Over the summer of 2022, CRASE awarded the Instruction and Outreach department a mini-grant to take a retreat to brainstorm and develop a series of research skills workshops. The goal of the workshop series is to teach students the foundational research skills needed for their time at USF and beyond.
Preparing USF students to conduct academic research and critically engage with media and texts is often a collaboration between students, faculty, librarians, and university community members. Librarians are happy to be a part of this process and the library has a strong library instruction program that partners with professors and students to teach tailored research skills. Recently, we have been interested in piloting a series of standalone workshops that students can drop into or professors could assign extra credit points for.
The workshops will teach students how to develop a research question – often the most important part of the process; how to use search strategies to find relevant information; how to distinguish between primary and secondary sources in a variety of disciplines; and how to cite information and incorporate it ethically into research. All of the workshops will be taught in the Spring 2023 semester in the library’s electronic classroom (GL 139). You can register for the workshops here or drop in!
- Developing a Research Question // Feb 22, 2023 from 12pm-1pm
- Search Strategies // March 1, 2023 from 12pm-1pm
- Primary and Secondary Sources // March 8, 2023 from 12pm-1pm
- Ethical Use of Information // March 22, 2023 from 12pm-1pm
Students are encouraged to attend any or all the workshops!
Great post! I’m glad to see that the library is taking an active role in preparing students to conduct academic research and critically engage with media and texts. The collaboration between students, faculty, librarians and university community members is essential to this process and the library instruction program is a great way to achieve this. I think the idea of piloting a series of standalone workshops that students can drop into or professors could assign extra credit points for is a great way to reach more students and give them the opportunity to learn research skills.
I appreciate the effort put into the development of the research skills workshops through the mini-grant awarded by CRASE. The goal of teaching students the foundational research skills they need for their time at USF and beyond is very important and I think these workshops will be a great way to achieve that. The topics covered in the workshops such as developing a research question, using search strategies, distinguishing between primary and secondary sources, and ethical use of information are all crucial to research and I think the workshops will be very beneficial to students. I’m excited to see the workshops being held in the spring 2023 semester and I encourage students to attend any or all of them. Best regards, Mark Green of Jpazamu.com