INL 102: Information Literacy
Secondary Sources
"Generally, they are accounts written after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. They are interpretations and evaluations of primary sources. Secondary sources are not evidence, but rather commentary on and discussion of evidence. However, what some define as a secondary source, others define as a tertiary source. Context is everything."
Tertiary Sources
"Information which is a distillation and collection of primary and secondary sources."
Primary Sources
"Primary sources are original materials. They are from the time period involved and have not been filtered through interpretation or evaluation. Primary sources are original materials on which other research is based. They are usually the first formal appearance of results in physical, print or electronic format. They present original thinking, report a discovery, or share new information."
Abbreviations
(in relation to email): Acronyms or shortcuts are often used to abbreviate words to reduce the size of your message. Be careful when using abbreviations. Your reader may not always know what the abbreviation means. A few examples are: LOL, laughing out loud: BTW, by the way.
word searching
Word searching, sometimes called full-text searching or keyword searching, looks for your search term or terms in many parts of an item record. A word search often looks at words in an item's title, abstract or notes, and subject field.
When I delete messages from my terminal, are they still in the system?
Yes. Email systems retain messages in memory even after they have been deleted. Although it appears they are erased, they are often permanently "backed up" along with other important data from the computer system.
Subject matter/scope:
choose a database with a scope (i.e., the subject matter covered) that matches your topic. Consider your research topic when deciding which database(s) to search. For example: For articles about: Privacy on the Internet You might use a: multi-disciplinary database Such As: Academic Search Complete
Brainstorming will help you in learning how to:
choose good search words and phrases for finding resources. These skills can be applied in many situations, including searching library databases and Internet search engines, such as Google.
A library
collects a large quantity of scholarly material from different decades and on diverse topics to provide ease of researching and studying a topic. Those materials might be in print (books, journals, magazines) or electronic (microfilms, videos, CDs, or internet.
Databases
consist of collections of resources generally used for research or fact finding. They contain many types of resources such as articles in magazines, journals, and newspapers, book chapters, reports, conference proceedings, music, and videos on a wide variety of topics. Research databases may concentrate on a focused subject (such as business) or it may be multidisciplinary (meaning you can find resources on many different topics).
Control vocabulary
controlled vocabulary is a carefully selected list of words and phrases, which are used to tag units of information (document or work) so that they may be more easily retrieved by a search. Controlled vocabularies provide a way to organize knowledge for subsequent retrieval. They are used in subject indexing schemes, subject headings, thesauri, taxonomies and other forms of knowledge organization systems.
multi-disciplinary database
cover a wide range of academic subjects including the arts, health care, business, literature, law, sciences, and more from journals, newspapers, magazines, ebooks, and reports
Books
cover virtually any topic, fact or fiction. For research purposes, you will probably be looking for books that synthesize all the information on one topic to support a particular argument or thesis.
Library catalogs are used to:
find organized searchable collections of records of items in a library. This would include books, journals, electronic resources, maps, and any other materials a library owns.
A newspaper
is a collection of articles about current events usually published daily. Since there is at least one in every city, it is a great source for local information. Newspapers, like journals and magazines, are called "periodicals" because they are published on a regular or periodic basis.
A magazine
is a collection of articles and images about diverse topics of popular interest and current events. Usually these articles are written by several types of writers including journalists or scholars and are geared toward general audiences of all ages. Magazines may cover very "serious" material, but to find consistent scholarly information you should use journals.
A journal
is a collection of articles usually written by scholars in an academic or professional field. Some journals get the opinions of scholars in the field to determine relevance, scholarship and the quality of research presented in an article before deciding to accept it for publication. Journals that use this review/acceptance process are called peer reviewed or refereed.
A trade publication
is a type of magazine that gives practical industry-related information to people in a particular field. Trade publications, like journals and magazines, are called "periodicals" because they are published on a regular or periodic basis.
invisible or deep web
is anything that can't be found using a search engine. This may be because the owner of the webpage may have decided to make the page unrecoverable or the search engine may have decided not to index it.
visible web
is anything you can find by doing a search in a search engine (e.g. Google). Some information found on the visible web will lead you to information on the "invisible or deep web".
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
is one of the main protocols of the Internet protocol suite. It originated in the initial network implementation in which it complemented the Internet Protocol (IP). Therefore, the entire suite is commonly referred to as TCP/IP. TCP provides reliable, ordered, and error-checked delivery of a stream of octets between applications running on hosts communicating by an IP network. Major Internet applications such as the World Wide Web, email, remote administration, and file transfer rely on TCP.
