Description
Introduction to the social sciences and the patterns of communications within them. Course involves the study of disciplines: sociology, anthropology, history, education, psychology, geography, political science, and business and economics.

Goal
The goal of this course is to augment the student's knowledge of the creation, storage, retrieval, use, and communication patterns in the social sciences.

Objectives
 The objectives of this course are to have the student:

• Acquire an awareness and understanding of the cultures of the individual disciplines generally       associated with the social sciences
• Learn about the structural principles (including the interdisciplinarity and existing paradigms) of the social science disciplines and their literatures;
• Gain a basic knowledge ways of ‘knowing’,  knowledge of information flow and information seeking behavior in the social sciences; i.e., creation, dissemination, organization, diffusion, and utilization;
• Investigate and assess the state of bibliographic/information control within the social sciences;
• Understand the role of the information professional in supporting, enhancing, adding value, and influencing the process of creation (research), diffusion (teaching and learning) and utilization of information within the disciplines of the social sciences; and
• Construct hypermedia pathfinders, structured inquiries, guides, or other navigational tools for a specific information problem or client for the purpose of user instruction.

 I. Disciplinary Study

• Each student will be assigned one of the disciplines of the social sciences on which to prepare a paper (and present it to the class) on the nature of the information transfer in the discipline including a brief summary of the key ideas, organizing concepts, and ways of thinking that undergird the discipline. Specific questions to explore will be provided, but generally this report will consist of the following major elements:
• Interview with a social scientist. Each student will interview a working social scientist concerning a research project in which she/he is currently engaged. You should attempt to identify how the person settled on the particular topic/problem and the strategy used to study it in order to ascertain how the person approaches work in the discipline. Follow the interview guidelines provided.
• Bio-bibliography of a significant figure in the discipline. Choose an important person and prepare a report emphasizing his/her place in the social sciences, relationship to predecessors, influence on successors, main ideas, and most important writings. At least one entire work by the person should be read.
• Current State of information flow. Summarize and comment on the state of bibliographic control and information flow of the discipline. A current guide to the literature will be a helpful place to begin. Also, user studies are a main source for this kind of information.

 II. Hypermedia Pathfinder.

Prepare a  hypermedia “pathfinder’ on a topic relevant to the social sciences, and one that crosses the literature of at least three disciplines (including some exploration of the topic's place in the social sciences generally). The pathfinder should be constructed so that it serves a specific client group (e.g.,  second-semester freshmen,  members of the city council, etc.) and can be used to explore the information resources available at accessible through the library in which you are doing your pathfinder. Follow the specific guidelines to be provided.

This exercise in the application of hypermedia to user instruction is designed to do three things: 1) demonstrate your grasp of the topic you have selected and its requirements for research; 2) display your awareness of the resources available; and 3) reflect your skill in using the information apparatus available to you (especially in building non-sequential  access data bases).

 III. Sample Search Questions/Problems will be provided for each of the subject   disciplines. Each student will answer the questions (sample provided).    Also be prepared to compare treatment of information required in several    sources.

 IV. Participation

Since this course will function as a seminar.  There are several class times allocated to individual research. It is essentially a student centered course. Every student will be expected to participate in discussions and presentations. There will be oral presentations of your written work and discussions about these topics. Each student is expected to participate as an advisor, consultant, critic, and nurturer for other student efforts during the term.

Evaluation
  Evaluation will be based upon the four elements described above with the  following percentage distributions:

•   Disciplinary study including interview  50%  bio-bibliography, source/flow overview
•   Hypermedia Pathfinder    25%
•   Search questions     15%
•   Participation      10%

The text for this course is Herron, Nancy, ed. The Social Sciences: a Cross-Disciplinary Guide to Selected Sources. 2nd ed. Libraries Unlimited, 1996. Students are encouraged and expected to read widely in general sources on the social sciences as well as in-depth materials on the disciplines.  Webb's Sources of Information in the Social Sciences. 3rd edition, ALA, 1986 is a primary source for reference. (Be sure to read pp. 3-22). See bibliography for other specific resources to exploit.