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INFO LITERACY Everything You Probably Didnt Think You Needed to Know about Gathering Information.

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Presentation on theme: "INFO LITERACY Everything You Probably Didnt Think You Needed to Know about Gathering Information."— Presentation transcript:

1 INFO LITERACY Everything You Probably Didnt Think You Needed to Know about Gathering Information

2 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION What is info literacy? GETTING STARTED Defining your topic USING DATABASES Opening the Database Limiting Your Results Selecting Tabs Spot Reading Evaluating Sources RECORDING Recording Facts and Info Recording for Citation Purposes Recording for Citation Purposes USING SEARCH ENGINES Using Search Engines Limiting Your Results (again) Limiting Your Results Spot Reading (again) Spot Reading Evaluating Sources (again) Evaluating Sources Sources

3 INTRODUCTION

4 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE INFORMATION LITERATE? Information literacy is knowing how to find and how to use information. It concerns how people answer these questions: When do I need to seek new information? Where and how do I find new information? How do I know if the new information is useful for my purpose? How do I use the new information I found?

5 WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT INFO LITERACY? Some who is not info literate: Wastes time looking for information Clueless about what info is useful Sorts through meaningless info Someone who is info literate Saves time when looking for info Know where to look and why Goes right to best sources of info

6 What Good Information Gathering looks like: 6 basic steps 1.Defining your topic 2.Looking in a general information source 3.Looking in a source that is specific to the subject 4.Looking in sources that have differing points of view on the subject 5.Looking at magazine and newspaper articles on the subject 6.Searching the internet of websites on the subject

7 1. DEFINING TOPIC STEP ONE:

8 For one minute, list everything you know about CEREAL.

9 What did you list? You might have listed Types of cereal What some cereals are made of When its eaten

10 Over the course of your life, you have stuffed a lot of knowledge in your brain. Have you ever had to look up information for a project at school? Its likely that you already knew something about it, either from what you had learned in class or from what you had figured out on your own.

11 When you begin gathering information, you always have to start with figuring out what you already know on the topic This is the first step in gathering information: gathering knowledge you have stored in your brain

12 One easy way to start the information gathering process is to use a KWL chart. It looks like this: KWLKWL In this column, you list things you already KNOW about the topic before you start In this column, you list things you WANT to learn about the topic before you start In this column, you write down the things you LEARN about the topic as you research information

13 You will complete one of these charts as you practice the information gathering process. The K column is useful because you can save time if you can identify what information you already know. The W column is important, too. Why do you think so?

14 Its important because good researchers have a plan for what kinds of information they need to find. If you know what things you need to know, you can save time because youll know when you have all the information you need.

15 One of the best places to look when figuring out what you need to know is the guidelines for an assignment. Look at the things the teacher wants you to know or do for a project to guide you in filling out the W column. Also, the W column is for you to put any questions you have on the topic, or areas you dont know.

16 STEP TWO: 1. Opening the database

17 You are about to be shown the key to information about any topic you could have interest in. With this tool you will be able to retrieve information on topics of interest focusing around school related material, life related material, and just about anything worth knowing more about. Do you think your ready? You do realize the impact that this is going to have in your life and study dont you? Maybe you should take a few moments to prepare yourself. When you think your ready go ahead and click to the next slide. The Tool to Knowledge

18 DATABASES ARE THE TOOLS TO KNOWLEDGE!

19 DATABASES Databases as shown on the previous slide provide information from credible sources that Google and other search engines can not guarantee. Academic databases such as INFOhio and its numerous databases are structured by age level guaranteeing you that the information provided will be relevant to your age and to your educational level.

20 Did you know that Google only searches about 1/3 of the sources available on the internet? That means your missing 2/3 of information sources that might be relevant to your topic of interest! But your so use to using Google and have no clue how to open these databases. Dont Worry! The following slides will show you how to open the databases and how using a database is similar to using Google!

21 Search Engines and Databases features Search Box/Bar: User types in topic here, hits search, and receives best- matching information to topic.

22 Google Search Box/Bar…doesnt it look very similar to the search bar in the database? (The answer here is yes and guess what? It works just like the Google search box/bar!)

23 Toolbars: Provides additional functions in which to enhance the search Ex: Browse Science Resources (blue arrow above) allows for user to search topic according to diagrams, experiments, timelines, and videos and animation.

24 Google toolbar Though the items/words in the database toolbars may be different than Googles toolbar the setup and purpose of them is very much the same.

