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Searching For Truth Through Information Literacy
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Enteringcollegecanbeabigtransition.Youfaceanewenvironment,meetnew
people,andexplorenewideas.Oneofthebiggestchallengesinthetransitiontocollegeliesinvocabulary.Intheworldofhighereducation,weusemanywordsthatareuncommonelsewhere.Tryingtolearnallofthesenewtermscanbeadauntingtask.Wehavecompiledthisglossaryofcommoncollegeterms,especiallythoserelatingtoinformationliteracy—oneofthemostimportantcomponentsofthecollegeexperience—tohelpyouhitthegroundrunningatLFCC.AbstractAnabstractislikeasummaryofanacademicpaper.Readingabstractsisagoodwaytoevaluatetherelevanceofaparticularsource.Academia/academicAcademiaisanenvironmentfocusedonlearningandscholarship,likeacollegeoruniversity.“Academic”isanadjectiveusedtodescribethings,people,andideasthatarerootedineducation.AcademicdishonestyAcademicdishonestyincludestraditionalformsofcheating,plagiarism,andgivingorreceivingassistanceonanassignmentwithoutyourinstructor’spermission.Lookingupananswerduringaclosed-bookexamisacademicallydishonest.Writingasentenceinsomeoneelse’spaperisalsoaformofacademicdishonesty.Ingeneral,anyactionthatmakesyouorsomeoneelseappeartohaveabettergrasponthecoursecontentthantheyactuallydoisacademicdishonesty.AcademicjournalAnacademicjournalisanofficialpublication,similartoamagazine,withinafield.Forexample,theJournaloftheAmericanMedicalAssociationisastandardandrespectedsourceofinformationinthemedicalfield.Journalarticlesarewell-researchedandareoftenpeer-reviewed.Academicjournalscanbeexcellentsourcesforrecentandreliableinformation;thesameinformationmaynotbepublishedinbooksforseveralyears.Checkyourcollegelibrary’scatalogorascholarlydatabasetofindjournalarticlesthatarerelevanttoyourtopic.AdjacencysearchesSomedatabasesallowuserstosearchfortermsthatappearwithinacertainnumberofwordsofeachother.Forexample,usinganadjacencysearchfor“childpsychology”mightreturnresultsincluding“psychologyofthechild”or“childdevelopmentandpsychology.”Everydatabasehasitsownwaytospecifytheparametersofanadjacencysearch,socheckthedatabaseyouareusing.
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Analysis/AnalyzeToanalyzeaworkistoconsideritsmeaningandimplications.Analysisisdifferentfromsummary.Annotatedbibliography(annotatedbib)Anannotatedbibliographyconsistsofcitationsandadditionalinformationaboutresources.Anannotatedbibliographymayincludetheauthor’scredentials,thepurposeofthework,asummaryofthemainpointsdiscussedinthework,andhowtheworksupportsorcontradictsotherresearchonyourtopic.APAstyle“APA”standsfor“AmericanPsychologicalAssociation.”APAstyleisthecitationstyleusedinpsychologyandinthemedicalfield.Thiscitationstyleisstandardinscienceclasses.AttributionAnattributiongivescredittoacreatorororiginalsource.Itisimportanttociteworksproperlysothatsourcesareattributedtotherightperson.Attributingaworktothewrongpersonisaformofplagiarism.Authoritative/authorityTheauthorityofasourceisbasedonitscredibility.Anauthoritativesourceisarespectedandreliablesourceofinformation.Bias/biasedBiasisatendencytofavor(oroppose)aparticularpointofvieworclaimbecauseofpersonalconnections,previousexperience,ortheprospectoffinancialgain.Forexample,apersonwhowasbittenbyadogmightbelievethatdogsmaketerriblepets;thisisaformofbias.Simiarly,awebsitethatisconnectedtoaparticularherbalremedymayhaveabiasagainstsomeotherformsofmedicine.Biasedsourcestendtobeunreliablebecausetheyoftenlackadequateresearchandfactualevidencetosupporttheirideas.Seealso:unbiased.BibliographyAbibliographyisalistofthebooks,articles,andothersourcesconsultedduringtheresearchforaprojectorpaper.Individualitemsonthelistmaybereferredtoas“citations”or“entries.”Theinformationincludedinthebibliographyandtheformatofthebibliographyentrieswillvarydependingonthecitationstyleused.