Employee monitoring
is the act of surveying employee activity. Organizations engage in employee monitoring to track performance, avoid legal liability, protect trade secrets, and address other security concerns. The practice may impact employee satisfaction due to its impact on privacy.
Phishing
is the attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and, indirectly, money), often for malicious reasons, by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
is the government agency authorized to enforce laws to protect consumer privacy and prevent abuse of information. It initiates programs to monitor commercial activities.
Internet Protocol (IP)
is the principal communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying data-grams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables inter networking, and essentially establishes the Internet.
What is Information Literacy?
is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.
World Wide Web
often shortened to the Web, allows data and information on the Internet to be accessed and viewed via hypertext links and graphic interfaces. Data is exchanged using protocols which are sets of rules that standardize how computers communicate with one another across a network.
Digital footprints
refers to one's unique set of traceable digital activities, actions, contributions and communications that are manifested on the Internet or on digital devices.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (i.e. http)
standardizes how Web browsers and remote Web servers communicate. Other examples of protocols that allow you to access files are URL (Uniform Resource Locators), HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), and FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
The two main classification systems are:
the Library of Congress (LC) Classification which starts with letters and the Dewey Decimal Classification System which starts with numbers.
locating a "known" article (i.e. an article you have the full or partial citations for) from a journal, magazine, or newspaper you need:
to have the title of the source in which the article was published within (i.e. the name of the journal, magazine, or newspaper). Note: You would not use the library's catalog to search for the title of the article.
Search Engines
use computer programs to create a searchable index, or a database, of Web material
Sources of information can come from?
virtually anywhere — personal experiences, books, articles, library databases, expert opinions, encyclopedias, and the Internet — and the type of information you need will change depending on the question you are trying to answer and the purpose and use of your information.
To locate a journal, magazine, or newspaper in a library (in order to find an article within it)
you would begin using the same process for locating a book by its title. You would need to look up the title of the journal/magazine/newspaper in the library's catalog in order to see if the library owns it.
How can I find information on the Invisible Web?
• Search library databases. • Search a search engine for databases. For example, if you a researching alternative medicine, you can search for "alternative medicine databases". Then, you can run searches in the databases you find.
Browser
A browser is the software that you use to read information on the World Wide Web. Just as you use software such as Microsoft Word to type letters, papers, or other text-based resources, you need software that allows you to view and hear information on the Internet.
What is a database?
A collection of information organized in such a way that a computer program can quickly select desired pieces of data. You can think of a database as an electronic filing system (Webopedia, 2003).
The benefits of a library
- Library resources are free or discounted for your use. - Library resources are organized. - Library resources are meant to be kept permanently. - Library resources come with personal assistance.
Types of information resources:
- Magazines and journals (periodicals) - Newspaper - Trade Publications - Journals - Encyclopedias - Books - Web Resources - Email
What is on the Invisible Web?
- The Contents of a Searchable Database _ Pages excluded by owner -Single Use Pages
Two main things to keep in mind when choosing a database:
- The types of materials that it contains - The subject matter or scope of the resources
The internet is a good research source for:
- sampling public opinion of people on the Internet - gathering a wide range of ideas - locating information on topics not found in mainstream publications -learning more about companies and organizations -reading information from the government -finding quick facts -catching up with current news
Use keyword searching to:
- start your research - identify the subject headings or terms used for your topic - find specific information (a fact, date or name) - find every occurrence of the words you enter in that database
Periodicals are usually separated into two major groups:
-Popular Articles (Webpages, Newspapers, and Magazines) Are often written by journalists or professional writers intended for a mass audience Usually no credentials are given to the author such as if author is affiliated with a university or has a degree Use of broad language Rarely give full citations for sources Tend to be shorter than journal articles -Scholarly Articles (Academic Journals) Are written by researchers such as engineers, historians, and other academics Use jargon or other technical language Length is usually longer Has multiple cited sources within
Components of a URL indicate:
-The protocol -Domain Name or unique name for your -Website, which is where all of the information resides -Location of file or the path to where the item you are viewing resides
The FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection stops unfair, deceptive and fraudulent business practices by:
-collecting complaints and conducting -investigations -suing companies and people that break the law -developing rules to maintain a fair marketplace -educating consumers and businesses about their rights and responsibilities
Use a research database:
-to find information on your topic in magazines, journals, electronic books, newspapers, videos, etc. -to access research materials online via Internet connections at home, work, etc. -to benefit from advanced search features and classification structures designed to help you find information more precisely
Library catalogs are used (cont.)