25 Advanced Search: Allows for user to specify what type of search is to be performed on a given topic. This allows you to limit the return of search results. Ex: You can limit results by type of source (Video), date of publication of results, etc.

26 Google Advanced Search Just as with the search bar/box and toolbars, the Advanced Search feature in the databases is eerily similar to the Advanced Search feature you will find in Google! OHHH thats scary!

27 Example of a Advanced search page By Date of Publication By type of source By wording (more about this later!) Advanced Search Pages are very similar in all databases and Search Engines. Most of them will give you the option to search by wording, date of the source, and type of source. You can limit the number of results you get by specifying what you are looking for.

28 Opening a Database The next slides will orally tell you and demonstrate how to open a database.

29 How to Open a Database (Orally) Enter web address into web address bar (ex: www.infohio.org) or select INFohio icon on computer desktop. Choose Resources for Grades 9-12 on homepage. Continued on next slide.

30 Choose content-specific database related to topic or interest. – Ex: Science Online, Literature Online Enter username/password to gain access to the database. – Username: think Password: infohio

31 Demonstration of opening a database Enter web address into web address bar (ex: www.infohio.org) or select INFOhio icon on computer desktop.

32 Choose Resources for Grades 9-12 on homepage.

33 Choose content-specific database related to topic or interest. – Ex: Science Online, Literature Online

34 Enter username/password to gain access to the database. – Username: think Password: infohio

35 Time to Practice That doesnt sound to hard now does it? The good news is sometimes when you enter a username and password for one database and then go to another database you dont have to reenter the information! (Yepee!!) Nows the fun part! Try opening the Science Online database. Once you open it up go to the next slide to see if you got it right.

36 Does the Homepage look like this? If the homepage looked similar to this when you entered in the username and password then great job! Now refer to the student workbook for additional practice of opening other databases.

37 Try Opening WorldBook advanced Before moving to the next slide answer the following questions listed below.

38 Does it look like this? If the homepage looked similar to this when you entered in the username and password then great job! Do you notice the similarities between Googles homepage and World Book Advanced? Does it have a search box, advanced search, and toolbars?

39 Try Opening Sirs Discoverer Before moving to the next slide answer the following questions listed below.

40 Does it look like this? If the homepage looked similar to this when you entered in the username and password then great job! Do you notice the similarities between Googles homepage and SIRS Discoverer? Does it have a Search Box, Advanced Search, and Toolbars?

41 Try Opening ebscohost student research center Before moving to the next slide answer the following questions listed below.

42 Does it look like this? If the homepage looked similar to this when you entered in the username and password then great job! Do you notice the similarities between Googles homepage and Ebscohost Student Research Center? Does it have a Search Box, Advanced Search, and Toolbars?

43 databases are the tools to knowledge! Databases are truly the tools to knowledge. (Especially INFOhio!) They provide relevant and credible sources for your topic of interest. They usually are structured towards age level and educational level.

44 Just check out the search on Blizzards above. Look at the returns relevant to the topic. Thats just 5 of the 67 that came back! Is that not exciting or what?

45 ADVANCED SEARCH FEATURES

46 The advanced search features help enhance your search and provides you with more relevant results on your searches ! Most advanced search features offer three main options (along with others) to enhance your search: 1. Search using boolean operators 2. Search by date of publication 3. Search by type of source

47 WHAT THE THREE MAIN ADVANCED SEARCH OPTIONS MEAN ! 1. Search using Boolean operators - Allows you to apply Boolean operators without actually using the words in the search box to provide you with more relevant results. (Here is where you can apply the idea of the Boolean operator: not) 2. Search by date of publication - Allows you to search for results according to when the article or page was published. 3. Search by type of source - Allows you to search for results according to type of source. Ex: Pictures, videos, newspaper articles, etc.

48 Disclaimer for The advanced search feature Not all search engines and databases have the advanced search feature but most of them do. Wording and structure of the advanced search feature are often different per database and search engine, but for the most part they will have the three main options mentioned before.

49 Disclaimer continued Most advanced search features will offer more options than the three mentioned before but this is a good thing because it gives you more options to enhance your search….SO EXPLORE!

50 Example of a Advanced search page By Date of Publication By type of source By wording (This is where you can apply the Boolean Operators functions such as not) Advanced Search Pages are very similar in all databases and Search Engines. Most of them will give you the option to search by wording, date of the source, and type of source.

