School of Information and Library Science
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

INLS 881/882, Research Issues and Questions I & II
Fall 2006 & Spring 2007

Syllabus

Course Description / Assignments and Evaluation

Schedule / Assignments / Class Roster / Discussion Forum

Course Description

Overview. Intensive and systematic investigation of the fundamental ideas in information and library science. Exploration and discussion in seminar format.

The goal of this year-long course is to prepare students to become productive scholars. Students will be introduced to the range of research questions and issues that arise in the field of information and library science, with particular emphasis on the research interests of the current SILS faculty and doctoral students. The role of both theory and prior empirical research in generating research questions will be discussed. The variety of methods available to conduct ILS research will be reviewed.

The class members will participate in reading, reviewing, analyzing, and discussing, in some detail, relevant research literature. A part of this process of examination and discovery is formulating questions, and considering ways those questions might be addressed. For example, we will be asking questions about the ILS field and disciplines with which we often collaborate:

• Where are we going?
• Are there better/different ways to get there?
• Who gains and who loses?
• What is missing? Why?
• What should be done?

A second goal of this seminar is to assist the participants in being successful as doctoral students at SILS. This means that is is very important that each person has an opportunity to explore and cultivate their individual research interests as they move through the course.

• Specifically, this seminar has the goal of helping you to:
• Develop a deeper sense of your research interests,
• Being to form your own research agenda,
• Develop critical reading/thinking skills,
• Consider the role of research questions, theory, methods, and assessment,
• Develop an understanding of the writing requirements of scholarly communication,
• Develop a sense of scholarship and academic life in the information field, and
• Develop an understanding of faculty expectations and program procedures for SILS doctoral students.

Rationale and relationship to the current curriculum. It is required that students take INLS 881 and INLS 882 in consecutive semesters at or near the beginning of their doctoral studies. The discussions in this seminar will help students identify research questions of particular interest to them and will provide a context within which initial explorations of those questions can be conducted.

Assignments and Evaluation

The assignments for the two-semester seminar aim to foster your growth as a scholar and researcher in information and library science, through participation in discussions, reviews of current issues and the relevant literature, and development of research questions and proposals. They include:

• Final product (40%). This product, to be completed by the end of the second semester, may be a scholarly literature review, a proposal for a research study or an application for a fellowship, or an article resulting from a research project. Several intermediate products will be turned in throughout the second semester: a brief scope statement, an extended outline, and a presentation of your work. The final product will be due on the scheduled exam date for the spring semester.
• Seminar participation (15%). You are expected to be an active participant in the class, contributing to both face-to-face and electronic discussions, sharing interesting articles you have read, things you have learned, or questions to which you do not know the answer.
• Interest groups (10%). Based on your research interests, you'll work with one or more of your classmates to explore a topic in some depth. Your group will be expected to identify articles for the class to read, and to lead a discussion on the topic. The interest group discussions will occur in October.
• Mini-reviews (10% each). You will review the literature in two specific areas that are of interest to you. You will present one of the reviews orally (the presentaiton will be videotaped), and you will present the other in writing. The first will be due in mid-November, the second in mid-December.
• Current work in [fill in an ILS topic here] (5%). You will select a topic that will be discussed in class (see the class schedule) and identify a recent scholarly article (since 1999) on that topic. During the appropriate class session, you will be expected to give a brief summary of the article and your reactions to it.
• Seminal work in [fill in an ILS topic here] (5%). You will select a topic that will be discussed in class (see the class schedule) and identify a seminar scholarly article on that topic. For the purposes of this assignment, the article should be published before 1990 and be cited at least 50 times. During the appropriate class session, you will be expected to give a brief summary of the article and your reactions to it.
• Inspirational work/event (5%). You will select an article or presentation that has inspired you: helped you develop your research questions, made you think about something in a new way, drove you to demonstrate that the author was wrong, or is an example of excellent research. Near the end of the second semester, you will be asked to share your reactions to the article or presentation and why you found it inspiring.

Grading. Since this seminar lasts for two semesters, you will receive an "S" (assuming satisfactory progress) for the fall semester grade, and a grade reflecting the quality of your work and progress for the spring (H, P, L, or F). You will receive evaluations of your participation and contributions to the class, as well as of your presentations and papers.

Honor Code. The Honor Code, which prohibits giving or receiving unauthorized aid in the completion of assignments, is in effect in this class.

Schedule / Assignments / Class Roster / Discussion Forum