Peer Review

Research Skills Tutorial

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Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: This is a self-paced, non-credit course that covers research skills, critical thinking, media and internet literacy, and understanding the complexities of the modern information environment (including libraries.)
Type of Material:: Tutorial
Recommended Uses:: This resource can be used in a classroom, as homework or as an independent tutorial.
Technical Requirements:: Current web browser, internet connection
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Students will learn multiple skills - Develop a thesis statement - Evaluate the different information sources to fit their needs - Differentiate between general and scholarly resources - Use critical thinking skills in the area of selecting, evaluating, and citing informaiton
Target Student Population:: This tutorial is useful to anyone who is writing a research paper, including high school students and college students who are unfamiliar with the research process.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: No prerequisite knowledge needed.

Rating:
Strengths:: This tutorial is very clear and concise. It is a large amount of information, but the chapters and sub-sections make the information easy to digest. At the beginning of each chapter there are learning objectives to tell the student in advance what they will learn. Students are allowed to enter and exit the tutorial at their leisure so they are not required to find a large amount of time to complete the tutorial. The material fits very will with the concept of research skills and gives ideas of avenues for future learning.
Concerns:: It is long, with lots of information but because it is divided into sections it is manageable.

Rating:
Strengths:: The tutorial provides learning objectives that are divided into the various chapters. It does not assume a student will have prerequisite knowledge, but does build upon things learned in the previous chapters. The quiz at the end of each chapter reinforces what the student has learned and students can repeat the quiz more than once. Students can learn a lot in a short time and it allows the student to repeat a specific chapter if needed.
Concerns:: None.

Rating:
Strengths:: The tutorial uses simple direct language which makes it easy to digest the meaning, there is good use of headings and bold lettering as well as links to more material. Integrating videos is a plus as are the assignments that allow students to apply what they are learning.The directions are clear and easy to follow. There is enough text to cover the topic, but there is white space so it does not look crowded. The tutorial is visually appealing and the use of YouTube videos is helpful to reinforce the learning of that section. There are very few graphics that would be a difficulty for users with disabilities.
Concerns:: None.

Other Issues and Comments:: The quizzes state that they do not keep the names of the students so it will respect their privacy. This is such an excellent tutorial that it should be used by other universities for their students. It is good that they leave it open for others to use. It does brand the tutorial in a few areas that it is part of Empire state, but it does not use proprietary material that cannot be found at other universities.
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