Melanie Parlette presented an introduction to research skills for mechanical systems engineering students. She discussed how to effectively search for resources, evaluate sources, and cite references. Students learned to use keyword strategies and search across various resource types. The presentation emphasized balancing research with high-quality sources and provided guidance on the research help guide for additional subject-specific materials.
This presentation gives an overview of referencing as an academic skill - what it is, why it's important, when do you reference and how/what do you need to reference? It was followed by a hands-on demo of Zotero. This presentation is suitable for all university students, regardless of subject or level.
Presented at Computers in Libraries 2016
As a late adopter to the LibGuide platform, our library was able to learn from earlier successes and failures of others. We took an evidence-based approach to design its guides based on iterative testing and data from Springshare and Google Analytics. I share what user data showed and how it led to a consistent look and feel.
This presentation gives an overview of referencing as an academic skill - what it is, why it's important, when do you reference and how/what do you need to reference? It was followed by a hands-on demo of Zotero. This presentation is suitable for all university students, regardless of subject or level.
Presented at Computers in Libraries 2016
As a late adopter to the LibGuide platform, our library was able to learn from earlier successes and failures of others. We took an evidence-based approach to design its guides based on iterative testing and data from Springshare and Google Analytics. I share what user data showed and how it led to a consistent look and feel.
The Intersection between Professor Expectations and Student Interpretations ...Melanie Parlette-Stewart
Presented at the 2016 Teaching and Learning Innovations (TLI) Conference at the University of Guelph on April 26, 2016
As academic support staff, we provide front-line support to students and witness, first-hand, the challenges in student skill development.
We have recognized that the skills students require for higher education not only cross disciplinary boundaries but also are applicable to their writing, learning and research. Through a collaborative, cross-unit research project funded by the University of Guelph's Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research grant, we have identified, in the teaching of and learning in third year university courses, a series of disconnects
a) between the learning, writing and information literacy skills professors expect students to possess and the skills students think they possess when they enter the course;
b) between professor expectations of student skill requirements and student interpretation of skill requirements from the course outline; and
c) between professor and student understandings of where students should develop these skills (i.e. in class or outside of class).
By conducting and disseminating research on the gap between professor communication of expectations and student interpretation of those expectations, we can contribute to graduate attribute research that thoroughly explores student skill development.
This gap has implications on assessment when students are evaluated on skill sets that are not explicitly stated on the course syllabi due to variations in syllabi design or a lack of understanding of where those skills should be taught (i.e. in class or outside of class time). Also, by conducting collaborative research across different units, we believe we can identify gaps in the service delivery of academic support staff, and can recommend and establish more opportunities for academic support staff to communicate with faculty regarding skill support, thereby encouraging collaborations across units that support teaching and learning.
Throughout this showcase, we will present a brief introduction to our research project and offer initial interpretations of our data. We will also demonstrate the implications of our research for those who support faculty in communicating and teaching required skill sets. After a brief presentation of the research project, participants will be invited to comment on or ask questions about our initial findings and proposed recommendations.
Presented at the OLA Super Conference 2016
How do you stand out in an increasingly digital world? With every person only a Google search away, its important for all professionals to develop an effective online presence in order to demonstrate their skills beyond the traditional resume. For colleagues, potential employers and future collaborators, your online presence provides an opportunity to take a closer look at your experience, view your portfolio and get to know you. Developing an digital identity that is true to who you are and manageable can be a challenge – having a strategy is key. This presentation will provide steps for creating an online identity, including improving your social media presence and developing an online portfolio. This presentation will provide ideas for both developing and refining your personal digital brand. Through exemplars and best practices, attendees will leave with tips and tools for creating your best online self.
Learning Outcomes
Attendees will:
Identify the importance of creating a professional digital identity
Identify tools for creating and managing an online presence
Identify best practices and considerations for developing an online presence.
