Information Literacy and Other Research Skills

On Hold

2010-02-14T20:17:00.001-08:00

Sharon's Electronic Resources Blogs are currently on hold while I focus on work projects.

Back in the Saddle.

2009-07-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

So, you're back for another semester of fun and games?

You've got a handle on everything by now, surely? You've done the whole sorting-out-lectures-researching-assignments-sittings-exams thing and now you know what to expect for this coming semester?

Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is - you're kind of right. You do know what to expect from university/college life, which gives you a great advantage. The bad news is - every semester, the expectations get higher.

Knowing what you're doing is only half the battle won. If you really want to get ahead in this game, you have to know how to do it well.

So, let me ask you: what were your weakest points last semester? Was it your writing? Your research? Your attendance at lectures?

If you think your writing could be stronger, you should find out if there are any workshops run by learning advisers to help you with that. If you think your research let you down last semester, then get thee to a library and see what the librarians are offering by way of training and support. If it was attending lectures, I'm afraid you'll have to sort yourself out for that.

Try to look at this semester as a chance to "beat your Personal Best". Go a little bit further, try a little bit harder, aim a little bit higher... but don't kill yourself. If there is one piece of advice I can give you for this semester, it's to make sure you get a good night's sleep. It's amazing what that can do for your performance.

Exam Tip #5

2009-06-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

Make something

Okay, you've got a really complex subject that has a lot of "hard" facts to remember... and there's an exam coming up.

You know you are going to have to remember that formula/definition/date, so you write it down on a piece of paper and read over it as often as you can - saying it out-loud to a mirror to help you memorise it.

But it's so very similar to another formula/definition/date that you have to remember for the same exam, and you aren't sure if you'll remember exactly which one is which when it comes to the crunch...

While memorisation is great, and learning things by rote can really help you recall things later on, the best thing you can do to remember something is to engage with it.

If you know what that formula does (and what happens if you change one part of it), if you use that definition in context, if you remember something else that happened on that date... well it might mean more to you. When it means something to you, you stand a better chance of remembering it.

One of the best ways to engage with the facts is to make something out of them. Anything at all.

It could be a study guide for a Sixth Grade class, which makes you rethink the way you present the information so that twelve-year-olds can understand it. It could be a series of slides created for your own class - as if you were going to teach your peers a lesson on the subject. It could be a short story in which the facts form crucial plot points. It could be an interpretive dance, in which each movement represents a core concept.

Whatever makes you happy. Play with it - come up with something that gets you not just thinking about the information but actively using it.

This also helps you work on an important skill - synthesis. It's one of the higher order thinking skills Bloom lists in his taxonomy, and it can help you improve the quality of the work you produce.

When you make something new with the facts you have on hand, you're more likely to remember them later, and more likely to be able to use them effectively.

Exam Tips #4

2009-05-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

Don't be so sure

Is there something on your revision checklist you are so confident about that you skip it every time?

Do you feel that a particular subject is so easy and obvious that you don't have to waste time looking at it?

That's usually a sign that you weren't paying attention. You'll probably find there are a lot of aspects you didn't consider, a lot of nuances you haven't appreciated.

You probably think it's easy and simple because you don't know what you don't know.

One of the best "tricks" you can master when it comes to study and revision is to learn to recognise where these gaps in your knowledge are - to know what you don't know.

Take a look at everything you have covered in your notes. Some areas will obviously stand out to you as things you need to know more about, and you will feel compelled to give most of your study time to covering those topics. But make sure you pay close attention to the areas you feel completely confident about.

Why are you so confident? Is it because you have put a good amount of work into those areas, you have done a reasonable amount of research and you already know what the main issues are and how different theorists have addressed those issues?

Or, is it because "everyone knows about that"?

"Everyone knows" a lot of things - except they don't know them very well. In fact, they usually have a very poor and ill informed understanding, which leads to a lot of bad decisions and unfounded judgments. It's obnoxious in casual conversation - it's downright dangerous when going into an exam.

"Everyone knows" how to run and throw a ball, but that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of information you could learn about these activities - and a lot of "hot-topics" you might not be aware of.

If it bores you, you probably don't know enough about it. If you can't be bothered looking it up, you probably don't know enough about it. If, every time you see it, you are sure you've got it under control... you probably don't know enough about it.

That's the topic that's going to trip you up on the exam, because you're not worried enough to make sure you know as much as you could.

Go through everything on your revision sheet and make sure you can write down a list of the major issues and theories regarding those topics. Don't skip anything, and watch to see where the gaps in your knowledge might be. Nothing is as simple as it seems.

Using References effectively #2

2009-04-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

Did you know that your lecturers look at your reference list to see if you've done enough research?

You should think about doing the same thing. Think about what you want your reference list to look like, and then make sure you find enough resources to use in your assignment so that you can create a "killer" reference list.

Here are a few things worth keeping in mind:

1. Basic rule of thumb – have at least eight works in your list, with at least two of each:

Journals

Books

Web pages

2. "Journal articles are Kings, Books are Presidents and Web Pages are Prime Ministers (although they could be con men)."

The latest and greatest stuff is usually published in a journal article long before it gets to a book, so make sure your reference list has a lot of journal articles.

Books usually contain the most reliable facts, so they should take up the next largest chunk of your list.

Web pages (particularly government and educational sites) can often have the most easily digestible information, as well as containing the information that people working in the field "should know"... but make sure you always take a close look at who is responsible for that web page, and ask yourself if you think you can trust them.

3. "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue"

Something old = at least one text from before 5-10 years ago to show you’ve researched the history of the subject

Something new = Most of your work should be from the last 5 years – try to be as cutting edge as possible

Something borrowed = Make sure you use at least one text from your recommended readings

Something blue = A text that’s there to add ‘colour’ – it’s not what someone would normally expect (but it must be relevant. An example would be an article on verbal negotiation from a police journal for a nursing assignment looking at communication.

Remember, unless your lecturer has specifically told you to only reference your required readings, you should assume they want you to research, and they want you to prove you’ve read widely. This is your chance to show off how much work you've done.

Using References effectively #1

2009-03-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

You should remember that the reference list at the end of your assignment is actually a reflection of the research you have used throughout your assignment.

That may seem unnervingly simple, but it can help to keep those last couple of pages in mind before you start researching.

Your reference list should be a flag to your lecturer/marker to show them at a glance how much research you've done - and how widely you've researched.

At an undergrad level, you should try to have at least eight works in the reference list of any assignment (the bigger the assignment, the more works), and they should come from a variety of sources - journals, books, webpages... The wider the range, the better.

The largest percentage of your reference list should be taken up by recent journal articles (recent = about the last five years or so). The next largest percentage should be taken up by recent books (published less than ten years ago, preferably also within the last five years). The rest should be a mix of reliable, web pages and some older journals and books.

The people marking you are largely obsessed with recent work. Try to avoid having more than a couple of texts that are more than ten years old. However, including one or two can show that you have researched the back ground of your topic, and you have a better understanding of the overall context in which your topic sits.

