Are the Library Databases too Daunting
for Our Students?
Dr. Debbie Keeler Are you reluctant to ask your students to search for articles in the library databases to support course content? Do you believe the database content is too sophisticated for most of our students? Actually, there is wide variety in the content provided by the library databases. It is true that a multitude of articles in the library databases target professionals in a field and suit the research needs of graduate students. While we want our students to read challenging material relevant to our teaching, we don’t want them to be overwhelmed in trying to decipher it. For example, consider the following excerpt from an article in the database Health Reference Center Academic, one of the library databases at MDC. The article resulted from a subject search for “stem cell research – genetic aspects”. Functional assays (e.g. chimeric mice, embryoid body generation, colony forming potential) or quantitative RT-PCR measurements on known ES cell gene markers are commonly used to determine the timeline for the loss of pluripotency [16]. However, the relationship between gene expression and loss of pluripotency is complex [17]. Two ES cell markers (SSEA-1, Oct-4) have been found to show no unequivocal temporal correlation between the expression of the genes and the loss of pluripotency [18]. When faculty send their students to find research articles on a recent medical breakthrough, an assignment I’ve seen recently, this is the type of language the students may find. It may be appropriate for biology or chemistry but daunting for beginning researchers.
Fortunately, there are databases that target the reading levels of undergraduates. Health & Wellness Resource Center, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, and SIRS Researcher are three. Health & Wellness offers information from a variety of sources, including reference works with reading levels from 8th to 10th |
grade like The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Using the same subject search terms used in Health& Wellness Resource Center, an article from Cancer Gene Therapy Week yields language more comprehensible for undergraduate students:
Normal stem cells are "immature" cells that have the potential to become any of several types of cells. Cancer stem cells have the same multi-potent and self-renewing properties, but instead of producing healthy cells, they propagate cancer cells. Theoretically, if these "mother cells" can be destroyed, the tumor will not be able to sustain itself. On the other hand, if these cells are not removed or destroyed, the tumor will continue to return despite the use of existing cancer-killing therapies.
A professor may, however, want students to become familiar with peer-reviewed articles, in preparation for upper level course work. One advantage of searching for peer-reviewed articles for our undergraduates is to help them understand the format of the quantitative article, from abstract to method to conclusion. One option could be to ask the students to read only the abstracts and conclusions to get a sense of the research or to compare research article methods. References Mechanism in cells that generate malignant brain tumors may offer target for gene therapy. (November 10, 2008). Cancer Gene Therapy Week, p. 14. Retrieved January 29, 2009, from Health and Wellness Resource Center via galenet.galegroup.com Yap, D Y, Smith, D K, Zhang, X W, & Hill, J. (July 3, 2007). Using biomarker signature patterns for an mRNA molecular diagnostic of mouse embryonic stem cell differentiation state.(Methodology article). BMC Genomics, 8, 210. p.210. Retrieved January 29, 2009, from Health Reference Center Academic via Gale via galenet.galegroup.com
Currently a professor at the North Campus, Dr. Debbie Keeler has
worked in libraries at Miami Dade College since 1991. She earned
her doctorate in 2007 at FIU; her dissertation focused on the
organizational culture dimensions of faculty library use. Dr. Keeler
teaches credit courses in library science in addition to her
reference librarian/faculty responsibilities. She is a member of the
Learning Outcomes coordinating committee and was a primary
author of the Learning Outcomes assessment, "The Global Citizen". |
What Works for Me (Information Literacy) |
