Course description

Scientific information is increasing in both diversity and quantity. There is a strong need to access the most accurate and up–to–date descriptions of scientific and technical research. This course examines the diverse ways in which scientific scholars communicate in order to realistically acquaint students with their options to secure scientific and technical information. An emphasis in this course will be placed on digital resources used by scholars in a variety of disciplines.

Required texts

There are no required texts in this course. Handouts will be provided in class.

Objectives

Students in this class will be asked to understand how scholars communicate and in turn how their different communication styles affects their needs for scholarly information.

Specifically, students will:

• become familiar with scientific literature by reading selected articles from the journals Science and Nature and listening to parallel podcasts by Science and Nature on these selected articles;
• understand how scientists work by examining in detail recent biographies, autobiographies, and popularizations of specific research projects; and,
• examine Internet resources in several scientific areas, testing the utility of those resources with a variety of reference questions.

Assignments

All students are expected to participate in discussions during class meetings, and complete a variety of assignments over the course of the semester.

   I. Understanding scientific communication by following the weekly journals Science and Nature

Each week students will be provided with articles from a recent issue of Science or Nature. These articles are discussed in turn by Science or Nature’s podcast editors in a weekly broadcast. We will discuss these articles and specifically examine the utility of these podcasts in making the articles more understandable and accessible. To that end, we will evaluate each weekly podcast with criteria to be discussed in class initially on January 21.

For example, for the second class (January 28), we will examine the contents of selected articles from the issue of Science for January 9, 2009. You can find the audio (mp3) file at http://podcast.aaas.org/science_podcast/SciencePodcast_090109.mp3 (length of podcast=38 minutes) as well as a transcript of the podcast at http://www.sciencemag.org/about/podcast.dtl.

The following articles from the January 9 (volume 454, number 7206) issue of Science were discussed in the podcast:

• Kerry Kawakami, Elizabeth Dunn, Francine Karmali, and John F. Dovidio, “Mispredicting Affective and Behavioral Responses to Racism,” Science, volume 323, number 5911 (9 January), pp. 276–278.

• Carl Zimmer, “Evolutionary Roots: On the Origin of Life on Earth,” Science, volume 323, number 5911 (9 January) pp. 198–199.

How is your ability to understand these technical articles helped by the podcast? Provide a one–page summary of your comprehension of each article based on listening to the podcast and reading each paper. Each week’s evaluation and commentary is worth 10 points. The first assignment will be due on January 28, based on the aforementioned papers from the January 9 issue as well as the podcast. We will continue this exercise each week until the end of the semester, for a total of 12 evaluations. Note: After the Spring break, we will begin evaluations of Nature’s podcasts.
Total points for Science and Nature evaluations=120 points.

   II. Understanding scientists

     A. AAAS annual meeting

It is important to understand how scientists work. Their efforts are partially revealed by their publications — preprints, articles, reports, essays, chapters in books, entire books. They are also visible in their professional meetings, where scientists meet to exchange new results, discuss findings of their colleagues, and develop new collaborative efforts.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science will hold its annual meeting in Chicago February 12–16; see http://www.aaas.org/meetings/. I have contacted AAAS about our participation in the meeting; if you are willing to be a student session aide (working a few sessions at the meeting), registration is free! Alternatively, if you cannot work a few sessions, I have been able to secure deeply discounted registration for the meeting at a rate of $60. We will discuss strategies on covering the meeting in class on February 11.

Each student will attend at least one session at the AAAS annual meeting and write a summary of the session for discussion in class on February 25. This assignment is due Wednesday, February 25 no later than 9 AM. Send your report as an attachment to an e–mail message to ejv [at] dom [dot] edu.
Total points available for AAAS meeting analysis=50 points.

     B. Popular accounts of scientists at work

Each student will receive (random distribution) on January 21 a recent popularization of scientific research and scientists. The books are:

Gregg Herken.
Brotherhood of the bomb: The tangled lives and loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller.
New York: Henry Holt, 2002.

John R. Horner.
Dinosaur lives: Unearthing an evolutionary saga.
New York: HarperCollins, 1997.

Susan Elizabeth Hough.
Richter’s scale: Measure of an earthquake, measure of a man.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2007.

Walter Isaacson.
Einstein: His life and universe.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007.

Joan James.
Remarkable mathematicians: From Euler to von Neumann.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

David Leavitt.
The man who knew too much: Alan Turing and the invention of the computer.
New York: Atlas Books, 2006.

Cherry Lewis.
The dating game: One man’s search for the age of the Earth.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Rosaleen Love.
Reefscape: Reflections on the Great Barrier Reef.
Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press, 2001.

Paul Andrew Mayewski and Frank White.
The ice chronicles: The quest to understand global climate change.
Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 2002.

Duncan Steel.
Eclipse: The celestial phenomenon that changed the course of history.
Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press, 2001.

