Information Literacy Objective

The student will define or modify the information need to achieve a manageable focus.

Student Objective

The student will narrow a broad topic by subdividing using concrete concepts.

Materials—Teacher

Chalkboard or Whiteboard

Chalk or Dry Erase Pens

Materials—Student

Pencil/Pen

Paper

Preparation

• Assign students to complete LOBO section(s):  “Define Your Topic”
• Review applicable section in LOBO: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/lobo2/rstrategy/define-topic3a.html
• Read lesson plan.           

Introduction

Procedures (Time = 25-30 minutes)

1.  Model topic selection for students.  (Time = 5 minutes)

·        Write a broad topic on the board—e.g. Terrorism—and explain that you will show the students four means of narrowing or broadening a topic.

·        Write the word “Time” on the board and ask the question: “Am I interested in ‘terrorism’ from the beginning of time to the present, or do I have a specific time period in mind?”  The answer of course is, yes, I have a specific time period in mind, so pick a time period or range of dates, or compare two time periods—e.g. after September 11^th—and write it on the board.

·        Write the word “Place” on the board, and ask a similar question about geographic region.  Pick a region and write it on the board following the word “place”—e.g. Israel.

·        Write the words “Person or Group” on the board, and again, ask a question about focus on individual or group.  Pick a person or group and write it on the board following “person or group”—e.g. city dwellers.

·        Write the words “Event or Aspect” on the board, and ask a similar question about it.  Pick an event or aspect and write it on the board—e.g. fear of attack.

·        Have a research question ready and write it on the board—e.g. “Did fear of terroist attack increase or decrease among city dwellers in Israel after September 11^th?”

·        Explain that this may or may not be a researchable topic, but that’s the way research is done—you come up with a topic and then broaden, narrow, or delete one or more aspects like time, place, etc. before and as you look for information on a topic.

2.  Tell the class that you will break them into small groups, give them all a broad topic (different from the one you modeled), and give them 5 minutes to come up with 1-4 limiters and a research question.  Remind them that they do not have to use all their limiters in the research question.  (Time = 10 minutes)

3.  After 5 minutes, ask groups to report back to the entire class, reading their topic, their limiters, and their research question.  If you gave all of the groups the same broad topic, you might point out here that each group came up with somewhat different limiters and research questions, demonstrating that there are lots of ways to define a topic.  (Time = 5 minutes)

4.  Ask each individual student to work through this process for two additional topics of their choice and turn them in to the instructor.  You may then give feedback on their choices based on upcoming paper assignments.  (Time = 5-10 minutes)

Closing

Be sure to summarize the main points of the lesson and refer students back to LOBO for help!