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Catholic University of America

School of Library and Information Science

LSC 708

Science and Technology Information

Spring 2007

Instructor: Judy Bateman, Ph.D.

Time: Web based course with limited class meetings, the course will have three required class meetings for all sections at Catholic University. These class meetings will be on Saturday in Pangborn 301.

The three meetings are as follows:

• January 13 orientation meeting (1:30 pm to 4 pm)
• March 10 mid term meeting (1:30 pm to 4 pm)
• April 28 final meeting (1:30 pm to 4 pm)

E-mail: bateman@cua.edu

Home Page: http://faculty.cua.edu/bateman/

WebCT Login instructions

Class Lecture Notes, Class assignments and instructions, and course readings assignments will be available through the course WebCT site

Section Headings

|Course Description| |Course Goals| |Course Objectives| |Course Information| |Academic Honesty| |ADA Accommodation| |Course topics and due dates||Course assignments| |Readings information| |Lectures and notes| |Book review assignment| |Interview with a scientist| |Reference Tool Annotation Sets| |Topic Report| |Grading| |Exams| |Textbook| |Bibliography||Books| |Disclaimer|

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Course Goals:

The course is designed to:

• Introduce the student to scientific research, communication and publication and the implications of scientific research for society
• Develop bibliographic research skills using science and technology reference sources.
• Prepare students for work in science and technology libraries or other organizations that have a need for bibliographic research in science and technology.
• Help students develop an understanding of how scientists communicate and seek information
• Explore the issues of electronic publication, open access and serials licensing and the implications of these issues for scientists and for libraries

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Course Objectives

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Course Information

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Academic Honesty Policy.

Please read the policy on "Academic Honesty" and the policy on "Academic/ Dishonesty" in the University's Online Student Handbook . to access these policies Click on " University Academic Policies & Procedures affecting Students." and then on Academic dishonesty and Academic honesty.

Academic dishonesty is defined in the Handbook as "failure to observe rules of fairness in taking exams or writing papers, plagiarism, fabrication, and cheating". Any incidence of plagiarism will result in a grade of F (0 points) on the project or exam in question, and will be reported to the Dean of the School of Library and Information Science for possible further action (including failure in the course). See the Handbook or discuss the problem with your instructor if you have questions about plagiarism .

Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Catholic University of America defines plagiarism to include:

• "Intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise
• "Failure to attribute any of the following: quotations, paraphrases, or borrowed information from print sources or web sites"
• "Buying completed papers from other to use as one's own work"

For more on what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it, see the guide on the Purdue Online Writing Lab web site.

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ADA Accommodation

Any student with a disability that will require accommodation under the terms of federal regulations should present a written accommodation request to the instructor by the second class meeting. The law includes accommodation for learning disabilities, Attention Deficient Disorder and anxiety disorders. It is also recommended that the student contact the Office of Disability Support Services. They are located in suite 207 in the Pryzbyla Center . Their email is: cua-disabilityservices@cua.edu. Their phone number is 202-319-5618 or 202-319-5211 and their fax number is 202-319-5126. and their web site is

• http://disabilityservices.cua.edu/

A Guide for services and accommodations for students with disabilities can be found at:

• http://counsel.cua.edu/ADA/publications/disbro/contents.cfm

Some basic guidelines and links to other information may be found at:

• http://counsel.cua.edu/ADA/clicks/

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Course Calendar

• Jan. 13 to Jan. 30
  • Topics
  • Data, Information, Knowledge
  • Review of reference interview
  • Scientific research
  • What are the basic fields of science?
  • General science sources
  • Scientific evidence

