Primary Sources
in Core Undergraduate Writing Classes
Steve MacLeod Public Services Librarian, Special Collections and Archives
University of California, Irvine Libraries
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Exposure to primary sources
• Understand the role of historical materials in
shaping human knowledge and understanding
• Develop core skills in examining these
materials
• Gain first-hand experience in their role in
original, academic research
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Krause, Magia G., “Learning in the Archives: A Report on Instructional
Practices.” Journal of Archival Organization. Vol. 6(4), 2008.
History/Social Sciences – 90%
English – 49%
American Studies – 41%
Art/Art History – 40%
Women’s Studies – 40%
Education – 33%
African—American Studies – 26%
Political Science – 22%
Sociology – 19%
62% of those responding said they do the majority of their instruction for
undergraduates.
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Outreach strategies
• Meeting with bibliographers and curators
• Participate in core information literacy
programs
• Participate in orientation sessions
• Participate in K-12 outreach programs
• Promote collections and services -- via blogs,
exhibits, events, email list distribution, direct
one-on-one communication
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Humanities Core Course
• Founded at UC Irvine 35 years ago
• First year writing course with introductory
study of literature, history and philosophy
• Three-quarter course, concluding with major
research paper
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Three phases of development
1. Articulation
• Of learning objectives and outcomes
2. Alignment
• With faculty objectives and outcomes
3. Assessment
• Of effectiveness in meeting objectives
and outcomes
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Key components of planning
• Special Collections librarians/archivists,
Education and Outreach staff, Humanities
Core faculty collaborated in planning
• Primary sources identified as seed from which
research grows
• Primary sources selected to reflect broad
scope of the theme each cycle
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Design instruction session
• Decide on content
• Set the learning objective
and outcomes, and align
with faculty
• Identify and understand the
audience
• Choose active learning
techniques
• Assess the effectiveness
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Learning Objectives and Learning
Outcomes
If you don’t know
where you’re going,
how will you know if
you’ve gotten there?
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Learning Objective: The Big Idea
• Will differ depending on level of students
Training vs. Higher Level Learning
• Explicit
Students will accurately describe the basic characteristics
of primary and secondary sources.
• Implicit
Students will leave the session feeling that the Special
Collections librarian is available to help them.
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Learning Outcomes
• “By the end of this session, students will…”
• Action oriented
• Skills and concepts necessary to achieve the
objective
• No more than two or three per 50 minute
session
• The “take-aways”
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Learning outcomes
By the end of the class session on primary
sources, students will be able to:
• Articulate what makes a primary source
• Articulate what makes a secondary source
• Differentiate between a primary source and a
secondary source
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What is a Primary Source?
• Original data, images, or artifacts created at the
time an event occurred or at a later date by a
participant in the events being studied
• Provide direct evidence about events,
phenomena, or a person’s thoughts or actions
• Original creative works
• Raw materials that help interpret the past
• Definition can vary by discipline
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Questions for students to consider
• What did you discover about your primary
source -- both from your examination of the
primary source and from the secondary
source?
• What questions do you still have about your
primary source?
• What research topics might this source
support?
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Student also have access to
• Online tutorial on primary-secondary sources
• A follow-up class session on locating primary
and secondary sources
• Peer Tutors available weeks 2-10 in libraries
and dorms
• Course Guide for Humanities Core
• Subject Guides for variety of subjects, each
with a “primary sources” tab on how to locate
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Average annual statistics
•
•
•
•
Offer classes in Winter and Spring quarters
Each quarter one session for 20-25 sections
Each section has 22 students
Annually, teach 45 sections of Humanities
Core Course, reaching 1,000 students.
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Assessment
In Krause’s article, reporting on her survey of
SAA RAO members, she found:
• 40% never evaluated instruction
• Another 28% rarely evaluated instruction
• Less than 5% always do an evaluation
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Assessment Methods
• How do you know if they got it?
• Tie back to learning objective, learning
outcomes
• Satisfaction surveys
• Testing
• Experience in the reading room
• Archival Metrics Project
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Thank you!
Steve MacLeod
smacleod@uci.edu
http://special.lib.uci.edu/
Images are from Calisphere
http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu
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