 |
Writing
Intensive Classes |
100 Level Courses |
200 Level Courses |
300 Level Seminars |
400 Level & Honors Projects
| Assessment |
Ethical Issues
WRITING INTENSIVE CLASSES
For a description of basic information
literacy skills required of all students before entering upon work in
their major, click
here.
GOALS/COURSES
Faculty may wish to differentiate
among the skills important at the 100-, 200-, and 300-level, with yet
other skills for honors project-level research. For example, goals for
various courses might include the following skills, grouped loosely around
locating information, evaluating credibility, interpreting arguments,
reading closely, learning languages, reporting findings, and citing works
consulted.
HISTORY
100 LEVEL COURSES
Locating information
- Awareness of the inadequacies
of web search engines for scholarly research
- Ability to use the Five
College Library Catalog to locate known items, perform basic subject
searches, and access print reserves
- Some exposure to using article
databases
Evaluating credibility
- Awareness of a variety of types
of historical sources: written documents, audio or visual material (e.g.
FDR’s Fireside Chats), artifacts, statistics
- Differentiating primary sources
from secondary sources
- Appreciating that different
sources carry different levels of credibility
Interpreting arguments
- Becoming aware of differing
perspectives on a specific historical event and pondering how those
might reflect the authors’ interests
- Awareness of the variety of
historical approaches and methods
- Learning to understand a historical
statement and what evidence supports or undermines the statement
Reading closely
- Determining what constitutes
evidence, interpretive contention, or apparent contradiction in a historical
argument
- Applying questions from an instructor
or an editor to a specific text
- Picking out familiar elements
from unfamiliar times and cultures
Learning languages
- Recognizing brief, key expressions
in English and in other languages
- Valuing further language study
for access to specific sources and broader cultures
Reporting findings
- Defending their own points of
view on a question posed by the instructor using common readings selected
by the instructor
Citing works consulted
HISTORY 200 LEVEL COURSES
Locating information
- Locating primary sources available
at Smith from references in the secondary literature
- Awareness of standard collections
of primary sources (e.g. collected works, Documents of British Foreign
Policy, United States Congressional Serial Set)
- Identifying scholarly monographs
via the Five College
Library Catalog.
- Locating scholarly articles
from core history journals via online databases such as:
| Scholarly Articles Databases |
| Humanities
Abstracts 1984+ |
Abstracts of articles, book reviews,
and more from over 465 sources in the humanities |
| Historical
Abstracts 1956+ |
History after 1450, excluding U.S.
and Canada |
| America:
History & Life 1953+ |
American
& Canadian history |
| JSTOR |
Back issues excluding the most
recent 2-5 years |
| Project
MUSE |
Current issues of journals in arts
and humanities, social sciences and mathematics |
- Awareness of scholarly reference
works in the field of history such as:
| Scholarly Reference Sources |
Call Number |
| Encyclopedia
of Asian History (4 vols.) |
ref DS 31 .E53 1988 |
| Encyclopedia
of American Social History (3 vols.) |
ref HN 57 .E58 1993 |
| Dictionary
of the Middle Ages (13 vols.) |
ref D 114 .D5 1982 |
| Cambridge
Economic History |
|
| And also, reference
works from related disciplines such as: |
| Encyclopedia
of Philosophy |
|
| Encyclopedia
of Islam (12 vols.) |
ref DS 37 .E523 |
- Searching databases using each
database’s controlled vocabulary and, if available, thesaurus
- Maintaining a flexible vocabulary
so as to alter initial search strategies that prove unsuccessful
- Sifting a list of search results
for the most promising sources
Evaluating credibility
- Identifying the credentials of
an author
- Attending to the publication
history of a work, and considering that context in interpreting it
Interpreting arguments
- Identifying key passages from
the author’s own emphases
- Developing independent questions
while reading
- Grasping empirical issues in
a specific historical debate
Reading closely
- Routinely devoting close analysis
to primary sources
- Extracting from a source information
its author was not aiming to convey
- Moving comfortably between varying
perspectives of historical actors in the same event
