The document outlines six reasons why information is needed, including to supplement course modules, prepare for discussions and assignments, and expand subject knowledge. It then describes the five steps of the information gathering process: 1) identify the topic, 2) identify relevant resources and sources, 3) apply search strategies, 4) evaluate and select information, and 5) present the information. Key search strategies discussed include searching by author, title, subject, and keywords using Boolean connectors like AND, OR, and NOT.

2. Learning Outcomes Identify six reasons why you need information; Explain the five steps of information-gathering process as shown in the Information Trail.

3. Why do we need information? Supplement and compliment your course module Prepare for discussions in classroom and for online tutorials Produce assignments Prepare for oral and written examinations Expand your subject knowledge Satisfy your curiosity

4. Basic skills in using a library Information Retrieval Skills (IRS) Locating and retrieving information Evaluating and selecting information ICT Skills for Information Retrieval Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) Electronic databases (e-books and e-journals) Internet websites

5. The Information Trail Step 1: Identify topic of assignment Step 2: Identify information resources and sources Step 3: Apply search strategies Step 4: Evaluate and select information Step 5: Present the relevant information

6. Identifying and analysing topic of assignment Identify Main topic Sub-topics

7. Recognising Information Types of information resources Books Journal articles Chapters in a book Conference papers Websites Types of information sources Local databases Commercial electronic databases

8. Search Strategies Author – to search using the author’s name Title – to search using the title of the material Subject – to use if you do not have information on author or title Keyword – most efficient search strategy when you are not searching for specific items

9. Boolean Connectors AND Combine more than one keyword Narrow a search Requires all words to be present OR Combine synonyms Broaden a search Will search any of the words NOT Excludes a word

10. Learning Skills: Information Gathering Process by Open University Malaysia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at http://oer.oum.edu.my. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.oum.edu.my.