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BASIC ORIENTATION FOR STUDENTS
STANDARDS
EVALUATION
PROFESSIONALISM
HANDING IN WORK
DISABILITIES
PRESENTATION
OF TERM PAPERS ETC.
READINGS
CITATIONS
DISTANCE
EDUCATION, ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION
EXAMPLES
A high standard of work and professionalism is expected
from students.
Grades will reflect not only the capacity of the
students
to demonstrate a full comprehension of the subject
under discussion
and to organize their answers, but also original
contributions to the field
and personal reading, experience and research.
Work should be original; do not submit rewritten
versions of
textbooks, web sites etc. or revised versions of
papers or other documents originally prepared for
or primarily intended for other professors or purposes.
Communicate clearly and distinguish between facts and opinions or hypotheses.
Students are expected to organize their academic
lives,
attend classes regularly and punctually,
participate in class discussions,
take notes
(the notes I post to the web may be abbreviated
or consist mainly of lists of topics;
students are expected to take their own notes of
what is said in class),
study the readings and
produce carefully thought-out, written and presented
papers,
examination answers or exercises.
I normally include the following comment on my exam
papers:
"Answers should demonstrate familiarity with the
readings
(basic, additional and personal), lectures, demonstrations,
practical activities, visits and classroom discussions,
also capacity for understanding complex subjects
and thinking creatively."
I am in general agreement with the following
guidelines,
which are based on criteria developed
by Professor Sydney J. Pierce
of the University of Washington, and which
have been used
by other professors in the SLIS:
A Paper: This paper does not just
fulfill the assignment,
it also has something original and important
to say
and the points it makes are supported
well.
It is organized effectively, develops
smoothly, and it is written clearly.
It is based on data or a review of the
literature
clearly related to the points it has to
make.
Proven familiarity with the literature
of the field is
required for papers which earn this grade.
B Paper: This paper fulfills the
assignment well.
Its general idea is clear and it is effectively
presented.
It handles its sources well, with no serious
errors of fact or interpretation.
The content may not be very original,
agreeing with accepted views but not adding
anything new,
or it may be original but fail to offer
sufficient support for the points made.
It is based on adequate and appropriate
data or literature
and refers to it when points need support.
C Paper: This paper is adequate
to fulfill the assignment
and its general idea is clear.
Its content may be repetitive or oversimplified,
refusing to acknowledge complexity or
failing to cover important points.
Points may be hard to follow and the paper
may be poorly organized
(e.g., unbroken narrative with no headings
or clear relationships;
literature reviews that summarize sources
in sequence
instead of making general points supported
by reference to a selection of sources).
There may be a serious error of fact or
interpretation.
Sources or data may be poorly chosen --
insufficient in number,
of inappropriate types, too old, lacking
in authority, etc.
F Paper: This paper does not fulfill
the assignment,
and may not do what was required.
It may fail to focus on a single topic
or subject.
It may omit large amounts of data or material
lying within its declared scope or make
repeated errors of fact or interpretation.
The purpose of this course is to train professionals;
students are expected to behave as professionals
in the classroom.
Avoid using small electronic devices such as mobile
phones or Walkmen, during class.
If your mobile phone rings, please leave the room.
If you drop the course or have trouble attending
or arriving on time
please contact me or inform the SLIS secretary;
students who miss more than one or two classes
or frequently come late to class will normally have
their participation marks reduced.
Please check with me before writing or e-mailing
outside institutions,
persons or discussion lists for matters relating
to my courses.
The content of data bases or web sites must reflect a high professional standard in all respects.
Students may be given demonstration access to commercial
or other external databases for course purposes. Information gained from
these databases is for use during courses only; do not use the databases
for other purposes, or download, repackage or redistribute information
for any other purpose. Demonstration versions of software should only be
used in the context of the course.
Students are responsible for handing in work;
credit can only be given for work which reaches
the professor.
This applies not only to written papers,
but also to work produced on computers.
Take backup copies of computer files;
keep preliminary versions and notes
so that systems and papers can be quickly reconstituted
if necessary.
For exercises handed in on floppy discs use one
disc per exercise,
per person or per group.
Late submission of work will normally be penalized.
Keep your personal file copies of all work submitted,
also of any e-mail related to the course, until
final grades have been awarded.
I would like to hear from anyone who has
a disability
which may require some modification of
seating,
testing or other class requirements
so that appropriate arrangements can be
made.
Please see me after class or during my
office hours.
PRESENTATION OF TERM PAPERS ETC.
Papers should be neatly word-processed.
I prefer 12 point, regular weight type, 1.5 line
spacing,
standard margins; use a spelling checker.
The first sheet should be informative, with at least:
name of student(s) (alphabetical order for a group):
name of professor; course number and name; year
and semester;
title of specific paper or exercise.
