Chapter Six Summary: Locating and Using Information

Tara Forner and Justin Tufte

Objectives and Outcomes
- Identify and se electronic database resources relevant to your research
- Execute a specific, targeted electronic search using advanced search techniques
- Gather research data using several nonelectronic techniques
- Integrate research successfully into your text
- Avoid plagiarism

Quantitative data- describe measurable elements (quantities) in mathematical or statistical terms
Qualitative data- describe observed or reported information (qualities)

Consider searching electronic sources in the following order:
-Library’s online catalog
-Online reference materials
-General reference database
-Disciple-specific database
-Government databases
-The Internet and World Wide Web

Online Catalog
Online Catalog includes; books, bound periodicals, audiovisual holdings, electronic resources. Each book is in the Dewey decimal system and sorted into different categories and then subdivided with individual numbers. This helps you be able to find the correct volume out of the stacks.

Online Reference Materials
Most of the references and materials used by reference libraries are online. Two of the most used are handbooks and specialized encyclopedias. Handbooks used their information in tables, charts, diagrams, graphs, and glossaries. Specialized encyclopedias are used for an overview because they summarize and discuss facts and theories about your subject.

General Reference Database
After using the first two searches then you can do a topic search for published articles. These articles are from academic journals, periodicals, and newspapers. They generally just provide an overview of the topic.

Discipline-Specific Database
These searches give you the chance to search publications and reports that relate to your initial search. They come in print, CD’s or online format.



Government Documents and Offices
U.S. government is required to publish many of its documents, research findings, and proceedings. There are many Web sites that are updated regularly by the U.S. government, which makes information cheap and easily accessible.

Web Research
You can use general and discipline-specific searches, but some of the most reliable include; www.google.com, www.yahoo.com, www.excite.com, and www.metacrawler.com.

Searching Electronic Resources
More and more print information is being turned into online formats. This may make searching more easier or more harder. It makes you use more advanced search techniques to be more specific on your topic search.
Consider the following critical questions so that you get information that will be more useful:
-What are the key terms? What are synonyms for these terms? What alternative terms are used to refer to the topic?
-What indexing source does the database use?
-How do you want o combine the terms?

Keyword Searches
These are more flexible searches that usually include parts of the word, phrases, or some combination of both. You usually use these in the beginning of your search when you are just trying to filter out not related topics.

Subject Searches
These are predetermined categories that you can search within the database. On some databases you can limit your search. Such as;
-Time frame. Do you want information from the past ten years? Five years? Current year?
-Types of materials. Do you want only books? Articles? Articles in refereed publications? Audiovisual materials? Presentations?
-Language(s). Do you want materials only in English? Also in German? French? Russian? Spanish? Chinese?
-Print Format. Do you want only titles? The full citation? The complete record with the abstract if it’s available? The full text?

Searching Other Sources
Although the internet is a great resource, there are many other resources that can be of great use.
Here are some of those resources:

Internal Records
This is the data that businesses or organizations keep about their transactions. This information may include financial transactions, manufacturing and marketing records, or shipping records.

Corporate Libraries
Organizations such as law firms keep extensive libraries for their employees. These libraries may provide many services that can provide help in finding information for employees.

Personal Observations
Personal observations have long been a great tool for collecting data. This would include experiments done by experts and even your own hands-on experience.

Interviews and Letters of Inquiry
In an interview you need to gather necessary information about the subject, approach the person you want to interview and identify the categories of question you want to ask. There are two broad categories of question:
- Convergent questions: have one correct answer.
- Divergent question: are open ended and are more useful in problem solving.

Surveys and Polls
These are very effective opinion gathering strategies. Surveys can be designed using any of six different types of questions:
- Dual alternatives: yes or no questions.
- Multiple choice: questions: a list of answers with only one that is correct.
- Rank ordering: order items according to preference.
- Likert scales: rate items numerically or verbally.
- Completions: fill in the blank to complete an item.
- Essays or open-ended question: allows full expression of one’s opinion.


Using Sources Ethically
With all of the information on the Web, plagiarizing has become easier and more frequent. One must if their sources are credible and how to incorporate the information from these sources into their projects without plagiarizing.

Assessing Credibility
The ease of posting information on the Web has made it difficult to judge whether information online is credible. You need to know where the information came from and if there are any biases or incorrect information in the material. Here are some key items to pay attention to when judging the credibility of a Web document:
- Authorship: Can you identify the author or webmaster on the site? Is the author identified as a person, a corporation, a university? What do you know about the credential of the author or organization? Does the site have a sponsor that might have vested interest?
- Timeliness: When was the site originally posted? When was the site last updated? How regularly is the site updated? Is the information current or outdated for your needs?
- Purpose: Can you determine from the design and content if the site is intended to inform, persuade, or sell? Can you determine the intended audience? Does the site have advertising banners? Do they affect the content?
- Content: How detailed and well-researched is the content? Does the new information confirm or disconfirm your prior knowledge? Does the author fully cite sources and link to respected sources to support assertions? Can you verify the author’s claims using other resources? Does the content contain spelling and grammatical errors? Can you identify a particular slant or bias to the information?

Avoiding Plagiarism
Plagiarism is when you use a piece of work that is not your own without attribution. Here are some instances of plagiarism:
- Using exact quotations from a document, presentation, Web sites, or visual designs and images without attribution.
- Using someone else’s unique ideas without attribution.
- Using someone else’s unique processes without attribution.
- Using a piece of work that has only been changed slightly without attribution.

Individual and Collaborative Assignments
7 tips when working on an individual or collaborative assignment:
- Learn about your own academic library.
- Learn about a corporate library.
- Recommend resources.
- Identify keywords and subject headings.
- Compare sources in your field.
- Compare internet sources.
- Interview a professional.
- Identify and correct plagiarism.