Research Scavenger Hunts
What is a research scavenger hunt?
I use the phrase “research scavenger hunt” to refer to in-class active learning exercises that involve a series of small tasks, completed over a specified time period (one day, or one class session) that are designed to introduce students to basic research methods, techniques, and approaches in the humanities and interpretive social sciences.
I first used a research scavenger hunt for a group of researchers in 2017, and continued to refine the assignment as I taught college courses from 2019-2021. I also published an article on a version of this assignment, “The Office of Phosphorus,” at the Journal of Sustainability Education (co-written with Jay Rickabaugh, Kelly Chernin, Chloe Jenkins, Abigail Martin, Angela Sajewicz, and Maggie Wagner).
What kinds of research skills are good to include in a scavenger hunt?
I have created scavenger hunts that included a wide variety of research skills and approaches, including:
How locate and evaluate both primary and secondary sources
How to access and make use of research databases available to them
How to use the university’s library catalog (instead of multi-search)
How to find and evaluate academic book reviews
How to fact-check a footnote
Using microfilm and/or microfiche
Identifying certain physical resources in the library (e.g. visiting the stacks)
Selected strategies for “x-raying” a book (e.g. using a book’s index or reviewing the table of contents)
What else should I consider before using this assignment?
I often tailor the specific requests or recommended databases based on the type of research students will be doing. The version linked below is focused on research for a class on the history of policy and regulation, but the basic template could be adjusted to focus on research on other places, subjects, and time periods, or even other disciplines.
The key element that differentiates a research scavenger hunt from an ordinary assignment is that it is an in-person activity with clear constraints. Students must be explicitly told that they cannot use multi-search, for example, to force them to use the library catalog or navigate to specific databases. A time constraint encourages students to move quickly and ask questions if they feel stuck. By doing the task in-person, students can ask questions of the instructor as needed, and the instructor benefits from observing where students collectively run into challenges or struggles in real time.
What have students said about this assignment?
Students frequently report that this assignment challenged them to use sources or search strategies they had never used before, and that before completing this assignment, they had no idea of the depth and breadth of library resources that were available to them as university students.
