Bibliographic Essays - Inquiry and Engagement

Abstract

The focus of the demonstration is how I have used a bibliographic essay assignment in teaching a program evaluation course. The assignment framework was originally presented in a GMU teaching professional development workshop (developed and presented by Jim Young, Library Services). Assigned as a group project, it requires investigating, analyzing, and organizing existing resources for evaluation into a narrative discussion and review, written to help orient those new to the subject. The assignment works well as a mechanism for getting students engaged in current reports from government agencies and NGO's that often provide the most up-to-date information on particular contexts and evaluation efforts, as well as general texts on evaluation and academic articles. Over time, I have adapted and further developed the assignment, using it at first to assist students in constructing resource handbooks for underdeveloped sectors of the field. As evaluation efforts have exploded in our field, the current focus is as often on information management, where students are confronted with an overwhelming quantity of information that they must learn to navigate, analyze and interpret. The essay is used to support their final project focused on evaluating particular types of programs.