FYS Final Exam Instructions for Students
You are about to complete an activity that will assess your skills and abilities in the following FYS learning outcomes:
Critical Thinking/Problem Solving aka Inquiry-Based Thinking
(Demonstrating sound reasoning skills through analysis and construction of arguments)
Information literacy (Accessing, evaluating, and using information ethically)
The following fictional scenario (provided in the Read Second document) presents a situation, or problem, that people actually encounter in their professional lives.
Exam Structure
After reading the scenario, you will access the exam, which is divided into three parts:
Part A/(Ques 1-7) Evaluate seven documents for credibility and relevance.
Part B/(Ques 8) Determine what additional information you would like to have in order to reach an informed conclusion, and describe a strategy for finding that information.
Part C/(Ques 9) Prepare a thoughtful written recommendation in response to both the situation and the information in the attached documents. Make sure you support your recommendation with relevant information from the documents you read in Part A.
What if I already have an opinion on this topic?
You may find that you have personal experiences and beliefs that relate to the situation you’re addressing. While we recognize the value of those experiences and beliefs, it is important that you base your response only on the materials included in the Document Library.
What kind of information will I find in the document library?
Some of the information in the documents may come from actual journal articles, government documents, and other sources. Although the situation itself is fictional, please proceed as if it is real. As you are reviewing these documents, remember that not all of them may be trustworthy or relevant.
Definitions:
For Part A of the exam (reading and evaluating seven documents), please use the following definitions.
Credibility – Credible information is based on facts and is authoritative; Credible information does not have the intent to flat-out deceive. It doesn’t unfairly promote opinion and does not have an agenda. On the other hand, biased information may promote only one opinion or side of an argument and/or contain “selective” or “cherry-picked” data.
Relevance – Relevant information closely relates to the topic/scenario you are considering. It may be recent. It affects the stakeholders in the scenario.
n – In social science research, it is often impossible or impractical to collect information (such as opinions or behaviors) from large populations. Statistical methods have been developed, however, so that the desired information may be collected from a much smaller and manageable subset of the population. This smaller subset of the population is called the “sample,” or “n.” So the phrase “n = 200” refers to a sample size of 200 persons.
Budgeting Your Time (aka how to get this done in two hours):
Now, go back to this page and select the link for Read Second – The Scenario You Need to Consider