In the next "chapter" of this section I'll give you some helpful memes to keep in mind when trying to build a "killer" reference list.

Style Guides

2009-01-06T20:44:00.000-08:00

When it comes to writing papers or presentations, one of the most useful tools you can get your hands on is a good style guide.

What's a style guide?

Well, a style guide is designed to make sure that what you write looks "right". Most publications, such as journals and newspapers, have style guides to make sure everyone is following the same patterns.

Style guides do three main things:

They dictate the formatting of your writing (Do you indent the first line of a paragraph? Use italics for foreign words? Use double or single quotation marks first? Use section headings?)
The give recommendations on grammar and punctuation (How do you use commas in a list? Where should you use semicolons? Can you start a sentence with a conjunction?)
They dictate the way you use references in the text and how you format your reference list (Is the title of the book underlined or in italics? Where do you put the date? How do you write out the volume and issue of the journal article?)

Most referencing systems (APA, MLA, etc) have their own style-guides, and you will find abbreviated versions of these guides on many academic library websites. You will also be able to find the style guides themselves in the reference section of most libraries.

Some libraries may also hold style guides put out by publishers and news sources. Some, like the BBC News Styleguide, are available online.

There are also generic style guides that just offer good advice on how to create a readable, professional looking piece of writing.

You may find your lecturers recommend following a certain style, in which case the style guides become invaluable. Any serious student should probably take a look at one before tackling their assignments, at any rate.

Exam Tips, #3

2008-11-16T21:44:00.000-08:00

Know your audience.

It's easy to think of exams as some soulless thing that exists to take away precious hours of your life, but it can pay to remember that all exams are read by someone - after all, someone has to mark the exam, and that someone is likely to be one of your lecturers or tutors.

You've probably seen your lecturers a couple of times this semester. Assuming you've attended a lecture, listened to one of their podcasts or read any of their emails, you've had some chance of observing the people who will be marking your exams.

Even if you've done your best to ignore them and avoid all possible contact, you would have read their notes for each class and noticed what readings they have selected. At least, I would hope you've done this. If not you may as well stop reading now because nothing will help you.

For those of you who have paid attention to their lecturers at some point, I ask a simple question: what do they like?

What sort of theories do they favour? What sort of arguments and writers do they bring to your attention? What really impresses them? Have they ever seemed really excited about a certain topic?

On the other side of the coin, have they ever given you the impression that there is a certain writer or school of thought that they have little time or respect for?

Do they love Piaget and barely mention Vygostky? Are they fond of Jung but think Freud needed to see a shrink? Do they spend two months talking about feminist theory and barely two minutes discussing Marxism?

Now, big question: what are they like? Have you got a stubborn old coot who is thoroughly set in his or her ways and refuses to entertain alternatives? Is your lecturer an excitable academic who loves debating ideas?

Now that you've had a bit of a think about what your lecturers like and the kinds of people they are, here's another question: what do you think would impress them?

Have a few quotes from their favourite writers up your sleeve (you only have to remember one or two to really knock their socks off - most people don't have quotes in an exam answer). Read up a little as part of your study - make sure you know more about their favourite subjects than just what they've told you in class.

Most importantly, remember that your exam is a great chance to show your lecturer that you know your stuff. Remember that you will have an audience, and think about them as you write your answers.

Constructing a Search Strategy #2 - Boolean Operators

2008-09-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

Computers are basically giant calculators. Databases and search engines can't think of words the same way we do - as signs representing meanings. They have to think of a word as a thing that can be used in sums.

An illustration I like using is to think about a deck of cards. You can tell the computer to find all of the black cards and it will. You can tell it to find all of the hearts, and it will. You can tell it to find all of the Jacks, and it will - but you can't tell it to find a royal flush, because then it has to think about how the cards relate to each other. Unless you tell the computer exactly what cards are in a royal flush, then it won't be able to find one for you.

This is where Boolean Operators come in. They act as commands telling the computer how the words relate to each other and what should be done about them.

The most common Boolean terms are AND, OR and NOT.

AND tells the database to look specifically for documents that have both of the terms you are searching for. For example, if you ran a search for "rotator cuff", you might get several hundred results. If you ran a search for "injury", you might get several thousand. Most of those articles would be completely useless for an assignment about rotator cuff injuries. However, if you searched for "rotator cuff" AND "injury", the database would only return search results with both terms. It would not find any articles about rotator cuffs that did not include the word "injury", nor would it return any articles about injuries that did not mention "rotator cuff". This could cut the results down from thousands to only a hundred or so. Any other terms you added with an AND would cut the number of results even further.

But what if there was a brilliant journal article that consistently used the word "shoulder" instead of "rotator cuff"? The search above wouldn't find it, because it was missing one of the essential search terms.

This is where OR comes in.

You use OR to tell the database or search engine that these words are interchangeable, and you and happy to accept any article with either (or both). So, ("rotator cuff" OR "shoulder") AND "injury" should pick up any articles that use "shoulder" instead of "rotator cuff", and make sure the word "injury" is included. The brackets in this case are just like the brackets in a mathematical problem - they help the computer to know which 'sums' to do first in the 'equation'.

OR can also help with controlling your search. Say you particularly wanted to know about rotator cuff injuries in sports that involve over-arm bowling. The most obvious ones are cricket and baseball, so you could run a search that looked like this: ("rotator cuff" OR "shoulder") AND ("cricket" OR "baseball") AND "injury".

You will probably find the thousands of results you had to start with have now been whittled down to twenty or so.

Now, if you found you were constantly getting articles about lacrosse, and you wanted to get rid of them from your search results, you would think about using NOT.

NOT basically tells the database or search engine to shut out any articles containing those terms. So, adding NOT "lacrosse" to your search would get rid of any articles containing the word "lacrosse".

Of course, there might be a really good article that uses the word "lacrosse" in one sentence, and the database will reject it just like all of the other lacrosse related articles. You should think carefully about using NOT in your searches. It can be very useful for getting rid of 'noise', but it can have it's downside.

There are other Boolean Operators that you can use in different databases and search engines, but these three are standard for almost all of them. You should check the database guides for the particular database you want to use to see what other operators it offers you.

Constructing a Search Strategy #1 - Key Terms

2008-08-26T00:50:00.000-07:00

If you want to find good information for your assignments, you'll need a good plan of attack.

Your "search strategy" is the plan of attack you come up with before you even try to use a catalogue or a database. As you undertake your search, your strategy will evolve and change, but you need to have an idea of what you are going to look for and how you are going to look for it before you even start.

The first step is to sit down with your assignment and take a good look at the question you want to answer. Pull out all of the key terms and write them down on a blank sheet of paper.

The key words are the nouns and verbs, and any adjectives or adverbs that are necessarily linked to those nouns and verbs.