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BooleanoperatorsBooleanoperatorsarewords(suchas“AND,”“NOT,”and“OR”)thatcanbeaddedtoaWebsearchtobroadenornarrowthesearchresults.UsingGoogletosearchfor“concussionsNOTfootball”willpreventanywebsitesthatmentionfootballfromappearinginsearchresults.CallnumberAcallnumberisanitem’saddressinalibrary.Inmostcollegelibraries,thecallnumberwillincludelettersandnumbers,like“PS584.B43.”Thefirstlettersindicateasectionofthelibrary,andthenumbersindicatetheorderofthebooksontheshelf.Callnumberscanbefoundinalibrarycatalog.CatalogSee“librarycatalog.”ChicagostyleChicagostyleisthecitationstylebasedonTheChicagoManualofStyle.Thiscitationstyleusesfootnotesinsteadofparentheticalcitations.Itiscommoninhistoryclasses.CitationAcitationistheinformationrequiredtogivecredittoanoriginalsource.Inmostcitationstyles,in-textcitationsandabibliographyareused.Citationstypicallyincludeinformationsuchastheauthor’sname,thetitleofthework,thepublisher,thepublicationyear,andtherelevantpagenumbers.Itisimportanttousepropercitationstoavoidaccidentalplagiarism.CitationstyleAcitationstyleisasetofstandardsthatexplainhowtogivecredittooriginalsources,includinghowtoformatcitationsproperly.PopularcitationsstylesareAPAstyle,Chicagostyle,andMLAstyle.CiteTociteistogivecredittoasourceofinformation.CommonknowledgeApieceofinformationisconsideredcommonknowledgeifthetypicalpersonintheintendedaudiencewillalreadybefamiliarwiththatinformation.
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ContainerInMLAstyle,acontaineristhegreaterworkthatcontainsasmallerwork.Whencitingashortstoryfromananthology,thetitleoftheshortstoryisconsideredthetitleofthework,andthetitleoftheanthologyisconsideredthe“container.”ThesameconceptappliestoWebarticles;thewebsiteitselfwouldbeconsideredthe“container.”CopyrightCopyrightisthelegalownershipofacreativework,suchasapieceofwritingoramusicalcomposition.IntheUnitedStates,copyrightisautomaticallygivenatthemomentofcreation.Tousesomeoneelse’sworkwithoutpermissioniscopyrightinfringement.CopyrightinfringementCopyrightinfringementinvolvesusingacopyrightedworkwithoutpermission.Printingsomeoneelse’spoeminagreetingcardwithoutfirstobtainingwrittenpermissionfromthecopyrightholder(owner)isillegalandispunishablebysteepfines.CreativeCommonslicenseACreativeCommonslicenseallowscreators(likeauthors,illustrators,andmusicians)tomaketheirworkavailableforfreetothepublicwithcertainstipulations,liketherequirementthatthecreatorbecreditedeveniftheworkisaltered.CreativeCommonslicensesdonotreplacecopyright,theysimplyallowpeopletousecopyrightedmaterialwithoutcontactingthecreatordirectly.ThetermsoftheCreativeCommonslicensemustbefollowedtopreventcopyrightinfringement.Credible(credibility)Acrediblesourceisareliablesourceofinformation.Scholarlysourcesarecredible.Tocheckforcredibility,lookattheauthor’scredentials,considerthereputationofthepublisher,andexaminetheargumentsandclaimsinthework.CriticalthinkingCriticalthinkingislike“activethinking.”Criticalthinkinginvolvesanalysisandevaluationtogainagreaterunderstandingofinformation.Criticalthinkersdonottakeinformationatfacevalue;instead,theyconnectnewpiecesofinformationtooldpiecesofinformationtocreateamorecompleteunderstanding.CurrencyThecurrencyofasourceisitscurrent-ness,orhowrecentlytheinformationwaspublished.DatabaseAdatabaseisacollectionofinformation.Academicdatabasesincludeacademicjournalarticles.
