This article suggests three ways to enhance undergraduate periodical use assignments to foster conceptual skills students need when they undertake complex research projects. Discussion covers scholarly or professional literature versus popular literature, differentiation among points of view and differing interpretations of facts, and use of…

A discussion of the process and problems of supervising a doctoral candidate examines the nature of the task and relationship, the stages of research (defining the topic, design, gathering material, writing, defense, and dissemination), criticism and intellectual growth, and references and sponsorship. (MSE)

A unit designed to help students write better papers by following a specific research strategy was added to a freshman English composition course. Following logical organization of a library from general to specific, the strategy enables students to engage in independent research and obtain high-quality information to support a paper. (EJS)

Bibliographic instruction can do more than provide directions on library use for a specific assignment; it can contribute to the objectives of liberal education by teaching skills in asking questions, critically analyzing information, and answering questions. (MSE)

Analyzes a research model entitled "The Professional Communications Network" and shows a step-by-step approach to implementing this model in writing courses that require technical research. Shows logical development of an average technical research paper and ends with an evaluation of the network by students. (EL)

Describes instructional methods and resources used by school librarians in meeting responsibility to teach students steps of an information search, validity and kind of sources, why a particular book was used, and value of reference tools. Examples are given of reference tools and situations in which they might be used. (EJS)

The purpose of this study was to explore and discover whether there are any differences in credentials required or preferred for academic library positions which offer faculty status, compared with those which do not include this designation. A content analysis was done using announcements for 451 nationally publicized openings. In the area of…

A study examined the effectiveness of research strategy instruction that is integrated with the demands of inquiry-based content-area projects, rather than the typical teaching of research-related skills out of context. The study was conducted at two elementary schools, one a Title I school with a high percentage of poor readers, the other a…

In order to use new educational technologies effectively and to help students cope with the mass of information that has become available, librarians have begun to develop strategies and lessons to instruct students in searching. There has been, however, no detailed curriculum in the schools to ensure that students and teachers in grades K-12 are…

This year-long assessment project grew out of a need to establish an authentic assessment program (intermediate and terminal, formative and summative) as students entered the secondary grades. The project provided a framework for skill lessons correlated to the state (New York) curriculum and the textbook, which continued throughout the year,…

Developed by classroom teachers during the development phase of Minnesota's Graduation Standards, this performance package is made up of locally designed assignments that, taken together, show whether a student has learned and can apply the knowledge and skills related to comprehending and evaluating complex information in a variety of English…

Written in a form that is easy to use in the classroom, this book presents a wide variety of ideas and teaching strategies adapted for content area teachers. There is a least one content area example for each strategy presented in the book; many strategies have examples gleaned from more than one subject. Chapters in the book are: (1) Reading To…

Elements of the legal writing program are presented and discussed: goals, structure, assignments, instructional method, and program problems (credit hours, faculty-student relationship, grading by tutors, competition for library resources, low level of basic student skills). Available from Union University, 80 Scotland Ave., Albany, NY 12208;…

A group of academic staff at the Open University with little computer experience developed a computer program for instruction. Reasons for its inclusion in the course, procedures for its adoption, and initial evaluation are described. The course was one in research methods in education and the social sciences. (MSE)

The Springs task, an individually administered measure of ability to criticize and control experiments, is described. The task has characteristics similar to Inhelder and Piaget's Bending Rods task; it yields scores on naming variables, controlling variables, and analyzing experiments. (See also RIE: ED 163 092.) (JKS)