Breaking the Mould: Leisure Reading – Not Just for Public Libraries Anymore Melanie Parlette-Stewart
Presented at the OLA 2016 Super Conference with Hana Storova and Jacqueline Hamilton
It is what you read when you dont have to that determines what you will be when you cant help it – Oscar Wilde
The University of Guelph Library opened its Gryph Reads Leisure Reading collection to students, staff and faculty in July 2013. With the collection established, the focus of the Gryph Reads Committee has shifted. A new library-wide committee focuses on not only collection development, but promotion, building awareness and increasing user engagement through events and marketing. This session will engage participants through an exploration of the purpose and potential of leisure reading collections in academic libraries. Key initiatives of our committee have included a user experience survey, Blind Date with a Book event and One Book One Library Book Club. We will share lessons learned and best practices. Participants will leave the session with a road map for developing their own leisure reading collection and program.
Learning Outcomes
Attendees will:
Explore the purpose and potential of leisure reading collections in academic libraries;
Examine the development of the University of Guelph leisure reading collection from initiation to present day;
Identify best practices for creating a leisure reading collection, including budgeting, collection development, events, and marketing in an academic library.
The Intersection between Professor Expectations and Student Interpretations o...Melanie Parlette-Stewart
Numerous studies exist on how and to what extent course instructors in higher education are embedding or directly teaching writing, learning and research skills in their courses (Cilliers, 2011; Crosthwaite et al., 2006; and Mager and Sproken-Smith, 2014). Yet, disparity within the literature demonstrates that there is no consistent approach to the scaffolded development of these necessary skills within courses, programs, disciplines, or across disciplines. Preliminary research has also revealed that professor communication of expected or required student skills is often limited or unclear (McGuinnes, 2006).
Through a collaborative research project at the University of Guelph, we employed a multidisciplinary and multi-skill approach to explore the intersection between professor articulation and student interpretation of academic skills. Through this research, we have identified that, in the teaching and learning in third year university courses, discrepancies exist
a. between the learning, writing and research skills professors expect students to possess and the skills students think they possess when they enter the course;
b. in professor articulation of skills they will teach in their course and which skills they expect students to develop outside of class time;
c. in the skills students seek to develop based on their interpretation of the course outline; and
d. in students’ ability to identify necessary skills before and after taking these courses.
Based on these findings, we recommend that a curriculum-based approach to understanding the skill development needs of students can assist in bridging the gap between professor expectations and student interpretations of skill requirements.
Throughout this research presentation, we will present an overview of our research project; present our key findings; offer initial interpretations on student understandings of course outlines; demonstrate the value of cross-unit and cross-departmental collaborations; and offer recommendations and potential areas for further research. After our presentation, we will welcome dialogue and questions.
Writers Workshop 2015 - Joining the Conversation: Fundamentals of Social MediaMelanie Parlette-Stewart
f you are serious writer, having an online social media presence is something that can work to your advantage. You can use social media to market a book, yourself, or an organization. Social media is one of the most important tools we can use for marketing and communication. Learn about popular social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, and blogging. This workshop will explore best practices for engagement and getting the conversation going. Other issues covered will include managing risk, analytics, picking the best tools for your strategy, and privacy.
Whether you’re building a community or a personal brand, this workshop will provide you with tips and tools to get you started on developing an effective social media plan.
Infographics: E-volving Instruction for Visual Literacy
Melanie Parlette-Stewart, Lindsey Robinson - University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario
WILU 2014 - London, ON
Infographics involve the bringing together of information, data, and design. There is increasing need to be visually literate, as is highlighted in the ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. This session presents the ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards and the application of these to an introductory infographics instruction session. This session will highlight the active learning approach used to allow students to engage with and create infographics at an introductory level.
E-valuating the Impact of Face-to-Face and Online Information Literacy and Wr...Melanie Parlette-Stewart
E-valuating the Impact of Face-to-Face and Online Information Literacy and Writing Skills Instruction Using a Mixed Methods Research Design
WILU 2014, London, Ontario
Melanie Parlette-Stewart, Karen Nicholson, Kim Garwood, Trent Tucker - University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario
This presentation will describe a mixed methods, collaborative action research project conducted as part of the ACRL's Assessment in Action (AiA) program to evaluate the impact of face-to-face, online, and blended approaches to information literacy and writing skill development in a large, first-year management course MGMT*1000. While our study did not yield the generalizable data that we had hoped, it did teach us some valuable lessons about the challenges and pitfalls of conducting mixed methods research that will be of use to those interested in gathering evidence to assess the Library's impact on student learning outcomes.
