Alternatives to the
Research Paper
Alternatives to the
Research Paper
Learning Research Skills | Learning to Use Access Tools | Understanding the Structure of the Literature | Critical Reading | Using the Web | Presenting Your Results
A research paper or project is often viewed as the most appropriate vehicle for introducing students to the methods of academic inquiry. There are, however, alternatives to the traditional term paper project that can be equally (and sometimes more) effective and beneficial to student learning. Below are some assignments and projects that can help students develop the skills needed to efficiently find, critically evaluate, effectively use, and clearly communicate information. These assignments can be tailored to fit specific courses and can be used in conjunction with a research paper or as "stand alone" activities. In many instances, students would benefit from having a librarian provide information on pertinent resources and/or strategies prior to the assignment.
If you are interested in working with an instruction librarian to develop effective course-related activities that will promote critical thinking and information literacy among our students, please contact Jim Douglas or Matthew Haggard.
Learning Research Skills
Research Log
Assignment: Keep a record of library research: methodology, sources consulted (and reasons why), keywords or subject headings searched, noting both successes and failures.
Purpose: Encourages students to think about the choices they must make as researchers. Provides a good introduction to how information is organized in libraries. Focuses on the importance of terminology. Helps students understand there is not necessarily a right or wrong strategy for finding information, but strategies that may be more or less effective.
Annotated Bibliography
Assignment: Find a specified number of sources on a topic and write descriptive or evaluative annotations.
Purpose: Sharpens the skills of literature searching and mastering a bibliographic style.
Database Search
Assignment: Provide a precise statement of a search topic, a list of keywords or thesaurus terms (as appropriate), and an outline of search logic. Justify the choice of databases. Carry out the search.
Purpose: Shows the background research necessary for a successful search, promotes an awareness of the different databases available, and teaches the mechanics of searching.
Internet Search
Assignment: Provide a precise statement of the search topic and an outline of the search logic. Run the search on two different search engines. Compare the results from the two searches - was one better than the other? Why? How?
Purpose: Teaches students the mechanics of searching the Internet, that there is more than one tool available, that formulating a search may be different for each tool, and that results will often differ.
Compare Internet and Academic Index Searches
Assignment: Provide a precise statement of the search topic. Run the search on the Internet and also on an academic index database. Present some representation of the search results and compare the findings.
Purpose: Demonstrates the differences between these search tools in respect to content and search strategy.
Literature Review
Assignment: Review the literature on a specific topic for a given time period.
Purpose: Reveals the purpose of a literature review, and provides experience doing one.
Review Article Update
Assignment: Select (or assign) a topic on which a review article was written a number of years ago and update that review.
Purpose: Introduces students to literature reviews, subject indexes and reference sources. Demonstrates the evolution of a particular topic and the scholarly communication surrounding it. Also requires students to analyze, synthesize and integrate the ideas they find.
Anatomy of a Research Paper
Assignment: Conduct the research for a term paper. Do everything except write it. At various stages, students submit:
1) topic clearly defined
2) annotated bibliography of useful sources
3) outline of paper
4) thesis statement
5) opening paragraph and summary
Purpose: Focuses on the stages of research and the parts of a paper, rather than on the writing of it.
Learning to Use Access Skills
Reference Sources
Assignment: What is a reference source? When might you use one? Identify the major types (with examples of each type) of reference sources in the discipline.
Purpose: Shows how and why to use reference material.
Compare Reference Sources
Assignment: Look up a topic in several different subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. and compare how the topic is covered.
Purpose: Develops awareness of specific reference resources, how and when to use them, how to evaluate them.
Understanding the Structure of the Literature
Periodical Indexes
Assignment: Locate articles on a particular topic using a specified periodical index.
Purpose: Students learn how to search using subject headings and/or keywords, Boolean strategies and other features, interpret citations, evaluate the relevance of citations, and locate the articles in the library's collection.
Understand the Literature of a Discipline
Assignment: What does the literature of a discipline look like? What comprises it? Investigate the production and dissemination of information in a given discipline. How is the knowledge produced? By whom? In which media is it presented/communicated? What is the publishing cycle? How important is informal communication in the field?
Purpose: Demystifies the elusive term "the literature.
Examine a Classical Work
Assignment: Explore through book reviews, biographical information, and citation indexes how and why a work becomes a "classic." What effect does a classical work have on a discipline?
Purpose: Demonstrates the evolution of ideas, and identifies factors which make a work "important."
Follow Research Trends
Assignment: Look at a periodical index [or yearbook, handbook, etc.] at 10 year intervals.
Purpose: Illustrates the explosion of research, and how its issues, content and methods change.
