Phil’s Blog
Use the auto-cite in Ebsco databases
Many database have an auto-cite feature which provides a recommended citation for articles in various styles (such as APA, MLA, Turabin). This shows how to find and use this in all Ebsco databases. Ebsco provides many of our databases: Academic Search Premier, ERIC, CINAHL, Business Source Premier, PsychINFO, SOCIndex, and more.
www.blueplanetbiomes.org/world_biomes.htm
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/index.php
Create an account in Ebsco databases
This will allow to permanently store articles and searches in Ebsco databases. Ebsco provides many of our databases: Academic Search Premier, ERIC, CINAHL, Business Source Premier, PsychINFO, SOCIndex, and more.
Search Google Scholar
Shows you some of the more advanced features of Google scholar and how to see if LMU has the full-text of what you may find.
How to videos:
These are brief tutorial videos about accessing and using various tools needed for INFL100. They have audio, so if you have speakers or headphones be sure they are on.
How to access Piper
Some Piper features
Covers:
- Tips for search queries
- Using limiters
- Accessing ebooks
- Features on Piper records
How to access Academic Search Premiere (ASP)
Some ASP features
Covers:
- Keyword and field searching
- Limiters
- Features of ASP records
- Full-text
- Interlibrary Loan
Tutorial Modules for possible use in INFL
Subject Encyclopedias:
Popular/Scholarly:
Primary/Secondary:
Keyword vs. Subject Searching:
Wikipedia:
Web Searching:
Picking out key search terms:
Boolean diagrams:
Evaluating:
Plagiarism:
Information Cycle:
Copyright/Intellectual Property Laws:
Source Selection:
IRIS: Information Research Instruction Suite
Source: Clark College
Target Audience: 2 year colleges, General Undergraduate
Format: Click through text, easy to navigate side menu, some funny pics, some brief videos on specific topics
Coverage: (5 main sections with several sub-sections) “Start (Research team, explore topics, research notes, call numbers), Explore (Research process, information types, subject encyclopedias, books and e-books, magazines/journals, primary/secondary, deep/invisible web, world wide web), Find (Library catalogs, google books, periodical indexes, web search tools, wikipedia, search strategies, boolean operators, google search tips), Evaluate (books and articles, websites), Plagiarism (Acknowledging, citing)”
Notes:
“Research team”: mostly institution specific info, interesting note: talks about subject librarians
“Explore topics”: usual techniques for choosing a topic, broadening and narrowing, concept mapping
“Call numbers”: generic, fun little call number interactive game
“Research process”: stresses circular nature of research with good visual
“Subject Encyclopedias”: covers this fairly well, most tutorials don’t
“Books and e-books”: gives specific evaluation criteria for books: ASAP: Age, Sources, Author, Publisher. Quite a bit on using google books to verify author and publisher
“Deep web”: good coverage of fee vs. free resources
Evaluation Criteria: A.S.P.E.C.T.: Authority Sources Purpose, Evenness, Coverage, Timeliness
Quiz: Yes
Rating: Highly recommend! Succinct, visually appealing, highly generic (not institution specific), very good on including web sources (such as google scholar and google books) and distinguishing thme from library sources.
TIP: Tutorial for Info Power
Source: Western Connecticut State University Library
Target Audience: General Undergraduate
Format: Click through, very brief text, good pics, some basic flash animation
Coverage: “Investigating, Searching, Locating, Evaluating, Utilizing” Utilizing covers info ethics: plagiarism, citing, copyright.
Evaluation Criteria: C.R.A.A.P.: Currency Relevance Authority Accuracy Purpose
Quiz: Yes; good little review questions within each section. Unfortunately, the quiz at the end is only for WCSU students, requires a student ID.
Notes: Good detail on topic selection; how to pick something you’ll enjoy researching, how to turn a thesis statement into a research question. Good section of difference between library resources and open web. Nice little exercise on picking out key words of a thesis statement for searching. Good also on reading a bib record, somewhat institution specific here though of course. I like how they separate searching from locating. A real strength is the little built-in assessments throughout the tutorial; they cover a concept and then assess it right away.
Rating: Highly recommended!
Research Roadmap
Source: Humboldt State University Library
Target Audience: General Undergraduate
Format: Click through, lots of pics, flash animation and interactive components
Coverage: “The Basics, Info Cycles, Topics, Searching, Finding, Evaluating, Ethics”
Notes: “The Basics”: Actually defines the internet and distinguishes it from the WWW, something most tutorials don’t do. Good little interactive on primary/secondary, how it depends on the context/how you use whether a source is primary or secondary.
“Info Cycles”: Very thorough yet succinct coverage of source types with concrete examples.
“Topics”: Fairly detailed coverage of topic selection, distinction between different types of research (fact searching vs. open-ended question research), detailed section on concept mapping, broadening and narrowing a topic).
“Searching”: Covers subject specific databases fairly well. Good flash animation on Booleans, truncation, nesting. Good flash interactive on search construction.
“Finding”: Covers citations, gives examples, but doesn’t say what style it is using. Also library organization.
“Evaluating”: Sufficient but not thorough
“Ethics”: Covers plagiarism, citing, copyright. Really nice interactive flash plagiarism covering citing (in different styles), paraphrasing, and quoting.
Evaluation Criteria: Credentials (of author, or publisher), Usefulness (Objectivity, Quality, Coverage, Relevance)
Quiz: Yes, quizzes at the end of each section and frequent on point assessments throughout each section
Rating: Highly recommended, very in-depth coverage especially of topics and plagiarism.
St. John’s Information Literacy Tutorial
Source: St. John’s
Format: Click through text, some animated screen shots
Coverage: “Getting started (covers topic selection), Finding Books, Finding Articles, Internet Research, Evaluating Information, Citing Sources, Avoiding Plagiarism”
Notes:
“Getting Started”: Good basics on topic selection, narrowing down, primary/secondary, etc.