Conestoga student borrowing privileges with external libraries
LIBS7080 - MSE - (Van Ryn-Bocking) Jan 2013
1. Introduction to Research for
Mechanical Systems Engineering
Using the Library Resource Centre
Melanie Parlette, BA, MLIS
Program Liaison
January 2013
2. I AM . . .
Melanie Parlette
LRC Program Liaison
School of Engineering and Information Technology
Email:mparlette@conestogac.on.ca
Twitter: @ConestogaLib_MP
3. TODAY we will :
1. Improve your search skills through “pre-searching” and
“re-searching” to refine keyword strategies
2. Locate various types of resources to balance your research
with high quality information from the LRC’s collections
3. Understand the criteria you can use to evaluate resources to
ensure they are of good quality.
4. Discover resources to assist you in creating proper citations
4. Off-Campus Access Visit the LRC to
PIN NUMBERS - You can use your PIN to: get your PIN.
• Access resources from Off-Campus Don’t forget to bring
• Renew a book, place a hold your student card
• Review your account with the 2013 sticker
on it!
5. LRC Homepage Research Help Engineering Mechanical Systems Engineering
YOUR Research Guide
http://bit.ly/MechanicalSys
Key Tabs:
• Articles from Databases
• Books . . .
• Cite Your Sources
• Contact Us
6. Today’s Research Topic is….
•Is there a relationship
Facebook use and academic
performance?
7. Finding A Source to Answer
Your Question
• Where do we begin?
• Google
• Wikipedia
• Other suggestions…
8.
9.
10. Balanced Research
Effective research taps into a variety of sources
Encyclopedias
Websites Books
Technical Scholarly
Papers Journals
Conference
Newspapers
Papers
Professional
Magazine (aka
Trade
Journals)
11. Types of Sources
What’s the Difference?
Scholarly Journals Popular Magazines Trade Journals Conference Papers Technical Reports
• Scholarly research or • General interest articles, • Industry related • Author is scholar in field, • Author is often a scholar
projects. entertainment, or information, news and academic or researcher or a scientist, engineer,
• Illustrations are usually information aimed at trends. Some • Conference papers tend government contractor,
charts and graphs. the consumer. Usually illustrations. to be more recent than or technical personnel.
• Authors are authorities colour photographs and • Authors are industry journal articles, but may • Published by a
in their field. Often illustrations. experts, professionals, be considered less corporation or
professors or • Articles are usually or practitioners who are authoritative depending educational institution
researchers. written by magazine not always identified on the review and • Reputation is everything
• Peer review process is in staff, freelance writers, • Typically no peer review acceptance process • Typically not peer
place where the content or may be anonymous. or refereeing process. • Peer Review Process reviewed
of an article is reviewed • No peer review or may or may not be Example:
by one or more experts refereeing process. Examples: rigorous Design and Fabrication of a
in the field. ASME Mechanical Tank-Applied Broad Area
Examples: Engineering Magazine Example: Cooling Shield Coupon
Examples: Wired, Popular Mechanics Proceedings of ASME Heat
IEEE/ASME transactions Transfer Division
on mechatronics
12. Choosing Better Sources
• How can you tell trustworthy information (the “better” information) from less-
trustworthy information (“worse” information)?
The CARS Test
• Credibility Look for believable, well written information that is free
of bias. Locate information about the author(s) and their credentials. How
credible are the authors, what is their level of expertise on this particular
topic.
• Accuracy The information should be up-to-date, clear. You can confirm
accuracy by locating information from a variety of sources. Look for a last
updated date.
• Reasonableness Information should be present objective and
balanced arguments.
• Support Other sources should support the information found. Always
look for a reference list, bibliography or citations demonstrating where the
information came from.
13. Pre-Searching:
Thinking About Your Search
• What are the keywords or phrases in the
question that you would use in your search?
• Also think of synonyms and related terms….
