PATHFINDER CHECKLIST
1. NATURE OF THE TOPIC: what are you talking about?
How would you briefly define Breakdancing? When was it popular? Who originated this type of dance? When was the Harlem Renaissance? What did it encompass?
Here you would briefly define the topic, perhaps identifying a key individual, discussing the history of the topic, and/or quoting someone who knew the topic well. Remember that quotations should be fully cited to an endnote at the end of the introduction, on the bottom of page 2. Do not devote too much space in the introduction to a discussion of the nature of the topic.
2. SCOPE: how much of the subject are you covering?
e.g, If you have selected a person, will you be covering all aspects of that person's life or just his/her involvement in dance?
NOTE: You can cover nature of the topic and scope in one to two paragraphs.
3. HOW WERE SOURCES SELECTED AND EVALUATED: how did you go about your search for sources to include in your bibliography?
List the sources you consulted. Did you start with UTNetCAT, a guide or bibliography to the field, a textbook, or with ALA's Guide to Reference Sources or Books in Print?
What were you looking for in a source? What selection criteria did you use in evaluating your sources? Did the sources have to deal solely with dance? Where you looking for sources that pointed out primary source material or had extensive bibliographies? What were some of the major decisions you made? Did you choose to eliminate one type of source? Why? If recency was a criterion, how did you define recency?
4. INFORMATION NEEDS: what sort of questions does your patron want to have answered about the Pathfinder topic?
Identify one or more questions your real or hypothetical patron would want to have answered about this pathfinder topic. Do not answer this question in terms of the types of sources available on this topic. That is, do not say, "The patron wants a handbook, a dictionary, and a web site." Instead, indicate that the patron wants to identify local resource people who, for example, teach television script writing.
5. VARIETY IN SOURCES: Include a wide range of types of sources. Remember that it is usually better to include an index than journal articles. You might elect to include a print or electronic journal that is devoted to your subject (e.g. Master Juba Quarterly).
What about a general summary of your subject in an encyclopedia? Are there bibliographies on your topic? What about online databases? Or audiovisual materials? Would your student be interested in contacting an organization whose members share an interest in your subject? Are government documents important? Or exhibition catalogs? Or statistics? Would any other agency in the community be a good source of information?
6. The Pathfinder is not a list of sources but includes instructions on how to find the sources and how to find information within the sources.
7. Avoid library jargon in your Pathfinder, unless your patron is a librarian. Examples of words that constitute library jargon include: bibliography of bibliographies, monograph, keyword search, hits, and serial. Add definitions when appropriate.
8. Provide a helpful closure to your pathfinder. Be sure also to add your name and the date you completed your work.