-to find out what items a library owns on your topic -to find where a specific item is located in a library
The third summary, of the DCC contains thousands of divisions such as:
000 Computer science, information & general works 001 Knowledge 002 The book 003 Systems 004 Data processing & computer science 005 Computer programming, programs & data 006 Special computer methods 007 [Unassigned] 008 [Unassigned] 009 [Unassigned] 010 Bibliography 011 Bibliographies 012 Bibliographies of individuals 013 [Unassigned] 014 Of anonymous & pseudonymous works 015 Bibliographies of works from specific places 016 Bibliographies of works on specific subjects 017 General subject catalogs Just to name a few, note that the third digit in each three-digit number indicates the section. Thus, 610 is used for general works on medicine and health, 611 for human anatomy, 612 for human physiology and 613 for personal health and safety.
The secondary summary, of the DCC contains hundreds of divisions such as:
000 Computer science, knowledge & systems 010 Bibliographies 020 Library & information sciences 030 Encyclopedias & books of facts 040 [Unassigned] 050 Magazines, journals & serials 060 Associations, organizations & museums 070 News media, journalism & publishing 080 Quotations 090 Manuscripts & rare books 100 Philosophy 110 Metaphysics 120 Epistemology 130 Parapsychology & occultism 140 Philosophical schools of thought 150 Psychology 160 Logic 170 Ethics 180 Ancient, medieval & eastern philosophy 190 Modern western philosophy 200 Religion Just to name a few, note the second digit in each three-digit number indicates the division. For example, 600 is used for general works on technology, 610 for medicine and health, 620 for engineering and 630 for agriculture.
The first summary, of the DDC contains ten main classes which are:
000- Computer science, information & general works 100- Philosophy & psychology 200- Religion 300- Social sciences 400- Language 500- Science 600- Technology 700- Arts & recreation 800- Literature 900- History & geography Note: The first digit in each three-digit number represents the main class. For example, 600 represents technology.
How to Brainstorm:
1) Describe your topic in a detailed sentence(s). 2) Underline the main ideas in this sentence(s). 3) Create a list of related keywords and phrases, from the main ideas that you underlined. *When creating your list of keywords and phrases, think of other terms that also describe your topic, including synonyms. Write down any ideas you have, even the ones that may seem off the wall; sometimes they end up being the most helpful. If you have trouble thinking of other words, try using a specialized dictionary or encyclopedia about your subject or a thesaurus. 4) Don't forget to list alternative spellings, abbreviations, and acronyms for words on your list. You should also identify words that have broader or narrower meanings than your original terms.
How do you find the approved subject headings or subject term for your topic?
1) Start with a keyword: Do a word search to find materials on your topic. 2) Check out a relevant article: Examine the list of materials to locate one whose content seems to match your topic. 3) Browse a list of subject terms: Once you have this one item on the computer screen, look at the subject/descriptor field to determine which subject/descriptor heading best matches your topic. Do a new search for material on your topic. This time, try a subject search for the subject/descriptor heading that looked promising
The process of a "information cycle"
1. Internet 2.Media/TV 3.Newspapers 4. Magazines 5. Books
With its structure and flexibility, the DDC has served libraries for over:
130 years so far and has spread to more than 200,000 libraries in 135 countries around the world.
Library filtering or review process is?
A process where librarians select books, magazines, journals, databases, and websites. This selection process allows the library to collect sources considered reliable, historically relevant, and valuable and tailored to the needs of the students and faculty.
FACILITATING ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
Aiding another person in an act that violates the standards of academic honesty; allowing other students to look at one's own work during an exam or in an assignment where collaboration is not allowed; providing information, material, or assistance to another person knowing that it may be used in violation of course, departmental, or college academic honesty policies; providing false information in connection with any academic honesty inquiry.
How is internet filtering is use?
All computers connected to the Internet have an IP Address that identifies where it is located. Based on the location, limiters can be set. Filters can be programmed a few different ways, but typically they will be programmed to filter pages associated with certain keywords. For example, some governments, schools, libraries, employers and parents filter websites to prohibit use of disciplinary and explicit material online.
Net Neutrality
All data products and devices are treated equally.
Abstracts
An abstract is a brief summary of the content of an article. Library databases usually include abstracts that are written by someone at the database company or by the author of the article. However, it can be difficult to tell who wrote the abstract. For this reason, you shouldn't quote from abstracts in your papers. Instead, quote ideas from the actual paper and use the abstract to help you scan articles for relevance to your topic. They can save you time by helping you quickly identify good articles.
What is an index?
An index is a small copy of a database table sorted by key values.