For example, in the sentence "Find three treatments for rotator-cuff injuries and discuss their relative merits, using systematic reviews and clinical trials to illustrate your conclusions" the following key terms can be found:

Find

Three treatments

Rotator-cuff injuries

Discuss

Relative merits

Systematic reviews

Clinical trials

Illustrate

Conclusions

From there, highlight the words that are telling you to do something (the "action terms") in one colour and ignore them for the time being. If we take the above example:

Find

Discuss

Illustrate

Conclusions

The exact number of treatments you need to find could be considered part of the instructions, so you could make that first point "Find three".

This leaves you with a number of key terms that can be used to form your search strategy:

Treatments

Rotator-cuff injuries

Relative merits

Systematic reviews

Clinical trials

Now you need to sit down with a fresh piece of paper and brain storm those key terms. What other words can you think of that are related to those terms? Are there any synonyms that might be used instead? Any antonyms which might be relevant?

Think about how the terms relate to each other. Which terms should you search for together, and which should be broken up for the search? For example, "Rotator-cuff injuries" should probably be split up, as both "rotator-cuff" and "injuries" have a number of synonyms and it would be easier to use them if the two terms weren't always linked.

Are there any terms which might make the search more difficult and should be kept out for the time being (in this example, "Relative merits" describes the kind of information you are looking for, rather than something you need to find information about). It also describes something you should be doing with this information (comparing the merits), so perhaps this term should be moved to your list of "action" words.

Now you should have a list of terms that you can use to look for information. How you use those terms depends on what search tools you are using. Is it a library catalogue? A journals database? An Internet search engine?

We'll look at each of these in future posts.

Before we leave this topic, though, I should point out that the "action terms" (the ones we are ignoring for the search) are still very important, and you should keep that list of them somewhere safe. When you have finished finding the information you need, those "action terms" will tell you what you need to do with it in order to pass the assignment. Definitely worth paying attention to.

Getting the Most out of Orientation

2008-07-23T21:03:00.000-07:00

Orientation Week at the beginning of each semester is a time when most departments are trying to give you whatever information you need to hit the ground running.

The orientation week at the beginning of first semester can be daunting. This is the time when the most new students are trying to find their way around the university or college. The crowds can be large and the information a little out of context as you don't know what you need to know just yet. Many students can find orientation week a little disorienting.

It is still well worth your while to attend, though, and if you can push through the stress of all the newness, you will learn some things to your advantage.

The O-week for second semester is usually a bit less stressful. Crowds are smaller and there are fewer events to attend, so its easier to work out what you want to see.

It's always a good idea for a new student to attend the orientation week sessions before starting studies, but it can also be useful for first year students to attend the o-week for the next semester as well. By this stage in time you would have a better idea of what you need to know to make the most of your studies (or at least to make things easier while studying at university/college) - the sessions may seem more relevant as they might be answering some questions instead of giving you information out of context.

To get the most out of any orientation week you should look at attending sessions offered by your School and the Library. A good rule of thumb is to try to attend at least two sessions offered by each. Beyond that, you should also make a point of attending at least one social event - preferably something that gives you the chance to find out what sort of groups and clubs are around the campus.

A little bit of effort put in during orientation week can make the rest of your semester run much more smoothly, so it's worth pulling out your new student diary and marking in a few sessions.

Tips for Studying in Block Mode, #1

2008-07-09T21:24:00.001-07:00

Ah, yes, block mode.

An interesting form of study. On the one hand it gets subjects over and done with rather quickly, on the other hand it's a bit like the Tour de France: a hard slog that barely gives you time to notice how much you're hurting.

My first tip for surviving... er... studying in block mode is to think about it as an endurance sport. You won't get anywhere by thinking about how big an undertaking the whole thing is, you have to take it one manageable stage at a time.

So, think about each week as a stage in your tour. Set goals to achieve for that week, and give yourself a reward for every goal that you can tick off your list. Even giving yourself a gold star can make the world seem like a brighter place.

Don't worry so much about the work you have to do next week. Next week is a good enough time to worry about that. Of course, if you have something due on the Monday of next week, you might want to incorporate it into this week's goals...

And, remember, the library is still there, and the librarians have less students to work with at the moment, which gives them more time to help you. They're more than happy to help you tackle the research you need for your assignments.

So, remember, you've got a support crew and you only have to tackle the studies one stage at a time. You're not doing it all on your own, and you're not doing it all in one hit. Breathe, put 'one foot in front of the other' and work steadily. You'll get there in the end.

Exam Tips #2

2008-06-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Cheat sheets are the way to go.

"What do you mean?" I hear you cry. "Surely we are not allowed to cheat?!"

That's very noble of you, but I don't actually expect you to use the sheets to cheat. It's just worth your while to prepare them as if you were going to.

Go through all of your notes from the semester (and those of anyone else in your study group) and put together a sheet of things you would like to take into the exam with you if you were going to cheat.

What things are you so certain will be on the exam that you would take in some ready made notes? What areas are you so weak in that, should you see a question about them on an exam paper, you would go into a cold sweat and wish you had some notes to cheat with?

Do this a couple of days before the exam, then read over them a couple of times everyday up until "D-Day" (and as many times as you think you need to just before the exam). Read them aloud, if you can. Read them to someone else (like your room-mate, mother or dog) - even though it bores them to tears.

You will be pleasantly surprised by the fact that you will be able to bring these sheets into the exam with you. Not physically, of course, but in your head. They will be as fresh in your mind as the TV show you watched last night.

Of course, if you're the kind of person who can't remember what they watched on TV last night, you may need to use them to cheat...

But, of course, you won't do that. Will you?

Exam Tips #1

2008-06-02T23:36:00.000-07:00

When preparing for exams, check to see if the library holds any past exam papers (the School might, if the library doesn't).

You will get a feeling for the kinds of questions asked on the exams, and the sorts of information you need to refresh. Try to answer every question on the past exams as part of your preparation - even if you only use a couple of sentences.

You will also find that past exams are often mined for questions for current exams. They might not ask the exact same questions from year to year, but they will probably touch on the same themes.

If there are any "themes" you don't feel one hundred percent confident with, that should help you guide your revision.

Also, hit the library or the Internet to come up with some great quotes to answer a few of those questions and "keep them up your sleeve". You might get the chance to use them in the actual exam, and it will impress the socks off your markers.

Best Practice - Print vs Digital

2008-05-14T01:31:00.000-07:00

Modern technology is fabulous, isn't it? I can't remember the last time I wrote anything important by hand (unless it was under exam conditions), and I have to admit that half the time what I write never escapes the bounds of electricity.

There are problems involved with information that is purely digital, though. For example, the other day I was going through some of my old storage boxes when I found a whole pile of five-and-a-quarter-inch floppy discs. I remembered using them on the old school computers, back in the day when I used WordPerfect 5.1 on DOS.

Strangely, I actually remembered some of the files that were on those discs - short stories and poems I wrote for assignments and competitions. Part of me wouldn't have minded being able to read them to see if they were worth trying to salvage. Of course, I don't have ready access to a computer which can read the discs, let alone the files, so in the end I decided I didn't care about any of them enough to track down a way to retrieve them.

There-in lies one of the basic problems with digital technology - things change too quickly, and something that was just fine five years ago can present problems with retrieval today.