- Picking out unfamiliar elements
in familiar times and cultures
Learning languages
- Recognizing significant contemporary
terms that appear in primary sources
- Recognizing discipline-specific
vocabulary that occurs in secondary sources
- Developing sufficient fluency
to read a short primary source (a poem or a newspaper article, say)
in the original language
Reporting findings
- Developing an independent interpretation
- Sustaining an argument over
the course of a ten-page paper
Citing works consulted
- Routinely using sources appropriately
and ethically
- Knowing when to cite sources
consulted, using a standard
citation format (e.g. Turabian, Chicago)
- Compiling an annotated bibliography
HISTORY
300 LEVEL SEMINARS
Locating Information
- Routinely searching for primary
sources for historical research
- Consulting major journals for
the sub-discipline. For example, is studying the history of Japanese
women, consulting journals such as:
| Journal Title |
SC Neilson Per 2nd floor/Link |
| Journal of Japanese
Studies |
Per DS 801 .J7 / online |
| Journal of Women's
History |
Per HQ 1101 .J67 / online |
| Monumenta Nipponica:
Studies on Japanese Culture |
Per DS 821 .A1 M6 / online |
| Past and Present |
Per D1 .P37 / online |
| U.S.-Japan Women's Journal |
Per HQ 1101 .U538 / online |
- Familiarity with the existence
of professional book reviews and review articles—and how to locate
them in databases such as:
- Familiarity as well with citation
databases, such as:
- Locating scholarly monographs
not only via the Five College Library Catalog, but also by using such
tools as WorldCat, review articles, and scholarly bibliographies:
- Expanding their selection of
scholarly articles by using more specialized history databases and databases
for allied disciplines or area studies such as:
- Locating and working with unique
sources on campus such as:
| Resources Unique to Smith |
Description |
| Sophia
Smith Collection |
Internationally recognized repository of manuscripts,
photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history |
| Mortimer
Rare Book Room |
Covers the history of printing from the fifteenth
century to the twentieth |
- Tracking down evidence from
outside sources in support of their own critiques of assigned readings
Evaluating credibility
- Attending carefully to the apparatus
of a scholarly work (footnotes, bibliography, etc.)
- Evaluating an author’s
credentials for expertise, and for what they reveal about the author’s
intellectual orientation
- Routinely weighing the credibility
of multiple conflicting sources
Interpreting arguments
- Routinely using secondary sources
advancing conflicting interpretations
- Understanding theoretical issues
in a historical debate
- Identifying historical approaches
and methods independent of the specific subject matter (e.g. liberalism,
Marxism, feminism)
- Recognizing similar debates
across multiple settings and courses
Reading closely
- Questioning the composition
of a source (how a contract was negotiated, how a text was redacted,
how a graph was calculated)
- Treating as agents historical
figures described in documents by others (e.g. a criminal from the judge’s
speech at sentencing, natives from accounts by explorers)
Reporting findings
- Presenting work in progress
verbally and through effective handouts or electronic media in class
- Sustaining an argument over
the course of a twenty-page paper
Learning languages
- Taking initiative to understand
special vocabulary of the period under study as well as the scholarly
language of the topic
- Developing sufficient fluency
to read a scholarly article or chapter-length primary source in a language
other than English
400 LEVEL
INCLUDING HONORS PROJECT
In addition to working with a faculty
honors project advisor, all honors project students are required to schedule
a research appointment
with a reference librarian/archivist/curator. Via the research appointment
and consultations with the faculty advisor, the Honors student should
have all of the skills identified above. In addition, she should:
- Be aware of a variety of resources
- Understand the structure of
knowledge and its communication within the honors project discipline
- Develop an effective search
strategy
- Appreciate the time required
to acquire resources – and the need to create a reasonable timeline
for the research process
- Be aware of the need for a balance
of publication formats, dates, and perspectives in the works consulted
- Understand the limitations of
full-text access to sources.
