Taking Library online this quarter has enlightened my knowledge about research and exactly how to research efficiently. I have learned basic information such as what particular URL’s mean, copyright basics to formulating research questions and how to receive exact results one is trying to obtain. I have learned these tools through separate assignments that gave me the opportunity and example to recreate such information and exercise tools at the same time. The skill I think that is most helpful being a college student, is being able to refine your searches, key terms, and being able to simply obtain the exact results you are looking for instead of sifting through millions of results. In regards to on campus information, I have now acquired a more in depth way of how to use the campus resources in the library and also through the school website. I have also gained confidence in communicating and describing my research processes and results. Most importantly, I have gained more confidence because being that this is the first online only class I have enrolled in so far, I now know that I can effectively complete courses that are not taught to me in person, which is a surprise to me.
1. What progress have you made this quarter in your information literacy growth?
I think I have made great progress this quarter in my information literacy growth. I am not only able to recognize credible information by examining the content, but also by examining the source whether it is an online source or a text source. This has and is going to come in handy throughout my college career which I am very grateful for. I have made progress in being able to refine my searches in a broader stage or a narrower stage depending on the information I am trying to gather. Researching information is now easier and effortless.
2. What areas of weakness have you identified in your information literacy growth?
One weakness that I believe I can work on and improve in my information literacy growth is using other web resources and search engines, but also being comfortable using them as well. Before this course, I was only comfortable with GOOGLE search and other current news databases such as SFGATE.COM or CNN.COM. I have now become more comfortable with using YAHOO.COM and other disciplinary searches that are listed on the library website.
3. What steps will you take in the next three to six months to continue your growth in information literacy?
In order to gain growth in information literacy within the next three to six months, I will probably exercise these skills I have learned, take them with me, and use them for other courses in the spring and throughout the years. These skills are something that will continuingly help me no matter what the course or objective.
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First, you did a great job on your experiential exercise. Very thorough and thoughtful, as usual. I was very impressed with the amount of refining you did on your search terms. In practice, you may not always have to be so strict in reducing the number of results, although I don't like to have more than about 100 myself. I impose that requirement in an earlier assignment because I want to be sure that students practice that, but each case will be different, as you'll find as you practice more.
ReplyDeleteAs for your searching, there are two thoughts about where to focus when you're a student. One thought is to focus on learning the most effective ways of using search engines like google, yahoo, aol, etc. because when you graduate you won't have access to the databases provided by your university. The other is to use the databases as much as you can while you have access to them.
I tend to believe in the latter approach because the more you use them, the more you will come to understand that not everything is available through search engines, no matter how many millions of results you get.