51 LIMITING RESULTS USING BOOLEAN OPERATORS, DROP DOWN MENUS, AND ADVANCED SEARCH FEATURE TABS! STEP FIVE:

52 I CANT FIND ANYTHING ON THE PITTSBURGH PIRATES? ARGH, I QUIT! Ive been searching for 15 minutes and have not found one result related to my topic of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. Just look at my search results to the left. Not one of them is about the baseball team. I typed in the word pirates in the search box but all I get back is irrelevant results. Its not worth my time…I QUIT!

53 1.Has the scenario on the previous page ever happened to you? 2.Have you ever searched for something and havent been able to find relevant material to your topic? 3.Have you ever just wasted time searching for a topic that you swear does not exist?

54 If you answered yes to any of these questions dont feel bad. Everyone has experienced this same scenario at least once in their lives! Dont worry though…these days are over! The following slides are going to provide you with the tools you need in order to combat this problem from ever happening again!

55 WORDS AND SYMBOLS THAT WILL HELP YOU IN YOUR INTERNET SEARCHES!

56 And-Used to connect words, phrases, or clauses TOGETHER in a sentence. Or-Used to connect words, phrases, or clauses together as ALTERNATIVES in a sentence. Not-Used to DISCONNECT words, phrases, or clauses together in a sentence.

57 Just as you use and, or, & not in sentences you can also use them in search bars to limit results, increase results, or receive more relevant returns on your searches! The use of these words in internet Searches is called BOOLEAN OPERATORS! (Remember This)

58 Boolean Operators – And, Or, Not - Searches by the relationship between words or group of words. (as mentioned in the previous slide) - Searches for phrases as a unit ( ) - Searches phrases that go together * - Will search for all words that begin with the same word stem

59 Disclaimer for The boolean operator: not Most search engines and databases will recognize the Boolean Operators And & Or but some do not recognize Not. So if you put the word not into your search and it doesnt provide you with the results you want dont fret! Most search engines and databases offer a feature called Advanced Search (mentioned in Opening Databases slide) that allow you to apply the Boolean Operator Not along with the other two. (More on this in a later.)

60 Example of Boolean Operators used in a search bar This user is searching for information about George Washington, the president. So the user used the Boolean Operator And in order to limit their returns to results that have information about George Washington and President in them.

61 The results please! By using the Boolean Operator And this searcher was able to limit his/her results to include both George Washington and President. Boolean Operators can be used in almost all search engines and databases. Most Advanced Search features in search engines and databases are set up in a Boolean Operator way.

62 Here is a YouTube Demonstration of Boolean Operators with Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich that will enhance your understanding of them! http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=QfvDPpnV0Pg

63 DROP DOWN MENUS AND HOW THEY WORK

64 A drop down menu is exactly what it sounds like. Its purpose is to give you more options related to a certain topic or word. Think of a drop down menu as you would when you order food from Chiptole!

65 Drop Down Menus and Chipotles menu. WHAT? Think of how you order food from Chipotle when thinking of how drop down menus work. – First: Choose what you want. Ex: Burrito, Taco, or Salad – Second: Drop down to what type of meat you want. Ex: Chicken, Steak, Barbacoa – Third: Drop down to what type of salsas or toppings you want. Ex: Mild salsa, lettuce, sour cream – Finally: Drop down to choose drink. Ex: Water

66 Drop Down Menus work exactly the same way as ordering food from Chipotle! – First: Either click on item/word or put cursor over item/word and a group of words will drop down. – Second: Move cursor over one of the items/word that drops down and click item/word to access it. – Third: You will then be redirected to the page relevant to your choice. Your Burrito is done!

67 Example of Drop Down Menu This user put their cursor over Resources first (Green Arrow) and then the drop down menu opened up with options for Archives/Library, Education Services, Local History, etc. (Yellow Arrow)

68 Back to the Pittsburgh pirates search Do you remember how frustrated the person was searching for the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team in the search engine? Lets try that search again using the Boolean Operator and in the phrase Pittsburgh and Pirates to see if we get more relevant results.

69 Ahhhh its a miracle! By just adding the Boolean Operator and our searcher from the beginning was able to find relevant sources to his/her topic and save loads of time! If you use Boolean Operators and other symbols or features mentioned in this instruction to enhance your search you too could save loads of time and find sources that are relevant to your topic!

70 Topic one I would like to find information on College. – Answer the following questions below this slide before going on to next page.

