Assignment Tips

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Springfield Technical Community
College Library
Spring 2017
Why Information Literacy? Consider this quote from Michael Gorman:
"The net is like a huge vandalized library. Someone has destroyed the catalog and
removed the front matter, indexes, etc. from hundreds of thousands of books and torn
and scattered what remains..."Surfing" is the process of sifting through this disorganized
mess in the hope of coming across some useful fragments of text and images that can be
related to other fragments. The net is even worse than a vandalized library because
thousands of additional unorganized fragments are added daily by the myriad of cranks,
Information Literacy
Assignment Tips
Preventing Plagiarism

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sages, and persons with time on their hands who launch their unfiltered messages into
cyberspace." (Gorman, 34).
What IS Information Literacy?
The Association of College and Research Libraries identified Information Literacy skills.
The complete description of information literacy in higher education accreditation
documents go to:
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency.cfm
Accrediting agencies expect to see information literacy skills in our students and in our
curricula. Middle States Commission on Higher Education states:
"Several skills, collectively referred to as “information literacy,” apply to all disciplines
in an institution’s curricula. These skills relate to a student’s competency in acquiring
and processing information in the search for understanding ... These skills are
 determining the nature and extent of needed information.
 accessing information effectively and efficiently.
 evaluating critically the sources and content of information.
 incorporating selected information in the learner’s knowledge base and value
system.
 using information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.
 understanding the economic, legal and social issues surrounding the use of
information and information technology.
 observing the laws, regulations, and institutional policies related to the access and
use of information.
Middle States Commission on Higher Education. (2006)
In addition, in 2002, the college committed to the following in its strategic plan as a
response to the NEASC report of 2001:
“[The college will use] Technology to enhance teaching and
learning [The college will] Develop and implement a Strategic
Plan to ensure all STCC students are information and computer
literate by the time they graduate from the College.”
Information literacy is a college wide General Education
requirement as per the 2011 College NEASC report.
Visit the reference desk for help with assignments and to arrange to
bring your classes to the library. Call 755-4549.
The American Association of Community Colleges says:
Information literacy, which encompasses information fluency and information technology mastery,
is critical to success in higher education and lifelong learning. Rapid and continual changes in
technology and the proliferation of information resources present students with an abundance of
information through a variety of vetted and unvetted formats. This wide variety of choices raises

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questions about the reliability, authenticity, and validity of content and poses challenges for
students trying to evaluate, understand, and apply the information. The Association of College and
Research Libraries, in its Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, notes
that information literacy is considered a key outcome by several regional and discipline-specific
accreditation bodies because of its close ties to students’ competency with evaluating, managing,
and using information.
Community college students must be information literate learners who can:
• Determine the extent of information needed
• Access needed information effectively and efficiently
• Evaluate information and its sources critically
• Incorporate selected information into their own knowledge base
• Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
• Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information
• Access and use information ethically.
Colleges should identify and provide personnel and resources appropriate for providing information
literacy skills for all students.
Barbara Walvoord (2010) says:
Develop an assignment and talk about it in class.
Provide a checklist so that you know your student did what was
expected.
Model the process of following assignment instructions.
Sample checklist
I confirm that:
□ I have acknowledged the use of another’s ideas with accurate citations.
□ I have used the resources in the library’s databases.
□ If I used the words of another (e.g., author, instructor, information source), I have
acknowledged this with quotation marks (or appropriate indentation) and proper citation.
□ When paraphrasing the work of others, I put the idea into my own words and did not just
change a few words or rearrange the sentence structure
□ My bibliography includes only the sources used to complete this assignment.
□ This is the first time I have submitted this assignment for credit.
□ Any proofreading by another was limited to indicating areas of concern which I then
corrected myself.
□ This is the final version of my assignment and not a draft.
□ I spent at least ___ hours on this assignment.
(based on the University of Toronto checklist of Academic Integrity)

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DO... DON'T...