Trace a Scholar's Career
Assignment: Students choose (or are assigned) a scholar/researcher. Explore that person's career and ideas by locating biographical information, preparing a bibliography of his/her writings, analyzing the reaction of the scholarly community to the researcher's work, and examining the scholarly network in which s/he works.
Purpose: Introduces students to the use of biographical and bibliographical tools, and exposes them to examples of scholarly dialogue.
Identify Major Journals
Assignment: How many journals are published in a given field? Identify [with professor/librarian help] journals "basic" to the discipline. Compare and contrast them. Analyze their content, tone, audience and impact.
Purpose: Emphasizes the importance of journal literature. Makes the point that journals differ in approach and perspective.
Understand Primary Sources
Assignment: Compare primary and secondary sources on the same topic.
Purpose: Teaches students to differentiate between primary/secondary sources in a discipline. Shows when and why to use each.
Critical Reading
Look Behind the Book
Assignment: Examine the credibility of the course textbook (or a major monograph in the field). Who wrote it? What are the author's credentials? What is the point of view of the book? Find three reviews of it. Suggest alternative works (with reasons).
Purpose: Emphasizes that ideas and people have contexts.
Analyze the Argument
Assignment 1: Identify and examine the assumptions implicit in an article. Identify the author's thesis. Outline the theoretical framework used to account for the results. [Professor may want to hand out specific questions, in order to focus on different aspects of the article].
Purpose: Provides practice in reading what is implicit, rather than explicit, in a paper.
Assignment 2: Examine the experimental design, data, and interpretation of the data in a research paper for adequacy and consistency. [Professor may want to hand out questions, to pinpoint specific aspects of the article].
Purpose: Focuses on the critical evaluation of research.
Compare Book Reviews
Assignment: Locate and read [three, four, etc.] reviews of a work.
Purpose: Explores the importance of critical reception.
Contrast Journal Articles
Assignment 1: Use an index to locate two articles that present differing viewpoints (scholarly/popular; conservative/liberal).
Purpose: Reveals that most journals appeal to a defined constituency and that their reporting and editorial policies reflect the attitudes of that constituency.
Assignment 2: Read several articles which appear to address the same question but reach different conclusions. Account for the differences by examining the methods used, the experimental design, and the interpretation of the results. [Professor would select the articles].
Purpose: Encourages students to approach research with a healthy skepticism. Develops evaluative skills.
Write Book/Film Review
Assignment: Review a book/film (either of the students' choice or one assigned to them). Discuss the author's credentials. Compare the book/film to similar works in the field. A film can also be compared to its source - book, play.
Purpose: To place a book/film in its intellectual context.
Read the References
Assignment: Read the articles cited in a research paper. Explain how each is related to the paper. In what circumstances is it appropriate to cite other papers? What different purposes do the citations serve?
Purpose: Shows when it is appropriate to recognize the contributions of previous authors in the development of new work.
Examine Coverage of a Controversial Issue
Assignment: Examine the treatment of a controversial issue in several sources [newspaper editorial, scholarly journal, journals from different disciplines, etc.].
Purpose: Emphasizes that there are multiple perspectives on any issue.
Using the World Wide Web
Find Suitable Information
Assignment: Give the students a set of Web pages to look at. Have them note any reasons why these pages are, or are not, appropriate for university level student research or for in-class use.
Purpose: A source that is useful in one instance, may not be useful in all instances. Either scholarly or popular sites might be appropriate depending on the requirements of the class assignment or research.
Locate and Evaluate Internet Sites
Assignment: Have the students find a Web page or site of interest to them, or one that is appropriate to a project they are working on. Have them cite this page using a style manual and write 2-3 paragraphs evaluating the site they have chosen. Be sure that they use appropriate criteria [supplied by you, a Librarian, or researched using the Web itself]. You might have them include a print copy of the first page of the Web site. As an additional part of the assignment, you might have them present a log of the search strategy that they used to locate the site.
Purpose: Students should learn to use the appropriate criteria when evaluating Web sites.
Compare Print and Web Resources
Assignment: In groups of 3-5, have students examine pairs of items (books, articles, web sites) to determine: indicators of quality in each item; where exactly they found those indicators; the appropriate use for each item. Have them report their findings to the class after the class has had a chance to also evaluate the sites.
Purpose: Students learn that the Web has not replaced print resources; rather it should be used as a complement to them.
Presenting your Results
Public Presentation
Assignment: Students present the results of their research in a PowerPoint presentation, Web site, poster session, etc.
Purpose: Teaches alternate ways of organizing and presenting material.
Write a Research Proposal
Assignment: Do a literature search and review evaluating the current state of knowledge in a topic. Then write a proposal for an extensive research project