So what's the best practice involving digital material?

First of all, check your files periodically. Most computers are backwards compatible... to an extent. They can open something three years old without too much trouble, but if it was created on a version of the program that has been superseded too often you might have trouble.

You should go through your folders and see if there is anything you particularly want to keep. Then open them with the most modern version of the program (or alternative to that program) that you can use and save it in the newer format. Yes, this is time consuming. So is spring cleaning. Both are worth doing. In reality you'll probably only need to do this every two or three years, but you should make sure you take the time to do it.

Secondly, have more than one copy of any important files - and have them on different storage devices. Discs are rapidly becoming things of the past and USB drives will someday follow suit, but these things to have a brief cross-over period. Also, some of the "next big things" in data storage are shockingly short-lived. Make sure you have copies of your important files on the last most popular thing as well as the next big thing - but also keep a copy on an honest to goodness hard-drive.

Thirdly, anything that is terribly important (and this especially applies to the assignment that's due this Friday) should also exist in print form for as long as it's needed. Why? Because computers are evil and are secretly trying to mess with your head. Should all else fail and you loose every digital copy you can access, having the print copy on hand means you don't have to completely re-create all of your work.

The joy of paper is that you can still read it long after the printing process that produced it is obsolete. Digital can't match that yet, so don't rely on it entirely.

On a break

2008-05-04T21:18:00.000-07:00

I've been on holidays for a week, and I will be for another week yet. I'll start updating when I come back.

Subject Resources Pages

2008-04-15T02:44:00.001-07:00

I've probably mentioned them before, and I expect I'll mention them again:

Subject Resources Pages.

Your library probably has them. Most academic libraries I know of usually do. Your liaison librarians (who get paid to know the best places to find information on your subject) have put together a page of good resources for your field of study.

These usually include a list of the top textbooks and reference books held by the library, some really useful web pages and a number of databases where you'll find the best journal articles for your assignments.

You should take a darn good look at your library's homepage. It may be tucked away under a link to "library guides" or it may be right out in the open as an "A-Z of Subject Guides", or something similar.

And, here's the kicker, since most good academic librarians have them, if you can't find what you want in one library you can probably find it in another one.

For example, I had a student from a different university come to me wanting to know the best databases to use for a hospitality subject. Since we don't have Hospitality as a course in our university, I couldn't look up our subject guides to help answer her question. I could, though, take a look at her university library's web page and find their guide for the subject.

Most libraries have really good online guides and assistance which are available to whoever might take the time to look, so if you're serious about researching your subject you should examine a few different libraries' web pages and see what they can offer you - especially if you are a distance education student doing most of your work online

Bloom's Taxonomy

2008-03-31T18:35:00.000-07:00

All right, we're talking Education Theory now.

So, why should you know about Education Theory (especially if you're not studying Education)? Because knowing what you're lecturers/tutors/teachers are thinking about/looking for can help you research and right a better assignment.

Take Bloom's Taxonomy, for example. Most teachers and lecturers know of this list, and most have it in the back of their minds when they're marking your work. The marks you will get will obviously depend on where in the list your work sits.

So what is Bloom's Taxonomy?

It's a list of intellectual processes in order of how much thought is required for each, and it looks like this:

Knowledge

Comprehension (Understanding)

Application (Use)

Analysis

Synthesis (Creation)

Evaluation.

Knowledge (basically, the ability to spout facts and figures), Comprehension and Application are at the "bottom" of the list and are known as the "lower order" skills. Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation are the "higher order" skills - they show that you can actually think about the information you know, use those thoughts to form ideas and theories and evaluate what you still need to know/think about in order to improve your ideas and theories.

To get the top marks, you need to be able to show all six of these cognitive skills.

For example, if you were writing an essay on the Boer War, you would need to show that you knew the details, then you would need to show that you understood those details and could use them in proper context (say, by connecting information gathered from different sources to discuss things that were happening at the same time). Then you would have to show that you have thought about this information, that you have a theory that you can prove by using this information and that you have the ability to established whether or not the theory has been adequately proven or if it needs more work.

This is why it's important to look at how you handle your quotes in an assignment. I always tell my students that they can't just let a quote stand on its own - they have to comment about it - explain why it was important enough to quote it. This is how you show your higher order skills.

Whenever you quote or paraphrase from another source, you have to add your own thoughts to it. Show how you are analysing the information and using it to prove your argument.

Oh, and always have an argument. Even if you think you're just writing a report and you only have to "tell it like it is", you should still have an argument that you can prove with your information - a central idea that pulls everything together and makes you think about why the information is important in the first place.

Organizing Research with Computers & Avoiding Plagiarism

2008-03-17T22:14:00.000-07:00

This page is one of Joe Landberger's Study Guides and Strategies pages.

Organizing Research with Computers & Avoiding Plagiarism is a nice little guide for organising your research and creating a research file.

You might find some useful tips and pointers.

Encyclopaedias - Part Two: "Real" Enyclopaedias

2008-03-05T21:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we've established that it's probably not a good idea to quote Wikipedia in your assignment.

But what about "real" encyclopaedias? What about Brittanica, Encarta and the rest?

Sadly, they're also on the list of things to avoid in an assignment.

Yes, I know that seems illogical. Sometimes the best information and quotes are in the encyclopaedia entry you found when you first started gathering information. Your lecturers still don't want you to use it.

Why? Well, there are a number of reasons:

The information in encyclopaedias is fairly basic, and your lecturers want proof of a deeper level of research and understanding

Using encyclopaedias is too easy. Someone else has done all the hard work of information gathering, but your lecturers want you to do that for yourself

Tradition - encyclopaedias have never been accepted as a suitable source of information for academic research, so they probably never will

Pride - we're too clever to resort to encyclopaedias

So, what should you do about encyclopaedias?

As I suggested in Part One, they do have their place in the research process. Look up your topic in an encyclopaedia to improve your basic knowledge, then use that basic knowledge to inform the rest of your research. You still won't be able to quote that fantastic sentence you found in the encyclopaedia entry, but you could probably use the "further reading" or "sources of information" section at the end of the entry to find something almost as useful.

Encyclopaedias - Part One: Wikipedia

2008-02-27T20:38:00.000-08:00

"What's wrong with Wikipedia?"

It's a question I've heard a few times from various students over the years. It usually comes straight after I tell them they can't use Wikipedia for their research assignment.

There are a number of reasons for this. On one hand, the same problems exists for Wikipedia that you would find with any other encyclopaedia (see Part Two for more information).

On the other hand, Wikipedia has a few issues that are uniquely its own - and which put it far, far off the list of any serious research strategy.

The best advice I can give you is to think of Wikipedia as your Uncle Dave, who seems to know everything.

Sure, if you wanted to know something about the Great Wall of China, you could probably ask Dave, and there's a good chance he'll know the right answer. You still wouldn't cite him in your essay.

The Great Wall of China is one of the few ancient structures visible from orbit, according to my uncle, Dave.

