ACS102 Week Five With Librarians Diane Granfield, Don Kinder and Sonny Banerjee

Overall Objectives Give you the Library know-how and research smarts to help you succeed in the program To see the Library as your search engine Provide a framework for thinking critically about information sources

What to expect … Today: Looking at information critically Small group exercise: comparing and contrasting sources of information Orientation to the Library Web site Thursday: Tips for library research Hands-on lab session focusing on assignment

Bibliophobia: What is it?

You are not alone

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT INFORMATION What does this mean? Why is it important? How to go about doing it.

Critically thinking about information (in the context of library research) Examining and breaking down information into parts Is the information source worth using in your research? One of the core skills of the research process is to determine the relevance and authority of a given resource for your research. Analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating …

A miner or a sponge?

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. - Samuel Johnson

How do we come to know something? Experiential knowledge

How do we come to know something? Logic

How do we come to know something? Authority

The Library and Authority Libraries are based on authority Storehouses of what people have said and thought (2 nd hand knowledge)

Making the shift from sponging to sifting through what you find …

Addressing the issue of authority in library-based material Thinking critically about: Magazines Scholarly journals The web in a small group exercise …

Small Group Exercise Comparing and contrasting journals, magazines and web sites Hone a critical eye for appropriate sources for research papers and essays Consider the uses – strengths and weaknesses - of each source for doing research

Small Group Exercise 1.Who was this written for? Or Who would read this? 2.Who are the authors? 3.Publisher or organization? 4.Where can you find this or buy this? 5.What does it look like – physical characteristics? 6.What distinguishes the magazine/journal/website from the other sources? 7.When and why would you use each type of source in your assignments, essays, etc.

Articles in Journals and Magazines At first glance: Authors name When was it published? What type of publication did the article appear and who was the intended audience? Magazine? Journal? Trade Publication?

Looking Closer at popular magazines

What makes it a magazine? Range from the highly respected to general interest to alternative Written for a general audience Inexpensive and readily available Articles are shorter and contain no bibliographies Written by staff writers or journalists or ? Often published on glossy paper with (lots of) advertising

Examples of Magazines

When to use popular magazines Assignment requirements Understand the topic better Get perspectives that might not be available elsewhere Identify major researchers and major issues Compare and contrast biases and points of view For major research papers use them sparingly and carefully, if at all

Looking closer at scholarly journals

What makes it a journal? Reviewed by experts in the field: PEER REVIEWED How can you check if it is peer reviewed?: Ulrichs International Periodical Directory Ulrichs International Periodical Directory Written for researchers and professionals in a particular field Written to report the results of research Articles are long and will contain bibliographies or footnotes Looks boring – plain paper, no pictures, no ads

Why use scholarly journal articles? Assignment requirements Up-to-date, often more timely than books Tend to be narrower in scope than books They update the research in a field They are written by people who are doing the research Compare and contrast biases and points of view

Examples of Scholarly Journals

A few other considerations in evaluating books and periodicals Objective reasoning (Facts? Opinion? Propaganda?) Coverage Primary or secondary in nature? Writing style Evaluative reviews

The Web as a source of information At first glance: Authors name Date information Page address:.com,.edu,.org,.ca,.gov, ~joeblow, etc. Title of page

Evaluating a web page Authority Purpose/Intended Audience Current? Updated? Objectivity vs Bias Support Is the web the right place to do your research? Check out: Duke University SiteDuke University Site

Cite what you find Plagiarism is to be avoided! When in doubt, cite it. Have Word open to organize your sources, processes, quotes and thoughts Use appropriate style guides recommended by your Professor Library has online and print guides The Writing Centre Refworks

TFYQA! Think for yourself question authority … - Timothy Leary

…true learning remains a slow process (It took Pharaoh ten plagues to finally get it!) While access is turbo-charged …