What
Is Sidney?
Sidney
is a new resource for BCC students, a self-instructional tutorial
to teach them basic library and research skills. It covers the research
process from initial topic selection to citation styles and the
issue of plagiarism. There is a link to Sidney on the Libraries'
home page or it can be
accessed directly from
http://www.bergen.edu/library/search.
Its content is organized into six lessons:
| 1
- Starting smart |
an
overview that introduces students to various types of sources. |
| 2
- Choosing a topic |
which
provides tips on broadening and narrowing a topic and discusses
search concepts. |
| 3
- Using the Library Catalog |
which has live practice searches in our online catalog. |
| 4
- Finding articles |
in
which students can practice searching the Periodical Abstracts
database. |
| 5
- Using the Web |
which includes the comparative evaluation of Web sources. |
| 6
- Citing sources |
a lesson that also includes the topics of plagiarism and copyright. |
Each
of the six sections takes about 10-15 minutes to complete, and students
can do this on their own time outside of class. Each of the
lessons
is followed by a short quiz.
Who
Is It Designed For?
Sidney
is designed for students in classes with a substantial writing component
or introductory-level research, especially for EBS-014, 015, 016,
017, and WRT 101. However, we hope instructors of other
classes will find it useful and assign it to their students.
How
Can Instructors Effectively Use Sidney with Their Courses?
Please have students complete Sidney before they begin their
research or attend a library session. Students can complete Sidney
on their own time and submit their quiz results to you.
Each lesson
is followed by a short quiz and a results page, which provides a
summary of questions answered right or wrong and an overall percentage
score for that lesson. The results pages can be printed out with
the student’s name at the top and submitted to you as proof
of completion. We strongly suggest that students
be required to pass the quizzes with a score of at least 85% or
better. They may retake a quiz as many times as they want. In
addition, some instructors have chosen to give extra credit points
to students who complete Sidney.
Does
Sidney Replace Library Instruction?
No!
We continue to offer course-related library instruction and hope
that you will incorporate it into your syllabus. Timing is important!
Please schedule library instruction with us for a date after
your class has received a research assignment, so students learn
about searching databases at a time when they need to know this
information. Also, we generally do not offer instruction sessions
without an accompanying assignment. Research has shown that:
The Sidney
Silverman Library
has two electronic classrooms, which librarians use for computer
demonstrations and hands-on training. These are heavily booked,
so please schedule early to reserve the date and time you need--preferably
call us at least 2 weeks ahead. Requests will be filled on a first-come
basis. To arrange a library instruction session contact:
Annemarie
Mascarenhas, phone: 201-612-5569, email:
amascarenhas@bergen.edu
or
Your department's
library liaison. A liaison list is at:
http://www.bergen.edu/library/directory.htm#liaison
