LSCI
106: ONLINE RESEARCH 1:
INTRODUCTION TO ONLINE RESEARCH
Syllabus
Content
Outline
Online
Requirement
Policies:
Grading,
Attendance,
Late
Assignments
How
This Course Works
Directions
for Completing & Submitting Assignments
Directions
for Using the LSCI 106 Discussion
Board
Content Outline
(approximate):
Week 1:
- Course Intro.; How this course works: assignments, online
board...
- Research process models; beginning topic selection
- General periodical databases: example: EbscoHost
Academic Search Elite
- Online catalogs: example: PLS WebPAC
- How is information organized? Database elements; Database
types
Week 2:
- Search preparation & search strategy: Research questions,
Combining search terms
- Boolean searching on EbscoHost Academic Search Elite
(other options: PLS WebPAC, Wilson Omnifile)
Week 3:
- Search strategy continued: truncation, field searching
- Newspaper databases:
- premium examples: Proquest newspaper databases, Ethnic
Newswatch
- free Web newspaper archives examples: SF Gate, IPL
newspaper directory
Week 4:
- using general Web search tools:
- selective directories (e.g. Librarian' Internet
Index)
- Web general directories (e.g. Yahoo! ),
- search engines (e.g. Google )
- Web databases
Week 5:
- Evaluating sources
- questions to ask about any web page
- finding author information
Week 6:
- Citing sources
- Research Report-Back
- Quiz
Online Requirement:
- You must have access to the World Wide Web and have an
e-mail account that you can access at least 3 times a
week, either:
a) through an account with an Internet service provider
(e.g. Pacific Bell Internet-- to try it out, see: http://public.pacbell.net/
) or
b) by accessing the Web at a public-access site (e.g.
Skyline's Microcomputer Lab or Library or other public library)
and having a Web-accessible e-mail account (e.g. Hotmail;
for a list of free e-mail providers, see: Yahoo's
list of Free E-mail Providers). If you choose option B, be
sure that you will be able to spend at least 3 hours/week working
at a public-access computer.
Grading:
Optional: Letter grade or Credit/no-credit.
Based on:
- a) weekly assignments (55%),
- b) participation on online board
(10%),
- c) research report-back (20%) and
- d) quiz (15%).
Attendance: You
must attend the following two required class sessions, which
are Tuesday evenings from 6:30 - 9:30 pm in the Skyline
College Library demonstration area (Building 5, Second
Floor):
- Orientation Meeting: March 6, 2001
- Research Report-Back & Quiz: April 17, 2001
Late
Assignments: If you fall more than a week behind on any
assignment, you must contact me. Assignments more than a week overdue
are liable to have credit deducted.
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last revised: 2-28-01 by Eric Brenner, Skyline
College, San Bruno,
CA
These materials may be used for
educational purposes if you inform and credit the author and cite the
source as: LSCI 106: ONLINE RESEARCH 1: INTRODUCTION TO
ONLINE RESEARCH. All commercial rights are reserved. Send
comments or suggestions to: Eric Brenner at
brenner@smccd.net