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Consult with the library.
Verify the availability of the most recent
library resources.
Get recommendations from librarians for the
items that best support your assignment.
Schedule a library session or sessions to help
familiarize students with library resources.
oAssume your students are skilled
researchers. They are probably skilled
net surfers, which is a different and often
irrelevant skill. Ask students to simply
find something off the Internet.
Discuss your assignment in class, online, and
during your office hours.
Rely on students to find their own topic
without your assistance.
Give your research assignment early enough
so students have adequate time to complete
the work.
Give out an assignment orally or on the
spur of the moment.
Keep your assignment simple. Give incomplete instructions.
Put vital items on room reserve. Assume the library has multiple copies of
items students may need.
Tell students what they are supposed to learn
in the assignment and relate this to the larger
objectives of the class.
Assume that students will meet your
deadline without prodding and
reminders.
Tell them to ask for help at the Reference
Desk
Tell them not to bother the librarians.
Specify reference sources if you prefer that
your students use specific ones.
Ask students to do something you
haven't successfully done yourself.
Explain that library databases delivered over
the World Wide Web and specific Web-Only
materials (such as the 2010 Census) are
acceptable.
Tell students that they can’t use the
Internet or the World Wide Web.
Discourage plagiarism by helping those who
need structure and break up large
assignments into smaller pieces e.g.
Topic Selection / Thesis Statement
Short list of resources and how they were
located
First draft/Revision and final draft of paper
Hand out the identical topic or task or
assignment on only one subject to a
large class or to several classes at the
same time.
Require that students cite and defend the
validity of their sources.
Assign scavenger hunts, which frustrate
students without giving them useful
skills. The librarian ends up doing them.
Introduce students to the kinds of resources
you expect them to use.
Tell students simply to "find it on the
Internet.”

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SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS
Assignments that teach information literacy skills don't have to be term papers. They
may involve something as simple as an enhancement of an assignment you are already
using. Here are only a few of the many possible models available.
EXPANDED CITATIONS
Ask students to provide the sources of their research through citations, with
notes on how they located these items. If students used a web search engine, a
citation from a book or journal article, an electronic database (which they should
specify), or the library's online catalog, they must explain how/why they went to
that source. If suggestions from anyone (such as a faculty member, librarian, or
friend) led them to web sites or other sources, they can explain how they got
there. Have them explain why they decided to use item A over item B.
(Courtesy of Smith College Neilson Library Reference Dept.)
TOPIC MANAGEABILITY
Have students submit potential paper topic or topics. Have them provide a
version of the topic which they think would be too broad for the scope of their
assignment, and one that is too narrowly focused. Finally, they must defend their
approach to their topic and explain why it is appropriate.
They could also provide their sample thesis statement to accompany the
preferred topic.
Optionally, they could also identify one or two scholarly sources to supporting
their research goal accompanied by a plan describing how the student will
accomplish the remainder of necessary research. (Courtesy of Smith College Neilson
Library Reference Dept.)
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY (Group or Individual)
Have students compile, read, and evaluate a number of items on a topic. Be
specific about what topics you will accept. Ask students to discuss their opinions
about the items. Require a variety of sources and list qualities you expect those
sources to have, such as peer-reviewed sources or very current sources. Ask
students to indicate how each item was located. Ask the students to discuss
source format, source audience, source organization and source purpose.
(Courtesy Coastal Carolina College Kimbel Library Reference Dept.)
Alert the library staff to the assignment. Require all students to use the same
resource(s).
Check to see that the library has materials on
your topic.
Require resources that are not available
or that are out of date.

