Over the past several years, SLIS faculty member Lokman Meho has been collecting student pathfinders from his Reference classes. Recently he invited students from other instructors' classes to have their work included. The result is a new web collection of 265 Student Pathfinders/Research Guides that can be viewed by subject or in alphabetical order by the student author's name.
These research guides reflect the creativity of SLIS graduate students, and the variety of information questions (which is of course infinite). Topics covered range from French New Wave Cinema to Peanut Allergies. The Harlem Renaissance, Igor Stravinsky, Cuban Artists, and Coral Reefs are just a few other examples.
The Pathfinder/Research Guide is described by Meho in his syllabus:
"A research guide introduces clients to the literature of a specific topic. Its arrangement and content reflect the most common questions in a literature search and the beginning stages of a research project. A research guide is not an exhaustive annotated bibliography. Instead, it provides a carefully selected list of various types of important information sources, as well as guidance of how and why to use these sources. Research guides are typically short in length, depending on the intended audience and the resources available..."
Meho encourages students with innovative, high-quality pathfinders to pursue publication - see SLIS News features:
- Journal to Publish Pathfinder by MLS Student Grace Wadholm
- Students' Papers Published In Scholarly Journals
- L524 Student Pathfinders to be Published in Library Journals
Posted January 30, 2008