INFO 285-14
Research Methods in Library and Information Science
Topic: Historical Research Methods
Summer 2021 Syllabus

Dr. Anthony Bernier, MLIS, MA, Ph.D.(History) 
E-mail
Home Office:
Office Hours: by appointment

Canvas Information: Our class begins on Tuesday 1 June at 6 am. Weekly units end on Saturdays at 11:59pm (Pacific time) and that will be the due time for all of our assignments except as noted in the more detailed Course Outline.

You will be enrolled in the Canvas site automatically.

Course Description

Research methods covering fundamental principles, processes, values and roles of research for professional application in information organizations. Students will become familiar with, and critical consumers of, historical research skills and analysis. Emphasis will concentrate on the skills required in developing, planning, and producing a quality research proposal.

This section of research methods (History Research Methods) will introduce students to the skill, theory, and methods of historical research and writing.  It explores the ways in which historians assemble and frame research questions through assessing current literature on historical topics, locate and critically use primary and secondary sources, and formulate viable and worthwhile research projects.  Emphasis will be placed on the research skills and tools historians use and the role information professionals play in their support and development.

Waiver of INFO 285: If a student has taken and passed a graduate-level research methods course within the last 5 years (as documented by an official transcript), the student can petition the Coordinator of Admissions and Academic Advising to waive the INFO 285 requirement.

Please send an electronic copy of the transcript (scanned as a pdf file) to the Coordinator of Admissions and Academic Advising.

A waiver, if granted, does not reduce the total units required for the MLIS degree. It simply means that you are not required to take INFO 285 as one of your MLIS classes.

Course Requirements

Canvas Discussions. Participate in 10 discussion forums pertaining to historical research and history information sources.  (20 points total - 2 points each)

IRB Certification.  Complete the online Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) ethics workshop - required of all students enrolled in a research methods course.  You may complete this workshop at any point during the semester. It requires about two hours.  When you have finished the workshop, you will receive a certificate you should submit as proof of completion. Further details are contained in our separate Course Outline. (5 points). 

Reference Source Annotated Bibliography.  Prepare an annotated bibliography of 10 reference/tertiary sources that provide historical background, context, and access to secondary literature for your research topic. (10 points)

Historiographic Essay.  
Locate and review 12-15 scholarly historical scholarship on the information community topic you examined in your INFO 200 course.  This secondary material should cover a combination of scholarly writing (i.e., monographs and refereed journal articles, but exclude writing from professional or practitioner media). (20 points).  

Primary Source Survey.  Locate and describe the manuscript and primary sources that you would use in a formally executed research project. (15 points)

Proposal Peer Review.  Provide a short critical review of a classmate’s research draft proposal. (5 points)

Final Research Proposal.  Deliver a formal research proposal.  The proposal will build on earlier assignments and will include an overview of the topic and its significance, a critical literature review, a discussion of methodology and primary sources, and an outline of proposed chapters. (25 points)

Course Calendar and Grading

Assignments are due at 11:59 PM (Pacific Time) on the date they are due.  Late assignments will sustain a 20% reduction of the total points possible for that assignment. Late Discussion posts receive a 1-point reduction.

Optional Office Hours: Optional 

Holiday Observances
Only University-recognized holidays will be recognized for this class. See the SJSU Academic Calendar on the University’s website for specific details.

Incompletes
Please avail yourself of the policy for incomplete coursework on the School’s website: https://ischool.sjsu.edu/incompletes

Required Style Manual 

Historical research requires you to effectively communicate your research findings and critically evaluate the writings of others.   An important aspect of this scholarly communication is understanding and using the standard citation formats and conventions for historical scholarship.  Because of its use of footnotes and the extensive details required in citation formats, historians and history publications use The Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition) for written publications.  This contrasts with the LIS convention of APA (American Psychological Association) style. 

If you are serious about historical writing and publishing I encourage you to invest in a copy of the Chicago MOS and to use it faithfully.  Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (9th edition) is a derivative of Chicago MOS and an acceptable substitute for this class.

Please consider purchasing your textbooks from the SOI e-Bookstore (a project of Amazon Affiliates program) because it generates revenue exclusively for iSchool student scholarships: SOI eBookstore

Other articles and resources will be assigned throughout the term and available either through the King Library’s full-text databases, the web, or furnished to you through our class Canvas site.

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Course Workload Expectations

Success in this course is based on the expectation that students will spend, for each unit of credit, a minimum of forty-five hours over the length of the course (normally 3 hours per unit per week with 1 of the hours used for lecture) for instruction or preparation/studying or course related activities including but not limited to internships, labs, clinical practica. Other course structures will have equivalent workload expectations as described in the syllabus.

Instructional time may include but is not limited to:
Working on posted modules or lessons prepared by the instructor; discussion forum interactions with the instructor and/or other students; making presentations and getting feedback from the instructor; attending office hours or other synchronous sessions with the instructor.

Student time outside of class:
In any seven-day period, a student is expected to be academically engaged through submitting an academic assignment; taking an exam or an interactive tutorial, or computer-assisted instruction; building websites, blogs, databases, social media presentations; attending a study group;contributing to an academic online discussion; writing papers; reading articles; conducting research; engaging in small group work.

Course Prerequisites

INFO 285 has no prequisite requirements.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

1. Understand the difference between primary and secondary research.
2. Demonstrate knowledge of fundamental principles and processes of conducting research.
3. Articulate the research method(s) covered in the course, appropriately apply them, and understand their strengths and liabilities.
4. Understand appropriate data collection/analysis tools, and ethical concerns related to research.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

INFO 285 supports the following core competencies:

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Textbooks

Required Textbooks:

• Maza, S. (2017). Thinking about history. University of Chicago Press. Available through Amazon: 022610933X

• Presnell, J. (2018). The information-literate historian (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. Available through Amazon: 019085149X

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Grading Scale

The standard SJSU School of Information Grading Scale is utilized for all iSchool courses:

In order to provide consistent guidelines for assessment for graduate level work in the School, these terms are applied to letter grades:

• C represents Adequate work; a grade of "C" counts for credit for the course;
• B represents Good work; a grade of "B" clearly meets the standards for graduate level work or undergraduate (for BS-ISDA);
  For core courses in the MLIS program (not MARA, Informatics, BS-ISDA) — INFO 200, INFO 202, INFO 204 — the iSchool requires that students earn a B in the course. If the grade is less than B (B- or lower) after the first attempt you will be placed on administrative probation. You must repeat the class if you wish to stay in the program. If - on the second attempt - you do not pass the class with a grade of B or better (not B- but B) you will be disqualified.
  
• A represents Exceptional work; a grade of "A" will be assigned for outstanding work only.

Graduate Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA). Undergraduates must maintain a 2.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).

University Policies

Per University Policy S16-9, university-wide policy information relevant to all courses, such as academic integrity, accommodations, etc. will be available on Office of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs' Syllabus Information web page at: https://www.sjsu.edu/curriculum/courses/syllabus-info.php. Make sure to visit this page, review and be familiar with these university policies and resources.

In order to request an accommodation in a class please contact the Accessible Education Center and register via the MyAEC portal.

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