Information Literacy Chapter 1: Topic & Bibliography

Analyze the Assignment  Find a Topic  Produce a Bibliography  Use One of the Approved Styles

Find a Topic  I’m serious. Find a topic. In fact, find as many topics (national policy issues) you can in five minutes.  I’m not interested in how many you can recall or how many you can imagine, but how many can you find on line.

Are there better strategies?  CQ Weekly Report  Lexis Congressional Hot Topics  Public Policy Research: Getting Started Public Policy Research: Getting Started

What’s a Good Topic?  Consistent with assignment “Your paper must deal with a matter of public policy within the Constitutional power of some officer, agency or institution of the United States federal government.”  Narrow enough to allow relatively thorough research

What’s Narrow Enough?  Bad Endangered species Environmental protection National Park Policy Yellowstone National Park Federal wolf management Ranchers’ rights Threats to livestock  Good Whether the Yellowstone wolves should be protected when they leave the park

Produce a Bibliography  Preface Primary v. Secondary Sources Scholarly v. Popular Sources  Getting an Overview  Digging Down Deep  Use One of the Approved Styles

Primary v. Secondary Sources  Primary: An original, first-hand document; it has not been previously published, interpreted or translated.  Secondary: Interprets and analyzes primary sources; information is “once removed.” Secondary sources are often based on primary sources.

Primary or Secondary?  Historical records like birth certificates or deeds  Autobiographies  Reviews of plays, films, books, etc.  Original published research reporting a lab experiment  Works of art and literature (paintings, poems, etc.)  Editorials in newspapers & magazines  Correspondence, diaries and other personal papers  Textbooks, encyclopedias, etc.  Transcripts or recordings of interviews or proceedings  Government documents like bills, laws, or court decisions  Published research reviewing the literature of a certain field

Scholarly v. Popular Sources  Written by scholars for scholars  Typically detailed and lengthy  Always formally documented  Example: American Political Science Review  Written by journalists for a general audience  Typically general and short  Documentation informal or absent  Example: CQ Weekly Report

Scholarly or Popular?

Getting an Overview  Secondary or Primary?  Scholarly or Popular?  The Yellowstone Wolves

Digging Down Deep  Secondary or Primary?  Scholarly or Popular?  The Yellowstone Wolves

Primary Sources  Laws & Bills Lexis-Nexis  Court Cases Lexis-Nexis  Organization Opinions PoliticalInformation.com  Government Documents First Search: GPO GPO Access

Scholarly Sources  Lexis-Nexis  Law Reviews  EBSCO Host  Academic Search Premier  Social Science Abstracts  Military & Government Collection  First Search  GPO  PAIS

Primary & Scholarly Source Portals  Cole Library: Research by Topic Social Sciences Politics  Department of Politics Internet Sources for Government, Politics & Law Internet Sources for Government, Politics & Law

Use One of the Approved Styles  APSA  Chicago/Turabian  APA  MLA  Links to the Approved Styles Guidance on Documentation in Your On- Line Syllabus Guidance on Documentation Cole Library: PoliticsPolitics

Summary  Find a Topic  Produce a Bibliography Preface  Primary v. Secondary Sources  Scholarly v. Popular Sources Getting an Overview  Secondary & Popular Sources Digging Down Deep  Primary and Scholarly Sources Use One of the Approved Styles