On April 29, you will describe your insights into the scientists and their scientific work based on your reading. You may elect to supplement information found in your book with additional material (your instructor can provide some guidance in this matter). At the last class meeting, you will provide to the instructor a report, no longer than 10 pages (double–spaced), with a summary of your analysis of your book. Additionally, you will make an oral report in the last class on April 29, summarizing your report.

Send your report as an attachment to an e–mail message to ejv [at] dom [dot] edu no later than 9 AM on April 29.
Total points for report=100 points.

   III. Understanding the scientific Web

A recent report in Science (James A. Evans, “Electronic publication and the narrowing of science and scholarship,” Science, volume 321, number 5887 (July 18), pp. 395–399) indicates an increasing dependency by scientists on Web resources. Throughout this class, we will examine a variety of Web resources dedicated to specific scientific disciplines. In turn we will attempt to understand these Web–based resources by trying to answer a variety of queries as a form of tests of their utility and efficiency.

Every two weeks, you will be provided with a list of Web–based resources and queries to test these resources (you may elect to use alternative online resources or print reference works). Here is the calendar of resources to be tested with queries for the semester:

Distributed January 21
General science: Web resources and queries
Answers due February 4.

Distributed February 4
Mathematics: Web resources and queries
Answers due February 18.

Distributed February 18
Physics and Astronomy: Web resources and queries
Answers due March 4.

Distributed March 4
Chemistry: Web resources and queries
Answers due March 25.

Distributed March 25
Geology and Geophysical Sciences: Web resources and queries
Answers due April 8.

Distributed April 8
Zoology and Botany: Web resources and queries
Answers due April 22.

Your answers to these queries will be evaluated based on your ability to find a variety of answers. Reaching a consensus of answers will provide you with clues on the reliability of one resource over another. Your answers to each assignment are worth 20 points.
Total points for answers to queries= (6 assignments) x (20 points)=180 points.

   IV. General class discussion

During formal class sessions, there will be ample opportunity for you to ask and answer questions and to participate in discussions. All members of the class are highly encouraged to participate and will be rewarded accordingly.
Total points available for general class discussion=50 points.

Review of assessment

A grand total of 500 points for all assignments and contributions are available to each student in this class; (120 [podcast analysis] + 50 [AAAS report] + 100 [book analysis] + 180 [reference queries] + 50 [general class discussion]=500).

Each student should make every effort to reach class for every session. Please notify the instructor by e–mail (ejv [at] dom [dot] edu) or telephone 708–524–6562 if attendance is not possible.

No optional assignments are available. All assignments must be completed on time; inadequate preparation for each class session and of specific assignments will lead to a reduction in points awarded in all of the aforementioned categories.

Academic Integrity Policy

Students of the University must conduct themselves in accordance with the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity. Failure to maintain academic integrity will not be tolerated. For further details, please see the Dominican Student Handbook and Planner.

Syllabus

Wednesday, January 21:

Introduction; Assessment of resources in the sciences; Managing Internet and print resources; Evaluation techniques of Science and Nature podcasts; Examination of a variety of general science Web sites developed by professional organizations, individuals, and corporations.

In–class activity: Review of Web–based reference sources in the sciences to develop evaluative techniques of different resources.

Readings: Jane T. Bradford, Barbara Costello, Robert Lenholt, 2005. “Reference Service in the Digital Age: An Analysis of Sources Used to Answer Reference Questions,” Journal of Academic Librarianship, volume 31, number 3 (May), pp. 263–272 [distributed in class on January 21].

University of California at Berkeley, “Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask,” at http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html.

Distribution in class: Selected articles from the January 9 issue of Science for podcast evaluation (evaluation due January 28); general science Web resources and queries (answers to queries due February 4).

Wednesday, January 28:

Wikipedia vs. Encyclopaedia Britannica in the sciences.

In–class activity: Examination of scientific entries in Wikipedia and EB in specific parallel articles. What are the differences and similarities in the articles? In addition, we will discuss your evaluation of January 9 Science podcast and related articles.

Due in class: Evaluation of January 9 Science podcast.

Distribution in class: Selected articles from the January 16 issue of Science for podcast evaluation (evaluation due February 4).

Wednesday, February 4:

Wikipedia vs. print reference resources in the sciences.

In–class activity: Examination of scientific entries in Wikipedia and print resources in specific articles on parallel scientific topics. What are the differences and similarities in the articles?

Due in class: Evaluation of January 16 Science podcast; answers to general science queries.

Distribution in class: Selected articles from the January 23 issue of Science for podcast evaluation (evaluation due February 11); mathematical Web resources and queries (answers to queries due February 18).

Wednesday, February 11:

Mathematics on the Web; Strategies for covering the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Chicago (February 12–16).

In–class activity: Compare Web resources from the Physics–Astronomy–Mathematics Division (PAM) of the Special Libraries Association (http://www.sla.org/division/dpam/subjects/math.html) to those of the American Mathematical Society at http://www.ams.org and at Ask Dr. Math at http://mathforum.org/dr.math/; analysis of schedule for AAAS annual meeting.

