Information SKL for Graduate Students Instructor: Sina Mater 1st Lesson

Course Calender Lesson 1 IL, defining research topic, web resources and SKLibGuides Lesson 2 Effective search strategies and using the Library Catalog, Databases etc. Lesson 3Organize and manage information

MAIN OBJECTIVE The main objective of this tutorial is to teach you how to conduct a library search Through this tutorial, you will gain basic information literacy skills

INFORMATION LITERACY  Information Literacy is the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information. (ACRL)

Why is IL important?  Information is power  These are basic critical-thinking skills  Free and democratic society  These are necessary for doing effective research

Types of Information Resources Print Books Reference Resources Journals Electronic E-Books E-Reference Resources E-Journals Databases Internet Online Library Catalogs

Reference Resources Dictionaries Atlases Almanacs Encyclopaedias Indexes

Journals Scholarly Journals Magazines Articles written by scholars in the field Reporting original academic research Written for a more limited (academic) environment. Characterized by short articles written by staff Focus on current events, popular topics Designed to attract a broad segment of the population.

SCHOLARLY ARTICLE

Researching Process Curiosity Assignment Subject Reference resources Basic Research Making a question from your subject Question Selecting keywords/search terms Deep Research Result of your research Hypothesis Tutorial

What are your information requirements? Try to answer the following questions: What kind of assignment do you have to complete? How much information do you need? What types of publications do you need? How much time do you have to complete your research? (Assignment calculator)Assignment calculator Analyse your assignment to determine the type, quantity and format of information you will need

Researching Process for “Renewable Energy”

Basic Research Before starting your research, locate and read short articles that will give you a broad overview of the topic These articles can be found in encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, etc., which are also called reference sources Source: Oxford Reference Online Source: Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology

Limitation of subject Renewable Energy Genre Solar Energy Device Electric vehicles Component/ Material Crystalline silicon Energy System Photovoltaic Effect “Solar energy for electric vehicles” “Crystalline silicon and photovoltaic effect”

Selecting Keyword Topic: “Crystalline silicon and photovoltaic effect” Question: “How crystalline silicon solar cells reflect photovoltaic effect ? ” Keywords: “Crystalline, silicon, photovoltaic, effect”

Practising for preparing keywords

Web Resources Directories Portals Associations & Organziations Scholarly resources (Open access) Search Engines –GoogleGoogle –Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

Evaluating Web Pages Google Isaac Newton Laws of Motion

Evaluating Web Pages When evaluating web pages, check these issues: Authority (Who wrote/maintains the page?) Purpose/intended audience Currency of the data Objectivity vs. Bias Support

Evaluating Web Pages Authority Look for the author’s name or a copyright credit (  ) or link to an organization Look for bibliographic information about the author Look at the domain name(.com-commercial,.edu- education,.gov-government,.org-organization etc) Look for contact information

Evaluating Web Pages Purpose / Intended Audience What is the purpose of the page? Who is the target audience? Currency Is the information up-to-date? To find whether the web page is up-to-date, one way is to click on ”View” then “Page Info” in Netscape for “Last modified” information

Evaluating Web Pages Support Does the author support the information that s/he uses? Is the support respectable? If checking support is hard to make, be suspicious!

SKLibGuides SKLibGuides is the popular, easy to use, web 2.0 library knowledge sharing system. SKLibGuides is a good starting point. You can use it to access reliable web resources about Science & Engineering.

Please feel free to consult Reference librarians at any stage of your research for further help.

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