Months in any dates should be represented by
three letter abbreviations or spelt out:
e.g. Dec. 10, 1999 rather than 12/10/99.
Avoid covers or special bindings:
if the sheets can be stapled, place one staple at
top left.
If there are too many sheets to staple easily,
use the simplest punched, plastic or spiral binding,
without additional plastic wrappers.
Number pages at top right.
(Page numbers are especially important in
distance education courses,
where I may comment by e-mail
without mailing back the papers).
Avoid unnecessary use of colored text or colored
paper;
include illustrations only when relevant to the
text.
Divisions of papers should be identified by a system
which clearly demonstrates the relationship between
the parts.
I personally prefer a simple sequential numeration; e.g.:
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 History of the institution
1.1.1 Early history
1.1.2 Recent history
In some cases it may be useful to present
data in two columns,
e.g. to facilitate comparison between
two services, sources etc.
Courses in this area are dynamic;
it may sometimes be necessary to substitute a newly-published
document
for a source listed on the program or incorporate
a later version of a software.
Students who are unable to comment adequately
on the readings will receive a reduced mark for
participation.
Present bibliographic citations using a humanities-based
citation
system which offers complete details
(American Psychological Association, Chicago, Turabian,
MLA, ANSI etc.).
Use the system consistently; identify it at the
beginning of the bibliography.
The objective of citations is to identify documents
clearly;
I therefore prefer systems which offer relatively
complete information.
I prefer names to be complete
("McCarthy, Cavan Michael" rather than "McCarthy,
C. M.");
periodical titles to be spelt out in full
("Library Association Record" rather than "LAR");
pagination to be in full (137-149 rather than 137-49);
dates in full "June 1999" rather than "1999".
If an author appears more than once in a bibliography,
I prefer systems which repeat the name of the author
every time,
rather than systems which substitute the second
and later occurrences with a line.
DISTANCE EDUCATION, ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION
Students taking courses from distant locations via
I.C.N.
or similar should note the following specific points:
E-mail address: I will communicate with you by e-mail;
I therefore require you to have an e-mail address.
Discussion lists or LISTSERVs will be established
for many courses
Please send an e-mail from your prefered address
to the Teaching Assistant / Graduate Assistant identified
in the course program as responsible for setting
up the discussion list,
or direct to me at <cavan-mccarthy@uiowa.edu>
in the first week of the course.
A good e-mail address will include a clear,
even if abbreviated, version of your name.
I should be able to identify janedoe@... or
jdoe@... quite quickly;
it is not so easy to identify booklover@...
or hawkeyefan@...
I will assume that the e-mail address you have given
me
is confidential and that the messages sent to it
will be read only by you.
I may send you some messages you would consider
confidential,
such as comments on papers,
or even questions about work which is overdue.
If you have given me a mailbox used by more than
one person,
e.g. janeandjohndoe@..., I will send the comments
to that mailbox.
If you prefer privacy for your e-mail,
I strongly advise you to open a personal e-mail
account,
e.g. at www.yahoo.com or www.hotmail.com
Submissions can be made by:
Mail: use first class mail; must be datestamped by due date
Fax to SLIS: (319) 335-5374; fax by due date
E-mail as ordinary e-mail text (ASCII text):
send to <cavan-mccarthy@uiowa.edu>
this is a convenient method of submission
from my point of view:
submission date is recorded;
I can easily comment on specific passages;
I can click onto links
E-mail attachments: should be readable
on a PC;
send to <cavan-mccarthy@uiowa.edu>
I prefer Microsoft Word, Rich Text Format
(.rtf), rather than .doc files.
(For RTF in MS Word select File / Save
as / Save as type;
Rich Text Format is the seventh option,
just below
MS DOS Text with Line Breaks.
If you are using .doc, please send me
a sample file beforehand
to verify that the attachment is readable).
I also accept HTML or .pdf files as attachments.
Files on floppy disc: all the files mentioned
in the previous paragraph
can be submitted on 3.5 inch floppy disc.
Posting to Internet: post the HTML file
to your site and e-mail me the URL.
(if you prefer privacy, do not link the
URL to other pages on your site).
If your format permits, number the pages
consecutively.
I will normally send comments on your
paper by e-mail
and often need to refer to specific pages.
Retain a copy of your paper;
I will normally return papers only to
students
who have a mailbox at the SLIS.
Other students will receive comments on
their papers by e-mail.
For exercises in databases, indexing, abstracting,
library automation etc. use real documents;
avoid imaginary documents or descriptions of documents.
For example, to create a data base of books,
input data of real books, examined for this purpose.
For exercises where it is necessary to choose a
topic,
students are advised to select a subject area where
they will obtain experience useful in their future
professional lives.
Remember that activities of this type can be cited
in portfolios,
employment interviews and even resumes as evidence
of valid experience.
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