Due in class: Evaluation of January 23 Science podcast.

Distribution in class: Selected articles from the January 30 issue of Science for podcast evaluation (evaluation due February 18).

Wednesday, February 18:

Mathematics in Wikipedia and Encyclopaedia Britannica.

In–class activity: Examine articles in Wikipedia and EB on parallel mathematical topics. Which articles are more comprehensive? Up–to–date?

Due in class: Evaluation of January 30 Science podcast; answers to mathematical queries.

Distribution in class: Selected articles from the February 6 issue of Science for podcast evaluation (evaluation due February 25); physics and astronomy Web resources and queries (answers to queries due March 4).

Wednesday, February 25:

Web resources in physics and astronomy

In–class activity: Examine the Web site of the Physics–Astronomy–Mathematics Division (PAM) of the Special Libraries Association (http://www.sla.org/division/dpam/subjects/phys.html) and compare it to the portal at the Library of Congress, Science, Technology and Business Division at http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/selected-internet/physics.html. How would you use these resources?

Due in class: Evaluation of February 6 Science podcast; report on AAAS annual meeting.

Distribution in class: Selected articles from the February 13 issue of Science for podcast evaluation (evaluation due March 4).

Wednesday, March 4:

Physics and astronomy in Wikipedia compared to print resources.

In–class activity: Specific content in Wikipedia will be compared to content from selected recent books on astronomy and physics published by Cambridge University Press.

Due in class: Evaluation of February 13 Science podcast; answers to physics and astronomy queries.

Distribution in class: Selected articles from the February 20 issue of Science for podcast evaluation (evaluation due March 18); chemical Web resources and queries (answers to queries due March 25).

Wednesday, March 11:

Spring break (no class)

Wednesday, March 18:

Chemistry on the Web.

In–class activity: Examine and compare lists of online resources in chemistry at the Internet Public Library (chemical sciences) at http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/sci06.00.00/ to those at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) at http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/chemist.html and in Ibironke Lawal’s “Chemistry sources” at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/crlnews/2000/nov/chemistrysources.cfm.

Due in class: Evaluation of February 20 Science podcast.

Distribution in class: Selected articles from the February 26 issue of Nature for podcast evaluation (evaluation due March 25). You can find Nature’s podcasts at http://www.nature.com/nature/podcast/index.html.

Wednesday, March 25:

Chemistry in Wikipedia compared to specialized online resources.

In–class activity: Examine articles in Wikipedia comparing to parallel chemical topics in specific online chemical resources. Which articles are more comprehensive? Up–to–date?

Due in class: Evaluation of February 26 Nature podcast; answers to chemical queries.

Distribution in class: Selected articles from the March 5 issue of Nature for podcast evaluation (evaluation due April 1); geological and geophysical Web resources and queries (answers to queries due April 8).

Wednesday, April 1:

Geophysical (including geology, paleontology, oceanography, meteorology, climatology) Web resources compared to GeoRef and GeoScience World (GSW).

In–class activity: Compare information available at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Web site at http://www.noaa.gov/ to information available at weather.com (http://www.weather.com/). In addition, examine the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Web site at http://www.usgs.gov/. Would it be useful in answering geophysical reference questions? How does it compare to information found at the Illinois State Geological Survey site at http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/?

Due in class: Evaluation of March 5 Nature podcast.

Distribution in class: Selected articles from the March 12 issue of Nature for podcast evaluation (evaluation due April 8).

Wednesday, April 8:

Geophysics online: Comparing Wikipedia to GeoRef and GeoScience World to print resources.

In–class activity: Examine articles in Wikipedia and compare information to the specialized online databases GeoRef and GeoScience World as well as to recently published geophysical journals and monographs. Which are more relevant? Understandable?

Due in class: Evaluation of March 12 Nature podcast; answers to geological and geophysical queries.

Distribution in class: Selected articles from the March 19 issue of Nature for podcast evaluation (evaluation due April 15); zoological and botanical Web resources and queries (answers to queries due April 22).

Wednesday, April 15:

Botanical and zoological Web resources.

In–class activity: Define an “endangered plant” and an “endangered species” based on a review of resources available at the Center for Plant Conservation Web site at http://www.centerforplantconservation.org/NC_Choice.html, at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Web site at http://dnr.state.il.us/espb/, and in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_species).

Due in class: Evaluation of March 19 Nature podcast.

Distribution in class: Selected articles from the March 26 issue of Nature for podcast evaluation (evaluation due April 22).

Wednesday, April 22:

The special case of taxonomic literature: Linnaean reference work.

In–class activity: Examine citations in descriptive taxonomic papers (botany, zoology, paleontology). What are the unique characteristics of taxonomic literature, imposed to support the definition of new species?

Due in class: Evaluation of March 26 Nature podcast; answers to botanical and zoological queries.

Wednesday, April 29:

Nature of scientific research.

In–class activity: Can we identify commonalities in scientific research?

Due in class: Reports on scientific research based on book analysis (books originally distributed January 21).