Ge80 Everything Not 11 4 09

Hi, everyone! It’s good to meet you all! PAUSE Everything you always wanted to know about information research…
Well, in 20 minutes, not really… But, I do hope that by the time I’m done today, you’ll be able to… Distinguish between the visible and the invisible web Navigate the library web site And know how to get research help if you need it Questions are welcome at any time!
½ sheet UCLA Library Map
I know that you’ve already looked at some websites, including the Kaiser Family Foundation & Commonwealth Foundation’s sites Let’s start by taking a look at a couple of others you may not have seen As we look at them, I’ll ask you to tell me what to look for to determine whether or not this is a trustworthy site. Feline Reactions to Bearded Men – Just from a quick look—how many think this is a trustworthy site? Why? What are you looking for? Audience; Purpose & Point of View; Author/Sponsor MedlinePlus –How many think this is a trustworthy site? Why? What are you looking for? Audience; Author/Sponsor & Expertise; Purpose & Point of View; Completeness; Currency
Now, let’s talk about WIKIPEDIA… WHAT’S A WIKI? A site where anyone can contribute or edit previous contributions HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE USED WIKIPEDIA FOR RESEARCH? All right—we’ve just been talking about criteria for evaluating web sites Let’s take a look at an article in Wikipedia… on INFORMATION LITERACY… The ability to identify, locate, evaluate & use info effectively & ethically
OK—I went to this article on 10/27. I added some quotes from our Governor & from Pres. Obama’s Proclamation, designating 10/09 as National Information Literacy Awareness Month & I included citations for both I also moved some citations around to make the bib alphabetical The article still needs lots of work, as it’s a mishmash, in my opinion But what’s my opinion worth? That’s a good question… Am I an expert in IL? Well, not to blow my own horn, but I’ve been teaching the topic to grad students since 1990 I’ve co-authored 3 books on it and written articles about it
But, did Wikipedia know that? No. It didn’t ask about my qualifications. I didn’t even have to say who I was. I could have said that I invented the phrase in the late 1700s… So, what’s the key point here?
As it says toward the end of this article, “wikipedia can be edited by anyone with a username and shouldn't be sourced in a research paper” Arguments, evidence, authors, everything can change from minute to minute in many Wikipedia articles This means that you cannot rely on Wikipedia as a trustworthy scholarly source of information, particularly for research papers You may be surprised to find out that Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia has also said publicly that students shouldn’t use Wikipedia or any encyclopedia as scholarly sources of information
What sort of information can you trust? You need to get in the habit of asking questions about information of all kinds throughout your lifetimes—regardless of its format or how you got to it… For whom was the item written? Why & what’s the point of view? Who wrote or sponsored it & what are her/his credentials? What sort of evidence do they offer to support their arguments? How complete & accurate is it? Can you verify these arguments by checking other sources? How up to date is it?
If you can get in the habit of posing these kinds of questions and seeking their answers your entire life, you’ll be well on your way to being an information literate person You may be surprised to know that President Obama has noted and values information literacy He even issued a Presidential Proclamation declaring that last month was National Information Literacy Awareness Month So this is really important…
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The pages we just looked at are part of the VISIBLE WEB—web pages that anyone can get to… But there are many web resources that are INVISIBLE--you can’t get to them through Google or Yahoo… They include the contents of most free & licensed databases like… UCLA library Catalog Licensed periodical indexes—databases you can use to find articles by topic.. How do you find these databases?
Go to the Library home page, Search & Find: Article DBs; DBs by sub; Social Sciences: Psychology Ex: PsycINFO E-resources; E-resources by subject area Health Sciences; Public Health These are all web sites and databases carefully selected by librarians, to help you. Want more? Check the web page of info resources I created for you— http://guides.library.ucla.edu/GE80 Click on “Article Indexes” tab to see list of most useful indexes for this course
IMPORTANT! How many of you will be going home for Thanksgiving or even just for a weekend? If you want to do some research when you’re off-campus, you can get to these databases for free And you can get lots of articles for free too Set up your web browser at home for the proxy server on the BOL web site But don’t go directly to a journal web site, they won’t know that UCLA subscribes and that you’re entitled to free copies of their articles… So, go to the Library web site or check with a librarian to search for articles you want
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Ok—we identified criteria for evaluating web sites, distinguished betw. the visible & invisible web, & looked at some ways to get help with your research. Look forward to seeing you again soon…

Ge80 Everything Not 11 4 09

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