There's also a good chance Dave might not be completely sure about what he's telling you, but he says it in such a way that he sounds convincing so you believe him anyway. If you use this information without checking it against a more authoritative source, you could end up making a fool of yourself.

As far as every lecturer and teacher on the planet is concerned, Wikipedia is as much an authoritative source on a given subject as your Uncle Dave. If you try to use it as a source for an assignment, you may as well kiss a handful of marks goodbye.

Does that mean you should never look at Wikipedia?

Not necessarily. Like "real" encyclopaedias it can give you some decent background information and point out some web pages and "further reading" that you actually can use for your assignment. But whatever you find on Wikipedia, treat it as if it came from Uncle Dave. Use it to help you know what you're looking for in "real" sources, but never try to use it as a source itself.

Remember, when you are researching an assignment, you need to find material that is authoritative, relevant, accurate and current. Wikipedia can never tick all of those boxes, so it's best to give it a miss.

A Student's Guide to the Medical Literature

2008-02-17T19:49:00.000-08:00

A Student's Guide to the Medical Literature is a site that gives a lot of good tips and pointers (as well as a tutorial or two) about researching literature (as in, 'scholarly literature', not 'Literature' as a subject).

It is specifically aimed at Medical Students and looks closely at Evidence-Based Medicine, but a lot of the practices and principles involved in Evidence-Based Practise are very useful across the disciplines, so you shouldn't think you won't learn something useful just because you're not studying Medicine..

You should have a bit of an explore. It's from the good folk at University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Programs.

Proof reading marks

2008-02-07T16:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, so you got a paper back from your tutor or lecturer (hopefully after giving it to him/her well in advance of your due date so you can make improvements before handing it in), and it's covered with little marks for suggested corrections. What are these marks, and what do they mean?

Over many years of proofreading and editing, a system of proof-reading marks have come to be. These marks indicate, for example, whether a word is misspelt, a sentence should start a new paragraph or more information should be inserted at a particular point.

Now, most editors stick with the symbols fairly closely, but many teachers and markers develop their own little quirks, so you might find that some symbols vary slightly depending on who is scribbling on your paper. Generally speaking, though, the following pages will give you an idea about what they want you to change:

http://www.cheltenham.org/chs_english/cwp/view.asp?A=853&Q=433450
http://webster.commnet.edu/writing/symbols.htm
http://www.bucknell.edu/x4763.xml

And remember, when in doubt, you can always ask them.

Global Learning

2008-02-05T18:08:00.000-08:00

Some colleagues and I were having a discussion in the library about the "how is it relevant to me?" question.

It seems that one of the big points to come out of the First Year Experience studies (which examines what students in their First Year feel about university, and what they need to make it to Second Year) is that students want to know exactly how a piece of information is relevant to them, and if that relevance isn't immediately obvious or declared, they elect to 'switch off' and ignore that information.

Now, this doesn't really surprise me all that much because I used to be a high school teacher, and I found this attitude was growing increasingly prevalent amongst my students (it's one of the reasons I left teaching). It was only a matter of time before the high school students who wouldn't pay attention unless you specifically answered the "how is it relevant to me?" question would become university/college students with the same approach to learning.

There's a culture within the current crop of teenagers/twenty-somethings that insists on the bare minimum. They want to burden themselves only with what is absolutely necessary. Anything that might be beyond that bare minimum is something regarded as a waste of time - and no one wants to waste time learning things that won't immediately help them, do they?

This is, in my opinion, one of the most dangerous attitudes to learning you can cultivate.

Now, I'm assuming that, if you read this blog, it's because you want advice on how to get the most out of your studies and research. Can I give you the biggest and best piece of advice I could ever give any student?

Learn globally - Assume that everything will be relevant one day, and pay attention. It never hurts to know more than you have to know, but there is real danger in knowing less.

Why? It's called scaffolding. Basically, you learn new information by building on the information you already have. Educational theorists like Piaget and Vygotsky may disagree on many other aspects concerning how and why we learn, but they all agree that the knowledge you already have helps shape the way you gain new knowledge.

If you only pay attention to the bare minimum, you aren't giving yourself much of a platform to build on. It's very hard to build connections between things that aren't there. So, by choosing to ignore things that aren't immediately relevant, you are robbing yourself of a foundation that will become important later, when that information is relevant.

Think about it, why would a lecturer or teacher waste their time and yours by telling you things that won't improve your knowledge and understanding? Obviously, whatever is covered in class is going to become relevant at some point, so why would you ignore it?

Speaking of "understanding", there's another reason why you should learn more than the bare minimum and pay attention even if no one has specifically told you why it is relevant: Lateral thinking.

One of the most useful skills you can cultivate in life (let alone studies) is the ability to think laterally - to see the connections between things that aren't, at first, obviously connected. You will find that, most of the time, the connections are actually there, and it will help you better understand what you learn. This gives you a broad knowledge base, and helps you learn new things more effectively.

There's no point in knowing information if you don't understand it. It won't stay in your head, you won't be able to pull it out later and use it. Once you understand something, though, you're more likely to be able to remember it and use it.

Later, I'm going to talk about Bloom's Taxonomy - a way of looking at learning that will help you understand what your teachers and lecturers want from you. For now, I'm just going to tell you that there are different levels of learning, and 'knowledge' is right on the bottom.

To climb up the levels, you need to start connecting the individual things you know to everything else you know and the world around you.

That's what learning globally is all about - learning what you can about everything so that you can build a better understanding of the world and how what you're studying fits into it. It makes you a better student (and a more interesting person to talk to - how's that for immediate relevance?).

So, next time you're in a lecture or class and you're about to ask "how is this relevant to me?" before choosing to switch off, remember that everything is relevant. Think beyond the next assignment or exam paper and look at the big picture. You won't regret it.

Further Reading

On Vygotsky's theories:
http://www.esu.edu/sps/Dean/article7.htm
http://www.psy.pdx.edu/PsiCafe/KeyTheorists/Vygotsky.htm
http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/sdtheory/index.htm

On Piaget's theories:
http://homepages.nyu.edu/~dnb208/Piaget.html
http://archivespiaget.ch/en/jean-piaget/life/index.html
http://www.piaget.org/

On both:
http://www.education.uiowa.edu/resources/tep/eportfolio/07p075folder/Piaget_Vygotsky.htm
http://www.uni.edu/freeburg/Publications/Vygotsky%20Piaget%20and%20Edu.pdf

The Technology Trap

2008-01-23T20:02:00.000-08:00

Cars are fabulous tools, aren't they? You get in one and it will take you places you would never dream of walking to...

But does the car do this all by itself? Once you turn it on, can you just leave it to its own devices and expect to end up where you want to go? You don't actually have to know the road rules, do you? Can't the car take care of that by itself? What if you press the cruise control button? Does that mean you can make yourself a cup of coffee and expect the car to take care of the driving?

Not in this decade. I can't vouch for the advances in the transport industry that may come in the rest of this century, but for the time being you still need to drive the car in order to get anywhere (and not crash and burn).

