Library Skills

By: Mohammed S. Al Ghamdi Library, Information Center & e-Learning Consultant

Use the reference librarians. Understand how your library is organized. Begin the search using encyclopedias. Learn how to do a good online search. Evaluate the quality of your sources. Keep up-to-date on changes by using your reference librarians - they are the guides to the information highway.

The Stacks - Where most books are kept The Reference Section - Items that can not be checked out as they are in high demand The Periodical Section - Daily, weekly and monthly publications

AV Section - Audio and video materials Computer Section - Databases on CD, or access to Internet search engines Maps or Document Section - Area where government documents or other research is held

Search by keywords - You can combine keywords to narrow the search Search by author Search by title

Assess the quality and reliability of the article (is it well written and backed up by other relevant research?) Assess the source of the article (the background of the company or the author)

Research Papers are designed to teach you:

How to find information

How to organize information

How to report information

Preparing To Search The Internet

Helping Students Search Effectively

Surfing is not searching


They do not teach you to think.
Computer education imparts technical skills; It does not impart knowledge.
John Rosemond

Not all the information that exists in the world is on the Internet Not all the information that is on the Internet is accurate.
Mrs. Kotsch

An hour on the Web may not answer a question that you could find within two minutes of picking up a reference book.

 URLs Searching techniques Search engines

http://www.starwars.com/seminars.html
http://--hypertext transfer protocol:
the language computers use to talk to one another

wwwworld wide web:

the body of information connected by the cables and computers of the Internet

.starwarsdomain name:

the structured, alphabetic-based, unique name for a computer on a network

.comtop level domain:

giv es an idea of where the document is stored

/seminarsfile name:
a folder within a website

.htmlhypertext markup language:

the computer language used to format documents

 .eduhigher education

.k-12elementary and secondary schools

.comcommercial .govgovernment agency

.milmilitary
.orggeneral noncommercial organization .netcomputer network

Advertisers pay for Internet websites. Popups and banners are trying to influence your spending habits. The information on commercial sites--.commay be presented in such a way as to encourage you to buy a particular product. Be wary of URLs with a ~ in the addressthis indicates a personal homepage and does not guarnantee accuracy.

 Libraries and department stores are planned. No one is in charge of organizing the Internet. Well-prepared searches will eliminate useless hits and wasted time.

Prepare Organize Combine

What do you need to know about your topic? Make a list of all the terms connected with your topic. Include names, organizations, and phrases.

Make a list of the words that are critical to your search. Note terms that you dont want to see appear. Discard the rest.

If you are looking for information about life on the planet Mars, you dont want sites popping up about the Roman god of war.
Put that in your list of words you dont want to see. What other words might be connected with your topic that will send you to useless sites?

Use Boolean operators to combine your most important terms.

Use AND to connect the terms you want to see. Use NOT to exclude terms you dont want. Use OR to include similar terms. Use quotation marks around names or phrases Use lower case for all proper nouns, except for acronyms

mars AND planet AND life NOT god

But what if

you WERE looking for information about the Roman god of war? The Greeks referred to him as Ares, so now your search will look like this.

Notice the quotation marks around the phrase god of war

Search engines Search directories Metasearchers

Are like the index in the back of a book Let you search for specific words and topics Use robots known as spiders to search for information.

Alta Vista Excite Hotbot Infoseek

Are like the table of contents in front of a book

Let you search for concepts or subject categories

Go from general to specific. Sites are added by people.

Internet Public Library

Instead of looking through the categories in a search directory, you can put in your terms in their search bar, but it will only look through the sites that have been included within that directorynot the entire web, unless indicated.

Sends your search terms to several other search engines at once. Gives an overview of a topic across the Internet.

Profusion Dogpile Metacrawler

Hits are returned and ranked according to-How many times terms appear on the page How often terms appear How close terms are to each other How near the top of the page the terms are found

The best results will appear on the first page or two of hits No two search engines are alike. Try another search engine, or rephrase your terms if you dont get good results.

7 Steps to Better Searching

Let the buyer beware

Book publishers weed out inaccurate information. No one checks the Internet for accuracy.

EVALUATE!

Is he an authority on the subject? Does she have an e-mail address?

Can it be verified in an encyclopedia? Is it relevant to your topic? Does the author indicate where he found the information?

Is it trying to persuade you to another point of view? Is it trying to persuade you to buy a product?

When was the last time the website was updated? Are the links broken?

Quality Information Checklist

Benefits of Colloidal Silver Burger King Introduces

What can you copy? Give credit to what you have used.

Is the legal right of an author or artist to control the copying and use of their creative works. Taking something without permission is theft, including text and pictures from the Internet. Using someone elses words without giving credit is called plagiarism. Fair Use concept lets teachers and students use portions of copyrighted works without permission.

Literary works Computer software Musical works Dramatic works Motion pictures Sound recordings

Am I using this for a nonprofit, educational purpose? Am I only using a small portion? Will the creator be deprived of future profits?

A single , hard copy for personal or educational use. Limited amounts of websites. Copies cannot be used for public or commercial use. Students must cite the source of their information. For multi-media projects: Video clips10% or three minutes Music10% but no more than 30 seconds. Text10% or 1000 words

The diocesan copyright policy COPYRIGHT FOR SCHOOLS, by Carol Simpson Copyright Bay Copyright Kids Cyberbee Copyright

Last name, first name of author.

If there is no author listed, begin with the title. Put quote marks around the title Underline the name Put the date first, then abbreviate the month.

Title of article within the website.

Name of website.
Date article was written. Date you accessed the article. URL.

If the URL wont fit on one line, break it at a slash. Include the entire URL, not just the one for the home page.

MLA Style Citation Machine

Dont give out personal information.

(phone number, address, pictures)

Use Christian courtesy in e-mails and chat rooms. Dont arrange to meet with someone from online without telling your parents. Do tell your parents about inappropriate websites that you run across. Be careful what you post in a public forum.

You leave electronic footprints wherever you go on the web.

Books
Jones, Debra. Exploring the Internet using critical thinking skills: A guide for learning to effectively use the Internet and evaluate online information. New York : Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.,1999. Simpson, Carol, and McElmeel, Sharron L. Internet for Schools: A Practical Guide, 3rd ed. Worthington, Ohio: Linworth Publishing,Inc., 2000.

Websites
Adams, Helen, and Beyers, Catherine. Lesson 2: Finding Information on the Internet. American Library Association. Dec. 15, 2003. <http://www.ala.org/cfapps/archive.cfm?path=ICONNfclesson2.html>.
Dodge, Bernie. Seven Steps to Better Searching. San Diego State University College of Education. July 8, 1999. 15 Nov. 2001. <http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/tpss99/searching/ sevensteps.htm.>

Knowledge is power.
Librarians Rule.