LIB100

From Peabody Library, this video is an EXCELLENT review for what you should include in your evaluations of your scholarly books and articles.

After watching the video, what kinds of things do you think you should look for when evaluating a website? We will be discussing the open web after the holiday. This will get us ready for that discussion.

Due: Wednesday

For one point extra credit on your final grade, go to the library website, and take the survey mentioned under the banner.  Be sure to leave your email address in the last box, so we know you took it.  If you are not interested in being included in the focus groups, leave your email, but also leave a note saying you’re not interested in participating.

Hi everyone.  Several people have had questions about quiz answers, so we’re posting the correct answers here.

Quiz 1:

1. We are planning to use all of these technologies in the course of this class: clickers, blog, google documents, and google notebook.
2. The link to the syllabus can be found on the front page of our blog, on the right hand side of the screen, under the heading “Pages.”

Quiz 2:

1. All of the following methods are valid to broaden or narrow a topic: date (years, months, weeks, days), source (TV, newspaper, internet), geography (continent, country, state, city), and specific group of people (age, gender, ethnicity).
2.  The length of your paper impacts how broad or narrow your topic should be and the resources you should use.  The longer the paper, the more breadth you can cover.  You will need more sources in order to have sufficient research to cover the breadth of your topic.  The shorter the paper, the more narrow and specific your topic will need to be.  You will not need as many sources, but they will need to be very carefully selected to focus on the specific topic you’ve chosen.

Quiz 3:

1. Searching for Anorexia AND Bulimia would mean that each result would have to contain both terms, rather than just one or the other.  This would give you fewer results.  Searching Anorexia OR Bulimia would find all articles containing Anorexia and all articles containing Bulimia, giving you more results.
2. Folksonomies are classification systems created by those who use the information, rather than experts in the subject.
3. Truncation allows you to search for multiple words with the same stem at the same time.  By searching child* you would find articles containing child, children, childhood, etc.  Truncation saves you time.

Quiz 4:

1. The information timeline goes in this order: web/television, newspaper,  magazine,  journal article, book, reference book/encyclopedia.
2. To limit searches in the ZSR Library catalog, go to the catalog home page and click the yellow “more limits” button on the right hand side of the page.

Please let us know if you still have questions!

Hello everyone.  This is a surprise extra credit assignment worth two points on your final grade.   It is due on Monday, November 12th.

Earlier this semester the Old Gold and Black ran a story on Wikipedia called Wikipedia use ignites academic debate.  The article discusses the debates going on at colleges across the country about the usefulness of the site.  The article also mentions several things we’ve brought up in class such as the role of encyclopedias in the research process, peer reviewed works as authoritative, and the information timeline.

For two extra credit points, please comment on your impressions of Wikipedia in light of this article, and how it could or could not be useful as a reference source

Please watch the following video, paying particular attention to chapter 5 and comment on this post.

If you’re struggling for ideas about what to comment on, consider:

• What are your opinions on copyright?
• What are your opinions on the public domain?
• What are your questions about copyright, public domain, or fair use?
• What role does citation plays in this issue?

In the spirit of the email we sent out last week about assignment 1, here’s the information for assignment 2:

Assignments due before class on Wednesday:

• Comment on the blog: Great job on this last week! I’ll post something by midnight tonight for next week. It will be most useful if you respond by Monday, though you can wait until Wednesday if you’d like.
• Individual assignment: In Google Docs. Each person in the group will find a reference resource and enter it into their Google Docs page. ONE resource from each group should be a print item from the library. The others can either be in print or online through the databases page. You will need to include a citation in MLA format using your Cite Right book. You will also need to include the following information in your paragraph discussion of the resource. Your purpose should be to convince us that this is the best resource for your topic:
  * Author and Title of the specific article you will use (if applicable)
  * Item Title (if you can make that a link to the catalog record of online resource, do that) and author/editor of the work
  * Your search strategy- where did you go to find the item, what search terms did you use, limits, etc…
  * How you located the resource
  * Why you chose that resource over others on the same topic- what makes it good for researching your questions-what parts are relevant-are there any special features that make it good
  * Your signature at the end of the entry
  * A properly formatted MLA citation
  Essentially, we’re looking for one reference source per person, a citation, and a paragraph or two explaining your choice. All of this should be on your personal Google Doc.
• Group assignment: In Google Notebook. As a group, you will need to get together and write a 2-3 paragraph introduction to your topic based on your Reference resources. You will need to give some background information on your topic and explain the scope of your research- what you will include and what you will not be including. This should be entered into a new section in your Google Notebook.

Remember, please contact Kaeley or me if you have questions. I’ll be here till 9pm tonight. We’re happy to answer any topic, research, or technical questions you might have.