before and after summon
DESCRIPTION
A snapshot of the effect that a trial implementation of Summon had on my 'How To Find Things on Your Reading List' class at Cambridge University Library.TRANSCRIPT
From ‘finding’ to ‘decoding’: a Summon before-and-after snapshotEmma Coonan, Research Skills & Development LibrarianCambridge University Library
Cambridge University Library
Before and after Summon
2011: ‘How to find things on your reading list’
2012: ‘How to decode your reading list’
The ‘reading list’ session
• First step in modular Research Skills provision
• Target audience: o students in directed learning phaseo newcomers to Cambridge library system
• Essay writing rather than extended research
• Tracking down known items, not discovering ‘unknown unknowns’
2011: ‘How to find things ...’
Aims
• To discover how to decipher your reading list
• To learn how to find incomplete references
• To find out where to search for what
• To save yourself time and energy in getting to the sources you need
‘Phrenology’ by dylan17, flickr.com CC BY-NC 2.0
2012: ‘How to decode ...’
Learning outcomes
• understand reading list structure and purpose
• know how to critically evaluate a reading list
• understand the various material formats
• recognise and reconstruct incomplete references
2011: ‘Where to search for what’ handout
2012: Guide to major scholarly formats
2011: System does not match user expectations
Davidson, D., ‘Locating literary language,’ in Literary Theory after Davidson, ed. Reed Way Dasenbrock (University Park: Pennsylvania State UP, 1993)
Tip: if you’re being asked to read a chapter, you
need to look up the book title on LibrarySearch
2012: Engaging with the found material
• Maintain your critical distance from the text
• Keep asking: how does this contribute to my understanding/my argument/my essay/my research?
Beware of “white rabbits” - ideas and arguments that lead
away from your topic