Faculty Services & Resources

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Classroom Instruction

We can help your students with the research process by providing instruction in a variety of information literacy areas, such as:

• IDENTIFYING various types of information sources and their application to different information needs.

• UNDERSTANDING how resources are organized in the library and on the library webpage.

• CONSTRUCTING relevant and appropriately focused research questions using information from topic overviews and other background sources.

• APPLYING effective database search techniques in appropriate databases to search for literature that addresses a specific research question.

• EVALUATING information resources based on relevance, scope, authority, accuracy, bias and currency.

Library Research Assignments

If you are giving your students an assignment(s) requiring the use of library resources, we would greatly appreciate if you would:

1. Check on the availability of appropriate library resources and/or collaborate with a librarian to design an assignment that is well supported by our resources.
2. Email the library with a copy of the assignment guidelines, so that we can be sure to provide appropriate guidance to students seeking assistance at the reference desk.
3. Incorporate a variety of types of sources (books, professional articles, scholarly articles, reference databases, and appropriate websites), so that students can build information literacy skills for lifelong learning and the workplace, as well as the academic environment.
4. Provide clear and detailed guidelines regarding the types of sources you expect students to use, including background sources that may not ultimately be cited.
5. Be careful with the use of terminology related to electronic resources (web, online, digital, electronic, etc.). Although you may want students to minimize the use of open websites, most of the libraries resources are digitized, electronic versions of books and periodicals/journals. We also invest heavily in high quality reference databases.
6. Encourage students to come to the research assistance desk for help!

Librarians are available to help with library research assignment design. To discuss an assignment, contact library-staff@mhu.edu

One-on-One Research Consultations

This service is offered for students engaged in senior seminars or other major research assignments, as well as those identified as needing additional help with research skill building.

To make an appointment, students can contact

Wendy Dover  wendy_dover@mhu.edu, x1492

Kevin Mulhall kevin_mulhall@mhu.edu, x1561

Dane Secor dane_secor@mhu.edu, x1443