Information Literacy II Spring 2014 Geography 160

Ten high quality sources on the same topic, multiple types – descriptive/critical  Two books  A popular magazine or newspaper article  Two articles from scholarly journals  1 popular and 1 scholarly web site  Three additional resources, from the above list or other types of materials, such as government documents, media, dissertations, electronic reference sources, conference proceedings, etc.  Do NOT use any assigned reading Annotated Bibliography Due 5/6

 Accuracy  Reliable, error-free information?  Are there editors, reviewers, fact-checkers?  Authority  Author’s qualifications?  How reputable is the publisher/host?  Objectivity  Is the information presented with a minimum of bias?  To what extent is the information trying to sway the opinion of the reader? Evaluating Research Materials

 Currency  Is the content of the work up to date?  Is the publication date clearly indicated?  If there is a date, what does it mean?  date the material was created  reprinted  last updated  mounted on the web  Coverage  Who is the audience?  What topics are included in the work?  To what extent are topics explored? Evaluation Criteria--Continued

Petroleum from Paradise: Why China Must Exploit Tibet’s Oil Resources Rush Limbaugh With forward by Bill Maher © 2010, Pocket Books If your annotated bibliography project was on China’s development activities in Tibet: Would you use this book?

Scholarly Journals Serious appearance Articles are research studies Standard format, includes literature review, methodology, findings (data), analysis Audience includes professors, students, researchers Articles are signed Most articles are peer reviewed Articles have bibliographies Little/no advertising

Trade or Professional Journals  May have a bright cover  Written for a particular industry or professional group  Articles may be unsigned  Editorial review  If any advertising, specific to the target field

Popular Magazines Bright cover, lots of photos Intended for a broad audience May be intended demographic group Articles often unsigned Editorial review of articles Lots of general advertising aimed at the magazine’s readership

Harder to tell the type of publication Some research databases let you filter for scholarly journals, but it’s not perfect Features to look for : Sources are cited Research method is explained Not just a minor feature, like a letter or editoria l Authors are identified and have contact information Electronic journals can have a print equivalent or only an electronic version. Most are versions of the print titles. Scholarly articles online

 Intended for serious research, not for entertainment  Inclusion in search engine or directory is no guarantee of appropriateness for your assignment  You must evaluate sites yourself  Find sites with substantive research content, not just links to other sites  Do not include journal articles published on the web – use stand-alone websites

 Use Internet subject directories  Academic—sites have been selected for quality, may be annotated  Find using Internet Subject Directories link on Electronic Reserves  Specialized search engines  iSEEK targets substantive websites; InfoMINE: Librarian’s Internet Index iSEEK Internet Index  Use search engine “Advanced Search” features to limit domains to.edu,.org,.gov, etc.  Google Google  Ask.com Finding Scholarly Websites

 Few barriers to web site publication v. scholarly journal articles or books  Books and journals have editors/reviewers  Anybody with computer access can be a publisher on the web  No review or fact-checking required for web sites  Unparalleled potential for timeliness compared to print media  Can be freely distributed throughout the world in an instant  Can be updated at will  No guarantee of permanence Web Site Evaluation

3 Websites  China Tibet Online China Tibet Online   International Campaign for Tibet International Campaign for Tibet   TWELVE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT TIBET AND CHINA TWELVE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT TIBET AND CHINA  Evaluate for:  Accuracy  Authority—who is responsible for the site?  Objectivity—what kind of bias is present?  Currency—how up-to-date is the site?  Coverage—who is the audience? To what extent are topics explored? Exercise:Would you use these websites in a research paper?

Here is a link to Cornell Library’s page on making an annotated bibliography: raphy This is North Carolina’s, which has a bit more detail: nnotated-bibliographies/ nnotated-bibliographies/

 An Example of bad annotated bibliography An Example of bad annotated bibliography