Yet, strangely, when it comes to computers, a lot of people are happy to let the technology do the driving. This isn't completely unusual, as hardware and software designers go out of their way to make things "user friendly", which is more or less code for "does most things without user interference... er... input".

Basically, most designers assume most people are hopeless when it comes to technology, and the more the tools can do by themselves, the more likely people are to use them (after all, it requires less brain power on the users' behalf). So computer programs do a lot of things without you telling them to.

This can create a number of problems:

It's easy to assume that what the tool does on its own is all it does, when it might have a wide variety of uses and applications that need your input.

You can fall into the habit of trusting the machine to know what it's doing, but computers can't make value judgements (it's all maths to them) and it is very easy for them to get off track.

While they can't make value judgements, they can make assumptions. Computer programs also like to believe they know what they're doing - and sometimes they'll over-ride what you want them to do, assuming they "know better".

For an example, the grammar and spell checkers on your word processing program can pick up many genuine errors, but they also flag anything they don't recognise or understand... and they also miss things that they haven't been programmed to notice. Since any language other than maths is usually too fluid for computers to completely understand, that means a lot of things are marked as being wrong when they might not be, or not marked at all when they should be. So, like a car, you should use a spell checker, but not trust it to find its way on its own. You still need to pay attention to your own words in order to guide the tool so you can make sure the end product says what you want it to say.

It's the same with bibliographic software and other programs. You need to know what you are doing so you can make sure the tool is doing what you want it to. Don't just hit the cruise control button and assume it will all work out.

What is the Technology Trap?

It's when you rely on the technology instead of learning the ins-and-outs of things for yourself. It's when you never learn how something works when the computer isn't doing it for you, so that you can stay in control of what the computer is doing.

If you don't know how to write a bibliography, how will you know if the bibliographic software is doing it correctly? What would happen if there was a problem with your computer and you couldn't use the tool? Would you be able to do it manually?

If you don't know the difference between "too" and "to", how will you notice if you've used the wrong one - especially if the spell-checker doesn't pick it up?

Tools are great, and they should be used - but you should always be in the driver's seat, paying attention to what they're doing and guiding them. Technology is no replacement for knowing what you're doing.

Bibliographic Software

2008-01-17T19:50:00.000-08:00

What is Bibliographic Software?

Bibliographic Software (also known as Reference Management Software and Citation Software) is a computer program that allows you to generate bibliographies. The "big one" that most universities use and offer to their staff and students is Endnote, but there are others. This wikipedia page offers a comparison of different types of Bibliographic Software. BiblioScape, which has favourable reviews from a variety of sources, also has a cut-down freeware version of its Citation Software called BilbioExpress

Essentially, you input all of the relevant bibliographical information about your book/article/webpage (such as: author, publisher, date, etc), and the software will help you arrange that information in a variety of ways. Most programs will also allow you to make notes on each entry, file them in "libraries". Many also offer the ability to link to a file or url so that you can

The programs are very useful tools that can enhance your research in a number of ways, such as:

They help you keep track of your sources - If you make a note of every book or article you come across in your research that you thought was particularly interesting or relevant, then you have a better chance of finding it again later. Especially if you add notes such as quotes that caught your attention or "talks about problems with hatcheries" to jog your memory.

They help you stay "in style" - Most of the good programs are programmed with the main citation styles (APA, MLA, Harvard, etc), and the really good ones will also have "house styles" for some of the major journals. This means you don't have to track down the style guide to makes sure your citations are structured correctly - the program will do it for you.

They help you create lists - Say you want to find all of the references you have that were published in the USA, or you merely want to find all of the sources for which you have PDF copies. A good Bibliographic Software program will let you run special searches that can help you create different lists for different purposes.

They can help you sort out your recipes - Okay, this one isn't related to research, but it does help illustrate the fact that a good Bibliographic Software program has multiple uses. Keep a list of all of your favourite recipes, what books they're in and what ingredients they use. Then, the next time you can't quite remember where that great recipe for asparagus soup is, you can do a quick search and track it down.

However, as much as I love and praise Bibliographic Software, it can be very easy to fall into the "Technology Trap" with these programs. Make sure you read the forthcoming entry on the Technology Trap, and remember to stay in the driver's seat.

Getting Ready for a New Year - Northern Hemisphere

2008-01-10T16:09:00.000-08:00

Back from Christmas/New Years and already it feels like the holidays are miles away?

If you're halfway through your academic year, what sort of things could you be doing for second semester to improve on first semester?

If you haven't been getting much mileage out of your library, this would be a good time to find out what sort of mid-year programmes they run. Most academic libraries have introductory and study-skills courses at the beginning of every semester, and a lot of them also offer other courses and programmes throughout the year. The library is probably the single most useful tool you have at your disposal, so make sure you are milking it for all it's worth.

Start thinking ahead to the next academic year. It may seem very far away at present, but it never hurts to give a thought to the future - there may be things you need to take care of before the Summer break if you want next semester to run smoothly for you.

Take an audit of last semester's performance. How did you do, study wise? What sort of things could you be doing to improve for this semester? Today is the perfect time to start a few new habits - even if it's the second or third time you've tried to start them.

Now is the perfect time to start looking at how you intend to organise your research, readings and files. Finding information in the first place is great, being able to find it again later when you need to use it is better. Make sure you keep physical material (books, print-outs) somewhere central, and organise them in a way that's easy for you to navigate. Electronic resources should be filed in the simplest, most straight-forward way you can, and you should have one place where you keep notes for where everything is (I recommend a "library" in one of the bibliographic software programs, like Endnote or BiblioExpress). Filing all of last semester's material is a great way to work out what you want to do with this semester's stuff. Sure, it seems anal retentive, but you'll thank me for it when your big assignment is due.

Get some exercise. Sure, Winter is cold, and the colder it is the more you want to just sit somewhere warm and do very little. Bad idea. The better your overall fitness is, the better your ability to study will be. Go to a heated pool, take up yoga or brave the weather and go for a run. Whatever you do, make sure you do it at least once a week so it becomes part of a pattern. As your fitness improves, you'll find everything else gets just that much easier as well.

Getting Ready for a New Year - Southern Hemisphere

2008-01-10T15:12:00.000-08:00

Ready for a new year's worth of study?

For those of you living in the Southern Hemisphere, still enjoying Summer Vacation, there are a few things you should be thinking about in the lead-up to semester one.

If you didn't use your library and it's services a lot last year, you might want to look at booking into an orientation session, or one of their various study courses. It doesn't matter if you are in First Year or Fourth Year, you can still attend these sessions and find out what the library has to offer. Trust me, it will make your life easier.

If you haven't already, you should start thinking about what subjects you intend to take this year. While you're at it, take a look at some of the subjects you could be taking next year. Why? Because there might be a couple you would really like to take, but they have prerequisite subjects. If there is a subject on your wish-list for next with prerequisites, you should enrol in those prerequisites for this year. You may find that you have to contact an academic advisor before you complete enrolment for this year. It's better to find out now than some-time during O-Week.

