Search & share together
| When students write project assignments and other academic assignments collaboratively, they need to be able to import references into the shared document. Several reference management programs have the option of creating group libraries, where you jointly build a collection of references.Both the practical work of sharing references, but also the broader perspective on sharing relevant resources and being an inspiration to each other can be supported in programs such as Zotero and Mendeley.Managing references involves collecting, organising, sharing and keeping a source collection up to date, and correct citations are one of the cornerstones of academic work. The students are trained in using programs for reference management, finding different types of sources and checking that they are correct. In the activity ‘Search and share together’ the students work collaboratively to build a shared library with supplementary literature for the curriculum. Together they build All links for running the activities are at the bottom |
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CONTEXT
Reference work is one of the cornerstones of academic work. Managing references involves collecting, organising, sharing and keeping a source collection up to date. In higher education there are often requirements to use a particular reference style.
Reference management programs support the work with references and the problem of making correct references in the required reference style.
Students increasingly write in shared documents and produce projects jointly. With a shared reference library, reference work becomes easier and more consistent.
A group library with references can be shared by many, and in that way a class or an interest group can build and share knowledge through a bank of references. A group library can support and inspire collaboration.
A large part of the work with references in the available software is automated, but requires students to check the references for information.
A shared source collection can help students jointly consider whether references are correct.
OUTCOME
Students get practice in making correct references for different types of documents relevant to a specific topic.
Students get a tool to make project writing in shared documents easier, since references can be reused from a shared library that has been built up.
Students get practice in information searching for different source types and in the validity of the sources seen from a reference point of view, with a focus on bibliographic information.
Students strengthen their collaboration skills in relation to sharing knowledge about a topic in a shared reference library.
CONTENT AND STEPS OF THE ACTIVITY
This activity takes the specific study plan/semester plan for the current period as its starting point.
The students work together in groups to build a shared library of knowledge within the topics of the semester plan. They share this knowledge with their fellow students, so that after the teaching they have a catalogue of knowledge other than what the teacher has given them in advance in the semester plan/reading list. Reference management programs are digital tools that support the sharing of references and digital collaborative work on a topic bank.
BEFORE THE ACTIVITY
The activity is based on the reference management program Zotero. Other programs – such as Mendeley – can also be used.
The students must have installed Zotero, and be familiar with the most basic functions in the program
The students must have access to relevant databases.
The students must bring their semester plan,
THE ACTIVITY STEP BY STEP
1. The teacher introduces the day's programme. and checks that all students have installed the Zotero program..
2. The teacher demonstrates how you can create groups in Zotero, and in that way collaborate and share knowledge.
3. The teacher explains about copyright and permissions to share.
4. The teacher gives a short talk about the typical errors in references when using Zotero. .
5. The students have been divided into groups of three or more in advance. Fixed study groups can also be used. Each group has been assigned an overall topic from the semester plan.
6. The students now create a group in Zotero for the overall topic they have been assigned. Everyone in the class is invited into the group.
7. The students carry out information searching for good and relevant sources on the topic. One from each group searches for books, another searches for journal articles and a third searches for web pages. When they find relevant sources, the sources are transferred to the Zotero Group.
8. When the references are in the shared library, the students in the group go through the references one by one to see whether all the bibliographic information has been imported into the program or needs to be supplemented with more information. .
AFTER THE ACTIVITY
The teacher encourages the students to continue building the reference library in order to increase their collaboration and greater diversity in source use.
MATERIALS AND PREPARATION
| Preparation | Materials |
|---|---|
| Make a guide for how to create a group library in a reference management program. |
The program Zotero (or another reference management program) is a prerequisite for the activity. www.zotero.orgZotero Crash course |
| Prepare a short demonstration of a shared library in Zotero. |
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| Prepare a talk about copyright and problems with sharing full-text documents, | |
| Prepare a short talk about typical errors in references. | |
| Prepare groups for the teaching. The groups can be divided by topics that appear in the semester plan. The groups must be given information that they are to find a certain number of sources of a certain type, so that the reference library will consist of different types of sources. |
CREATED BY
Ulla Buch Nilson & Birgit Larsen, VIA University College.
EXTERNAL RESOURCES
Resource about a shared reference library in Zotero from Learninglib
https://learninglib.dk/Zotero_Learn/
THE STAK PROJECT
This learning element is an edited version of a learning pattern from the research project STAK (Studerendes Akademiske Digitale Kompetencer).
Through a particular method, the project developed a number of learning patterns/paths, especially within information literacy. The elements are aimed
primarily at teachers, either as inspiration or to be integrated directly into teaching.
If you are curious about the method, you can see the original research website at: https://web.archive.org/web/20251118005249/https://www.stak.dk/