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ANNOTATED WEBLIOGRAPHY (Group exercise)
Student teams can create a bibliography of web sites (webliography). Ask them
to list their criteria for inclusion. Have them explain how they found their entries.
(Courtesy Gardner Library, UC Berkeley)
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (Group exercise)
Each student chooses a topic of current national interest and writes a letter
expressing his/her opinion on the subject to the editor of a local newspaper.
Students work in small groups to critically examine one another's letters and to
identify any dubious statements. Each student is assigned to substantiate those
statements that were singled out by the group as needing more convincing
evidence or authority. Research is required for the process, and the result is a
750-word essay, with documentation in the form of notes and a bibliography.
(Courtesy University Libraries Reference Department University at Albany)
WRITE AN EDITORIAL
Examine newspaper editorials and discuss what the importance of media opinion
is. Have the students read and comment on a single editorial from a local paper.
Have students read and comment on a single editorial from the New York Times,
USA Today or the Wall St. Journal. (‘Blogs are another option). (Multiple sources)
A) For a specific class:
Review a newspaper or business magazine for three-four accounts of or editorials
about ethical issues that have arisen in business or the professions. List these
titles and match those with units in the course syllabus. Provide a brief abstract
of each article. What are your opinions about this topic? Why? What conclusions
can you draw from this article?
B) For English or more general classes:
View two newspaper articles and/or two periodical articles discussing a current
event. Create citations for each article. Provide a brief abstract of each article.
What are your opinions about this topic? Why? What conclusions can you draw
from this article?

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BACKGROUND ON A TOPIC
In the early stages of work on a topic, ask students to consult a scholarly subject
encyclopedia. (Librarians can suggest several possible online and print
examples).
Have students identify major concepts, vocabulary terms or controversies in the
area which might provide the basis for further investigation of the topic. Ask
students also to identify useful citations for further research provided by the
encyclopedia article. (Courtesy Coastal Carolina College Kimbel Library Reference
Dept.)
POPULAR vs. SCHOLARLY ARTICLES
Ask students to locate a group of articles on a topic using an electronic database.
(Librarians can recommend good candidates and can conduct a class in which
students get hands on experience in selecting and using these databases).
Have students (could be in teams) select those which they believe to be most
scholarly. Have them defend their choices. Criteria should include issues of:
intended audience, language, publisher of journal, credentials of author, and
citation of sources in footnotes and/or bibliographies. (Multiple sources)
WEB SITE vs. PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLE COMPARISON
This might also be called a Web Search Engine vs. Database Comparison.
Have students run a search using Google or Yahoo. Using the first three items
which appear on the search, ask students to analyze the following:
 What does the URL teach about the source of the information?
 Who is responsible for the site, and what are their reasons for putting up
this information?
 What are their credentials?
 What is the point of view of the web site? Is it fair and unbiased?
 Does it present both sides of an issue or only one?
 How current is the web page?
 Would you use this as a source for a paper on this topic? Why or why
not?
There are many guides to web site evaluation.

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Have students replicate the search using a scholarly or subject focused database,
such as Expanded Academic ASAP, or EBSCO Academic Search Premier. Repeat
the questions above for the first three items found. [Note that Expanded
Academic ASAP and EBSCO Academic Search Premier allow searches to be
limited to peer-review articles.] (Many sources)
AUTHOR CREDENTIALS
Ask students to determine the author credentials by consulting the sources
themselves, biographical dictionaries, or web pages. They can analyze other
books/articles written by the author and an evaluation of whether he or she is an
acknowledged authority in the field. An addition or alternative might be to ask
students to locate book reviews from scholarly journals as part of their search.
This could include using Google Scholar. (Courtesy Smith College Neilson Library
Reference Department)
VALUE OF A BOOK (Group or individual activity)
Have students select a topic of interest - or a subject from a list you provide. Ask
them to locate both a scholarly article and a book published by a scholarly press.
If possible both should have been written within the past ten years. Now ask
students to evaluate the usefulness of each source as a basis for a longer paper
on the topic.
VARIATION: assign this to small groups and enlarge the number of items to be
found accordingly - perhaps 2 books and 2 articles for a group of four. Each
group should report their findings in class, and the class should be asked to come
to a consensus on the value of each kind of source. (Courtesy Gardner Library UC
Berkeley)
KINDS OF RESOURCES (Group exercise)
This is a good assignment for small groups. Have each group identify at least
three kinds of resources useful for research on a topic. These might include:
books, newspaper articles, popular magazine articles, scholarly journal articles,
popular (or scholarly) web pages, government documents, etc. Have the group
supply one example of each format which they feel would be appropriate as a
citation for a paper on their topic. (Courtesy Coastal Carolina College Kimbel Library
Reference Dept.)
WEB SEARCH ENGINES vs. SCHOLARLY INTERNET
SOURCES
Have students run a search on Google and then on a reliable directory, such as
the Internet Public Library here: http://www.ipl.org/ Have them compare the
first three items retrieved using criteria developed in the class. (Multiple sources)