71 Topic one Results If you used the Boolean Operator or and put it into the following phrase Colleges or Universities then you used the Boolean Operator correctly. (Great Job!) The following is an example of what the returns might look like.

72 Topic Two I want information on the relationship between the Atomic bomb and WWII.

73 Topic two Results If you used the Boolean Operator and and put it into the following phrase Atomic Bomb and WWII then you used the Boolean Operator correctly. (Great Job!) The following is an example of what the returns might look like.

74 Drop Down Menu exercise Open the Ohio Historical Society website located on the INFohio homepage under Other Resources at the bottom. On the Ohio Historical Society homepage locate the Places drop down menu at the top of the homepage. What are options available in the Drop Down Menu? After completing the exercise go to the next page to see if you were right!

75 Drop Down Menu results The following answers are what you should have found: – Sites by Name – Sites by Topic If you find these two things in the Drop Down Menu then great job! If not try and again and see if you can find them.

76 Advanced Search Feature Exercise Find me News Articles about Pluto in the Science Online database in INFohio no older than January 2007. – Hint: Limit your results by News Articles, Date of Publication, and the word Pluto.

77 Advanced Search feature results Did your search result look similar to this? If so great job! If not, feel free to give it another try. Practice, practice makes perfect! Did you notice all the search returns are articles published after January 2007?

78 4. Selecting tabs/Results

79 Insert as many slides as you need for this cluster

80 5. Spot reading

81 Spot Reading Have you ever been assigned a research project and had to find relevent information among a million pages? How did you know what information to use? Would you like those three days you spent reading back?

82 Learning how to spot read can save you time during any sort of research… School projects On-line shopping Internet searches on celebreties, how electronics work or even seeing who mentioned you in their facebook pages

83 Spot reading is like highighting – you only read the important words. Look for key words. Look for key phrases. Looks for words with odd letters or combination of letters.

84 You already know an article has an introduction paragraph. If your topic is not in there, why read the entire article? If the introduction paragraph looks promising, look to see if the article is divided into sections. You may only need to read one or two sections.

85 Practice this skill whenever you read: Textbooks Magazines On-line articles Newspapers Instruction manuals The more you practice, the more time you will save for the fun things in life!

86 6. Evaluating Sources

87 Evaluating Sources This was found on the internet: "There is strong evidence that extreme low frequency (ELF) and radio frequency microwaves (RF/MW) are associated with accelerated aging, enhanced cell death and cancer, bad moods, depression, suicide, anger, rage and violence, primarily through alteration of cellular calcium ions and the melatonin/serotonin balance." - Dr. Neil Cherry, Lincoln University, New Zealand It came from: http://www.geocities.com/northstarzone/PHONES.htmlhttp://www.geocities.com/northstarzone/PHONES.html

88 Is it true? No Do you feel betrayed or lied to? Did you ever get caught up in a rumor?

89 Some people make a living out of starting urban legends. Some people make a living out of ending urban legends. Have you ever heard of MythBusters? Not only do they prove things wrong, they get to blow stuff up too!

90 How do you know if the information is real or credible? You dont have the Mythbusters budget? You have to answer a few basic questions…

91 1.Does it make sense? 2.Do other sources support the information? 3.Who owns the website? Have you ever heard of them? 4.Is it a.net,.org,.com,.gov or.edu? 5.Does it even matter where the information came from?

92 You can decide if the information makes sense. You know the source of information is important. You can even find other websites to support or disprove the information. If you search the home page you can find who owns the website.

93 Next check the web site extention:. net = network (usually internet service providers).org = organization – often nonprofit (but nonprofit doesnt always mean trustworthy).com = commercial (for profit).gov = government.edu = education

94 .edu &.gov are good sources.net &.org are ok sources – you need to decide.com may or may not be a good source – you need to decide But how?

95 What comes before the.com,.net or.org is also important. It tells you the website owners name. You can research the owner to find out more if you are still unsure. http://www.geocities.com/northstarzone/PHONES.html Have you ever hear of geocites?.com means this company is trying to make money. What do they want you to buy? What is northstarzone? Who knows? Notice this is in CAPS to get your attention.

96 Bottom line? Are you comfortable with the source or does something just not feel right?

97 7. Recording facts and info

98 Recording information Did you know writing notes is a form of study skills? It involves writing, reading and your brain switching between the two!

