CHESAPEAKE COLLEGE LEARNING RESOURCE CENTER

SCI 110

INTRODUCTION TO ASTRONOMY

ASSIGNMENT

As part of a project called Mission to Mars, students will research and write, answering questions concerning crew selection, biohazards, food, water, oxygen, and costs of a manned mission to Mars.

OUTCOMES

1. Students will identify terms that describe the information need

2. Students will be introduced to periodical databases and Google, focusing on search features that facilitate efficient and effective information retrieval.

3. Students will become acquainted with search techniques and strategies, including use of connectors and quotation marks.

4. Students will evaluate periodicals and websites for authority, level of information and date of publication.

5. Students will be introduced to MLA format.

ACTIVITIES

1. Make 2 lists of terms relevant to the assignment – 1 of the central concepts (Mars, manned), the 2^nd of the various specifics (food, water, etc.). ACRL Standard 1.1

2. Use Academic Search Elite – progress from Mars AND manned, limit to full text.  Discuss sort by date or relevance. Expand to search within full text of articles as you introduce the more specific terms (food, water, etc.) one by one. ACRL Standard 2

3. At list of documents retrieved, discuss difference between magazines and scholarly journals, discuss authority as evaluation criteria.  Limit to peer reviewed. Discuss level of information. ACRL Standard 1.2, 3.2

4. Demonstrate Publication search and searching within a specific publication. ACRL Standard 2

5. Switch to Proquest to demonstrate More search options – Look for terms in and Article type. ACRL Standard 2

6. Turn students loose to find 2 specific articles. (teacher assigned). Demonstrate NoodleBib with information from one of them. ACRL Standard 5.3

7. Try Mars AND manned on Google, evaluate several from retrieval list for authority, and last update. Use Advanced Search to specify domain – eliminate all but .govs. Search within results (food, water, etc.) ACRL Standard 2, 3.2

8. Do an image search for Mars, pointing out links to sites and need to document source. Cut and paste. ACRL Standard 2.5

HANDOUTS

Database passwords

Evaluation brochure

MLA