Teaching Research and Information Literacy (TRAIL) - Think Like a Researcher: Instruction Resources

These readings are grouped around three themes: education (purpose/cost), health/environment, and drugs/freedom of speech.  

In this example, a class of 18 students was divided into six groups (3 students per group).  Each student was responsible for reading and sharing the content of two assigned articles with their group members.

Thanks to Heather Devrick for providing these sample readings.

Purpose of College Education

• Branch, Taylor. "The Shame of College Sports." The Atlantic, Oct. 2011. 
• Deresiewicz, William. “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education.” The American Scholar, 1 June 2008.
• Flanagan, Caitlin. “The Dark Power of Fraternities.” The Atlantic, March 2014. 
• Tugend, Alina. “Vocation or Exploration? Pondering the Purpose of College.” The New York Times, 4 May 2012. 
• Ludden, Jennifer. "Colleges Brainstorm Ways to Cut Back on Binge Drinking." NPR, 16 Sept. 2014.
• Appiah, Kwame. "College Makeover." Slate, 15 Nov. 2005. 

Cost of College Education

• Webley, Kayla. “Is Forgiving Student Loan Debt a Good Idea?” Time, 20 April 2012. 
• Belkin, Douglas, Byron Tau, and Caroline Porter. "Obama Makes Case for Free Community College." The Wall Street Journal, 9 Jan. 2015. 
• Schuman, Rebecca. “You Can Now Go to College in Germany for Free, No Matter Where You're From.” Slate, 10 Oct.  2014.
• Tough, Pail. "Who Gets to Graduate?" The New York Times Magazine, 15 May 2014.
• Craven, Jasper, et al. "Overcrowded and at Risk: A Way of Life and, Sometimes, Death for Student Tenants.” The Boston Globe, 4 May 2014.
• Walmund, Peter. "How to Get into an Ivy League College--Guaranteed." Bloomberg, 3 Sept. 2014. 

Health

• Bittman, Mark. "Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables." The New York Times, 23 July 2011. 
• Gallagher, James. “Inactivity 'Kills More than Obesity.'” BBC News, 15 Jan. 2015. 
• McMillian, Tracie. “Can Whole Foods Change the Way Poor People Eat?” Slate, 19 Nov. 2014. 
• Dokoupil, Tony. “Why Suicide Has Become an Epidemic--and What We Can Do to Help." Newsweek, 23 May 2013. 
• Baker, Katie J.M. “How Colleges Flunk Mental Health.” Newsweek, 11 Feb. 2014. 
• Of-Hearts, Saul. "A Hippie's Defense of GMOs." Slate, 25 July 2013. 

Environment

• Biba, Erin. "Planet Reboot: Fighting Climate Change with Geoengineering." Newsweek, 4 Dec. 2014. 
• Madrigal, Alexis C. “American Aqueduct: The Great California Water Saga." The Atlantic, 24 Feb. 2014. 
• Merrigan, Kathleen. “Beyond Farmer’s Markets: Why Local Foods Belong on Grocery Shelves." The Atlantic, 6 Sept. 2012. 
• Landers, Jackson. “If You Want to Help the Environment, Go Shoot a Pig.” Slate, 9 Aug. 2012. 
• Unger, Nadine. “To Save the Planet, Don’t Plant Trees.” The New York Times, 19 Sept. 2014. 
• Goodyear, Dana. “Death Dust." The New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2014. 

Drugs

• Salam, Reihan. “Alcohol Taxes Should Be Tripled.” Slate, 27 May 2014. 
• Friedman, Richard A. “Wars on Drugs.” The New York Times, 6 April 2013. 
• Schwartz, Mattathias. “A Mission Gone Wrong." The New Yorker, 6 Jan. 2014. 
• “The Great Pot Experiment.” The Economist, 12 July 2014. 
• Lytton, Charlotte. "Prescription Drugs More Deadly Than Car Accidents, Guns, and Suicide." The Daily Beast, 25 May 2014.
• Kabat, Geoffrey. "Natural Does Not Mean Safe." Slate, 26 Nov. 2012.

Freedom of Speech

• Rose, Flemming. “Funny’s Funny: Humor Is An Essential Freedom of Speech.” Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2015. 
• Sayare, Scott. “The Charlie Hebdo I Know.” The Atlantic, 11 Jan. 2015. 
• Lewis, Jim. “Front Page Horror.” Slate, 5 April 2004. 
• Ephron, Nora. “The Boston Photographs.” (Find these in Canvas--Files: Reading) 
• Lovett, Jon. "The Culture of Shut Up." The Atlantic, 7 April 2014.
• Schiavenza, Matt. "Dr. V, Sports Journalism, and Why Sensitivity Matters." The Atlantic, 22 Jan. 2014.