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FOLLOWING THE TRAIL
Assign the class to read a well footnoted scholarly article on a topic. Then ask
each student to read one of the studies cited in the article. (You probably should
check these items ahead of time to make sure we have most of the articles and
to avoid many students using the same footnote) Allow enough time in case
students have to use Interlibrary Loan to get articles. This also gives them a
chance to plan ahead.
Then, have them explain how the later article builds upon and use the ideas of
the earlier article. Does the citation share or oppose the ideas of the later article?
OR: Have students track down resources cited by other students. Students
“grade” each other’s works cited page for correct style and completeness of
citations as well as appropriateness of sources cited. (Courtesy of Smith College
Neilson Library Reference Dept.)
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE POPULAR PRESS
This is a good activity for small groups. Have students find newspaper articles
from the New York Times or other major newspaper on a scientific discovery. You
should give them some examples (e.g. in vitro fertilization or mapping the
human genome). Be sure the articles are at least two years old. Now ask
students to find a study in a peer-reviewed scientific journal on the same or a
similar topic from the last three years.
Discuss the reason for the newspaper coverage. What did the article choose to
emphasize? Was this emphasis replicated in the scientific study? Have students
discuss the implications of popular vs. scholarly scientific publication in a
democratic society. (Courtesy of Smith College Neilson Library Reference Dept.)
RESEARCH LOG
Have students maintain a log documenting their research activities during a
portion of or an entire term. Encourage students to discuss their reasons for their
choice of strategies and what they understand about their success or failure. Ask
students to draw conclusions from their experiences and to indicate how they
may approach future research assignments. Review periodically during the term.
(Multiple sources)

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PEER REVIEW (Group exercise)
Nothing teaches as well as teaching. Have your students critique each other's
bibliographies. They will of course need to understand your criteria both for their
own and their colleagues' work. These criteria should include at the very least:
currency, variety of resources (books, articles, scholarly web sites, government
documents, primary/secondary sources, scholarly encyclopedia articles, etc.),
scholarly level of citations, and correct format (e.g. APA, MLA) This could take
the entire semester! (Courtesy of Smith College Neilson Library Reference Dept.)
CITATION OF SOURCES AND PLAGIARISM
No matter what assignment you give, students need to be reminded of the
seriousness of correct citation of all sources - and the need to give credit where
credit is due. Use the word ‘value’ to show students that they are expected to
value the source they use. Students tend to get caught up in issues of
punctuation rather than of ethics. Having students document in detail not only
what they have found - but how - discourages plagiarism - and helps to
document those rare cases that do occur. Never assume your students know how
to cite sources correctly. Help to guide them on these issues - or have a librarian
deal with the issue as part of a class presentation. (Courtesy Coastal Carolina
College Kimbel Library Reference Dept.)
POSTER (or POWERPOINT) SESSION (Group exercise)
Have students research a subsection of a class topic. Teams then present their
topics as a poster OR PowerPoint to educate classmates about that topic. This
provides an opportunity to conduct a search, review results and express the
important points succinctly. They should supply a bibliography or works cited list.
Classmates can review and comment on the poster content. (Courtesy University
Libraries Reference Department University at Albany)
UNDERSTANDING PRIMARY SOURCES
Provide students with primary and secondary documents on the same topic.
Have them establish criteria that they can use to differentiate between
primary/secondary sources in a discipline. Have them explain when and why to
use each kind of resource. (Courtesy Gardner Library UC Berkeley)

