Students complete a handout on what kinds of sources (primary, secondary, or tertiary) can meet particular information needs for a research project. Afterward, the instructor sums up the most important concepts.
Other activities in this series: Activity 3A, Information Needs; Activity 3C, Meeting Needs with Sources II; Activity 3D, Planning Your Sources I; Activity 3E, Planning Your Sources II; and Activity 3F, Using Source Locator
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:
- State which information needs can be met by primary, secondary, or tertiary sources.
Relevant Threshold Concepts
- Authority is constructed and contextual.
- Information creation as a process.
Suggestions for Use
- This activity should be helpful in classes where students will be planning which kinds of sources they should consider for their research projects.
- Consider using this activity after Activity 2A, Primary, Secondary, or Tertiary?, Activity 2B, Who’s the Intended Audience?, and Activity 3A, Information Needs.
- Students can complete Handout 3B-1 electronically or in print.
Pre-Class Preparation
- Review the handout and answer key for this activity.
- Review In-Class Procedure below.
- Read Choosing and Using Sources, Chapter 3, Sources and Information Needs.
- Decide whether you want students to complete Handout 3B-1 on paper or electronically.
- If you decided on an electronic handout, put Handout 3B-1 in your learning management system.
- If you decided on paper copies, print Handout 3B-1 (1 copy per student and 1 for yourself) and Answer Key 3B-1 (1 copy for yourself).
- Consider assigning students to read Chapter 3, Sources and Information Needs, before class.
- Prepare to introduce the session, using your own remarks or In-Class Procedure, if it is helpful.
- Using Answer Sheet 3B-1, plan your discussion of the answers on the handout.
- Download and perhaps print In-Class Procedure and Answer Key 3B-1 so you can take them with you to class.
In-Class Procedure
- If you’re having students use printed copies of Handout 3B-1, pass them out or set them where students can pick them up as they come in.
- If you’re having students use an electronic Handout 3B-1, tell them how to find and open it.
- Introduce the session by telling students that today they will be learning which kinds of sources—primary, secondary, or tertiary sources—can meet the information needs researchers have as they complete their research projects.
- Ask students to complete Handout 3B-1 by applying information elsewhere on the handout to answer questions 1-4 on the lower part of the handout. Give them a deadline of 5 minutes.
- After about 5 minutes, use Answer Key 3B-1 to go over the answers with students.
- Then ask students why primary, secondary, professional, and scholarly sources are so useful during the conduct of research projects. Accept all reasonable answers, but if students don’t make these points, make them yourself: Primary and secondary sources are more believable, more credible. Primary sources, being the sources closest in time to an event or being the actual original item, must be considered important information. The creators of many secondary sources are also credible and offer careful consideration of primary sources.
On the other hand, tertiary sources are only reconsiderations of primary and secondary sources. They don’t offer new information themselves, although they may offer a reorganization of what has been said before. They are handy in many situations but not in answering your research question or reporting what others have said about your research question or trying to convince others that your answer is right—the most important information needs in research projects. - Conclude the discussion by saying something like, “So today you’ve learned which information needs of your research project can be met with primary, secondary, and tertiary sources. That should be helpful when you look for sources.”
Relevant Choosing & Using Sources Chapters:
Chapter 3, Sources and Information Needs.
