InfoGuides: Student Learning Assessment Toolkit: Outcome 1

SLAP Outcome 1

Articulate their information need. (Research as Inquiry / Searching as Strategic Exploration)

Some skills that teach to this outcome:

Developing a research question
Pre-research
How information is organized
Matching needs to source types
Identify researcher gaps in knowledge
Identifying appropriate databases for research
Determine the scope of the research investigation
Topic development Identify stakeholders who might produce information about their topic

Ideas for Assessment: Activity 1

Assessment Activity 1: Using the research question developed in class, write a minute paper brainstorming what types of information you will need to find in order to answer this question. Identify what kind of data you might need (statistics, surveys, interviews, etc.) and the types of sources needed to obtain the information you will need to find to answer this research question.

Skills:

Pre-research
Identify researcher gaps in knowledge
Determine the scope of the research investigation

Scoring Rubric Option 1:

	Criteria	Yes/No	Comments
Outcome 1: correctly identifies data and information needed	The information is directly related to their research question
Outcome 2: correctly describes types of sources they need	The source is directly related to their research question

Scoring Rubric Option 2:

Criteria	Incomplete	Developing	Competent	Exemplary
Identified data and information needed	Did not respond	Identifies sources that are not relevant to their research question or does not give reasoning as to why the sources are relevant	Identifies a couple of sources that are relevant to their research question	Clearly identifies multiple different types of sources that are relevant to their research question and assignment
Describes how different sources will provide different types of evidence	Did not respond	Does not accurately describe how sources provide different types of evidence	Demonstrates understanding of how the sources provide evidence to support their research question	Demonstrates a thorough understanding of the how sources provide evidence to support their research question
Describes the types of sources they need	Did not respond	Gives few examples of additional sources needed with minimal explanation	Describes additional sources needed and provides reasons for source usage	Gives a thorough list of additional sources needed and gives well thought-out and understandable reasons for source usage for each of the sources they list

Ideas for Assessment: Activity 2

Assessment Activity 2:

In the worksheet provided (worksheet would include 3 example research questions that are relevant to the topic), evaluate each research question based on whether or not it is clear, focused, concise, complex, and/or arguable. After evaluating each question, determine whether or not you would use it for your research paper.

Skills:

Developing a research question
Pre-research
Determine the scope of the research investigation
Topic development

Rubric:

Activity	Points	Comments
Completed the evaluation of each research question	0-3
Identified whether the question was clear, focused, concise, complex, and arguable	0-15
Correctly identified if the question was usable for research	0-3