Research Paper Planner: Students Love It, but Do We Know Why?Christina Y. Chan-Park and Eileen M. Bentsen

Baylor University Libraries

Research Paper PlannerTimeline & LibGuide

Timeline Google Analytics LibGuide Statistics Promotion vs. Usage

Modified University of Minnesota Assignment Calculator• Added Step 11 Conduct Additional Research If Necessary• Students can print out timeline or sign up for email alerts

Created an accompanying Research Paper Planner Research Guide• Explains and provides additional links for each step• Students can click on links to the LibGuide from the timeline or email alerts

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Proportion of Time/Usage

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Researching Steps Writing Steps Revising StepsPlanning Steps

• The Research Paper Planner is divided into four stages Planning: Steps 1-4 Researching: Steps 5-7 Writing: Steps 8-10 Revising: Steps 11-13

• The Research Paper Planner Timeline recommends spending more than half of the time writing and revising

• The LibGuide statistics indicate that almost half of the usage is spent on getting guidance on planning

• Steps earlier in the research process seem to have more usage than steps later in the research process• LibGuide usage appears to happen in two waves during the semsester: Weeks 1-10 and Weeks 8-15• During each of these waves usage progresses through each stage with peaks for Planning at Weeks 4-5 and Weeks 11-13 Research at Weeks 4-6 and Weeks 11-15 Writing at Weeks 5-9 and Weeks 12-15 Revising at Weeks 6-8 and Weeks 14-15

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Revising Steps

Step 11: Conduct Additional Research as NecessaryStep 12: Revise and RewriteStep 13: Put Paper in Final Form

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Writing Steps

Step 8: Write Thesis StatementStep 9: Outline or Describe Overall StructureStep 10: Write First Draft

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Researching Steps

Step 5: Finding Books and Book ReviewsStep 6: Finding ArticlesStep 7: Finding Web Sites

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Planning Steps

Step 1: Understanding the AssignmentStep 2: Select and Focus TopicStep 3: Establish a Research QuestionStep 4: Design Your Research Strategy

• Extreme daily variation of both the Timeline and LibGuide• Lower usage when class is not in session• Average daily usage of the Timeline (17.2) is higher than the usage of the LibGuide (10.5)

• Average daily usage in the LibGuide of the Individual Step pages (8.0) is higher than usage of the Welcome page (2.5)

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Timeline Daily Usage

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LibGuide Step Pages Total DailyUsage

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During the week of September 17-21, the library embarked on a promotion campaign• Posters in residence halls• Bookmark distribution• Feature on library webpage• Article in school newspaper

The Research Paper Planner is introduced during instruction• at all levels• in multiple disciplines

These promotion campaigns• seem to increase usage only slightly in the short term

• may increase usage in the long term

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LibGuide Welcome Page DailyUsage

Welcome

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Google Welcome Steps Classes

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Promotion Campaign

Texas52%

Others29%

Ohio10%

California6%

New York3%

Usage by State in the US

Waco-Temple-Bryan88%

Dallas-Fort Worth

6%

San Antonio

3%

Houston2%

Others1%

Usage by Metropolitan Area in Texas

Referral36%

Direct22%

Search42%

Traffic Sources

Common search queries include• research paper timeline• research project timeline

Direct connections come from• library pulldown menu• bookmarks• email alerts

Referal connections come from• library website• LibGuides

© 2013 Google

Research Paper Planner (BU) ­ http://planner.bulibtools.net/Research Paper Planner (BU) [DEFAULT]

Go to this report

Sep 1, 2012 ­ Mar 1, 2013Visitors Flow

Country / Territory2.75K Visits 1.62K Drop Offs 1.13K Visits 654 Drop Offs 476 Visits 294 Drop Offs 182 Visits 88 Drop Offs 94 Visits 44 Drop Offs 50 Visits 21 Drop OffsStarting pages 1st Interaction 2nd Interaction 3rd Interaction 4th Interaction 5th Interaction

United States2.15K

...332

Canada70

Australia75

United Kingdom73

Philippines50

/2.59K

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mailme.php83

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mail.php69

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Visitor Flow• Most people enter from the mainpage• Fewer than half enter dates for the timeline• Very few students sign up for email alerts

We Don’t Know Why They Love It

We do know• overall usage is increasing• usage mimics weekly and semester rhythms• traffic comes from some unexpected places• very few students sign up for email alerts so the emailed survey for feedback is ineffective

• the LibGuide is used mostly for planning and research stages and not for writing and revising stages

We think we can improve usage by• adding metadata tags to the timeline to increase discoverability of the Research Paper Planner

• conducting focus groups to find out how and why students use the Research Paper Planner

• continuing to promote the Research Paper Planner during instruction

• promoting the Research Paper Planner through both traditional and social media

• 2749 visits• 2201 unique visitors (80.07%)• 5623 pageviews

• 2.05 pages/visit• 1:35 minutes/visit• 53.77% bounce rate

From September 24 to March 1

baylor.edu83%

other4%

researchguides.

baylor.edu9%

lahs.mvla.libguides.

com4%

Referral Traffic Sources

US78%

Others14%

Australia3%

United Kingdom

3%

Canada2%

Usage by Country

Most usage comes from the US, Texas, and Waco areas where where Baylor University is located

CY_Chan@baylor.eduEileen_Bentsen@baylor.edu

http://blogs.baylor.edu/stem-access/2013/04/acrl-2013-poster/