221D Lockwood Library
North Campus,Buffalo, NY 14260-2200

Graduate coursework often requires students to produce research papers that are of more in-depth than those at the undergraduate level. They must
articulate a specific hypothesis, conduct extensive research, and organize
the paper so that it logically flows from introduction to conclusion.
Unfortunately, many graduate students often juggle multiple responsiblities
simultaneously: full-time job, family, and research or teaching
assistantships. For these and other reasons graduate students have
difficulty simply finding the time to craft a well articulated hypothesis
and begin the process of finding, understanding, and organizing the
components that make up their research paper. When librarians conduct a
bibliographic instruction session at the graduate level they find that
students are familiar with general library research.

What they lack is the opportunity and skills necessary to narrow or broaden the topic, discover the concepts that form the basis of the project, and begin creating and organizing search strategies. Therefore, a bibliographic instruction session at the graduate level must do more than develop search skills and identify useful resources. It must engage students in the research process from the beginning stages of developing an idea to organizing the final draft.

At the University at Buffalo we havefound that librarians can provide graduate students the skill setsnecessary to navigate the immense sea of information available byutilizing brainstorming and concept mapping. Words and termscreated during bibliographic instruction can then be used to formsearch strategies and organize concepts. These strategies can be universally employed as students seek information via the Internet,library catalogues, and online journal databases. Such instruction hasbeen used successfully by graduate students in the Informatics,Women's Studies, and Anthropology programs. Students havereacted favorably to the instruction with many commenting on courseevaluations that it was the most useful lecture of the semester.

The session runs fifty minutes and is used to developstudents' research topics and focus on the planning, rather thansearch, stage.

-Brainstorming (15 minutes)
- Demonstration
- Group brainstorms video topic using chalkboard
- Students introduced to CMAP software
- Students brainstorm their topic using CMAP software

-Concept mapping (15 minutes)
- Group links brainstorm concepts from demo topic using chalkboard
- Student shown how to use CMAP software to link concepts
- Student create individual maps using CMAP software

-Search Strategies (10 minutes)
- Using demo topic students shown how to convert concepts intosearch terms
- Students convert their concepts into terms
- Using demo topic student shown how to create synonym list foreach term
- Students create synonym list for each of their terms
- Using demo topic students shown how to use Boolean operators,truncation, and parenthesis to create a search strategy
- Students create two search strategies for their topic

-Database searching (10 minutes)
- Students are introduced to one database
- Using demo topic's search strategy a search is conducted and explained
- Students search the database using the search strategies for their topics

• Allows students time to develope their research topic before searching for literature.
• Identifies weak research topics.
• Provides students with skills necessary to re-evaluatea topic when a search fails.
• Brings visual understanding to a textual process.
• The map serves as the paper's outline, keeping thestudent organized.
• Gaps in the topic and paper are clarified.
• By focusing on topic and search strategy developmentrather than navigating interfaces students are given tools to employwhen a librarian is unavailable to them.

There are no costs other than the librarian'stime and effort. Free concept/mind mapping software include "CMap Tools"
http://cmap.ihmc.us/download/ and "FreeMind"
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page. Two other software packages that require a subscription are "Smart Ideas" ($59)
http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Ideas/Free+trial.htm and
"Inspiration" ($59.95) http://www.strategictransitions.com/.

The University Libraries strive to createlifelong learners by engaging students during libraryinstruction, the reference interview, and departmental outreach. TheUniversity is committed to assuring students engage in meaningfullearning through active instruction and participatory researchopportunities. This particular type of library instruction provides
students with the skills to assess their research need and createstrategies to answer those needs.

• Discussion between librarian andstudents at the end of the instruction session.
• Student evaluation forms at the end of the semester.
• By feedback from faculty.
• Librarian self-assessment based on individualappointments with students seeking additional assistance during thesemester.

The practice is sustainable becausethere is no cost involved. What is necessary to sustain the practice isa willingness to shift the focus from navigating resources toarticulating a research need.

Concept mapping is a teachingtechnique that has been used in k-12 education since the 1960s. Recenttechnology has allowed concept mapping to expand into other areas oflearning such as organizational training, higher education, andlibrary instruction. With minimal instruction faculty can be introduced to concept mapping and the CMAP software.

This practice responds to the needs ofacademic libraries and their constituencies by:

• Providing the tools necessary to successfully completeresearch assignments at the course, thesis, and dissertation levels.
• Teaching to students according to their academiclevel.
• Teaching to students according to the mostcommon learning styles.
• Delivering instruction that promotes meaningfulearning.
• Engages students in the learning and researchprocesses.
• Promotes self-efficacy.

URL with handout links available athttp://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/tempwork/cmapping/cmap.html

Margaret Wells, Director of Ref. Instruction, UB