Teacher’s Help to Student in Information Search Report (Assessment)

What help did the student request?

Assisting the student in understanding the task and locating the resources that can be used to handle it are some of the basic responsibilities of a teacher. In a case in point, a student clearly has difficulties with the instructions for the assignment. According to the information represented in the scenario, the learner is incapable of locating the video that she must watch in order to complete the task. Furthermore, the learner has difficulties retrieving the referencing material.

Why do you think the student is seeking assistance?

The student is clearly seeking assistance because she needs further clarification about the task. To be more accurate, the learner needs to locate the video that she will have to use as the basis for her response.

You will need to clarify if the student has made a start on her research task.

However, it should be noted that the learner has already started doing her research. Specifically, she managed to write the second part of the assignment, i.e., 300 words of The Lost. However, she has clearly had problems with The Search and The Found sections.

What sources has she used?

As far as the sources issue is concerned, as stressed above, the main concern about the assignment was that there was little to no data on The Search and The Found sections. In other words, the student has been having issues with not only retrieving the instructions but also determining the resources that could be useful in writing the task. Therefore, she needs further guidance to identify the required information; however, the student seems to be very independent in her studies, which means that she will not require consistent supervision in order to handle the writing process.

To watch the video, the student may need to revisit the instructions. Additionally, the learner may need to check the software used to watch the video since there might be an issue with the digital tools used to process the data. Particularly, the student might want to check the software for updates and for the codec packs that may help view the short movie required to complete the task.

Advise the student of other available resources to extend her research

The problem concerning the identification of the necessary sources is, unfortunately, a very common one (South Dakota School of Mines & Technology par. 2). Locating the books and the journal articles that can be deemed as credible scholarly resources and, at the same time, be related to the topic of the paper directly is admittedly challenging.

Encourage the student to use spell/grammar checks before submitting them.

To make sure that the instructions are met and that the sources are relevant to the paper, the learner may check the books and articles that not merely render the same information but support the statements that she considers in her writing (Bernis 224). Therefore, apart from searching for the exact references to the Miracle in the Desert, the learner may consider seeking the studies that address the themes raised in the suggested readings (Yagelski 698). In other words, it is recommended that the student should start by writing out the keywords that can be used to identify the relevant resources. Afterward, the search process may begin (Boise State University 3).

Remind student of plagiarism and copyright guidelines

Furthermore, it should be borne in mind that writing down the key ideas and connecting them to make a cohesive piece of writing is not enough to get a passing grade. The resources used in the process need to be referenced accordingly. For these purposes, online software such as Cite This for Me (Cite This for Me par. 1) can be suggested. It is essential that every idea taken from an external resource should be referenced accordingly; otherwise, the paper will be considered plagiarized. The use of paraphrasing is advised as the means of avoiding plagiarism (Whitaker, Ramsey, and Smith 67).

Finally, it is strongly recommended that the paper should be checked for grammatical or spelling issues. Although software can also be used for this purpose, a manual check is preferable. Thus, the learner will be able to not only maintain the quality standards high but also identify the recurrent grammatical and vocabulary issues to address them later. Thus, a manual analysis of the writing is suggested.

I am sure that the student will be capable of managing the task. I would like to emphasize that I am open to any further questions and will be happy to provide any further consultations. I wish the best of luck to the student in dealing with their assignment.

Works Cited

Bernis, Michael. Library and Information Science: A Guide to Key Literature and Sources. Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 2013. Print.

Boise State University. Assessment of First-Year Students’ Information Literacy Skills & Knowledge. n.d. Web.

Cite This for Me. Create Harvard, APA, & MLA Citations for Your Bibliography. n.d. Web.

South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Academic Problems and Skills. n.d. Web.

Whitaker, Richard W., Janet E. Ramsey, and Ronald D. Smith. Media Writing: Print, Broadcast, and Public Relations. New York, NY: Routledge, 2013. Print.

Yagelski, Robert P. Writing: Ten Core Concepts. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2014. Print.