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DictionaryAdictionaryliststhemeanings(definitions)ofwords.Manydictionariesincludeinformationonhowwordsarepronounced.ThemostrespecteddictionaryinacademiaistheOxfordEnglishDictionary,oftencalled“theOED.”DiscoursecommunityAdiscoursecommunityisagroupofpeoplewhocommunicatewitheachotheraboutcertaintopicsandsharethesamegoalsandvaluesconcerningtheirtopic.Agroupofdoctorswhocometogethertodiscusstheirworkdevelopingnewtreatmentsforskincancerwouldbeconsideredadiscoursecommunity.DomainAdomainisanareagovernedorownedbyaspecificpersonorgroupofpeople(“theKinglookedoutoverhisdomain”).Intheworldofresearch,weoftenencounterWebdomains,commonlythoughtofasthenameofwebsites.Inwww.lfcc.edu/tutor,“lfcc”isthedomain.DynamicinformationDynamicinformationisinformationthatislikelytochangeortobeupdatedovertime.AlistofAmericanOlympianscouldbedynamicbecausetheinformationwillchangefromyeartoyear.Seealso:staticinformation.EncyclopediaAnencyclopediaislikeanexpandeddictionary.Ratherthansimplydefiningwords,encyclopediaentriesgiveexplainconceptsandprovidefactsabouttopics.Encyclopediasaretraditionallybooks,butreliableonlineversionsareavailablethroughmostlibraries.FairuseFairuseallowssmallamountsofcopyrightedmaterialtobeusedincertainsituationswithoutviolatingcopyrightlaw.Ingeneral,briefquotesusedinteaching,criticalreviews,andresearchpapersareconsideredfairuse.Fairusequotesmuststillbecitedtopreventplagiarism.GlossaryAglossaryissimilartoadictionary,butprovidesmoreexplanationforeachword.Glossariesfocusonspecifictopicsandareoftenfoundinthebackoftextbooks.HumanitiesHumanitiescoursesexaminesubjectsrelatedtohumanlife,interaction,andculture,includingart,history,andliterature.
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IndexAnindexisalistofitemsortermsandtheirlocations.Indexesarecommonlyfoundinthebackofbookstohelpreaderslocatethepagenumberforaspecificpieceofinformation.InformationliteracyInformationliteracyisasetofskills,includingknowingwheninformationisneeded,locatinginformation,assessingthecredibilityofinformation,usinginformationtoanswerquestions,andeffectivelyexplaininginformationtoothers.Informationliteracyofteninvolvescriticalthinking.In-textcitationAnin-textcitationisacitationthatappearswithinthebodyofthepaper.Anin-textcitationcanincludeasignalphrase(like“accordingto”)andanyinformationrequiredbytherelevantcitationstyle.In-textcitationsoftenincludeauthor’snames,titles,pagenumbers,and/orpublicationyears.JournalSee“academicjournal.”LexiconA“lexicon”issimilarto“lingo”or“jargon.”Itisthecollectionoflanguageusedbythemembersofaparticularcommunityorfieldofstudy.Thislanguageisoftenunfamiliartoindividualsoutsidethecommunity.LibrarycatalogAlibrarycatalogisasearchablelistingofallthematerialsavailableinalibrary.Thecatalogcanbesearchedbytitle,author,subject,keyword,andmaterialtype.Thelibrarycatalogliststhecallnumbers(locations)foreveryiteminthelibrary’scollection.LiteraryanalysisAliteraryanalysisisawrittenanalysisofapiece(ormultiplepieces)ofliterature.Aliteraryanalysisisnotasummaryoftheoriginalwork.Instead,aliteraryanalysiswill“readbetweenthelines”oftheliteratureinordertodiscussitstheme,symbols,meaning,andimplicationsforthereader.MLAstyle(MLAformat)“MLA”standsfor“ModernLanguageAssociation.”MLAstyleisthecitationstyleusedinhumanitiesfields.ExpecttousethisstyleinEnglishclasses.
