Research Assignment Ideas

Assignment Ideas

Sample research synthesis worksheet (University of Northern Colorado)
Sample article analysis worksheet (University of Northern Colorado)
Create a short annotated bibliography on a topic
Find an article in American Psychologist and evaluate it.
Find a book on a topic and evaluate it.
Create a citation for a specific article.
Create a short bibliography on a topic.
Fact check a Wikipedia article. Not only does this assignment require research, it also teaches important lessons about the quality of information found online.
Create a grant proposal for a project in your discipline. A good proposal will include a literature review, justification, budget, impact, etc.
Create a research guide on a topic for other students that includes books, articles, and quality websites.
Nominate someone or a group for a Nobel Prize (choose the prize most appropriate for your class) and justify the nomination.
Create a problem scenario for your class; this could be a disease to diagnose for a health class, an engineering problem, or a case study. Students would need to justify their solutions with actual data and research.

Using the student newspaper archive, have students trace the development of how Utah Valley University has addressed challenges such as parking, student diversity, engaged learning, tuition, and others.
Have students select an artifact from the Sutherland Archives and research its history and meaning. Our collection currently holds opium boxes, samurai swords, and a jade club.
Have students select an image from our photograph collections as a starting point for a research project on local, technological, or social history.
Ask students to analyze the advertisements in the newspaper collections. How do they reflect changes in advertising, gender politics, or popular culture?
Using our oral history collections as a model, have students create their own oral histories of fellow students, friends, or family. The theme and subject possibilities are endless.
Using materials from our nineteenth century materials (letters, photos, diaries, maps, and so on), have students create short documentaries about Utah's pioneer period.

When do you know you have trustworthy information?
What makes a good research question?
Evaluate a journal to determine its scholarly value.
What are some common problems with citation?
What are some things you would look for when evaluating a source?
Why are citations important?
Why is it important to use scholarly sources? Why can't I just use Google or Wikipedia?
Why use library databases and not just Google?