You will then write a brief three to five page report on your experience which will have three sections; you will:

• Describe the steps of your search (search strategies);

• Describe the results of your search, including your considered estimation of the relative importance of the social scientist you selected based on the extent to which his or her work has been cited and the locations of these citations;

• Evaluate the SSCI. What are its strengths? What are its weaknesses? Would you use it again? Why or why not?

This exercise is due on September 24 and will be worth 10% of the final grade.

• Write a brief description of the resources you have chosen. How are they organized? What do they cover? How current are they? How much do they cost? How frequently are they updated? Who is the intended audience?;

• Describe the way in which they cover a problem area of interest to you as a user. How useful were these resources in providing answers to typical questions?;

• Evaluate these resources. Are they easy to use? What are their strengths and weaknesses? If you could only recommend one of these resources for purchase by your library or information center, which one would you recommend? Why?

Your critical review will be between five and eight pages in length and is due in class on October 22. This assignment is worth 20% of the final grade.

• Summarize the major thesis, theme, or argument in the article;

• Adopt a critical stance with respect to the authorÍs position; how well does the author argue her or his position? What are its strengths and weaknesses?;

• Offer your own informed opinion of what you have read. Is this a useful article for its intended audience? Does it tell you anything new about social science literature, its users, producers or providers? Would you recommend that others read this article? Why or why not?

Your critical review will be between five and eight pages in length and is due in class on November 19. It is worth 10% of the final grade.

For each resource or service, you will be prepared to discuss its major characteristics: organization, coverage, currency, ease of use, cost, frequency of updating, illustrations, indexing, abstracting, and any restrictions on use (such as licensing agreements). You should also be ready to provide your informed critic(on of the resource or service.

There will be a standardized format for this information, available in print and electronic form, which will allow the descriptions of the resources and/or services to be copied and distributed to the class. We will discuss this format in class. You will fill out a sheet for each of the resources you intend to cover which will be turned in at the end of class. Any other information that you wish to have in hand does not have to be formally prepared and may be in the form of notes (which do not have to be handed in), and, at some point during the class, you will be asked to share this information with us. Towards the and of the semester, you will have the opportunity to sign up to receive copies for resource descriptions only for those disciplines in which you have a personal or professional interest. By the end of the term, class members will have a useful file of brief descriptions of a large number of discipline-specific resources and services for those disciplines in which they are interested.

There will be a sign-up sheet in class on September 10, at which time you will indicate the discipline for which you will be responsible. This assignment will be due on the class date that you have selected. It is worth 15% of the final grade.

You should begin thinking about the problem area and discipline you wish to explore early in the semester, because you can then use the other asssignments to gather information for the resource guide. A brief description of your problem area and discipline is due in class on September 17. On October 29, you will submit a brief progress report indicating the current status of your project.

The length of this project will vary with your problem area and discipline, but your resource guide must be at least twenty pages in length. We will discuss the format of the resource guide in class. The project will be presented in class at the end of the semester and is due in class on December 10. It is worth 40% of the final grade.