Assignments and Exams 

LS 301: Reference and Bibliography 
Summer Session II 
July 10 - August 9, 1999 


Student Evaluations 
Assignments 
Exams


Student Evaluations 

Points will be given for participation, attendance, assignments, and exams. When added all together, your points must equal: 

92% for a grade of A 
83% for a grade of B 
74% for a grade of C 
65% for a grade of D 

Grades for the class are weighted as follows: 

20% Participation 
15% Article Critiques 
15% First Search Test 
10% Reference Desk Duty 
20% Bibliography 
20% Final Search Test 



Assignments 

Participation 

Attendance on the days we meet as a class, participation in class discussions, activities, and assignments, as well as turning in assignments on time. 


Readings 

There are reading assignments almost daily from the text and supplementary text. These readings will supplement and help to clarify the class notes. You will not be tested, per se, on these readings; however some questions on the Search Tests will be crafted in such a way as to test your comprehension of the readings. 


Article Critiques 

Two or three times during the course, you will be asked to find and critique an article dealing with some topic related to  reference work. The goal here is to introduce you to the issues facing reference librarians today. 

You will have to: 

Find an article on the appropriate topic using an indexing or abstracting service. 
Acquire the article from the Cline Library or via Interlibrary Loan. 

Read and critique the article. 

The critique should be no longer than 2 pages. (One page would be better!) 


Reference Desk Duty 

During the week of July 24-28, we will arrange for you to work two hours on the Reference Desk. You will follow the reference librarians and staff as they answer patrons' questions. Ask questions of the librarians concerning reference work.  Get a feel for which sources are "ready reference" and why. You will be asked to share your experiences via email with your classmates and me. 


Bibliography 

Choose a topic of interest, either specific or general, and create an extensive bibliography on that topic. The sources need not be held by Cline Library. In fact, some effort should be made to identify relevant sources “out there” in the world. The
bibliography should be 5-10 pages in length. The bibliography should include: 

a description of the topic you’ve chosen and possibly some background as to why you chose that topic. 

A list of the sources you consulted in order to locate the reference sources included in your bibliography. You may include sources you consulted even if they didn’t provide anything on your topic (or they only listed items you already found elsewhere). This list will probably consist of reference source guides and bibliographies, NAU Vista and other library catalogs available online, the Internet, and reviews in periodicals. Try to be as comprehensive as possible. 

The actual bibliography of reference sources on your topic, with annotations wherever appropriate. 


The bibliography should be 5-10 pages in length. Of course, the more specific a topic is, the more difficult it will be to find reference sources on that topic. A more general topic will generate more sources. The sources need not be held by Cline Library. In fact, some effort should be devoted to identifying relevant sources “out there” in the world. 

I prefer reading papers with wide margins (1-1/2 inches). This makes it easier for me to read and allows me to put comments in the margins. Double-space between paragraphs and between bibliographic entries. Other than that, please single-space. 

Several “style guides” are available to use for formatting your bibliography. You may use any one you are comfortable with, as long as you are consistent throughout your bibliography. Some you might consider are MLA, APA, or Turabian (Chicago). A good source for identifying how to cite electronic resources can be found at: 
http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/Memorial/citing.htm 

The grading criteria for the Bibliography is as follows: 

Adequate description of your chosen topic (10 pts) _____ 

Adequate length of bibliography (5 pts) _____ 

Adequate list of consulted sources (20 pts) _____ 
Variety of sources consulted 
Bibliographies? 
Electronic Sources included? 
Catalogs? 

Presentation of bibliography (appearance) (5 pts) _____ 

Sources found (60 pts) _____ 
Adequate number 
Variety 
Comprehensiveness 

Annotation? (optional) _____ 

Exams 

Search Tests 

Exams are held in the library. You will be given a set of reference questions, the answers to which can be found in the reference sources you've reviewed and evaluated for class. You may, however, use ANY reference source to find the answers, even if it is not on the provided lists of reference sources. There will be 15 reference questions on the test; you need only answer ten of them for full credit. The rest are extra credit. These are also "open note"/"open book" exams; your text or any log or index cards you make up for your evaluation of sources can be used during search tests. 

The First Search Test will examine your knowledge and comprehension of the reference sources reviewed and evaluated to that point, namely: 

Bibliographies and Guides 
Dictionaries 
Encyclopedias 
Printed Indexes/Abstracts - General 
Printed Indexes/Abstracts - Subject 
Electronic Indexes/Abstracts 
Directories 
Biographies 
Government Documents 

The Final Search Test will examine you knowledge and comprehension of ALL reference sources reviewed and evaluated, but probably this test will be more heavily weighted on the remaining resources, namely: 

Geographic Sources 
Almanacs, Yearbooks, Annuals, Chronologies 
Handbooks and Manuals 
Statistical Sources 
Legal Sources