  Readings

  • Hazen and Trefil, Chapters 1 and 2
  • Angell, Chapters 1 and 5 (1997)
  • Dewdney & Michell (1997)
  • Broad and Wade. (1983). "Limits of replication
• January 30 to February 13
  • Topics
  • Evaluating statistics
  • Ethics in science
  • • Scientific communication
      • Publication process
      • Peer review
      • Informal communication
    • How do scientists use information?
    • How do different disciplines use information?
    • Mathematics and computer science
    • Astronomy and Physics
  • Readings
    • Hazen and Trefil, Chapters 3, 4, 10, 11 and 12
    • Joy (2000)
    • Maier, Chapter 4 (1995)
• February 6 first annotation set due
• February 13 to February 23 (spring break is from Feb. 24 to March 5)
  • Topics
    • How do scientists seek information?
    • Theory, research and paradigms
    • How are theory and research related?
    • How does theory change
    • What is a paradigm and how does it change?
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
  • Readings
    • Hazen and Trefil, Chapters 5, 6, 7, 15 and 16
    • Ellis and Haugen (1997)
    • Kuhn (1970)
  • Due dates:
• March 6 to March 20
  • Topics
    • Information retrieval
  • • Evaluation of information retrieval
    • Medicine, Nursing and Nutrition
    • Agriculture
  • Readings
    • Hazen and Trefil 8 and 9
    • Price (1963)
    • Welborn (1991)
• March 10 topic for second annotation set due
• March 10 midterm class meeting -- interview with a scientist due
• March 20 to April 3
  • Topics
    • Citation analysis and bibliometrics
  • • Electronic publishing and the Internet
    • Peer review and publication
    • Engineering and geosciences
    • Patents and trademarks
  • Readings
    • Hazen and Trefil Chapters 13, 14
    • Cronin (2001)
    • Nisonger (2000)
• March 27 second annotation set due
• April 3 to April 17
  • Topics
    • Internet search engines
      • Use by end users
      • Evaluation of search engine
    • Standards, trademarks and codes
  • • Evaluation of information from the Internet
    • Research reports
    • Technical reports
    • Thesis and dissertations
  • Readings
    • Hazen and Trefil Chapters 17, 18 and epilogue
    • Esler and Nelson (1998)
    • Kling and McKim (2000)
• April 3 topic for third annoation set due
• April 17 to April 24
  • Topics
    • Issues and trends
    • Serials use, prices and sharing
    • Meeting announcements
    • Reprints and conference proceedings
    • Trade literature and house organs
• April 17 third annotation set due
• April 28 final class meeting

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Course Assignments

You will be responsible for the following:

• Every week
  • Reading the lectures and course readings as scheduled
  • Look at the sources in your text and on the web sites listed in the lectures for the disciplines that we are discussing.
  • Contributing to the current discussion topic
  • Contributing to any ongoing discussions in the science news section
• During the course
• Discussion topic assignments
  • Posting 2 items to the science news discussion topic
  • Posting 3 URLs to the Internet sources discussion topic
• Annotation Sets
  • Three sets of source annotations that will be due as specified on the course calendar
• Papers and presentations
  • Interview with a scientist (written paper and presentation at second class meeting
  • Final paper (written paper and final presentation)
• Science and the public book review
  • You will review one book (see description below) and lead a discussion the science and the public discussion topic

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Readings information

Many readings will be available in PDF format on the course web site. Some readings are available on the Internet and others will be full text on the CUA databases (let me know if you have any problems with access.

Some readings are from books and many libraries will have these books, sometimes they will have several copies. I have a separate list of books at the end of this syllabus.

The textbook is the current bibliography of science sources, you will need to use the book to complete your annotation sets and to get an overview of each area of science. Unfortunately it is becoming quite dated and has not been updated since 1998. It is a good reference for the standard print sources, but is seriously limited by its publication date. Several other newer bibliographies are available for specfic scietific disciplines, some of these are older than others. When you do your annotation sets look to see if there is more current bibliography for the discipline. Most university libraries should have a copy of the text and other bibliographiesin their reference section and if you do not want to buy the book you should be able to use a library copy for the course without needing excessive library time.

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Lectures and notes

I will post lectures close to the beginning of each two week period listed on the pathfinder. Each two week period will cover:

• A topic of interest such as electronic publishing, scientific evidence, science journals, scientific communication etc.
• The characteristics and sources for one or more disciplines.

Some lectures require considerable revision each time I teach this course since science is rapidly changing and since electronic publishing and the use of the Internet has had some profound and ongoing effects on how scientist communication and publish. Sometimes things will change during the course or even during the week. I will try to keep up with this, but if you see something has changed please let me and the other students know. The area that has been the most dynamic is electronic publishing. This area has a lot of stake holders and considerable commercial value to some (science publishers) so be particularly aware of ongoing change in this area.

