Books contain
information that is usually scholarly in nature, especially when purchased
for an academic library. Students are encouraged to use books when they
are looking for overall background on an issue or an intense analysis
of a theory or person. When creating an assignment or evaluating student
selected topics, it is important to know how much information is published
on the topic as well as the time frame.
For example,
some professors will create an assignment that requires students to find
books or articles published in the last 10 years on a subject. This does
not take into account publishing trends on a topic by topic basis.
The given assignment:
Find 3 books and 3 articles on your topic published since 1992.
Student selected
topic: Slave Revolts
Books
available in COAST (all dates)
Books
available in COAST (after 1992)
If you note the location of
the entries listed after 1992, you will find that 2 items are videos,
2 items are children's books. That leaves 1 item for a student to
use. Do you see the difference that one limitation makes on an assignment? |