Reference Questions

Sometimes students are not sure how to ask reference questions because they do not know how to think about them. They have no idea what to expect from the answers. Library staff can help to inform them by explaining:

It may take time to find the information.

If the students realize that the answer may not be available immediately, they will not be surprised or disappointed if the process takes a little while. We can further inform students:

There are three types of reference questions: single fact, background, and in-depth (for research papers).

Examples of single facts are numbers, names, and dates. A single fact question might be:

What year was Thammasat University founded?

Once the answer is found, 1934, that is all the research needed and no further information is needed unless the student requests further help.

Another single fact question might be:

What was the original name of Thammasat University?

Again, once we provide the original name of TU, the University of Moral and Political Sciences, that may be all the student requires. Naturally, if further facts are needed, we are happy to try to provide them. The key is that providing a fact resolves the issue and no further time need be spent in analysing the meaning of the fact. Background information is more complex. It provides names, dates, places, and important issues that have some effect on a topic. Background questions may be answered by referring to online encyclopedias and other reference sources. One example might be:

What was higher education in Thailand like when Thammasat University was founded?

To get an idea of the background of the founding of the university, students will want to look at bibliographies about the progress of education in the Kingdom. They may wish to examine biographies of the university’s founder, Pridi Banomyong, to see what purposes inspired him to create a university. Since TU is Thailand’s second oldest institute of higher education, they may also wish to examine educational precedent. The founding of Chulalongkorn University in 1917 might be studied as well, to see what impact this had on Thai society. All of these approaches give us a better idea of events surrounding the first fact mentioned, the founding of TU. After going through these steps, the student should know more than just the single fact of what year the university was founded. There should also be an understanding of the atmosphere and conditions surrounding this event. These sources may help the student find a place to begin writing a research study. Finally, in-depth questions are the most challenging. They are often asked by graduate students and ajarns rather than undergraduates, because they require original research and thinking. To answer them, it is no longer enough to look at encyclopedias and other sources that may answer background information questions. Examples of primary sources are documents, whether published or published, diaries, cremation books, manuscripts, autobiographies, recordings, and other sources of information dating from the time that is being studied. These in-depth sources may not have been considered by previous researchers. If they have, perhaps students might try to use them in a new way, to draw different conclusions. The idea is to be original and useful, so that in-depth sources may eventually lead to graduate thesis subjects. How can librarians help students to find in-depth sources?

We can point to resources where issues may be explored closely.

Information most important for the subject of study can be located and examined.

The aim is for students to draw their own original conclusions about these materials and what they mean. When they have done this, they have become independent researchers. They are no longer just being spoon-fed information or assignments by ajarns.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)