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OpenaccessSomeresearchpublishedonlineisdesignatedas“openaccess,”meaningthattheinformationcanbeusedfreelybyanyone.Thesesourcesmuststillbecited,buttheinformationdoesnotneedtobepurchased.ParentheticalcitationParentheticalcitationsarein-textcitationsenclosedinparentheses.ParentheticalcitationsarecommoninMLAstyleandAPAstyle.ParaphraseToparaphraseistoputsomeoneelse’sideaintoyourownwordswithoutchangingthemeaning.Forexample,Bobmayhavesaid“getoutofhere,”butyoucouldparaphraseBobbysaying,“Bobtoldmetoleave.”Quotationmarksarenotrequiredforparaphrasedinformation,butallparaphrasedinformationmustbecitedproperlytoavoidplagiarism.Peer-reviewedApeer-reviewedarticleisonethathasbeencheckedbyapanelofexpertsintheauthor’sfieldtoensurethattheauthor’sclaimsarebasedonsolidresearchandthattheinformationcontainedintheauthor’sworkisreliable.PlagiarismPlagiarismistheactofpresentinganotherperson’sworkasyourown.Failuretocitesourcesproperlyandallowingsomeoneelsetocompletepartofyourworkarebothexamplesofplagiarism.Plagiarismmayresultinastudentfailinganassignment,failingacourse,orbeingexpelledfromcollege.PrimarySourceAprimarysourceisanoriginalsourceofinformation.Eyewitnessaccounts,journals,historicaldocuments,andtheoriginalpublicationofscientificevidenceareprimarysources.Seealso:secondarysource.QuoteToquoteistouseanotherperson’sexactwords.Forexample,“Asknotwhatyourcountrycandoforyou;askwhatyoucandoforyourcountry,”isafamousquotefromJohnF.Kennedy.Whenusingaquote,usequotationmarkstoseparateyourwordsfromtheoriginalspeaker’swords.Quotesshouldalwaysbecited.Reference“Reference”means“referto.”IfyoudiscussedtheDeclarationofIndependenceinyourpaper,youreferenced(referredto)it.
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ReferencecollectionThereferencecollectionofalibraryisacollectionofbooksthatarereferredtofrequentlytoanswerquestions.Bookslikedictionaries,atlases,andencyclopediasareoftenfoundinreferencecollections.ReferencesTheword“references”isoftenusedtomean“sources.”Forexample,aprofessormayaskyouwhatreferencesyouplantouseforyourresearchpaper.ReferencespageThe“referencespage”isthebibliographyusedinAPAstyledocuments.ResearchToconductresearchistosearchfor,collect,andevaluateinformationonaspecifictopic.ResearchincludesmorethanrunningaGooglesearch.Researchcaninvolveextensivereading,developingandredevelopingsearchterms,andanalyzingresults.ResearchquestionAresearchquestionisthebigquestionthatyouareattemptingtoanswerinyourresearchproject,like“Howtopenguinsreartheiryoung?”Developingaclearandcomprehensiveresearchquestionisoneofthefirstandmostimportantstepsofaresearchproject.ResearchtoolsResearchtools,suchaslibrarycatalogs,databases,andsearchengines,helpyouconductresearcheffectively.SafeAssignSafeAssignisanonlineplagiarismdetectiontoolusedbymanycollegesanduniversities.WhenapaperisuploadedtoSafeAssignthroughaBlackboardsubmissionlink,thepaperisautomaticallyscannedforphrasesthatappearonwebsitesorinpreviousstudentsubmissions.Thesephrasesarehighlightedsothatyourinstructorcanensurethateach“borrowed”phraseisproperlycited.ScholarlyarticleAscholarlyarticleisanarticlethatisconsideredascholarlysource.Scholarlyarticlesaretypicallyfoundinacademicjournals,butscholarlyarticlescansometimesbefoundfromotherreliable,academicsources.
