Below, you will find a selection of activities and assignments that address some aspect of the research process. These activities were designed to be flexible and adaptable, and as such, we are only providing a general overview of the learning tasks and not a full description. Similarly, and whenever possible, we have provided a few ideas about how to adapt them to a blended or online environment. This list will continue to evolve and will be updated with ongoing input from both faculty and students, so check back when you are planning your next course(s).
Tips for adapting these activities beyond research assignments:
- Learning from Sources activities can also support critical reading contexts.
- Many of the Research Paper Alternatives are relevant for various critical thinking and inquiry contexts.
Activity Ideas: Research Strategies
Type of activity: Individual activity; In-class or outside of class activity
Goal: Help students develop flexibility and creativity while searching for relevant resources, especially when their initial searches may not yield helpful results.
Brief overview: This activity is designed to guide students through the process of selecting search terms and revising their search strategies based on search results. Instructors will gain insight into each student’s search strategies and research trajectory.
Type of activity: Group activity; Group discussion
Goal: Give students the opportunity to receive and give feedback regarding theirs and others’ research strategies.
Brief overview: Since students often resort to tried-and-true research strategies, this activity is designed to encourage experimentation through the peer-review process. Students will learn about different approaches to searching, and through the feedback process can reflect on what strategies might be successful. Instructors will be able to guide students through selecting appropriate strategies for the research project.
Type of activity: Lecture; Class discussion
Goal: Identify ways to use background information during the research process.
Brief overview: This activity is designed to teach students how and when to use background knowledge and previous experience to fill in knowledge gaps, identify additional research needs, and engage more effectively in the research process. Instructors will be able to discuss with their students when it is appropriate to use resources, like Google, WIkipedia, or encyclopedias, in their own research process.
Activity Ideas: Determining Information Needs
Type of activity: Class discussion; Individual activity
Goal: Help students identify their specific information needs and questions prior to exploring resources.
Brief overview: This activity is designed to guide students through identifying what they already know about a given topic, and what they would like to learn from their research. Instructors can provide feedback on students selected areas of interest, suggest specific research questions, and help students determine an appropriate scope for their research.
Type of activity: Individual activity; Group activity; Group discussion
Goal: Create a visual map of a specific subject/concept to help students identify different potential research paths.
Brief overview: Students will develop a concept map that identifies related subjects/concepts that are important to their area of interest. Instructors can provide students with feedback regarding any gaps in their research. The concept maps can also be used to broaden or narrow their research focus, or to identify specific research questions.
Type of activity: Group activity; Group discussion
Goal: Identify what students will need to know for their project and where they can begin to look for that information.
Brief overview: As a class, students will brainstorm what everyone might need to know in order to effectively complete a research assignment. Then students can also brainstorm where they might begin to fulfill these information needs. Instructors will be able to suggest specific research questions or information needs, provide feedback on where to search for relevant information, and help students come away from this activity with a clearer understanding of how to move forward with their research.
Type of activity: Group activity; Group discussion; Lecture
Goal: Explore how various sources of information are created, accessed, and shared.
Brief overview: In this activity developed by Tessa Withorn (CSU Dominguez Hill), students will collaboratively define what makes a source traditional, emerging, public, or exclusive. Students can then use these definitions to assess the fit between a particular source of information and a specific information need. Instructors will gain an understanding of how students perceive different types of sources, and can provide suggestions for determining how and when to use different types of information.
Activity Ideas: Learning from Sources
Type of activity: Group or individual activity
Goal: Evaluate resources for their potential contributions to disciplinary discourse.
Brief overview: By suggesting additional course materials, students will have the chance to evaluate resources while considering disciplinary norms, concepts, and important contributors. Instructors will gain insight into how students understand and apply disciplinary norms when determining the relevance of a given source.
Type of activity: Reflection activity; Individual activity; Group discussion
Goal: Reflect on the impact of assumptions on the research process
Brief overview: This reflective activity will ask students to reflect on what they expect to see when they conduct research on a project. These answers will be useful to determine the impact of their own personal assumptions towards a specific topic when doing research, the importance of considering where they conduct their research, and the types of voices that are highlighted/oppressed in their research.
Type of activity: Individual activity; Group activity; Group Discussion; Lecture
Goal: Identify potential research collaborators
Brief overview: In many fields, research is conducted in teams or with a collaborator. This activity will help students learn about important voices within a field, as well as identify their own potential “collaborators” from existing scholarship. Instructors, particularly those in introductory courses, will be able to help students understand why certain voices are important in their field, and how to draw on the expertise of others. This activity can be used in lieu of a literature review.
Type of activity: Group activity; Class discussion; Lecture
Goal: Encourage a critical inquiry approach to source evaluation that moves beyond the checklist method.
Brief overview: Evaluation of information sources goes beyond the ‘scholarly v. popular’ binary. By encouraging critical inquiry through open-ended questions, students will be able to engage more critically with their research assignments. Instructors will also have the opportunity to discuss how practitioners in one or more disciplines evaluate the information they use in their work.
Activity Ideas: Research Paper Alternatives
Type of activity: Capstone project; Group project; Individual project
Goal: Evaluate a students’ understanding of disciplinary knowledge gathered throughout a specific course or across their college career.
Brief overview: As part of an upper division course, students will draw on their past coursework experiences to create learning objects, such as presentations or podcasts, for students in introductory courses. Instructors will be able to evaluate what students have come to learn about their chosen major. Instructors and departments will also have a broader set of activities, assignments, and presentations to draw from when teaching introductory courses.
Type of activity: Individual activity; Group activity
Goal: Identify important voices within a field/discipline
Brief overview: This activity will help students learn about important voices within a field. Instructors, particularly those in introductory courses, will be able to help students understand why certain voices are important in their field, and how to draw on the expertise of others.
Type of activity: Individual activity; Group activity
Goal: Build connections among various scholars (“voices”) and create space for the student’s own voice.
Brief overview: This activity will help students identify connections among the ideas and perspectives of several scholars or sources, while also incorporating their own perspective. Instructors will find this activity particularly helpful in writing-intensive courses as students begin their writing process.
Type of activity: Individual activity; Group activity
Goal: Conduct a critical analysis focusing on evaluating, critiquing, and synthesizing information.
Brief overview: This activity will use guiding questions to push students to reflect critically on any given reading. Instructors will gain insight into how students are reading a particular piece and what they deem important.
Type of activity: Individual activity; Group activity
Goal: Identify patterns and exceptions in a given bibliography (For example, does the bibliography mostly cite works by white men? Whose voice might be missing?)
Brief overview: This activity will help students consider the source material for a given work and its potential impact on that work itself. Instructors can use this activity to help students analyze a given work or to think about how source material is used in a written work within a specific genre.