99 Have you ever seen a 5th grader highlight information? How can you pick out important information if everything is highlighted? Taking notes is just like highlighting.

100 You probably already know somethings about your topic. Should you hightlight those? No.

101 You already know how paragraphs are formed: TS, EX, SS Topic Sentence Examples Summary Sentence So if you highlight PART of the topic sentence will you know what the rest of the paragraph is about?

102 What parts of speech are important? Nouns?Conjunctions? Adverbs?Pronouns? Prepositions?Verbs? Adjectives? What parts of speech are important?

103 Can you abbreviate in your notes? Yes! Do you need complete sentences? No! Can you use diagrams or sketches? Yes! Does spelling count? No way!

104 How would you highlight these sentences if you were looking for information on our new president: Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British. Barack's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton's army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved west to Hawaii. Barack's father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.

105 Is what you highlighted new information? Is what you highlighted facts? What parts of speech did you highlight?

106 How does this look? Any better? Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British. Barack's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton's army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved west to Hawaii. Barack's father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983. Now isnt this one much better?

107 Your notes are for YOU to remember what you read and a place for YOU to make connections. What you write is up to you.

108 8. Recording for citation purposes

109 Have you ever had someone steal your idea and use it like it was theirs all along? The reason its so exasperating is because someones ideas and their words belong to the person Taking those words or ideas is a big NO-NO. Its called plagiarism.

110 Lets say a student named Eric had to do a project on Ancient Romans. He looked up information on-line and found facts on wikipedia and a great site called AncientRome.com. He put all of the information he found in his project and turned it into the teacher. And then he got an F. Why? He didnt cite his sources. The teacher said he had cheated because he didnt say where the information he found came from.

111 Why? He didnt cite his sources. The teacher said he had cheated because he didnt say where the information he found came from. Now Eric didnt mean to cheat. It was an accident. But it doesnt change the fact that he completed his project incorrectly.

112 So what should Eric have done? He should have kept track of where he went when he gathered information and what information he used He needed to make a list of works cited entries at the end of his project. They look like this: (next slide)

113

114 Whats important about citing your sources is that it protects you. When you cite sources, you protect yourself from cheating by telling your teacher what ideas were yours, and what ideas and words you are borrowing from other people.

115 When you gather information, you want to keep track of where you got the info Recording that info is pretty easy to do. You need to know a couple of basic things: – The title of the source – The author of the source – The publication information for the source

116 There are certain rules to follow to cite the information properly, but thats for another lesson. As you gather information you can chart the citation information in a chart like this:

117 9. Using a Search Engine

118 See if you can answer these questions… 1.When was the first search engine created? 2.How does Google decide what sites should show up first? 3.How many search engines make up 80% of all search engine traffic?

119 Answers: 1. 1990 (probably before you were born!) 2. Google decides what links you see first by ranking the sites by how many other sites link to that one. So your first links are popular because other sites linked to it. 3. Only 4!

120 You are probably pretty comfortable in searching the internet using a search engine. But that doesnt mean that you are using it to maximize your results When you go to a search enginewhich one do you choose? Yahoo? Google? Ask? MSN? Or another one?

121 The problem is, that each search engine gives you different resultsthere are so many different sites out there on a topic, that only one search engine will give you only a sampling of websites. Thats why a good internet search will utilize three different search enginesthe most popular ones: Google, Ask, and Yahoo (GAY)

122

123 Insert as many slides as you need for this cluster

124

125 Recommendations: Always use those Boolean operators! See how the number of links drops dramatically: 3.58 million hits Thats 3,580,000 sites to look at! William Shakespeare 1.5 million hits (MUCH BETTER) See how the number drops when the Boolean operator AND is used!? William Shakespeare AND Globe Theatre 256,000 hits (BEST) Using quotation marks to search these word as phrases decreases the number of hits! William Shakespeare AND Globe Theatre

126 The fewer links you get from a search, the better Look for what links are similar But explore unique ones that each site provides

127

128 Boolean Operators Use this bar if you need to search only.edu,.com, or.org sites

129 ESTABLISHING ESSENTIAL INFORMATION STEP TWO:

130 CONTENT-SPECIFIC DATABASES STEP THREE:

131 DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW STEP FOUR:

132 SERIAL PUBLICATIONS STEP FIVE:

133 SEARCHING THE INTERNET STEP SIX:

134

135 Sources Infolit.org http://www.dianahacker.com/pdfs/Hacker- Daly-MLA-WC.pdf


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