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LOOK BEHIND THE BOOK
Examine the credibility of the course textbook (or a major monograph in the
field). Who wrote it? What are the author's credentials? What is the point of view
of the book? What elements of the book make it most useful? What elements are
problematic? Find three to five reviews of it. Have students search for an
alternative title and provide a rationale for adopting that text. (Courtesy Coastal
Carolina College Kimbel Library Reference Dept.)
COMPILE AN ANTHOLOGY
Select a set of readings by a single author or on a single topic. Write an
introduction to the materials to show a grasp of the subject. If the set of
materials is by a single author, include a short biography of the author. Describe
each item, provide a rationale for the item’s inclusion citing reviews and other
commentary, and create a bibliography of the items considered for inclusion that
were not used. (Courtesy of Smith College Neilson Library Reference Dept.))
CREATE A WEB PAGE (Team option)
Have students define a narrow topic relevant to the class. Have them collect and
list Meta sites, discussion lists, organizations and relevant government or
scholarly links. Create an introduction to the site explaining rationale, purpose
and criteria for inclusion. Identify and explain which sites were not included.
(Courtesy Ohio University Libraries)
EVALUATE A PRODUCT (Group or individual activity)
Compare and evaluate a software package or consumer product relevant to the
class. Have them collect reviews or evaluations, analyze the item and list the
sources they consulted. (Courtesy Gardner Library, UC Berkeley)
BE SOMEONE ELSE
-BE A REAL PERSON:
Students write a series of journal or diary entries in the persona of a significant
person in the discipline which demonstrates knowledge of the person's
contributions and the era of the time. (Courtesy Coastal Carolina College Kimbel
Library Reference Dept.)
-BE A CREATED PERSON:
Student writes a diary or journal as a character appropriate to the discipline
and/or the time, demonstrating knowledge of the history and social mores of the
period. (Courtesy Coastal Carolina College Kimbel Library Reference Dept.)

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WHAT IS A REFERENCE SOURCE? HOW DOES ONE WORK?
Identify the major types (with examples of each type) of reference sources in the
discipline. Explain when and why they might be used. See if there is an
electronic version of a print reference source available online through the library.
What are some major differences between the print and electronic versions?
(Courtesy Library Media Center, Bellevue (WA) Community College)
CHECK IT OUT – Oral Presentation
Have student check out a book or video from the Library that examines an area
discussed in class or in your textbook and give a report or evaluation of it.
Student should locate an article through a library database that discusses or
evaluates the item. Have student present the position(s) the book or video item
and the article take with regard to the topic discussed in class. (Courtesy Ohio
University Libraries)
RESEARCH PROCESS ON ONE DATABASE
Have student write a concise statement of a research topic, a list of keywords for
searching and a list of actual searches to enter into a database. Student selects
an appropriate library research database and performs the searches. The student
reports (in writing) why he/she selected that database. Student describes how
the search results met and/or did not meet the student's expectations. (Courtesy
of Smith College Neilson Library Reference Dept.)
FOLLOW THE LEADER
Instructor selects articles for students to read. Students read these articles and
then find a specific number of other articles on the same topic. Students must
create a list of criteria for selecting their articles. Students submit criteria (for
peer review) and explain the different research methods used and experiment
design in these articles. This can be done as a presentation. (Multiple sources)
IN YOUR JUDGEMENT
Locate and evaluate the “best” and the “worst” web site on a topic,
describing the criteria used and recommending improvements for the
"worst" site. Use search engines or directories to locate web sites, and
develop criteria for judging the pertinence and reliability of the
information found. Present as a poster or oral report. (Courtesy Library Media
Center, Bellevue (WA) Community College)

