PVCC - Help With Research - Information Literacy Tutorial

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Information Literacy

Learning Objective

Develop the skills to effectively find, evaluate, and cite information.

Estimated time to complete: 20 minutes.

Part I - Introduction

Information is everywhere: in books, newspapers, television shows, magazines, food packaging, t-shirts, bumper stickers, the Web, signs, songs, logos, etc. We are constantly bombarded by more and more information to the point where it can become overwhelming. How do we navigate this chaotic ocean of data? By becoming information literate.

Information literacy is a skill set that allows a person find, evaluate and use information intelligently and efficiently. The information literate person knows how to

identify the need for information
select the best and most appropriate sources of information
evaluate information for quality, accuracy, validity, and reliability
cite information to avoid plagiarism

Why Do I Need to be Information Literate?
Not all the information we run into is good, reliable, valid, unbiased, or even true. Information literate people have the skills to determine whether information is useful and usable or whether it is garbage. Such people have more chances of succeeding in society, in a job, in school and in their personal life.

How Will I Use Information Literacy Skills?
These skills can be used for many different things, such as:

choosing a college or university
preparing for a job interview
researching a political candidate
understanding tax returns
buying a car
functioning on the job
recognizing Web hoaxes

Part II - Finding Information

Chances are that if you have ever done any research before, you have searched a database or a search engine and retrieved random or weird results. To improve search results, it is important to think a little about the words that will go into the search box. To find the right stuff, you need to use the right words.

Think of what words would be present in your ideal article - for example, if you are writing about Facebook privacy issues, the words "privacy" and "Facebook" are good choices.
Think of specialized words that the writers of the articles might have used. Remember that academic essays contain more specialized words than magazines or newspapers. Instead of "teens," use "adolescents." Instead of "death penalty," use "capital punishment."
Use strong descriptive words, such as "violence," television," "addiction," and not soft, vague words such as "relationship," "issues," "effect," "pros and cons," etc. Soft words are likely to appear in so many articles that you will get lots of results.
Discard redundant words. For example, if your topic is: "people should be worried about electronic privacy," you need only search for the words "electronic" and "privacy," because people are the only ones affected by privacy issues and so the concept is implied.

Example: You are going to write an essay about media coverage during the 2008 presidential elections. What words would you put in a search box?

Answer: media 2008 presidential elections
We discard the word coverage because the media cover events. Coverage is implied in "media."

Let's Practice!
Practice Exercise Number 1

You are writing an essay about global warming. Your topic question is: What are the effects of global warming on agriculture? What words would you use in your search? Choose one or more of these words:

effects
global warming
agriculture

Now your topic is "diabetes." Your topic question is: Does a low carbohydrate diet lower insulin resistance? What words would you use in your search? Choose one or more of these words:

low
carbohydrate
diet
lower
insulin resistance

Your want to write about advertising. Your topic question is: How does advertising impact teen behavior? What words would you use in your search?

advertising
impact
teen behavior

For the correct answers, click here.

What to Do Next
Now that you have the words for your search, the next step is to find the best place to use them. You would not buy a car at a grocery store or groceries at the car dealership. When searching for information, take a few minutes to think what the best place to find it would be. If you need census information, the Census Bureau would be the best place. If you are looking for medical or nursing information, medical or nursing databases would be the best place to find it. If you need a book, go to the PVCC Jessup Library Catalog.

Article databases are good sources of quality information. You can search these sources using different strategies.

Let's Practice!

Instructions

Go to EBSCO (a database of scholarly, peer-reviewed articles, magazines and newspapers).
Choose a database to search by clicking on the database title, or click the Select/deselect all checkbox to search all the databases at the same time. Click Continue to begin your search.
Enter Facebook privacy into the search box. That is a very simple search that will likely yield a lot of results, but it's a good start. To narrow down the search, you can use Boolean searching (using AND, OR, or NOT in between the words). To learn more about Boolean searching, click here.
Note the number of results.
Using the search box at the top of the screen, re-enter your search terms and in the Select a Field (optional) drop-down box choose a field, such as Title. Searching within specific fields will give you fewer and more targeted results.
Note the number of results.