If you are returning to studies, you should take an audit of your study patterns from last year. What worked well for you, what didn't work at all? What did you mean to do (and would probably have performed better had you actually done it), but didn't do? Why didn't you do it, and what can you do to make sure you do it this year? For example, did you have grand plans for having all of your research done a week before the assignment was due, but found yourself still looking for quotes the morning of the due date? What happened? What can you do to improve that situation?

If this is your first year in a university or college, one of the best things you can do is find out about what mentor programmes are available. Mentors are usually students in their second or third year of studies who have already learnt most of the ropes, and are happy to help you know what to expect. Because they are students, not teaching staff, they know what it's like to be a student dealing with the system. Very useful.

Take an afternoon to sort out your files on your computer. It's always a great idea to have different folders for different semesters, and have everything from last-year put somewhere out of the way (but easy to find) before you start the next year. If you had a lot of PDFs and readings saved to your computer from last year, but you don't need them any more, this is a great time to free up some space. However, before you get rid of them, you should make some notes about them in a bibliographic softward program like Endnote or BiblioExpress (Endnote costs serious money, but you can probably get it for free through your university; BiblioExpress is freeware, and quite good, if not up to the same standard as Endnote). That way, if it turns out that you need to find that information again later, you have a fighting chance of remembering where it came from and tracking it down.

Take up a new sport. Walking, running, swimming, Ultimate Frisbee, OzTag... whatever you think you might be able to keep up on a weekly basis. If you're already involved in a sporting team or activity, that's fantastic, but if not you should really look at what sports are available in your university community (or just your community). Nothing helps you studies as much as improving your general over-all fitness, plus it will give you an outlet for any stress you might build up as a result of your studies. It's a great idea to take up this sport now, rather than after you start lectures, as it means you'll be able to consider it as a normal part of your week by the time you have to start scheduling your tutorials. Otherwise, there's a good chance you'll never quite get around to it.

Footnotes and Endnotes

2007-12-10T17:22:00.000-08:00

What are Footnotes and Endnotes?

Footnotes are the notes found at the foot, or bottom of a page. They are usually separated from the main text on the page by a space or line and are smaller in print size than the main text.

Endnotes are found at the end of a chapter, article or section. They contain the same information and features as footnotes, but are on a different page to the text to which they refer.

Footnotes and endnotes offer more information about some aspects of the main text. They can be a reference, some more facts related to a topic or a commentary on that topic.

Footnotes and endnotes always comment on something in the main text, and are connected to that part of the text by a number or a symbol. Footnotes and endnotes often (but not always) contain information that is not necessary for the text itself, but can add to the understanding of certain aspects of the text.

What do I do when I see them?

Read them. Information which is placed in a footnote or endnote is information the author thought was relevant, even if it did not necessarily belong in the main part of the text.

Sometimes very useful and relevant information can be held in a note - sometimes the notes have exactly the information you need, even though the main text doesn't.

Footnotes and endnotes often hold the reference for a quote or statement, and will help you follow your line of research.

Can I cite/quote them in my assignment?

Yes, a note is as legitimate a source of information as the rest of the text - although some referencing styles have certain rules for citing from a footnote or endnote. You should check your styles guide to see what these rules are.

Can I use footnotes or endnotes in my own assignments?

Sometimes.

Some styles won't let you cite your references in text, and insist you use footnotes and endnotes for your citations. Other's frown on the use of footnotes and endnotes, preferring that all information be held in the main text or in an appendix. Check with your lecturer or tutor to see what is expected of you.

Remember, you can only use footnotes or endnotes, not both. Check which one belongs with the style you are using, or which one your lecturer prefers.

Footnotes, endnotes and appendices are often outside of the word limit, as well, so you should check with your lecturer to see if they count towards the word limit or not.

Further Reading

Mock, William B.T. (2006). When a Rose Isn't 'Arose' Isn't Arroz: A Student Guide to Footnoting for Informational Clarity and Scholarly Discourse. International Journal of Legal Information, 34 (1) 87-97. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1019891

Cermak, B. & Troxell, J. (2006). A Guide to Footnotes and Endnotes for NASA History Authors. Available at: http://history.nasa.gov/footnoteguide.html

Ohrstrom Library Staff. (1999). Giving Credit to Sources: Footnotes. Available at http://library.sps.edu/reference/Hypertext_tutorial/ht_footnoteform.shtml

When and how do I use footnotes or endnotes? http://www.noodletools.com/kb/index.php?article=61

Why use journals?

2007-12-03T16:14:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time students asked me why they should use journals when all of the information should be in a book some where. These days they ask me why they should use journals when all of the information should be on a website some where.

Well, there are a number of very good reasons why journals should be at the top of your "must see" list whenever you do any research. Here are some of them:

Journals have the latest research. Information will appear in journals years before it turns up in a book - and if new studies reveal that the old information is incorrect, those studies will be published in journals fairly quickly, while the books will take a lot longer to correct.

Some articles will only appear in journals. Not everything that is published in a journal will make it to a different form of publication (no, not even on the web). A lot of the best research will only ever appear in journals.

Journals can be more trustworthy than other sources. Peer reviewed journals have been checked and vetted by a number of other experts in the fields. Books don't always have the same checks and balances (it depends on the publisher), and web pages can be downright dangerous (although some are trustworthy). Information in a peer reviewed journal is usually a safe bet.

Journals are indexed. Most journals - especially peer reviewed journals - are indexed in databases. Someone has gone through and taken not of every aspect of the journal articles - their titles, authors, subject areas, keywords... And all of this information is searchable through the databases. This means they are actually one of the easier forms of information to look for, if you know how to use the databases to find them. Very few books are indexed, so it's much harder to find a book that has the information you want. Technically, almost all web pages are indexed, but not generally in databases. To find them you have to use a search engine, and search engines are not as powerful or useful as databases.

A lot of journals are online. If your library subscribes to the electronic version of the journal, you may find that you can download most of the articles you want from the comfort of your own computer. Now, the older the journal issues are, the more likely it is that you'll have to find them in print, but most of the journals published in the last ten years have electronic versions.

Journals are almost always available. Most academic libraries (and some others) treat their journals like reference books - they are not available for loan, so they are always available for use. Even if every decent book on the subject was borrowed out weeks ago, you can usually find enough journal articles to produce a quality assignment. Plus, electronic subscriptions very rarely go "missing from the shelves", so even if the library burns down you would still be able to do your research.

All in all, journals are the best resources to use when researching. They are the kings of the information world, and you should get into the habit of using them as soon as possible. Your grades will thank you for it.

What are Journals?

2007-12-02T20:51:00.000-08:00

To put it in simple terms, journals are like magazines with research instead of news.

They are serials (which means new issues are published on a regular basis) produced by professionals in a certain field for the use of other professionals in that field.

Journals come in two main types: peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed.

Peer reviewed journals are the most reliable and respectable form of published research you can use. Every article in a peer reviewed journal has been read by several other leading experts and researchers in the field and has met a strict standard for the research, analysis and writing.

