BSCI, CRJ, & WGST Faculty: Library Services and Research Help

Click on the link for more information:

• Faculty Course Support Request Form
• How Do I Request Research Education Support?
• What Are Examples Of The Research Skills That You Teach?
• What Are The Benefits Of Research Skills Education?
• More FAQs

Use our Faculty Course Support Request form if you would like to request research education, collection development, or course reserves for your course.

Email Nadine at nfanders@umich.edu to request research education support for your course. Nadine will work with you to teach students the research skills and resources they need to be successful on your research assignments. Nadine can also develop customized, online research guides for your course.

Research Education sessions follow evidence-based best practices to maximize student motivation and learning:

• Sessions should be directly tied to course research assignments 
• Sessions should be scheduled at point of need, as close as possible to the time when students are beginning their research
• Sessions should be booked in a computer lab, to facilitate hands-on learning 
• Faculty should attend sessions with their students
• Faculty should request sessions at least 14 days in advance
• Faculty should forward an assignment copy at least 7 days in advance
• Faculty should collaborate in the development of sessions and actively participate in them

Nadine's research skills sessions take a hands-on learning approach, based on how skills acquisition research indicates people learn and master new skills, and generally follow this structure:

1. "What's in it for me?" Introduction to the skill and why they should learn it (i.e. to do well on their research assignments)
2. "Get to know it": Learning how to do the skill (i.e. through brief explanations and demonstrations)
3. "Try it out": Practicing the skill and getting feedback (i.e. through hands-on practice time and faculty and librarian feedback)
4. "Use it or lose it": Applying the skill to a real-life situation (i.e. to their own research assignments)

For faculty wanting a more integrated approach to research education, you can work with Nadine to have her embedded in your face-to-face class and/or your Canvas Course Site. Email Nadine at nfanders@umich.edu for more information. 

Nadine will design research education for your course around the specific skills students need to be successful on your research assignments, for example:

• Developing focused research topics or thesis statements
• Identifying differences between Google and Summon (Google for the Library's collection)
• Finding scholarly sources in the library's collection
• Identifying differences between popular and scholarly sources
• Identifying peer-reviewed articles and what peer-review is
• Analyzing and evaluating sources
• Using sources to build arguments
• Putting together citations and/or annotations
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Finding specialized information, such as tests and datasets

Some of the benefits of research skills education:

• Students will learn transferable research skills that they will use throughout university and in their careers
• Students will develop more effective critical thinking skills
• Students will use higher-quality sources for their research projects or papers
• Students will produce higher quality projects or papers
• Students will gain self-confidence in their research skills
• Students will become independent researchers
• May reduce faculty frustration

This CRAAP Test checklist guides students through asking questions about their sources when they're deciding whether or not to use them for research assignments.

The research process for university assignments is a lot messier than students think. This video will help students navigate their way through the twists and turns of the research process.

This video explains peer-review to students: 

UM-Dearborn Tutorial on Academic Integrity and Plagiarism: This tutorial is intended to teach students about plagiarism and the academic policies of the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Successful completion will be certification that students understand the nature of plagiarism and the policies of the University regarding plagiarism.

This video gives tips on avoiding plagiarism

Here are some research paper writing tips and a general recommended format to help guide student writing that you can tailor to the requirements of your assigned research papers.

Writing Tips

• Decide on the research paper's main thesis (focus) and main points first
• Write the body of the research paper first and then write the introduction and conclusion
• Everything in your research paper should point back to the thesis

Research Paper Format

Research papers should have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion:

1. Introduction: summarizes what you will write and puts it into context

• Start the introduction with background that contextualizes the paper's main thesis
• End the introduction with a thesis statement, which outlines the main points of the paper and how you will address them

2. Body: presents the main points of the paper, with each paragraph representing one aspect of the paper's main focus. Each paragraph should include a topic sentence, evidence, analysis, and a transition sentence:

• The topic sentence summarizes the paragraph's main idea
• Use evidence from your research sources to support or make the argument for your main ideas
• Analyse your evidence to show how it links to your broader thesis
• Include a transition sentence at the end of each paragraph to connect what you discussed in that paragraph with the main idea of the next paragraph

3. Conclusion: summarizes what you wrote and what you learned

• Restate your thesis from the introduction in different words
• Briefly summarize your main points or arguments and pull them together into the paper's main thesis
• End with a strong, final statement that ties the whole paper together and makes it clear the paper has come to an end
• No new ideas should be introduced in the conclusion, it should only review and analyze the main points from the body of the paper (with the exception of suggestions for further research)