"Information Literacy Pre-assessment

The following set of questions is adapted (with permission) from "Information Literacy
Pre-assessment," CSU Monterey Bay

Academic Session 2008-2009
Semester 1
September 4, 2008
Instructor: Lleuvelyn A. Cacha

1. Forming a research question from a broad topic
Let's say that you wanted to research the topic (computer and Internet crimes) you may change this. Given that broad area of interest, what might be a research question to investigate -- for example, "Should governments get involved in regulating use of the Internet? you may change the question based on your topic.
Research topic
Information seeking behaviours
Research question
"An analysis and categorization of information seeking behaviour of undergraduate students in a networked environment”

2. Identifying keywords
Using the research question you drafted above, what keywords might be good to use in the first
stages of research? (If you didn't write your own research question, use the question given in the example)
What is information seeking behaviour? / What is a networked environment?
How do undergraduates make use of the internet?
Information literacy skills among undergraduates in a networked environment
information seeking strategies of young adults in a networked environment
Investigating information seeking challenges and difficulties among undergraduates in a networked environment.

3. Thinking about resources
Using the research question you wrote above, what kinds of resources do you think you would use to find answers to your question? (If you didn't write a research question, use the question given as the example.)
Primary sources like; dissertations, theses, conference papers, video tapes.
Secondary sources like; abstracts, catalogues, indexes progress reports, review articles bibliographies.
Tertiary sources like; almanacs and fact books,

4. Distinguishing popular from scholarly materials
Popular periodicals (like Newsweek or Atlantic Monthly) are written to appeal to the general public. What are some of their other characteristics?
The content of popular periodicals has no specific format or structure
Popular periodicals lengths are shorter articles providing broader overviews of topics
Advertising of popular periodicals is done in significant amount.
Popular periodicals audiences are the general public, basic reading level, little or no specialized language.
Authors of popular periodicals are either journalist, staff writer or anonymous
popular periodicals sources are rarely any cited; original sources can be obscure (courtesy of Dalhousie university library)

5. Scholarly periodicals (like American Sociological Review or Journal of Social Psychology) are written to appeal to researchers and students in the field of study. What are some of their other characteristics?
Scholarly, also known as academic periodicals have the following characteristics:
The content of scholarly articles is usually quite structured; may include abstract, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion and bibliography
The length of academic or scholarly periodicals is normally longer, with the articles providing in-depth analysis of topics
Advertising is either very little or highly specialized.
The audiences of scholarly periodicals are mostly researchers and professionals, advanced reading level, specialized vocabulary
The authors are noted professional, specialist or experts in the field
Finally their sources are; footnotes and bibliographies.

6. Give example of a secondary resource
A secondary source gives information about a primary source that has already been modified and rearranged for the purpose of the audience. An example is an editorial in The New York Times entitled Everybody Loves Obama. Abstracts, catalogues, indexes progress reports review articles bibliographies are all examples of secondary sources.

7. Using the World Wide Web for Research
Let's say you begin your research on the topic in question 1 using the World Wide Web.
What is the first couple of steps you would take?
Which search engine is better?
What are the key words?
Gather information
Keep a journal

8. Evaluating Web sites
How do you know whether a site you have found on the World Wide Web includes
information that is reliable and appropriate for academic research?
In order to know if a site you have found on the www has reliable information it is good to take note of the following:
First is authority. The author or organization's name should be easily located, credentials of the author are given, sponsorship or potential conflicts of interest are revealed, Bibliography and additional references or websites are provided and the organization clearly explains its purpose. Is the work new? Has it been published by others etc
Note that if the address includes .com or .net it is a commercial site, .edu is an educational site, .org represents a non-commercial site and .gov is government site. There are various others.
Secondly, check on how accurate the site is and try to compare the information with other sources. Have other people recommended this particular website. You can also check on comments by previous users especially with the advent of web2.0 tools and interactivity it offers. It should be easy to find how current the information is, information should be objective and balanced if advertisements or blogs are part of the site, clearly labeled and the sources of the information should be given.
Also the scope, look at the introduction and purpose of the work and check on what it covers and the date it was published. It is also good to look at how well the website organizes its materials as well as its references and indexes.

9. Plagiarism
Plagiarism is presenting the work of others as though it were your own; it is a form of theft.
Which of the following is an example of plagiarism? (Check all that apply)
Using phrases and sentences of others as if they were your own without giving credit
Using ideas of others as if they were your own without giving credit
Copying text written by someone else and using it with no quotation marks
Rewording someone else's information and using it without giving credit
Using copyrighted images from the Web without giving credit

10. Using different types of resources
Information you find on a research topic may come from: (a) Printed materials and electronic resources made available through libraries (for example, databases that provide full text copies of periodical articles) OR
(b) Materials you find using Web search engines
What are some of the major differences between these two sets of materials?

The first difference is that information from library databases are often well organised where as information from search engines are not as organised as that of libraries.
Also the information from libraries is stable. This is not the case with search engines. At times their information is updated or the link is removed and it can not be traced.
The information you find in the library has been purchased by them making it authentic and credible as they will not go for fake material which is not the case with most search engines where anyone can write anything and put on.
Librarians always review and recommend most of the articles and books which is not the case with search engines especially the free ones.