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Course Projects

Science and the public book review

Each student is responsible to find and read one book that describes a situation where science has a clear influence on public health, policy or day to day life. examples of this type of book include:

Angell, Marcia. 1997. Science on trial: The clash of evidence and the law in the breast Implant case. New York: Norton.

Barker, Rodney. 1998. And the waters turned to blood. (Psteria and public health)

Broad, William. 1983. Betrayers of the truth. New York. Simon and Schuster.

Goliszek, Andrew. 2003. In the name of Science: A history of secret programs, medical research and human experimentation. New York: St. Martins.

Lafollette, Marcel, 1996. Stealing into print: Fraud, plagerism and misconduct in scientific publishing. University of Calfiornia Press.

Shermer, Michael. 1997. Why people believe in weird things. New York: Henry Holt.

You do not have to select a book on the above list. You will be responsible for posting a summary and critique of the book, how it relates to course topics and what you learned from the book. This will be posted on the Science and the public book review site. You should lead the discussion for your book and other students are expected to contribute to the discussion. At the first class meeting you will select a date to post your book review and lead the discussion.

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Interview with a scientist

• Assignment Interview a science and technology user and create a profile of the user's information needs, information use and information seeking patterns. This user can be a faculty member, a researcher or a science and technology professional. You can interveiw this person in person, on the phone or using email.
• Project Questions
  • What are the user's current (last six months) information needs?
  • How does this user usually seek information?
    • What resources are used and how are they used? What has been their use of these resources over the last 2 to 3 years? Has their use of these resources changed during the last 5 years?
    • Does he or she
      • Use librarians, and libraries?
      • Use online database searching? Done by an intermediary?
      • Use the Internet? How?
      • Use any specialized reference tools?
    • Communicate with other scientists? By email? On newsgroups? At conferences? Does he or she share research or preprints with others?
  • Ask the user to remember a "critical incident" where they needed information and to describe how they sought that information and how successful they were.
  • Using the information you have gathered discuss and analyze your user's information seeking behavior and information needs. Address how or if the Internet has influenced your user's communication and information behaviors. Do you think your user typical of his or her discipline or profession? Why or why not?
  • Complete a full bibliography of the user's writings. If the user has many publications use the publications from the last 3 years. If the user is a professional who has not contributed to the scientific and scholarly literature select an individual who has published in the user's specialization.
  • Based on your information from this user create an annotated bibliography of reference resources that you think would be most useful to this individual. This bibliography should contain at least 10 items. Describe why you chose these resources for your user. You do not have to recommend these sources to your user unless you think it would be helpful to them. If you think your user does not have a need for reference resources select resources that you think would be the most useful for a scientist in the same discipline or research area.
  • Turn in your discussion and your bibliographies on the due date. Be prepared to make a short presentation in class on that day.

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Reference Tool Annotation Sets

Online class discussion will include we will discuss a groups of reference resources and tools, either for a discipline or a particular type of resource. I will provide some general discussion in the lecture notes and you will be asked to do some annotation sets. Specific information on what the annotation sets should cover is on the webCT site. Each annotation set will be graded on a pass/fail basis.

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Topic Report

Several projects, programs and initiatives are underway that will change access to and the definition of information sources as well as the services traditionally provided by librarians. Select and investigate an initiative or a project that will have a major impact on scientific information and information professionals. You should explore and summarize the information and literature on this topic and write a short paper (5 - 7 pages) about your findings. You will also present this report in a short presentation on the last day of class.

You should not only describe the project but suggest the impact this project might have on scientific and technical information and its dissemination.

Example areas of investigation:

Include in the report:

• Introduction: describe the initiative or project and its importance.
• Body: Summarize what you have found in the literature or on the Internet. Integrate references to the literature in the general discussion (do not simply review the articles one by one). Discuss the impact and potential impact of the project on the dissemination of Science information and on libraries.
• References: The report should be supported by at least five recent (last five years) articles in the scholarly and professional literature. These articles should not be on the required reading list. Include complete and accurate references. Internet resources may be used, but at least two of the resources should be from edited, peer reviewed or professional journals. (Note that some peer reviewed journals are available on the World Wide Web).
• Format: The body of the report should be 5 to 7 pages long. Please spell check your report. Use one inch margins and double spacing. Number the pages. Include your name, the course date, and project title on a cover page. Include a separate reference page.

