Accessing Information

Accessing information You will be able to find needed information effectively and efficiently by:

A. Selecting appropriate methods and tools for accessing information

B. Using effective search strategies C. Obtaining relevant information

The information literate person uses CRITICAL THINKING to negotiate information overload and asks:

1. What information do I need to address this problem? (recognising)

2. Where can I get it? (accessing)3. How do I know if this information

is reliable or adequate? (evaluating)

Methods and tools

◦Reading◦Listening◦Viewing◦Feeling

(It IS kind of that simple…..)

Reading information Consider:◦Your expectations.. ‘the answer is out there’◦Potential for passive reception - no thought◦Very quick decisions about usefulness (30 seconds)◦Your professional integrity: don’t go for what is “good enough” but what is “best”◦You DO judge a book by its cover! Tools include:◦ Accessing historical documents◦ Skim and scan skills◦Organising written material

Listening to information ◦Personal communications (including wisdom) ◦ Interviews◦Surveys ◦Group work◦Panels/ submissions ◦Debates

Tools include:◦Keeping a diary-record◦Shorthand/notes◦Using technology◦Checking back with speaker

Viewing information ◦Don’t be seduced by design◦Don’t just believe plausible presentation/official looking sites◦Remember visual images can be manipulated ◦A picture tells a thousand words?◦YouTube also posts conferences, academic content◦Participant observation◦Photos/ images ◦TV/Documentaries ◦Cultural practices

Feeling for information ◦ Intuition◦Sense ◦Experience ◦Hunches

Tools include:◦Describing in a written form◦Checking out with others/ask◦Test it out ◦Reflection◦ Journaling◦Referencing: Auto biographical

Retrieving informationPrimary visits : experts, community resources, professional associations

How to retrieve: surveys, letters, phone calls , email, collating

Practical details: document delivery, flights to National library, archives, time

Problems of the WWW◦How to narrow searches◦Which search engines may be best for a topic◦Sorting out disinformation and misinformation; judging opinion, rumour, propaganda ◦Understanding the status of collaboratively generated and edited information◦Being selective/ often distracted by interesting stuff◦Not having skills to skim and scan for meaning◦Not able to synthesize/reword to making sense ◦Unintentional plagiarism

Tools for searching (for now!) ◦ EBSCOHost◦ EBL◦Google Scholar◦ Library Catalogue ◦ Search engines◦ Agency materials ◦ Liaison librarian

Wikipedia is fine……. BUT….◦ It is an ENCYCLOPEDIA◦ Anyone can write or edit an article◦ All authors are anonymous◦Must be used and evaluated critically◦ “Google” is much the same

EBSCOHostEBSCOHOST and ProQuest are academic databases. They include: ◦Journals◦Newspaper articles◦Book reviews◦Images/videos (limited)

Words◦Keywords: Miscarriage, impact, teenager ◦Synonyms for teenager: young person, adolescent, youth, young

adult ◦Related terms: still born, still birth, impact on partner, clinical

spontaneous abortion, first trimester miscarriage, grief

Concepts Concept 1

  Concept 2

  Concept 3

  smoking 

   depression

   females

or  

  or   or

  tobacco 

   mood    women

or  

and or and or

  cigarettes 

   mental health

   gender

or  

  or   or

  nicotine 

   mental illness

   

Primary, secondary, tertiary sources 1) Primary: Original, not condensed or evaluated e.g. some journal articles, conference papers, reports E.g.: An assessment tool for grief counselling devised by Kate Darby 2) Secondary: Evaluates, integrates and describes primary sources e.g. newspapers, books, journalsE.g.: Evaluating the effectiveness of the Darby grief assessment tool by Jones (2007) 3) Tertiary: List, index and organise primary and secondary sources e.g. text books, bibliographiesE.g.: Grief counselling resources: Darby grief assessment tool