Info lit Wrap Up(aka: What I hope you learned)

The end is near!

• What is information literacy?

• Why do you think this class is required?

You’ve got Skillz

• Information literacy is a big set of skills. You probably had some of these skills coming into this class:

– Knowing what questions to ask– Knowing where to look for information– Critically thinking and evaluating the information

you find– Giving proper credit, when credit is due.

Knowing what Questions to Ask(defining the topic)

In order to find information, we have to know how to define the topic, narrow it down, and figure out, what it is, exactly we are looking for.

Remember the information overload video from week 1?The Search Overload commercials?When will you use this skill? ALL the time.

Knowing what ?’s to ask… Choosing a topic and choosing key words to search What do I want to research? How can I narrow it down? What are the main

concepts? What are the main keywords I need to search, and their synonyms?

Deciding what degree best fits you What am I good at? What do I enjoy? How much money do I want to make? Will

this degree lead to a job, or more school?

Getting started on any paper or assignment What are the requirements? What kind of topic is this instructor wanting? How

many sources do I need to find, and will I be able to find that number?

Knowing Where & How to Search

• Getting started with research – ANY research – is kind of like solving a mystery, Or putting a puzzle together.

• It’s a two part process: – You’ve asked questions, and narrowed down what

you are looking for, but now:– 1, Where do you start searching– 2, How do you search for it? And Where?!

Knowing where to look…• You meet a young man at the grocery store, and he

gave you his phone number but you lost it! His name is John Smith…. How will you ever find him?

• Where do you look?

• Why?

• How do you search?

• Would you search the same place if your boss asked you to do research?

Knowing where to look…• There are SO many places to find information:

everything from Facebook and Youtube to scholarly databases like Academic search premier.

• Knowing where to look for what type of information is important!

• Knowing HOW to search when you get there is equally as important. – Keywords, limiters, boolean, synonyms.

Evaluating!!• This is the easiest step to overlook. We get so

excited about finding information, that we just want to start writing our papers and forget to check the sources!

• Another way to think of it is critical thinking.

• Do you believe what your friend’s post on their status updates? Or do you verify the facts?

• We evaluate in real life all the time. – We won’t buy a pair of shoes because we

know it’s cheaper elsewhere.– We don’t send money to Nigerian princes.– We hear the cousin Lilly is pregnant, but we

call her to make sure.– We hear Charlie Sheen has tigerblood, so

we go to the National Institute of Health website to see if that’s even possible.

– We don’t post our private information on facebook, even though they tell us its safe.

– A friend tell us that Kroger is on the left side of the road, but you check Google maps, just to make sure.

Evalutate! Critically Think!• In research, we have to evaluate to make

sure we are using the best sources. – Scholarly vs Popular– Source types and the publishing process– Websites!!! Urls, blogs, etc.

• On the internet, we look at the CRAAP test:– Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy,

Purpose.

– Important to evaluate books and journal articles too.

Last step… Giving Credit (APA)

• The last big step in being information literate is knowing how to give credit when credit is due.

• You’ve narrowed your topic, found sources, and made sure they’re good… all that’s left is putting the pieces together, and citing those sources!

Citing sources…• Another thing we do all the time!

• “I got directions off google.”

• “Jeana told me about this place.”

• “I read a review for it on Amazon.”

• “Did you see that youTube video?”

Citing sources

• It’s natural to share where we got information…

• Not so natural to do it in a super specific weird way as required by APA.

Why Cite? Well, it’s nice to be honest about where you got your

information.

And frankly, if you write that Sandra Day O’Conner got her start on a farm, with impoverished parents who desired to send her to law school – no one is going to believe you knew that off that top of your head.

Readers like to be able to “track” sources. If they are interested in your paper, likely they will be interested in the sources you point to.

Putting it all together…• So, those four main things:• 1 – Asking the right questions– Narrowing topics, keywords, defining exactly what it

is you are looking for.• 2 – Knowing where to search, and how– Solving the mystery! Finding answers!

• 3- Evaluating what you find– Is it any good? Critical thinking.

• 4 – Giving credit where it’s due– Citing sources, APA.

And you’re….

Information Literate!

When will you do this?

You do it already!

But you will use these skills in the future:Writing papers

Everyday life Your future careers