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Grading

Participation includes completion of assignments and exercises, attendance, meeting deadlines and class discussion. Students who will not be able to access WebCT for a period of more than a day or two should let the instructor know. Students who are unable to attend the in person meetings should notify instructor - in advance if possible. Students are responsible for all course content covered and for announcements made at class meetings and on webCT.

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Exams

There will be no final exam

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Textbook

The textbook is Information Sources in Science and Technology. Englewood, Colo. : Libraries Unlimited, Inc. 1998. by Charlie Duel Hurt. It is available at the Catholic University Bookstore. This is a bibliography of reference materials for science and technology. You may find this book in most university libraries reference collections and you may elect to use it at the library rather than purchasing it.

The following book is required and can be found at most bookstores as well as the CUA bookstore:
Hazen, Robert M and James Trefil, Science Matters: Achieving Scientific Literacy. Doubleday, 1990.
ISBN: 038526108X
The textbooks will be available at the Catholic University Bookstore and can be purchased at the first class meeting.

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Bibliography

Note: Since I am revising this course this semester, I may change some of the topics after the first month, I will be adding a couple of readings for the first month and I will be adding more readings to this bibliography and to the course calendar as the course continues. All readings will be available on the course webCT site. While some of the readings may seem old the ones that I have left in the course are seminal readings.

Broad, W. and Wade, M. 1983. Betrayers of the truth. New York. Simon and Schuster. Chapter 4. "Limits of replication".

Cronin, Blaise. 2001. Hyperauthorship: A postmodern perversion or evidence of a structural shift in scholarly communication practices? Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 52, no. 7:558-569.

Dewdney, Patricia and Gillian Michell. 1997. Asking "why" questions in the reference
interview: A theoretical justification. Library Quarterly, 67, no. 1: 50-71.

Ellis, David and Merete Haugan. 1997. Modelling the information seeking patterns of
engineers and research scientists in a industrial environment. Journal of Documentation, 53, no. 4: 384-403.

Esler, Sandra L. and Michael L. Nelson. 1998. Evolution of scientific and technical
information distribution. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 49, no. 1: 82-91.

Kling, Rob and Geoffrey McKim. 2000. Not just a matter of time: Field differences and the shaping of electronic media in supporting scientific communication. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 51, no. 141306-1320.

Kuhn, Thomas S. 1970. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [chapters 1, 2 and 5]

Joy, Bill. 2000. Why the future doesn't need us. Wired 8 (April). http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html

Maier, Mark. 1995. The Data Game: Controversies in Social Science Statistics. 2nd ed. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe. [chapter 4]

Nisonger, Thomas E. 2000. Use of the Journal Citation Reports for serials management in research libraries: An investigation of the effect of self-citation on the journal rankings in library and information science and genetics. College and Research Libraries, (May), 263-278.

Price, Derek J. De Solla. 1963. Little Science, Big Science. New York: Columbia University
Press. [Chapters 1 and 3]

Welborn, Victoria. 1991. The cold fusion story: As case study illustrating the communication and information seeking behavior of Scientists. Science and Technology Libraries, 11 (spring 1991), 51-60.

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Books from bibliography

Angell, Marcia. 1997. Science on Trial: The Clash of Evidence and the Law in the Breast Implant Case. New York: Norton. [chapters 1 and 5]

The best American Science and Nature Writing. 2000- .Boston:Houghton-Mifflin. Annual. [This is not required reading. It is very readable and if you would like you could use one of these essays as on of your your science news summary]

Gould, Constance and Karla Pearce. 1991. Information Needs in the Sciences: An Assessment. Mountain View, CA: Research Libraries Group. [this is not required reading as it is getting dated, but it does have some interesting information about how different science disciplines use libraries and information. ]

Kuhn, Thomas S. 1970. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [chapters 1, 2 and 5]

Maier, Mark. 1995. The Data Game: Controversies in Social Science Statistics. 2nd ed. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe. [chapter 4]

Price, Derek J. De Solla. 1963. Little Science, Big Science. New York: Columbia University Press. [chapters 1 sand 3]

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Disclaimer

This syllabus should not be construed as a contract between the student and the instructor. It may be changed at any time as needed in order to meet the instructional goals and needs of the class, including changes in the grading policy that is described above.

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