Type of Presentation

Individual paper/presentation (20 minute presentation)

Target Audience

Higher Education

Location

Room 1220 A/B

Proposal

Research has shown that first-year college students often struggle in developing research paper topics (Head, 2013). Compared to high school assignments where they typically had little choice in a research focus, college freshmen find themselves confronted with an overwhelming number of possible directions. In order to support first-year writing students in the selection and development of research paper topics, a librarian and professor developed an asynchronous system of support. Using Google Spreadsheets, students post potential topics and receive suggestions and links to relevant library resources from their professor and librarian. This presentation will detail the development of this partnership and attendees will learn how to create formatted Google Spreadsheets, avoid potential problems, and identify the benefits of this technology to support students in topic development.

Head, A.J. (2013, December 5) Learning the ropes: How freshmen conduct course research once they enter college. Project Information Literacy Research Report. Retrieved from http://projectinfolit.org/images/pdfs/pil_2013_freshmenstudy_fullreport.pdf

Short Description

Developing a paper topic is often the hardest part of the research process for first-year students. To assist students, we created an online asynchronous system of support. Attendees will learn how to create formatted Google Spreadsheets and identify the benefits of this technology to support students in topic development.

Keywords

First-Year Students, Topic Development, Faculty Collaboration, Online Learning

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

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Sep 30th, 8:30 AM Sep 30th, 9:45 AM

Two Heads Are Better Than One: Librarian-Faculty Collaboration to Support Student Topic Development

Room 1220 A/B

Research has shown that first-year college students often struggle in developing research paper topics (Head, 2013). Compared to high school assignments where they typically had little choice in a research focus, college freshmen find themselves confronted with an overwhelming number of possible directions. In order to support first-year writing students in the selection and development of research paper topics, a librarian and professor developed an asynchronous system of support. Using Google Spreadsheets, students post potential topics and receive suggestions and links to relevant library resources from their professor and librarian. This presentation will detail the development of this partnership and attendees will learn how to create formatted Google Spreadsheets, avoid potential problems, and identify the benefits of this technology to support students in topic development.

Head, A.J. (2013, December 5) Learning the ropes: How freshmen conduct course research once they enter college. Project Information Literacy Research Report. Retrieved from http://projectinfolit.org/images/pdfs/pil_2013_freshmenstudy_fullreport.pdf