LIB 1000
Research Strategies

About Discussion Postings

This sample post is designed to offer you some guidance on what is considered a contribution to the course.  

Postings should be more than simply stating agreement or disagreement with the discussion topic.  Your post should show insight.  All of us view a topic with a differing perspective.  People who are new to a topic often have as much to contribute as experts.  Occasionally experts become so entrenched with the thought processes that they can't see an easy solution.  

Follow these basic guidelines:

All opinions on discussion topics should be respected.

If you disagree with an opinion, you may post a counter argument.

Post a direct response to the question posted by the instructor 
OR
Post a response to what another classmate has posted.

Do not simply repeat what someone before you has posted, but feel free to elaborate on another's posting.

For each discussion you should post at least 2 Good Posts or one Even Better Post, as illustrated below.

Sample Discussion question:

Bad Post:  NO

Good Post: No!!!!!!!  There are several reasons why online resources will not and cannot replace the physical library.  I could go on for pages, however I will limit my response to this:  Everything ever written is not available on the Internet.  

Even Better Post: Since the 1990’s researchers, educators, business people, have recognized the value of making information available online.  However, there were thousands of years of printed history before the 1990’s.  There are many libraries and librarians who have dedicated energy into digitizing books and documents from the past.  And while these virtual collections have made a great difference, the efforts have focused on public domain materials—those for which copyrights have expired.  There are still vast amounts of information that are not available online.  Researchers using only electronic resources are negligent of the greater portion of information that is available only in the printed format and available in libraries worldwide. 

Home | Course Information | Units 

Welcome | Blackboard | Library