“Finding books”: institution specific
“Finding articles”: Covers scholarly/popular, animation of ProQuest search,
“Internet research”: animation of advanced Google search
“Evaluating”: Adequate, no animation or interaction
“Citing Sources”: Fairly thorough treatment of APA and MLA, no animation or interaction, quite a bit about managing and organizing,
“Avoiding Plagiarism”: Some good “real life” cases of plagiarism by prominent writers/artists
Quiz:
Evaluation Criteria: Authority, Intended Audience, Timeliness, Bias, References, Fact vs. Opinion
Rating:
Empower
Source: Witchita State University Libraries
Target Audience:
Format: Click through, lots of interactive flash animations
Coverage: “Starting your research, Choosing your topic, Using the catalog, Finding articles, Using the web, Citing sources”
Notes:
“Starting your research”: covers resource types (periodicals, books, web), some interactive, somewhat institution based
“Choosing your topic”: basic covering of broadening, narrowing, etc. not much interactivity
“Using the catalog”: very institution specific
“Finding articles”: covers popular/scholarly, basic and advanced search techniques, not much interactivity and again very institution specific
“Using the web”: Covers basics and history of internet, directories, search engines, search techniques, evaluation
“Citing”: citing, plagiarism, multiple choice paraphrasing game, copyright,
Evaluation Criteria: Accuracy, Authority, Objectivity, Currency, Use
Quiz: Only for Witchita students, some on point assessments throughout
Rating: Okay, but too institution specific, not as interactive and “fun” as some of the others, no one piece I would pick out for local use.
Source: AUT
Target Audience:
Format: Click-through, some animated screen shots, not much interactivity.
Coverage: “Intro, Search Techniques, Using the Catalog, Using Databases, Using the Internet, Evaluating Information”
Notes: These are generally brief, have embedded animations, but not many outstanding generic examples
Evaluation Criteria: START: Scope, Treatment, Authority, Relevance, Timeliness
Quiz: Yes, 10 questions
Rating: Okay, but most institution specific, not very in-depth examples, overall not as good some of the others
LUCI: Library User Computer Instruction
Source: Grossmont College
Format: Text, images, audio: it reads the text to you, a little slow loading, no menu within the tutorial, so difficult to skip around to different sections
Coverage: Library Website tour, topic selection, Finding Books
Notes: Topic selection section is generic but all the other sections too institution specific for our use
Evaluation Criteria:
Quiz:
Rating: Topic selection section is generic but all the other sections too institution specific for our use
Source: Leabharlann James Hardiman Library, Ireland
Format: Click through text based, a few interactives and videos
Coverage: Selecting, Searching, Locating and Evaluating, Citing and Plagiarism
Notes:
“Selecting”: generic but too general
“Searching”: adequate, interactive on picking out key words and synonyms from a research question
“Locating and Evaluating”: too general and institution specific, use Cornell’s evaluation criteria
“Citing”: very general, doesn’t specify which style it’s using
Evaluation Criteria: From Cornell: Accuracy, Authority, Objectivity, Currency, Coverage
Quiz: No
Rating: Okay, too general and institution specific
You can find magazine and journal articles about Pharaohs through the library’s databases:
Library > Databases > Pre-College > Junior Editions > Search for “pharaohs” or specific pharaohs like “Hatshepsut”
You can also check out these websites:
http://www.akhet.co.uk/clikmumm.htm
Click around on the scary mummy for icky stuff they would do to preserve bodies. Ew.
http://www.neferchichi.com/pharaohs.html
Summary and timeline of pharoahs and dynasties.
http://www.neferchichi.com/ml_curse.html
Funny mad-lib pharoah story, ahahahhAHAhahha!!
http://www.womenintheancientworld.com/women%20in%20ancient%20egypt.htm
A site about the ladies of ancient Egypt.
… and lots more from this directory. Do you know what a directory is?
ACRL notes on IL for faculty and administrators. Information literacy curriculum should include different kinds of literacy: tool literacy, resource literacy, social-structure literacy, research literacy, and publishing literacy. We should be identifying classes in which these kinds of literacy are already being touched on and embellish them. For instance, tool literacy has to do with the mechanics of using software, which I believe is covered in CIS100-Computer Literacy. So we need to explore, what are the learning outcomes there, can we bring them into dialogue with IL at a more integrated level?
Resource literacy: “the ability to understand the form, format, location and methods for accessing information services”. Seems like what INFL100 is basically trying to do. Maybe maintain the class in a different form that really just focuses on this resource literacy. Our plan for the embedded integration may be weak on this point, since they just get resource literacy in the context of a particular assignment (English) and not really a general sense of the range of resources available.
Social-structural literacy: “Knowledge of how information is socially situated and produced. It includes understanding the scholarly publishing process.” This is higher level, junior and senior UG, I would say. The publishing cycle is different in different disciplines and would make the most sense to be really covered when students undertake the first major-related research project.
Research literacy: “The ability to understand and use information technology tools to carry out research, including the use of discipline-related software and online resources.” This seems very similar to resource literacy… but perhaps more in depth and something that goes in tandem with social-structural.
Publishing literacy: “The ability to produce a text or multimedia report of research results.” I guess this would be related to standard 4: Use.
The problem with this kind of sub-literacies approach is the same that dogs IL itself; they really need to go together as a cohesive whole. It is difficult to pull one out and approach it in isolation. Nevertheless, we can identify components and address them individually while keeping the notion of analysis on a broad front in mind.
Click full screen for best viewing
This site has some web evaluation forms you can have students use when evaluating web sites:
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/eval.htm
Another: