SFU - Tech 101 Interactive Research Challenge

The Tech 101 Interactive Research Challenge assignment requires students to begin research for the term paper they hand in later in the semester. In the past they have chosen from a list of 20 topics, most in the area of Technology & Society. The assignment is highly structured and includes the following tasks:
-analyze the topic, underline key terms, look them up in the dictionary, brainstorm synonyms and other search terms
-use encyclopedias and/or websites to get background info on the topic
-state three ways to contact a librarian for help
-use the catalogue to find books on the topic, then follow subject headings to locate more books, and state how to transfer them to the Surrey branch
-choose appropriate databases, justify the choices, search them to find articles, and determine how to get the articles
-evaluate articles (scholarly/popular)
-evaluate websites (reliable/not)
-cite every last source they find in good APA style
They have many resources to help them through this.
(1) An in-class workshop held the week of October 13th.
(2) A web guide (http://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/subject-guides/techone) which tells them how to do each task (or links to another guide which tells them).
(3) Source Evaluation Form ( http://www.lib.sfu.ca/researchhelp/subjectguides/tech/source_evaluation_form.pdf ) which gives them a checklist for collecting citation info, assessing reliability, and assessing academic/popular.
For additional help, please refer students to lib-surrey@sfu.ca.