Academic Honesty
As in any learning environment, it is important to be conscientious of academic integrity in all aspects of your educational career. For example, whether you are writing a paper, taking an online exam, or posting an assignment in a course drop-box, it is important to do your own work
Using OR:
Broadens your search, if you are retrieving too few records on your topic, try adding another search term with the connector OR.
Telephone Monitoring
Can my employer listen to my phone calls at work? In most instances, yes. For example, employers may monitor calls with clients or customers for reasons of quality control. However, when the parties to the call are all in California, state law requires that they be informed that the conversation is recorded or monitored by either putting a beep tone on the line or playing a recorded message.
Cookies
Cookies are small files that: -are stored on your computer's hard drive, come from the site you are accessing, -allow the site to store information about what you accessed.
Multidisciplinary vs. Subject Specific
Databases cover many subjects. Starting with a multidisciplinary database, e.g. Excelsior College Library's Academic Source Complete, will help you to find both scholarly and popular publications. Subject specific database have narrower foci, often concentrating on a single discipline (e.g. business, education, health, history, literature, military, nursing, psychology, etc.).
subject searching
Every item in a database is assigned at least one subject heading. (In some databases, the word "descriptor" is used instead of "subject heading.") These subject headings (or descriptors) come from a predetermined list of possible terms and reflect the content of the item. This means that someone actually reviewed an item to determine its contents, and then selected one or more subject headings/descriptors to describe it. Additionally, a subject search is a very specific kind of search, looking in only one field of each record -- the subject field. If you know the subject heading/descriptor which matches your topic, try a subject search. You'll be guaranteed to find a list of items whose content matches your topic. If you don't know the specific subject heading/descriptor, searching by subject becomes trickier. In these cases, trying a word search is a better strategy.
FABRICATION
Falsifying or inventing any information, citation, or data; using improper methods of collecting or generating data and presenting them as legitimate; misrepresenting oneself or one's status in the College; perpetrating hoaxes unbecoming to students in good standing or potentially damaging to the College reputation or that of the members of its academic community of students and scholars.
FALSIFYING RECORDS AND OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS
Forging signatures and/or falsifying documents such as transcripts, diplomas, health status forms, letters of enrollment, qualification, or completion; enrollment and registration forms, applications, or any other official document.
Some Commonly Used Search Engines:
Google- has the largest single catalog of Webpages, and is the most popular search engine. Bing- Having trouble coming up with search terms or narrowing in on what you are looking for? Bing offers a list of suggested terms, topics, and ideas. Duck Duck Go- Doesn't track your previous searches, which isn't just great for privacy, but it is also great for making sure you get the most relevant search results.
My employer's email system has an option for marking messages as "private." Are those messages protected?
In most cases, no. Many email systems have this option, but it does not guarantee your messages are kept confidential. An exception is when an employer's written email policy states that messages marked "private" are kept confidential.
Netiquette
In order to communicate clearly and effectively in an electronic environment, you want to make sure you look and act appropriately online. Sometimes people will act differently online than they do in person because of the feeling of anonymity that interacting online gives them.
Citations
In the research world, citations have nothing to do with traffic tickets. Instead, citations identify published information - print or electronic - in order to locate that item again. For example, citations of articles often include the author, title, year of publication, magazine or journal name, and page numbers.
Information Cycle
Information is created in different sources depending on when an event, movement, or discovery occurred. This flow of information as an event unfolds is called the "information cycle".
Email Monitoring
Is my work email private? If an email system is used at a company, the employer owns it and is allowed to review its contents. Messages sent within the company as well as those that are sent from your terminal to another company or from another company to you can be subject to monitoring by your employer. This may include Internet-based email accounts such as Gmail and Yahoo as well as instant messages.
Groups that publish information on the Internet include:
Libraries - Libraries are major producers and purchasers of quality information on the Web. For example, the Library of Congress puts copies of important historical photographs and documents on their American Memory Website. (Please note that this link is for your information only, it is not required for the final exam.) Universities - Universities put entire classes online as well as provide space for their faculty and students to produce Web pages. Much of the information you need to enroll and register for classes can be found on the Web. Government Agencies - In order to make information available to more people, federal, state and local governments are publishing many documents on the Web. For Example, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) puts copies of tax forms online. Companies - The Web is a major marketing tool for many companies to provide information about their products. For example, Nike produces a popular site full of sports information. Organizations - Organizations have agendas and opinions that they want you to know about. For example, The American Lung Association educates about the dangers of smoking on its Website. People in foreign countries - The Web has global representation. With a computer and a phone connection, anyone can publish on the Web.
Fields
List specific results based on your search, such as the author, source, subject and abstract.
Using AND:
Narrows your search, if you are retrieving too many records on your topic, try adding another search term with the connector AND.