Keep in mind that searching is an art. You will have to do more than one search to find good stuff. And this is where evaluating results comes in.

Part III - Evaluating Information

Now we have a more targeted group of results, we still can't just take the first few and run. Just because an article has the words you put in the search doesn't mean it's the right article for your search. Keyword searches are easy to use, but are not very precise, so we need to determine whether what we get is useful. We do this by reading the abstract/summary and by checking the subject keywords. If I'm looking for articles on how Facebook privacy settings affect teenagers and get an article about how Facebook privacy settings need to be monitored by network managers, then it's likely not the right article.

In academic research, quality matters. Evaluate each source for quality, and only choose the best and most reliable sources.

When you are evaluating materials for academic research, keep these things in mind:

Who wrote the article/book/Web page?
Does the author have authority to write about the topic?
How current is the source?
Are there any references?
How trustworthy is the material? How trustworthy is the author?
How relevant is the material for what you're working on?

Let's Practice!
Practice Exercise Number 2

You are writing an essay about the civil war for your U.S. History class. Which of the two choices below would you pick?

March: a novel, by Geraldine Brooks. "As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the Civil War, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has taken the character of the absent father, Mr. March, who has gone off to war, leaving his wife and daughters to make do in mean times."
The American Civil War: a hands-on history, by Christopher J. Olsen. "Covering events from 1850 and the mounting political pressures to split the Union into opposing sections, through the four years of bloodshed and waning Confederate fortunes, to Lincoln's assassination and the advent of Reconstruction, "The" "American Civil War "covers the entire sectional conflict and at every juncture emphasizes the decisions and circumstances, large and small, that determined the course of events."

You need a biography of Eudora Welty for a literature essays. Which of the two choices below would you pick?

Biography of Eudora Welty; from Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Found in the library's Literature Resource Center Database.
Biography of Eudora Welty; from Wikipedia.

You need a news Web site for an assignment. Which one of the choices below would you pick?

You are doing research on swine flu, and you need to know what the symptoms are. Which one of the choices below would you pick?

For the correct answers, click here.

So now you have found good, reliable sources for your assignment, and you have written your essay. But you are not done yet. To complete your academic assignment, you have to cite your sources.

Part IV - Citing Information

Why do I have to cite information?

To allow readers to verify your claims and to read the information contained in the sources you have used.
To prevent plagiarism. Plagiarism is both cheating and stealing, and it can cause you to lose points, fail a course, or in some cases, get expelled from college.

Citation Styles
There are different rules to cite sources. Each set of rules is called a "citation style." The two styles used most frequently at PVCC are the MLA Citation Style (used by the liberal arts and the humanities), and the APA Citation Style (used by the social sciences). To learn about how to apply these styles to your citations, check out the library's Citation Styles Research Guide.

How About Citation Generators?
Citation generators are online programs that format citations for you. Some examples of citation generators are: KnightCite, BibMe, EasyBib, and others. If you decide to use any of these tools, keep in mind that they have limitations and may not format citations correctly. You are responsible for your citations, and if you get points taken off for bad formatting, you cannot blame the citation generators.

Other Citation Tools
Many databases have citation tools that allow you to obtain a formatted citation with just one or two clicks. But just like with the online citation generators, be aware that these tools may be flawed, so use them at your own risk.

You may have heard the saying: "if you want something done right, do it yourself." This applies to citing. Sometimes citation tools waste more time than they save, and you may be better off taking a few minutes to format a citation yourself. It's not that hard!

Part IV - What if I still need help?

If you need help with finding, evaluating or citing information, you can always contact the librarians. There are several ways to get help:

Send an email to reference@pvcc.edu

Call 434.961.5309

Send us an instant message. Our chat window is located in the library's blog.

If the library is closed, you can still get help by going to this link. Help is available 24/7.

Answers to the Exercises

Practice Exercise Number 1

Correct answers:

B and C
B and E
A and C

Practice Exercise Number 2