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This information has been provided for librarians, instructors,
faculty and other educators interested in learning more about Polaris.
If you have contributions or suggestions about using Polaris,
please e-mail
us.
What
Is Polaris?
Polaris is a self-instructional tutorial designed to teach basic library and research
skills to
Flagler College students. It covers the research process from initial topic selection to citation
styles and the issue of plagiarism. There is a link to Polaris on the Proctor Library
home page or it can be accessed directly
from http://www.flagler.edu/library/polaris/.
Its content is organized into six modules:
| 1.
Starting smart |
is
an overview that introduces students to various types of sources. |
| 2.
Choosing a topic |
provides
tips on broadening and narrowing a topic and discusses search
concepts. |
| 3.
Using the Library Catalog |
has live practice searches in our online catalog. |
| 4.
Finding articles |
provides
practice searching in the Proquest database. |
| 5.
Using the Web |
includes the comparative evaluation of Web sources. |
| 6.
Citing sources |
includes the topics of citing, plagiarism, and copyright. |
Students can
complete the tutorial on their own time outside of class. Each of
its six sections takes about 15 minutes and students can complete
one or more modules at a time. Each of the modules is followed by
a short quiz (see details below).
Who
Is It Designed For?
Polaris
is designed for students in classes with a substantial writing component
or introductory-level research, especially for English 101, 102, and CSC 120. However, we hope instructors of other
classes will find it useful and assign it to their students.
How
Can Instructors Effectively Use Polaris with Their Courses?
We recommend that you have students complete Polaris before they begin their
research or attend a library session. Students can complete Polaris
on their own time and submit their quiz results to you.
Each module
is followed by a short quiz and a results page, which provides an
overall percentage score for that module, as well as a summary of
questions answered right or wrong. Students can print the
six results pages with their name and submit the printouts to you
as proof of completion.
You may wish to give extra credit points to students who complete
Polaris. We strongly suggest that students be required
to pass the quizzes with a score of at least 85% or better.
Students
may retake a quiz as many times as they want to improve their score.
Does
Polaris Replace Library Instruction?
No! We continue
to offer course-related library instruction and hope that you will
incorporate a library session into your syllabus. Timing is important!
Have your students complete Polaris, then schedule library instruction
with us for a date after they've received an assignment.
Then they will learn about searching databases when they need these
skills to complete their research assignment. Research has shown
that:
- Students
learn best and retain most when they need the information.
- Library instruction
is more effective when the course instructor is present.
- Library instruction
is more effective when coordinated with a class assignment.
Proctor Library
has a classroom in which librarians offer instruction on conducting research, using online databases, evaluating Web resources, etc. Please schedule early to reserve the date and time you need--preferably
call us at least 2 weeks ahead. Requests will be filled on a first-come
basis.
To arrange a
library instruction session contact:
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