Locating information
- Identifying and requesting materials
available only through Interlibrary
Loan
- Preparedness to travel to the
site of off-campus sources
- Routinely perusing multiple
reference works, while taking account of their varying perspectives.
For example:
| Title |
Neilson Call Number/Access |
| 1911 Britannica |
Ref AE 5 .E363 / online |
| The Catholic Encyclopedia |
Ref BX 841 .N44 2003 |
| The Great Soviet Encyclopedia |
Oversize AE 5 .B5813 |
| Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire
raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers |
Oversize AE 25 .E534 |
- Routinely consulting relevant
tools (Dictionary of National Biography, concordances, etymological
dictionaries, etc.) on her own initiative:
| Title |
Neilson Call Number/Access |
| Dictionary of National Biography |
Ref DA28 .O95 / online |
Evaluating credibility
- Tracing the professional reception
of scholarly and popular works through book reviews, review articles,
and citation databases
Reporting findings
- Revising a research honors project
in accordance with initial substantive findings and the availability
of sources
- Sustaining an argument over
fifty or more pages
- Deploying quantitative evidence
judiciously and effectively
Learning languages
- Developing sufficient fluency
to read a book in a language other than English
Citing works consulted
- Identifying which citation
style to use and understanding when to cite research materials
- Evaluating appropriateness of
using RefWorks citation
software to manage honors project bibliography; knowing how to gain
access and get help
- Understanding when copyright
permission is needed for use of materials
- Being aware that the writer
of the honors project holds its copyright and thus has the right to
grant or deny permission for future use of its content by others
ASSESSMENT
Assessment of information literacy
takes place regularly within the framework of History courses. Class discussions,
examinations, and papers call upon students to demonstrate interpretive
skills appropriate to the course topic and level. Their performance in
this area is one factor directly and/or indirectly determining their grades.
Through formal grading and informal feedback during office hours and research
appointments, instructors and librarians help students develop critical
awareness of their own abilities and how they are improving.
Assignments requiring students to
demonstrate and take advantage of information literacy assume varying
forms, depending on the skills involved. In general, introductory courses
devote more explicit attention to developing and testing basic skills,
while more advanced courses assume students have already learned some
skills and can deploy them independently.
A 100-level course might straightforwardly
include a specific questionnaire for which students have to examine library
holdings both virtually and in person. Papers at the 100- and 200-level
might call for critical comparison of conflicting accounts of an event.
Particularly useful in enhancing information literacy are readings exposing
students to a chain of historical writings, in which later authors draw
on earlier ones or react against their conclusions. Some 200-level courses
assign research papers requiring students to locate and analyze primary
sources. Others pose historiographical questions for which students must
weigh competing secondary interpretations.
Some 200-level courses require the
compilation of an annotated bibliography, either as a task in its own
right or as a preliminary to a substantive investigation. Such a bibliography
might, for example, call for the use of at least one scholarly history
encyclopedia, the use of the online catalog to identify several relevant
monographs, and a selection of scholarly articles identified from Historical
Abstracts/ America, History and Life, J-STOR and ProjectMUSE. Students
would be prepared to defend the credentials of authors cited (both primary
and secondary), if asked.
In 300-level seminars, a similar
assignment might be undertaken as one step toward researching and writing
a term paper. The student could be asked to indicate the source of each
citation, how she came across the item, and its relative value to the
argument within the paper. The range of sources could be drawn from the
list above. At the 400-level, students’ proficiency in uncovering
and evaluating sources is evidenced not only in their writing and bibliographies,
but also in their oral defenses of their projects.
In all these cases, library staff
are also available to assist students and faculty members in devising,
completing, and assessing such work.
ETHICAL ISSUES
For Smith College's policy on the
ethical use of information, click
here.
May 15, 2007
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