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ScholarlysourceAscholarlysourceisasource(suchasanarticleorabook)thatissuitableforacademicresearch.Articlesinpeer-reviewedjournalsarescholarlysourcesbecausetheyarewrittenandreviewedbyexperts.Buzzfeedlistsarenotscholarlysourcesbecausetheyareoftenopinion-basedandthewritersmaynotbequalifiedexperts.Seealso:credible.SearchengineAsearchengineisatoolthathelpslocateinformationontheInternet.Asearchenginedoesnotcontainanyinformation,butitcandirectuserstoWebpagesthathaveinformationrelevanttotheuser’ssearchterms.SearchstrategyBeforeyoubeginresearchingatopic,itcanbehelpfultodevelopasearchstrategy.Todevelopasearchstrategy,sitdownandthinkaboutkeywords,synonyms,andsimilarideasrelatedtoyourtopictodevelopyoursearchterms.ConsiderwhichBooleanoperatorsyoucanusetogetthebestresults.Decidewhattypeofsourcesyouneedandwhereyouwillbeabletofindthem.SearchtermsSearchtermsarethewordsusedtosearchforcontentwhenconductingaWeb-basedsearchwithasearchengine,suchasGoogleoranonlinelibrarycatalog.SearchinglanguageSearchinglanguageincludesthesearchtermsandBooleanoperatorsusedwhenconductingaWeb-basedsearchwithasearchengine.Searchinglanguageisdifferentfromnaturalspeakinglanguagebecausesearchenginesusekeywordsinsteadofcomprehendingcompleteideas.Searchinglanguageshouldincorporatethekeywordsthatwillhelpasearchenginefindthecontentyouarelookingfor.SecondarysourceSecondarysourcesaresourcesthathavedrawnoninformationfromotherpeople.AbookabouttheRevolutionaryWarwouldbeasecondarysourcebecauseitscontentisbasedonresearch,notonfirsthandexperiences.Seealso:primarysource.SignalphraseSignalphrasesareanimportantpartofcitingsourcesinwriting.Phrasessuchas“accordingto”and“asstatedin”aresignalphrases;theyhelpyouindicatetheoriginalsourceofinformationandseparateyourideasfromotherpeople’sideas.
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SocialsciencesThesocialsciencesareacademicfieldsofstudyfocusedonhumanbehavior.Thesocialsciencesincludepsychology,sociology,linguistics,economics,politicalscience,andanthropology.StaticinformationStaticinformationisinformationthatwillnotchangeovertime.Historicalfactsarestatic.Seealso:dynamicinformation.SubjectheadingsSubjectheadingsareusedinlibrariesanddatabasestocategorizesourcesonaspecifictopic.Forexample,“Americanpoetry--20thcentury”isasubjectheadingusedtoidentify20thcenturyAmericanpoetry.Inmostlibrarycatalogs,subjectheadingsarelistedintheitem’sdescriptionordetails,andyoucanclickonthesubjectheadingtorunanewsearchforothercontentinthesamecategory.SummarizeTosummarizeistocreateasummary.SummaryAsummaryisashorter,morepointed,“barebones”versionoftheinformationinagivensource.SynthesizeTosynthesizeinformationmeanstocombineinformationfromdifferentsourcestocreateacompleteidea.Forexample,youmayuseinformationfromthreedifferentsourcestodescribeasingleevent.Paycloseattentiontocitationswhensynthesizinginformation;citingapieceofinformationincorrectlyoraccidentallyattributinginformationtothewrongsourceisaformofplagiarism.ThesaurusAthesaurusisacollectionoflistsofwordsthataresimilartootherwords.Forexample,thethesaurusentryfor“big”mightsuggestwordssuchas“gigantic”and“huge.”TrademarkTheword“trademark”referstosomethingforwhichsomeoneisknown.Forexample,ifsomeonealwayswearsapurplehat,thehatwouldbecomeatrademarkforthatperson.Intheworldofcopyright,atrademarkisasymbol(liketheNikeswish)orphrase(“JustDoIt”)thatrepresentsacompany.Trademarksareoftenregisteredlegallytopreventotherpeoplefromusingthem.
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Truncate/truncationTotruncatesomethingistomakeitshorterbyremovinginformation.Youmighttruncateaquotebyremovingsomewordsthatareirrelevanttoyourpaper.Whenyouarealteringsomeoneelse’swordsinthisway,youmustshowyourreadersthatyouomittedpartoftheoriginalcontent;thisistypicallydonewithanellipsis(threeperiods).UnbiasedAnunbiasedsourcepresentsfactsandevidencewithoutallowingpersonalconnectionsorfinancialincentivestodistorttheinformation.Seealso:bias.URL“URL”standsfor“UniformResourceLocator.”AURLisaWebaddress,likewww.lfcc.edu/tutor.Volume/issueAnacademicjournalispublishedmorethanonceayear.Thevolumereferstothenumberofyearsthejournalhasbeenpublished.Volume78,issue3wouldbethethirdpublicationofthejournalinits78thyear.WorkscitedThe“workscitedpage”isthebibliographyusedinMLAstyledocuments.