It takes at least a year for an article to be published in a peer reviewed journal, and during that year it is read, checked, examined and tested by a number of the authors' "peers", who have all decided that it meets the standards necessary to be published in their journal, and they believe it is reliable.

Non-peer reviewed journals don't have that safety net. This doesn't mean that the articles published in non-peer reviewed journals aren't worth reading, or that you can't use them in your assignment. However, it does mean that the articles won't be as respected and reliable as those from a peer reviewed journal, and you may find that there are problems with the article. For example, if the article was a report on a study, the study might be flawed or the analysis of the results might be incorrect. Without the peer review process, these mistakes would not be picked up before publication.

Sometimes your lecturer will specifically ask you to use peer reviewed journals. There are a number of different lists of peer reviewed articles on the web. If you want to find a list, you should try putting in the name of your field of study (e.g. Education) and the words "peer reviewed journals" in a search engine.

If you want to know if the particular journal you are using is a peer reviewed journal, you could put the title of the journal and the words "peer reviewed" into a search engine.

You can also ask a faculty librarian at the nearest academic library. They are usually highly familiar with the peer reviewed journals in their faculty's field, and can steer you in the right direction.

What is information?

2007-11-29T19:14:00.001-08:00

This question is not as odd as it might seem.

For one thing, "information" means different things in different contexts. Someone studying communication theory will have a different use for the word "information" than someone studying computer science, for example.

One definition of "information" that I have read in a couple of books on information literacy referred to information as "change". According to that definition, information was any state in which something was different to what it was before. For example, if what you knew about chemistry was different after reading a chemistry text book, then you had been exposed to information. This definition owes a lot to communication theory, and is really more appropriate to that field than to information literacy (although communication theory can play a role in information literacy).

Obviously, this definition does not take into account the concept of pre-existing knowledge as information. If you read the textbook on chemistry and found that it only confirmed what you already knew, then, according to that definition, you didn't encounter any information. If nothing in your knowledge or understanding changed, then there was no information involved. Now, clearly, the textbook held information, it just didn't have any new information as far as you were concerned.

In the world of research and academia, information that is already known and can be confirmed is as useful and valid as any new information that you might discover, so the definition of "information as change" is somewhat inadequate.

A better, if messier, definition for "information" is the old proverb (often attributed to Confucius): "know what you know and know what you do not know". It could be argued that this proverb defines knowledge rather than information, but information is in there. It's the "what" in that saying. When you know something, information is that "something" that you know. When you do not know something, information is that "something" that you don't know.

To be information literate, it is important to know what you do know and know what you don't know.

For example, I might think I know what the chemical symbol for gold is on the elemental chart. However, if I only think I know it, then I don't really know it. I could be wrong, after all. If I looked it up and found out that I was correct, then I would know that I actually know this information - that it is correct and true and I can rely on this knowledge with some confidence.

In this way, reading the textbook on chemistry would still be important even if it doesn't add anything knew to my knowledge because it helps me to know that what I know is correct.

This is what I mean by "know what you know" - you can recognise the difference between what you think you know (which you might remember hearing somewhere or reading once) and what you actually do know (because you have learnt this information and can find a source that will back you up if you need it).

Now when it comes to "know what you do not know", there are two sides to that coin. On the one hand, I can know that I need to look something up because I only think I know it - I don't actually know if I know it. On the other hand, there are things I know that I definitely do not know. These I the things I have never learnt, the questions I have no answer for at present.

I might think I know the symbol for gold, but know I have no idea what the symbol for magnesium oxide is. Or, I can know that I do not know where iron is on the elemental chart. When I find out, this is new information - the "information as change" that we were talking about before. It also turns into something I know I know.

The whole purpose of information literacy is to take the second form of information (what you know you do not know), and take steps to turn it into the first type of information (what you know you know). Knowing what those steps are and how to take them is what it means to be information literate.

While there are many skills involved with becoming information literate (and I'll be discussing many of them here), they all start with three simple questions:

"Do I know this information?"

"If I don't know it, do I know where to look for it?"

"If I don't know where to look for it, do I know where to find out?"

The aim is to be able to answer "yes" to those last two questions most of the time.

What is Information Literacy?

2007-11-26T23:18:00.001-08:00

Information Literacy is the ability to find, sort and evaluate information so that it becomes something useful.

Information is held in many forms in many locations. In order to produce good, relevant research you need to know where to look for information, what to look for, and how to tell if it is good and useful.

This blog will help you learn skills that will improve your ability to find good information, and encourage the development of good research practices.

A couple of Search Engines

2007-09-26T22:05:00.000-07:00

While it may seem as if the entire world is covered by Google, and therefore one need not look elsewhere, Google is not the be-all and end-all of search engines, and anyone serious about finding good information on the Web should have at least two decent search engines in their bag of tricks.

Why do you need more than one search engine? Because of maths.

You see, no matter how smart and pretty computers may appear, they can still really only do one thing well: count. They're still giant calculators at heart. In order to "think" about web pages, they have to give every factor involved (the words in your search, how often they turn up on a page, where they turn up on the page) a numerical value. They then use a mathematical formula, or algorithm, to rank the pages in a list. Different search engines use different algorithms, which means you get different results.

Google and Yahoo! are both general search engines. Their algorithms are designed to find the most "popular" websites by canvassing all of the sites they know about, picking the ones with the most links pointing to them and ranking them according to factors like commercial relevance. They are the K-marts and Targets of search engines. By all means, use them - you'll probably find something that's just what you're looking for, but remember to shop around in the specialty stores as well.

A personal favourite of mine has always been Ask. Well, technically, it hasn't 'always' been Ask. It used to be about three different search engines, Hotbot, Teoma and Ask Jeeves, which were all available separately and via the Hotbot home page. Hotbot sold out to Google then curled up and died, while Teoma and Ask Jeeves merged into Ask.

Ask combines the best features of both search engines, using the Teoma algorithm and Ask Jeeve's ability to recognise questions. Where Google's algorithm goes for the most popular web sites across the board, Ask attaches a few more numbers to the web sites in it's database and looks for the sites which are most popular amongst their peers.

In addition, Ask also offers three sets of results. There's the normal "hit list" of links to web pages, and two areas where they offer search suggestions based on tallied results of other, similar questions: "Narrow Your Search" and "Expand Your Search". Depending on what you search for, you'll also see examples from the Images search in another part of the screen.

Another search engine I have discovered very recently is Vivisimo (which also seems to be Clusty - I'm not entirely sure what the exact relationship is between these two). Vivisimo/Clusty subdivides it's results and groups (clusters) them together based on common content, which makes it much easier to sort through the results and hone in on those which seem most relevant. I spent several hours looking for information through several other search engines which I managed to find in minutes using Vivisimo, so it's definitely worth adding to the toolbox.

Have a play with them and get a feel for the ways they complement each other. Try putting the same search terms (or question) into each, and see what comes up. And remember to look beyond the first ten results - you can often find just what you're looking for on page 5.