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SAME TOPIC – DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES
Compare the treatment of the same topic in two different disciplines. Help
students practice physically locating the material and learning to identify the
perspectives and approaches of different disciplines. For the College Success
Seminar, this could be done using specialized encyclopedias. For some more
advanced courses, this could be done with specialized journals. (Courtesy Carolina
Coastal College Kimbel Library)
(Or different levels)
Compare the treatment of the same topic in a popular magazine and in a
scholarly journal. This helps students find differences in specificity, vocabulary
and document structure.
Y0U ARE THERE
Prepare for a news conference with a scholar read in class, or with a significant
historical figure. This could be for a history or biography class.
Students must research the general context of the scholar or individual to decide
what questions they would want to ask, and perhaps prepare questions someone
from another culture or time period might pose.
(Courtesy Gardener Library UC Berkeley)
WHAT WAS INTERESTING TO YOU?
Have the class read the same article. Ask students to design a research question
based on the article. Have students explain why the topic they selected
interested them. Have students exchange topics and rationales and review
them. Have students find items on the topic they reviewed. (Courtesy of Smith
College Neilson Library Reference Dept.)
THEN WHAT HAPPENED?
Have students identify a famous work of art (music, movie, theater or art work)
and have them find out what happened at the first presentation of the work.
Have them explain what happened, and what the student thinks about the
events that transpired. (Courtesy University Libraries Reference Department
University at Albany)
COMPARE AN EDITORIAL AND A NEWS ARTICLE
Give students in teams or individually a copy of a newspaper. Have them find the
editorials. Have them find a news article on the same topic as the editorial. Have
them use dictionaries to find the definitions of any words they don't understand.
(Courtesy of Smith College Neilson Library Reference Dept.)

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WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW
Have students write an essay (two or three pages) on a topic on which they
already have information, or at least, a set of beliefs. THEN, have students come
to the library to find documentation that supports or refutes the content they
have already provided. This gives them the chance to write, and the opportunity
to incorporate the research content into text they've already developed. (Thanks
to Professor Daniel Emerson, Springfield Technical Community College)
WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW II
Have students identify a single theme/character/idea in a text assigned to the
class. Have the student locate materials from a database, the library catalog and
one other source that discuss that theme, character or idea. Have them report on
the process of locating the items, and then have them compare and contrast the
contents of these sources. Have them rank the sources in order of usefulness
and quality, and explain why they ranked these items in that way.
WHICH IS WORSE?
Have the students examine two or three different kinds of documents on the
same topic. Ideally, these would be an old reference book, an article from a
tabloid and a current article from a publication such as Time, Newsweek or the
New York Times. Have them work in teams to create criteria and rank the items
for accuracy and credibility. (Courtesy Library Media Center, Bellevue (WA)
Community College)
LOCATE TWO SCHOLARLY ARTICLES ON A TOPIC, AND
COMPARE AND EVALUATE THEIR BIBLIOGRAPHIES.
Students observe both common and unique sources across the articles, and think
about the impact the quality of sources can have on the authority of the article.
(Courtesy Ohio University Libraries)
CONVINCE THE PANEL (CLASS EXERCISE)
Assign three students three different articles from sources at different levels on
the same topic. They must present their article to the class and convince
classmates of the quality and accuracy of the article they read. The class votes
on which they think is the best. Then, each of the students who voted has to
write a paragraph on why they think the article they supported is ‘best.’
BE KIND TO YOUR PARTNER (CLASS EXERCISE)

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Have students team up. Students must explain their topic to their partners.
Partners must find a specific number of articles for their partner from the
database the librarian has shown the class.
Works Cited
American Association of Community Colleges. (2008). AACC Position Statement on
Information Literacy. Retrieved September 24, 2014 from
http://www.aacc.nche.edu/About/Positions/Pages/ps05052008.aspx
Gorman, M. (1995) "The Corruption of Cataloging" Library Journal 120, (6) 44.
Middle States Commission on Higher Education. (2006) Characteristics of Excellence in Higher
Education: Eligibility Requirements and Standards for Accreditation. Retrieved August 25,
2009 from http://www.msche.org/publications/CHX06060320124919.pdf.
U. of Toronto Faculty of Arts and Science. (n.d). Student Academic Integrity Checklist. Toronto,
CA: Retreived from http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/osai/facultyandstaff/downloadable-
templates/ai-statements-checklist
Walvoord, B. and Banta, T. (2010). Assessment Clear and Simple: A Practical Guide for
Institutions, Departments, and General Education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.