IL Step 1: Sources of Information Information Literacy 1

Information Sources: Introduction Questions to consider ► What types of information sources are available? ► Where can we find them? ► How to choose the best sources? Terminology ► Subject Knowledge Knowledge of information resources in a subject area Ability to understand & critically evaluate relevant information Awareness & ability to utilize the full range of information sources ► Literature Review Review of materials (e.g., books, articles) from a wide range of resources ► Peer Review Evaluation of a material by qualified individuals in a related field Information Literacy 2

Sources of Information: Overview Articles/Papers ► Scientific & Professional journals ► Conference papers Books ► Books and book chapters ► Textbooks ► Technical reports ► Encyclopedias Internet ► The world wide web (WWW) ► Blogs, Wikis, Library ► Library catalogs ► Bibliographic databases ► Newspapers Information Literacy 3

Scientific Journals A collection of articles written by academic scholars ► Editorial board reviews submissions for acceptance ► Reflect the outcome of scientific research ► Published on a regular intervals (e.g., monthly) ISI Journals ► 17,594 journals: A&HCI (1975-present: 1722), SCI (1900-present: ), SSCI (1956-present: 3131) 17,594 A&HCISCISSCI ► Selected by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) Part of Thomson Reuters  Provides Web of Science database (search engine and citation index) ► Considered to be of high quality and impact Non-ISI Journals ► Good quality but does not meet all the ISI standards Review process, editorial board, international diversity, importance of papers ► Only 40% of journals by Springer are indexed by ISI (2009). ► Scopus by Elsevier 20,000 journals20,000 Information Literacy 4

Professional Journals/Magazines A collection of articles written by journalists & scholars ► Published by professional organizations for general public ► Cover general/specific applied science topics and professional news e.g., forestry, electrical engineering, education, etc. ► Published on a regular intervals (e.g., monthly) ► Examples Scientific American GeoInformatics Use Professional Journals ► To find general or simplified information on scientific research & discoveries ► To find current information on events/activities for a professional group ► To find information on practical scientific applications or reports Use Scientific Journals ► To find consistent scholarly information ► To do literature review for a research paper Information Literacy 5

Conference Papers Original papers presented at a scientific meeting ► Typically minimally reviewed or not reviewed ► Quality varies Some with no quality control ► Published on a semi-regular intervals (e.g., yearly) ► Examples Proceedings of Text REtrieval ConferenceText REtrieval Proceedings of the ACM SIGIR ConferenceACMSIGIR Exceptions ► In disciplines such as Computer & Information Science Major conferences are highly-regarded. Papers are strictly peer-reviewed. Published proceedings have high impact and are good sources of information. ► Edited Proceedings reviewed by a scientific editor are reliable. Sometimes papers are presented in a special issue of a scientific journal. Information Literacy 6

Books & Book Chapters Books ► Cover any topic, fact or fiction. ► For research, look for books that synthesize all information on one topic. Book Chapters ► Original contributions that are edited into an edited book on a specific topic Often they are review articles or summaries ► Quality control not as strict as journal articles Edited and may undergo some peer review ► Examples Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST)Annual Review of Information Science and Technology Uses ► When looking for comprehensive information on a topic ► To find historical information ► To find summaries of research to support an argument Information Literacy 7

Textbooks & Technical Reports Textbook ► A published book to introduce a subject f or teaching or self-study ► Typically not peer-reviewed but extensively edited Technical Reports ► Publications from an institution or project May be considered to be a special type of book ► Contain primary data that do not appear elsewhere Often the only source of information on projects ► Not peer-reviewed Quality control only as good as the project ► Examples Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval (CIIR) Technical ReportsCenter for Intelligent Information Retrieval ► Uses To find information on a particular institute or project Information Literacy 8

The World Wide Web Access most types of information via the Internet ► Quickly links to other related information Contains information beyond text ► Sound, images, video ► Online versions of printed journals, technical reports, and books Information is not permanent ► May change, move, or disappear. Often difficult to determine authorship, quality, & currency ► Not edited or peer-reviewed ► No quality control Uses ► To find current news & information ► To find popular opinion ► To find information about companies & governments Information Literacy 9

Encyclopedias Collections of short factual entries ► Often written by different contributors with topic knowledge ► General Encyclopedias Provide concise overviews on a wide variety of topics ► Subject Encyclopedias Contain in-depth entries focusing on one field of study ► Typically found in libraries Increasing Web presence (e.g. Wikipedia)Wikipedia Uses ► To find background information on a topic ► To find key ideas or concepts ► To find concise summaries Information Literacy 10

Library Catalogs & Bibliographic Databases Library Catalogs ► Searchable collection of library holdings Point to the location of particular source that library owns on a topic ► Uses To find a list of items that library owns on a topic To find the location of a specific item in a library Bibliographic Databases ► Database of records/references to Journal & conference articles, reports, books, book chapters, etc. ► Bibliographical records with abstracts or summaries of articles Some have links to fulltext or actual contents ► Covers quality resources Often for high fees (e.g. Web of Science)Web of Science Most libraries offer them via Web ► Uses To do research on a scientific topic To find specific articles Information Literacy 11