Full Text
Some databases only provide the citation and abstract of an article. These are called indexing databases. They point you to relevant articles, but you may need to look elsewhere to read the entire text. The complete electronic version of an article or book is called the full text. Some databases, such as Academic Search Complete and ebrary, provide entire articles and books online. In many databases, you can limit your search so that it only returns books and articles that are available online as full text.
Is there ever a circumstance in which my messages are private?
Some employers use encryption to protect the privacy of their employees' email. Encryption involves scrambling the message at the sender's terminal, then unscrambling the message at the terminal of the receiver. This ensures the message is read only by the sender and his or her intended recipient. While this system prevents co-workers and industrial "spies" from reading your email, your employer may still have access to the unscrambled messages.
Types of materials:
Some examples include government documents, conference proceedings, electronic books, or magazine and journal articles. Knowing what type of information you are looking for will make your selection easier.
Libraries are organized by?
Subject and classification systems which represent the subjects by call numbers indicated by letters and numbers.
Emoticons
Symbols used online to convey your tone of voice. Emoticons are created from different characters on your keyboard. Using emoticons can help you prevent the misunderstandings that often happen online due to a lack of "nonverbal" clues. This smiley face is an example: =) A smiley face emoticon at the end of a sentence lets your reader know you meant to say things in a pleasant manner.
Boolean Operators or Connectors
The Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT are often used to combine keywords when searching research databases. Use of these operators can make your search more focused, thus yielding more precise search results
Web
The Web allows you to access most types of information on the Internet through a browser. One of the main features of the Web is the ability to quickly link to other related information. The Web contains information beyond plain text, including sounds, images and video.
PLAGIARISM
The attempt to represent the work of another, as the product of one's own thought, whether deliberate or unintentional,l is considered plagiarism.
What do the numbers on the right side of the decimal point represent in the DCC?
The numbers on the right side are used to divide a specific subject into even more specific parts of a subject.
Computer and Workstation Monitoring
There are several types of computer monitoring: Employers can use computer software that enables them to see what is on the screen or stored in the employees' computer terminals and hard disks. Employers can monitor Internet usage such as web-surfing and email. Employers can keep track of the amount of time an employee spends away from the computer or idle time at the terminal. Keystroke monitoring tell an employer how many keystrokes per hour each employee is performing. It also may inform employees if they are above or below the standard number of keystrokes expected.
Flames
These are derogatory or angry e-mail messages sent to an online discussion group. They are meant to loudly voice one's opinion and to attack another's.
The Dewey Decimal Classification system—or DDC:
This system got its name from Melvil Dewey (1851-1931), who introduced his great idea for organizing library collections in 1876.
What kinds of sources do I need?
To select the best source for information, you first need to understand what the differences are among the various kinds of sources that provide us information. By doing so, you will be better able to zero in on the kind of information you are looking for and maximize your search time.
SPAM
Unwanted communication that are typically geared at trying to sell you something.
Email is a method of online communication with one or more people using special software on an Internet-connected computer.
Use email: - to find an opinion by an expert in the field - to access postings and messages on newsgroups and listservs - to ask your reference librarian a question about research - to correspond with your instructor in your course - to collaborate with colleagues at work on a project - to contact a company for more information
Cheating
Using unauthorized technology during an examination; attempting to communicate with other others in order to get help during an exam or in an assignment where collaboration is not allowed; obtaining an examination prior to its administration; allowing another person to do one's work and/or impersonate a student; obstructing or interfering with another student's academic work; undertaking any activity intended to obtain an unfair advantage over other students.
Internet Filtering
When an entity (e.g. government) controls what can and cannot be viewed online.
to start your search:
You should start with a broad (default setting) search to see what's available then pinpoint and narrow down your search results by limiting a field, such as abstracts.
When you see https this indicates?
a secure Website (using the "s" at the end). Generally, a Website that requests personal information (e.g. credit card numbers, date of birth, etc.) will begin with https.
The Internet
also known as 'the Net' — began in the 1960's as a US military initiative to create secure and robust communications in time of conflict. The important concept was of a network of computers, each communicating with several other computers in the network, but not with all of them. A data transmission from one computer to another thus generally traveled by stages, handed on from one computer to another.
A library catalog is?
an online index of what the library owns, so it will show you titles of books, journals, magazines, newspapers, full-length videos, etc. (The catalog, unlike research databases, cannot be used to search for the titles of chapters, articles, or short video clips.)
Encyclopedias
are collections of short, factual entries often written by different contributors who are knowledgeable about the topic. There are two types of encyclopedias — general and subject.
