ID 117: Library Discovery Assignment

(Instructor: Lynn Della Pietra)

Welcome students! This discovery assignment introduces you to some of the resources offered by the Marymount Library. Learning to use the library -- to go beyond Google, your course textbook, and the professor's lecture -- supports learning and inquiry and helps you transition from high school to appropriate college-level research. Consider the librarians to be your research coaches who are here to help you make this transition.

Assignment Instructions: Now that you have completed the in-class library workshop, you have the necessary comfort level and familiarity with the library to approach this assignment.  There are two parts: (1) an annotated bibliography and (2) a questionnaire. Budget for 4-5 hours of work. You will use the online library and the physical library.

Assignment Grading:  This assignment is graded out of 100%. The annotated bibliography is worth 90% and the questionnaire is worth 10%.

(1) Annotated Bibliography (90% of assignment grade)

You will explore the Marymount College Library for resources relating to your group's debate topic. From these explorations, you will create an annotated bibliography of sources that helped you learn more about your topic.

There are 22,000 books in the Marymount Library and more than 40 specialized databases (i.e. search engines) with access to hundreds of thousands of articles, videos, and images. For the annotated bibliography, you will selectively choose 4 sources and justify each choice by writing an annotation.

To begin, you must understand what is meant by an "annotated bibliography". Carefully read this guide on annotated bibliographies to get started, then download and view this sample ID117 annotated bibliography.

Your annotated bibliography should tell a story about your topic.  What does that mean? Your bibliography shows:

• diversity in viewpoints of a topic
• diversity in coverage of a topic

The bibliography should demonstrate that you have been selective about the sources you have chosen.

Each source presents interesting, unique, or complementary information.

Instructions

1. Find, reference, and annotate 2 books in Marymount Library

1. Search for books in the Marymount Library catalog relating to your debate topic
•  Read this guide to learn how to search for and find books
2. Select 2 books and print out the catalog record for each book (view an example)
• Staple those records to your assignment 
3. Find the actual books on the Library shelves
4. Create a reference for each book
• Use this format: Author last name, author first name. Title of Book. Name of publisher, year of publication. 
5. Write a 75-100 word annotation for each book
• Each annotation should summarize the main themes of the book, identify information you found interesting or unique, and include a short reflection on how you found the source helpful 
6. Photocopy the title page or cover for each book and staple them to your assignment 

     2.  Find, reference, and annotate 2 other sources from Marymount Library (newspaper, encyclopedia, or film)

1. Under "Find Articles" on the library website, use one of the following tools:
• Newspaper Source or Los Angeles Times Historical to find newspaper articles 
• CredoReference to find encyclopedia articles
• Films on Demand to find a documentary film
  
2. Print the articles/film summary out and staple them to your assignment
3. Create a reference for each source
• For newspapers use this format: Author last name, author first name. Name of Article. Name of Newspaper, date of publication. 
• For encyclopedias use this format: "Name of Article". Name of Encyclopedia. Credo Reference. Date you accessed article.
• For a documentary use this format:  Name of Film.  Films on Demand. Date you accessed film.
4. Write a 75-100 word annotation for each article
• Each annotation should summarize the main themes of the source, identify information you found interesting or unique, and include a short reflection on how you found the source helpful

Having trouble finding sources on your topic? You should ask a librarian for advice, because we can show you new search strategies (check out some of the questions we helped students with last year). You'll be surprised at how much is in the Library! 

(2) Questionnaire (10% of assignment grade)

Follow these instructions:

1. Complete this questionnaire, submit your answers, and print out the "Thanks!" message.
2. Staple the "Thanks!" message to your worksheet.

Submit Your Assignment  

Your submitted assignment must include a complete annotated bibliography with 4 sources,  print-outs and photocopies of the sources you chose, and the questionnaire "Thanks" message. Submit your assignment for grading at the front check-out desk at the Library (or, if no one is seated there, to a librarian).