Assignment

Database "Speed Dating"

Submitted by Elizabeth Christian on February 26th, 2018
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Short Description: 

This activity introduces students to a variety of databases in their discipline by asking them to quickly review and prepare an “elevator speech” on the database’s best features and content. Students then do three rounds of “speed dating” to share with other students what they’ve discovered.

Attachments: 
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Activity worksheet for studentsdisplayed 1173 times14.8 KB
Lesson plan for instructorsdisplayed 1044 times14.22 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will be able to identify and use appropriate databases to form an effective research strategy.
Students will be able to differentiate databases based on functionality and content scope.

Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 
Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

This activity works best if all students are in the same discipline, although it can be scaled to include general research databases or multiple disciplines. Part C asks students to quickly identify a research topic and evaluate their databases by searching for that topic. This will work if students already have a research topic in mind for an assignment. If not, you may wish to offer one or more examples for them to use, or skip it entirely.

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Christian, Elizabeth. "Database "Speed Dating"." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://projectcora.org/assignment/database-speed-dating.