Critically evaluate information using applicable criteria

Appropriately use information to fulfill the identified need

English 1102

English 1102 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Questions to ask yourself

What do I want to know? know your assignment

How do I find what I need? types of resources

Is what I found right for me? evaluate

Proper Planning Prevents…

Brainstorm Talk with friendsBrowse indexes, table of contents

DefineKnow your audienceNarrow vs. broad

IdentifyMain topic plus related concepts/ideas List synonyms for each

Search Strategy

Putting it all together

Connect your main topic with related terms

Be flexible with your combination of terms and synonyms

Boolean Operators

AND = narrow

OR = expand

NOT = exclude

AND is automatically used by Google and other search engines to combine terms

Search Terms

Concept 1

AND

Concept 2

AND

Concept 3

Main idea Subtopic Subtopic

OR OR OR

Synonym Synonym Synonym

OR OR OR

Synonym Synonym Synonym

• Use “ “ or ( ) to keep words together & in order• Connect different concepts with AND• Connect similar concepts with OR

Search Term Worksheet

Concept 1

AND

Concept 2

AND

Concept 3

“binge drinking” college impact

OR OR OR

(alcohol abuse) university result

OR OR OR

“excessive drinking” “higher education”

Books

Articles

Online Resources

Know where to look

Books

comprehensive information

often a historical perspective

find book titles in the CSU Catalog

CSU Catalog

Basic search

different ideas connected with AND

Advanced search

Articles

contemporary or new information

narrowly focused perspective

find articles in a database citation

full-text

Articles

Articles

Academic Search Completecovers many subjects with a high percentage of full-text articles

Academic Search Complete

Select Advanced Search

Search Strategy = “binge drinking” AND college AND impact

different ideas connected with AND

similar ideas connected with OR

Search Strategy = (“binge drinking” OR “alcohol abuse”) AND (college OR university) AND impact

Use “ “ or ( ) to keep words together & in order

Results List: Categories

Remove limiters by clicking the orange X

Use suggested subject terms to strengthen your results

Article Access Level

Detailed Record

Online Resources

today’s information

broad, variety perspective

may be unstable

find resources from reliable online sources

Know Your Domains

Extension Type

.edu Educational institution

.org Non-profit service organizations

.gov Government agency

.mil Military entities

.biz Businesses

.com Commercial organization

.net Internet service providers

Critically evaluate information using applicable criteria

Evaluating Information

Evaluate: Authority

Determine the need for an expert perspective

Who is the author?

What are the author’s credentials?

What affiliations does the author have?

Is contact information provided?

Who published the work?

Who sponsored the work?

Evaluate: Currency

Determine the need for a contemporary or historical perspective for your topic

When was the work published?

Are there multiple editions?

Examine the currency of the references

© 2013 updated 1:33 PM EST, Tue February 12, 2013

Evaluate: Content

Determine the information need

Who is the intended audience?

What is the purpose? scope?

Examine objectivity, accuracy

Is the information verifiable?

Evaluate overall quality

Evaluate overall usefulness, appropriateness

Authority

Currency

Content

Content

Authority

Authority

Currency

Content

Authority

Content

Content

Currency

Authority

Authority

Content

Content

Currency

Authority

Final Review

1. Know your assignment

2. Clarify your topic

3. Be flexible in your search

4. Critically evaluate your resources

www.clayton.edu/library