Assignment 6: Sleuth & Critic

Learning isn't only an ongoing individual process but a communal process that involves sharing our interests, ideas, and discoveries. As we did in Unit 3, our Unit 6 Assignment creates a collection of annotated resources connected to the new questions and ideas about adult aging that have emerged thus far in this course, with a focus on nutrition and wellness.

Step One

Begin by reviewing the learning we've engaged in related to nutrition and wellness in the course. I would suggest that you take a look at your own and your classmates' posts in the Discussion Unit 4B, as well as the various learning resources. Then, identify a question, issue or topic related to nutrition and wellness and connected with adult aging that you'd like to dig into more deeply.

Step Two

Explore what researchers and experts are saying right now in order to learn more about the question, problem or idea regarding food, nutrition and wellness that you selected.

As a class, we will be strategic when exploring what new information is being shared about a question, problem or idea. To begin learning about your particular topic, you will locate one of each of the following:

• one article from a mainstream newspaper or magazine that describes current and relevant research;
• one web page or online report from an organization or government agency with relevant and substantial information;
• one full-text article from a peer-reviewed journal

BUT FIRST! Why not just start Googling? Finding quality information about complex topics can be difficult when just starting to learn about a question, problem or idea. How do you know the person is an expert on nutrition, wellness or adult aging? How do you know whether the information provided is of quality, when there are multiple perspectives to consider -- and not all of them agree?

As your knowledge of a topic builds you will become better able to confidently analyze the quality of the information provided in a given source. The research tactics described below are practices regularly used by professionals to identify useful and quality information, often starting with Google, and moving to more specialized library resources.

1. Before diving in, explore the links on the FN 211 Research Guide (note, you also have a link to this guide at the bottom of our course home page.) THEN,
2. Subscribe to Ask your Librarian! You can post anonymously and you and your colleagues can share in learning more about researching sources.
3. Spend some time looking at each of the three tip sheets below. Follow the directions provided to help you find one example of each type of source on your adult aging topic.
   • Find research in the mainstream news
   • Find relevant web pages or reports from organizations or government agencies
   • Find articles in scholarly or peer-reviewed journals using Google Scholar or a database in the PCC Library

JUST ASK! If you'd like advice, or if you're having trouble finding useful sources, librarians are available to help. Contact us st the Research Help desk chat on the phone or online and a librarian can research along with you.

Step Three

Cite, summarize, and critically reflect upon each of the three sources: the news article, web page, and review article from a peer-reviewed journal.

As you read, keep in mind:

• Citations provide the key information about the article so that others can find it.
  • Each source will need the author name(s), article title, source (website, magazine, newspaper or journal) title, publication date and a link to the article or web page.
• Summarizing a source provides a brief description of the article. (3-8 sentence paragraph)
  • As you read, take notes on the most interesting information and the ideas that seem important.
  • In the summary, describe the main points of the article in your own words.What’s the author’s conclusion? What perspectives are shared?
• Critical reflection on the source is where to share your thoughts on the article. (3-8 sentence paragraph)
  • What connections can you make to what you’ve learned in the course?
  • What is different or unexpected or curious to you in the article?
  • What does it make you think about?