As students become more accustomed to the ease of finding information freely available on the Internet, are they neglecting to use other important materials such as peer-reviewed journal articles and scholarly books and encyclopedias? And, are they neglecting to critically evaluate the materials they do find? Use this lesson plan to help your students learn to find information using a variety of sources, not just the Internet.
Note: There is also an accompanying assignment to this lesson, Researching Across Formats, as well as two supplements: START: Evaluating the Credibility of Books and Articles and START: Evaluating the Credibility of World Wide Web Pages.

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES

• Use materials from a variety of sources - not just the Internet!
• Build an annotated bibliography
• Think about the structure and politics of information
• Apply criteria to evaluate sources

INSTRUCTOR PREPARATION

1. Help your students choose an appropriate research topic.

2. Set the stage by reviewing the research project/term paper you are assigning and how this exercise is a step towards completion of the larger research project.

3. Explain and show an annotated bibliography. For examples see:
   • http://www.mun.ca/library/research_help/qeii/annotated_bibl.html
   • http://www.lib.cmich.edu/ocls/annbib.htm
   • http://www.lesley.edu/library/guides/citation/apa_annotated.html (APA Style)

4. Plan for a librarian to give a workshop on finding resources across a variety of formats [To contact a librarian email the U of M Libraries at http://infopoint.lib.umn.edu/.].

STUDENT PREPARATION

Have students complete the following QuickStudy Modules:

1. Module 2: Designing a Research Strategy

2. Module 7: Evaluating Sources

3. Module 8: Citing Sources

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

• Criteria for evaluation of sources [see START: Evaluating World Wide Web Pages or START: Evaluating Books and Articles]

Adapted from "Go for the Gold"

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