14. Pre-Searching:
Academic
Facebook
Performance
Related Terms or Synonyms (words that Related Terms or Synonyms (words that
mean the same as the first term, above) mean the same as the first term, above)
15. Let’s Research :
LRC Discover Tool
Facebook and Academic Performance
http://www.conestogac.on.ca/lrc/
16. Let’s Re/search:
Don’t forget to
Re/Search:
Full Text
Date
Source Type
Subject
17. Let’s Re/search:
Don’t forget to try using
other “PRE-
SEARCHING” terms:
Ex: Social Networks and
Media and Grades
. . . and again:
don’t forget to
Re/Search:
Full Text
Date
Source Type
Subject
18. Citing our Sources
It's important to cite sources you used in your research for several reasons:
To show your reader you've done proper research by
listing sources you used to get your information
To be a responsible scholar by giving credit to other
researchers and acknowledging their ideas
To avoid plagiarism by quoting words and ideas used by
other authors
To allow your reader to track down the sources you used
by citing them accurately in your paper by way of
footnotes, a bibliography or reference list
19. Let’s Cite our Sources:
Don’t forget to check
the style guides to
make sure your
citation is correct
(sometimes there are
mistakes!)
20. Need more sources?
Explore the “Mechanical
Systems Engineering”
Research Help Guide to
discover Databases focused
on Mechanical Engineering.
These database have:
Advanced Search Tools
Subject Specific Material
http://exploreguides.conestogac.on.ca/MSE
21. Summary
Researching using the LRC
Use Discovery Search first
www.conestogac.on.ca/lrc
After that, try a relevant Research Help guide for links to even more
resources to search
http://exploreguides.conestogac.on.ca/MSE
Use the “Cite” feature in each database
Remember no “citation generator’ is ever perfect
Check it manually using the Writing Centre’s resources for your Citations Style.
www.conestogac.on.ca/learningcommons/resources/writing.jsp
22. HELP AT THE A1109
LIBRARY
Visit the Service Desk
Email or Phone
Instant Messaging
Editor's Notes
How you can help them and how they can find you – leads into the ISEMP introduction
By listening and participating actively in today’s workshop, you’ll vastly improve your skills in information seeking, which will help improve your grades and help you to success in your academic career.
Student ID and PIN overview
Student ID and PIN overview
This will depend on the group of students and their assignment
We could find out all about this using Wikipedia, right?Perhaps start with Wikipedia – to get them to understand where you’re going with this, say “Wikipedia works for day-to-day questions, but why can’t you use just Wikipedia for all your research needs?” You’re looking for them to understand that a single source, regardless of what it is, is not enough for their research, even if it seems to provide all the answers they need…because it’s providing just one perspective, one author’s viewpoint. Facts may have been excluded or modified. You have to use a variety of sources to ensure you’ve got the best information, and the broadest perspective.List potential sources on the screen or on the board – the ones students suggest and you suggest will depend on the research topic
Do a quick search for your question, together. Have students look at the first page of results and see if they intuitively know the best from the worst (this can be just by the names of the links and their domain suffixes, or you could pick one or two (one good, one bad) and present the question openly (“Do you think this website is trustworthy, or not? Why or why not? Think about it and then we’ll discuss it.”). You could also do this with preselected websites which you lead students to with links. After the open discussion, present the CAARS/CRAAP acronym to fill in additional considerations. Could also do this in reverse, using the CAARS evaluation tool up front [depends on timing and audience]
Do a quick search for your question, together. Have students look at the first page of results and see if they intuitively know the best from the worst (this can be just by the names of the links and their domain suffixes, or you could pick one or two (one good, one bad) and present the question openly (“Do you think this website is trustworthy, or not? Why or why not? Think about it and then we’ll discuss it.”). You could also do this with preselected websites which you lead students to with links. After the open discussion, present the CAARS/CRAAP acronym to fill in additional considerations. Could also do this in reverse, using the CAARS evaluation tool up front [depends on timing and audience]
Do a quick search for your question, together. Have students look at the first page of results and see if they intuitively know the best from the worst (this can be just by the names of the links and their domain suffixes, or you could pick one or two (one good, one bad) and present the question openly (“Do you think this website is trustworthy, or not? Why or why not? Think about it and then we’ll discuss it.”). You could also do this with preselected websites which you lead students to with links. After the open discussion, present the CAARS/CRAAP acronym to fill in additional considerations. Could also do this in reverse, using the CAARS evaluation tool up front [depends on timing and audience]
Discuss the above as the two principle ways to find information through the library.Direct students to go the LRC homepage to get started. Proceed with search examples without additional slides.
This page links to the Contact Us page by clicking on the screen shot of Contact Us.