

Aug 27: Introduction.

Part I: Asking the right questions

Aug 29: Research Process

Bedford Researcher, Chapter 1 (p. 3-13)

Identify Photos

Sep 3 : School Closed

Sep 5: Research Plan

Bedford Researcher, Chapter 2a: How Can I explore my topic (p. 15-26)

Pay particular attention to the part on an Annotated Bibliography ( p.24) as we will be doing one of these in class.

Create a Research Project Timeline (see Bedford, p.6).
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/
bedfordresearcher/activities/

Sep 10: Field Trip

Bedford Chapter 5, pp.62-76

Sep 12:  Life Cycle of Information

Penn State. The Information Cycle.
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/infocycle/infocycle.html

University of Rhode Island. The Flow of Information. http://www.uri.edu/library/staff_pages/kinnie/lib120/periodical.html#flow

Flow of Scientific Information
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/usered/grad/researchskills/flow_of_info.html

Start exploring topics of interest and post progress in your Research Logs. Think about potential resources you could use. Nothing to be turned in at this time.

Sep 17: Where to Search

Morville p45-48

Bedford, p.69, 85-93

You will be assigned a category and will identify the relative strengths, weaknesses and strategies for finding information from that source.  Be prepared to lead a group discussion focusing on your source.

Sep 19: Field Trip to Enoch Pratt Library

Bedford Researcher Chapter 4: Getting ready to Collect and Keep Information

Because the Enoch Pratt library does not open until 10:00, we will be switching times with Baltimore in the Media.  We will meet at 11:00 today and walk to the Enoch Pratt Library.

Sep 24 Narrowing a Topic

Bedford Researcher, Chapter 2: How can I narrow my topic (p. 26-31)

Colorado State University. Choosing and Narrowing Topics. http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/processes/topic/index.cfm

Bedford Researcher Activities: Explore Your Topic
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/bedfordresearcher/activities/docs/ExploreTopic.doc

Narrow Your Topic To an Issue http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/bedfordresearcher/activities/docs/NarrowTopic.pdf

Topics and Groups for Your Final Project are due today.

Sep 26: Developing a Research Question

Bedford Researcher, Chapter 3: Developing Your Research Question and Proposal (p. 32-44)

Bedford Research Room: How to Develop a Research Question (http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/researchroom/question/)

Bedford Researcher Activities: Develop and Refine my Research Question (http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/bedfordresearcher/activities/docs/DevResearchQuestion.pdf

Meet in Langsdale Library
Quiz #1

Part II: Finding the Answer

Oct 1: Boolean Searching

Bedford: 77-81

Morville Chpt 3.  Focus on “Information Retrieval” p.48-58. 

Meet in AC 235

Turn in 2 sources on your topic, along with your research logs showing how you found them. Sources should be in MLA format and breifly annotated.

Create a Research Question and bring it to class.

Oct 3: Subject Searching

Morville Chpt 6.  p.119- 130

Meet in BC 227

Oct 8: Refining your search

Weinberger, David.  “Taxonomy ad Tags: From Trees to Piles of Leaves”. 
http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/misc/taxonomies_and_tags.html

Morville Chpt 6.  p.131-141, 149-152

Meet in AC 235

Complete a Search strategy chart related to your research project.

Within one database and the library catalog, identify 2 subject headings relevant to their topic.

Oct 10: Special Collections

Bedford, 109-131

Meet in Langsdale Library

Meet in Langsdale Library

Oct 15:
Search Technology

Liddy, Elizabeth. “How a Search Engine Works.” Searcher. May 2001. 9(5).  Accessed online at:
http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/may01/liddy.htm

How Search Engines Work
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2168031

How Search Engines Rank Web Pages
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2167961

Morville, pp.103-111

Oct 17: Citations

Bedford, 237-240
Bedford section on MLA style p. 241-373.
Review p. 55-61

Bedford Research Room: How to Create a Works Cited or Reference List (http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/researchroom/workscited/)

Oct 22: Evaluating Sources

Evaluating Sources of Information:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_evalsource.html

The Chronicle: Wikipedia Founder Discourages Academic Use of His Creation. http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/1328/wikipedia-founder-discourages-academic-use-of-his-creation. (Look at some of the comments below the article, and see if you agree with them)

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=72347 (We will watch in class)

Review Bedford: 124-131

Bibliography with 5 sources.  Cite them with MLA style.

Meet in AC 235

Oct 24: Reading Critically

Review Bedford: 113-123

Some Guidelines for Preparing an Annotated Bibliography:
http://library.uwb.edu/guides/annotations.html

For this class, your bibliography should begin with short (one or two sentences, maybe) summary of each item. The rest of the annotation should evaluate itsquality and overall relevance to your project.

Identify 3 blogs or podcasts about Baltimore. You will need to track them over the next 2 weeks.

Here are some links to get you started.

http://outside.in/Baltimore
http://www.blogtimore.com/
http://www.baltiblogs.com/

Oct 29: FSP Assessment

FSP Assessment exercise

Meet in AC 235

Turn it annotations for the 5 sources you intend to use in your project.

Oct 31: Statistics

Best, J. (2001). “Telling the Truth About Damned Lies and Statistics.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 47(34) p. B7.
http://tinyurl.com/2cqsmx

Levine, David, and David Stephan. “Presenting Data in Tables and Charts.” Even You Can Learn Statistics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2005. 17-31.(In WebTycho under "Reserved Readings")

Meet in BC 227

Nov 5: Exam in AC 235

Part III: Presenting your findings

Nov 7: GIS

Morville.  pp.24-32. To think about maps.

To think how you might be able to use maps read the following:
The Ghost Map.  pp.190-199, 218-226 (on reserve section of WebTycho) and/or watch this video:
http://ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=s_johnson
The details of the story are very interesting, but not necessarily germaine to this class. Note how a very simple map can be a powerful way to tell a story.

Ratliff, Evan. "Google Maps Is Changing the Way We See the World" Wired. 6 June 2007.
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/15-07/ff_maps?currentPage=all
The last part of this article is most interesting for this class. Start reading from about halfway, the part that begins " Since Google relaunched the software" in bold.

Guest Speaker: Peter Armstrong

Meet in BC 227

Nov12: Field Trip

Field Trip

Nov 14: Legal Issues

Fair(y) Use Tale: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/documentary-film-program/film/a-fair-y-use-tale

Podcasting Legal Guide. “Legal Issues in Creating Your Own Podcast.”
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Podcasting_Legal_Guide#Legal_Issues_In_Creating_Your_Own_Podcast

Meet in BC 227

Nov 19: Presenting Information

"Analytics According to Captain Kirk" http://www.clicktracks.com/insidetrack/articles/kirk_analytics.php?source=nws072007

Meet in BC 227

Nov 21: No classes

Nov 26:Constructing Arguments and Rhetoric

We will work in groups to prepare for Wednesdays class.

Written evaluations of 3 websites related to Baltimore.

Dec 3: The Future

Morville, p 58-63

Meet in BC 227

Podcast is due.

Dec 5: Group Presentations

Dec 10: Finals

There is no final for this class, but the following assignments must be turned in by December 10:

Research Log
Annotated Bibliography