4. Ensure students' have suitable research topics
Welcome to Part 4 and thanks for being here!
There's only one problem to explore on this page, but it's a doozy!
Problem: Students often choose unsuitable research topics.
Students often choose (or are assigned) research topics that are unsuitable and that won't foster the development of information literacy skills. There are four main problems with topic choice, and all are extremely common:
1. Some topics are too broad.
Students gravitate to broad topics because it's much easier to come up with ideas for broad topics than for narrow topics. However, it requires little to no skill for students to search for sources on broad topics and they usually get a gazillion results. Then, they can just randomly pick a few source from their results and consult and cite those. So, broad topics don't give students practice with real-world research problems where you need to carefully think about where and how to search, and then select sources that will be informative for answering a particular question or problem.
Another problem with broad topics is that they may not match well with the types of sources students are asked to cite. For example, many assignments stipulate that students must find and cite sources like journal articles, which tend to be narrow, detailed, and directed at expert audiences. Usually this is the least appropriate source to consult when you are doing exploratory research on a broad topic!
When you seek information in the wrong type of source, it makes research feel cumbersome and contrived – but students have no idea this is a result of topic/source mismatch; instead, they are left with a lasting impression that research is frustrating and unsatisfying.
2. Some topics are too narrow.
Sometimes students choose topics that are very narrow and obscure and there's very little (if any) published research on the topic. Here are a couple of examples:
Which types of roller-coaster seats and restraints cause the fewest injuries?
How did men perceive women's hairstyles in the 16th century?
When students try to research unsuitably narrow or obscure topics, they get frustrated when they can't find anything, and they come away thinking research is difficult and they aren't cut out for it. If their instructor tells them to get research help from a librarian, the librarian may not be able to find anything either! They'll come away from their interaction with the librarian thinking that librarians are not particularly helpful.
3. Some topics are not scholarly, yet the assignment stipulates the student must find and consult scholarly sources.
This is another form of topic/source mismatch that's extremely common and also very frustrating for students. Many students, and especially first-year students, are completely unfamiliar with scholarly/peer-reviewed sources, or what types of subject matter those sources cover.
If their assignment stipulates they should choose a topic and research it using scholarly sources, they don't realize this means they need to pick a scholarly topic. Often they pick a topic that is familiar and interesting to them, but unlikely to be discussed in the scholarly literature. Naturally, they end up struggling to find appropriate sources, and again are left with the impression that research is unpleasant.
Students may also conclude from this experience that scholarly sources are arcane, impractical, and not worth consulting ever again. It's natural they'd think this since they just spent time trying to engineer ways to retro-fit obtuse scholarly content into their paper to make that content seem relevant.
4. Some topics require original research, rather than synthesizing existing literature.
Students sometimes choose topics that are so original they'd need to conduct lab or field research to find answers, rather than gain insights from the existing, published literature – because no literature exists on that topic! For example, suppose a student picked this topic:
How are real estate costs affecting artists in Flagstaff?
While there might be some published sources that discuss how artists cope with living expenses, there are unlikely to be sources specifically about how Flagstaff artists deal with housing costs. So, this topic would require the student to conduct original social science research using surveys, interviews, etc.
FYI – when students tackle topics that are too narrow, or for which there is a topic/source mismatch, or that require original research, often they are downright shocked to learn there are no sources on their chosen topic or only a few, barely relevant sources. Many students think published sources exist on every conceivable topic.
How is Cline Library's Research and Instruction Services (RIS) team addressing this problem?
Lesson 5 of the Information Literacy Basics tutorial (https://ac.nau.edu/lms-apps/self-enroll/447456) provides students with tips for choosing appropriate topics. This lesson also encourages students to test their topic before settling on it, to make sure the they can find relevant sources. However, students really need more practice testing topics, and feedback on what makes a good or bad topic, and that's where you can help.
How can YOU help address this problem?
If you assign research topics to your students, make sure you test your topics first to see if appropriate, relevant sources can be found. This is especially important if you are stipulating in your assignment that students must use certain types of sources, such as scholarly sources, peer-reviewed journal articles, etc. It's simply not fair to students to assign topics that are unfeasible to research, so test your topics first!!
If you are asking students to choose their own topic to research, then guide them away from topics that are unsuitable. That way they won't be left with the impression that conducting research is unpleasant and they're not cut out for it.
Also, explain to students that there are not published sources on every conceivable topic, and for this reason, consider requiring them to test their topic early on, before they settle on it. Work with them to determine whether their topic is a dead end and they need to switch to a new topic, or whether the issue is that they are not using the right search strategies to find information on that topic.
Assignment idea:
(Note: This assignment idea is relevant to Learning Goal B.)
Regarding this assignment idea:
Adapt and/or simplify this assignment to better suit the needs of your students and course materials.
You'll need to work out the details for deploying the assignment as an individual or group assignment, or as a worksheet, quiz, reading, discussion, etc. You'll also need to work out details for grading the assignment.
You may want to consult with your subject librarian for advice on tailoring the assignment to your needs. To find your subject librarian consult this page: https://nau.edu/library/contact-your-subject-librarian/
Comment on this content and/or collaborate with NAU librarians to find other solutions to these problems!
The content on this page is a work in progress and we'd love to improve it! Cline Library's Research and Instruction Services team is interested to hear any comments or suggestions you have on the content presented on this page, or your ideas for other solutions. Also, if you've already created assignments that address these issues, or you have ideas for assignments that would help address these issues, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us!