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Information Literacy 1 Tutorials

Tutorials for INTG 100, HONR 110, INTG 205

Learning Objectives

Your instructor has just shared the details of an important class assignment. One of the first things you'll need to do is come up with a research topic. Then, you can identify related search terms that will help you find relevant background information on your topic. This background information will help you identify the types of sources that will serve your information needs best, or help you recognize that you might need to further refine or adjust your topic. 

By the end of Tutorial 2: Starting an Assignment, you should know how to:

  • Identify the main concepts related to your research topic.
  • Explain some of the ways the research process can be iterative and complex, rather than a linear or straightforward process.
  • Generate effective search terms, including broader or narrower terms.
  • Explain some of the benefits and limitations of different source types and select appropriate source types for a given information need or assignment. 
  • Find reliable sources of background information on your topic.

Estimate tutorial time: 15 minutes

Selecting a Research Topic

Whenever you're given a new assignment, think about the potential topics and research questions really interest you. What do you want to learn more about? Once you have a research topic in mind, review the assignment details to make sure your topic feels manageable and a good fit for the assignment's parameters and timeframe. A five-paragraph essay due at the start of class tomorrow, for example, will have a much narrower scope than a fifteen-page research paper you work on over the course of the semester. You'll likely adjust your topic some as you dig into learning more and work to refine your research question. Watch the following short video to learn more about the research cycle:

Source: North Carolina State University Libraries. “Picking Your Topic IS Research!” YouTube, uploaded by libncsu, 1 May 2014. Licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US License. (3:10)

The research process will sometimes feel frustrating. (Like Jenny discovered in the video, you'll rarely follow a clear, step-by-step process.) If you think ahead and build in strategies for some common "pain points" in college-level research, though, it will be much easier to plan practical next steps, communicate where and why you feel stuck, and to gain confidence in your abilities as a researcher throughout the process. Being intentional about your research topic, the search terms you use, and where you search will all help the process go more smoothly.

A complex graphic of the research process

 

Identify Main Concepts & Search Terms

Once you have a research topic in mind, identify your topic's central ideas or main concepts. Try writing down your research topic or question and then list a couple of main concepts.

Example Topic: The effect of social media use on college students’ sleep.
Example Research Question: What measures can college students take to effectively limit social media's negative effects on their sleep?

Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3
social media college students sleep

Once you've identified the main concepts, generate a list of search terms (or keywords and key phrases) under each concept. Consider related terms or synonyms (e.g., social media and social networks), broader terms (online behavior or internet), and more specific terms (e.g., Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, X):

MAIN CONCEPTS: social media college students sleep
SEARCH TERMS:

social networks
apps
phones
Snapchat
Instagram
internet

undergraduates
university students
young adults
students

sleep quality
sleep loss
sleep deprivation
insomnia
naps
rest

As you search for information and learn more about your topic, notice any other terms (related, broader, or more specific) that are used in your readings or source documents and add them to your list. 

Background Research

There's a lot of information out there, and college-level assignments might feel daunting! Once you have a research topic, how and where should you search for basic background information? How can you refine your topic, based on what you learn? How and where should you search for more detailed, credible, or academic sources? What can you do to identify existing gaps in your understanding? What can you do if you feel stuck?

You need a search strategy! A search strategy is an organized plan for gathering, assessing, and using information. Developing a search strategy will organize your research process and help you plan your next steps. A good search strategy starts with developing an initial topic and conducting background research.

Your topic doesn't need to be set in stone when you start your initial research. And you don't need to immediately jump into reading dense 30-page scholarly articles related to your topic! It's usually best to spend some time exploring your general area of interest and reviewing some basic information by conducting preliminary background research or "pre-research."

We recommend starting your background research by writing down some notes on what you already know. It can be extremely helpful at this stage to have some kind of document where you can keep track of what you find.

  1. Existing Knowledge: What do you already know about your topic?
  2. Class Readings: Review your class readings and notes - do they include any information on your topic?
  3. Online Overviews: Begin reading online. Some common web sources like Wikipedia (a type of encyclopedia), online news articles, or the websites of groups or organizations that are interested in your topic are often written for general audiences so they'll include some context, define terms, and link to other useful sources of information on your topic. 
  4. Reference Works: The Libraries' reference databases, which are online collections of reference works like encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks, supply more academic or discipline-specific factual information on a given topic. Search for a specific reference database like CREDO Reference or Oxford Reference on our Databases A-Z list, or search in the library catalog for your topic plus a term like "encyclopedia" to see which reference works are available. (Pro tip: Entries in reference works include brief bibliographies citing leading academic books and articles on your topic - these bibliographies can serve as excellent jumping-off points to look for additional sources.

 

Use what you learn to identify important concepts or ideas related to your topic, track down other potential sources, and to create a list of search terms for future searches. Learning more about your topic will help you decide on your research question. A research question is the question around which you center your research. What issues related to your topic are researchers currently writing about or discussing? What questions do you have that you want to investigate?

Defining Your Information Need

Once you've reviewed some basic background information on your topic, you'll need to determine your information need. Because we live in an information age where we can easily find a lot of information on most topics within the Libraries' collections and on the open web, identifying the information you need for this particular assignment and at this precise stage of your research will make it easier to be strategic and to better focus on finding the specific sources you still need. At this point, ask yourself questions like: 

  • Do I still need more basic information on my topic?
  • Do I need an overview of the main theories, developments, or research findings on my topic over time? 
  • Do I need original research findings from studies conducted by experts in a particular field?
  • Do I need a current update on my topic?  (whether from a news article or a recently published scholarly journal)? 
  • Do I need in-depth, authoritative information on a narrow subtopic?
  • Do I need to consider alternative opinions or recommendations related to my topic?  
  • Do I need to track down a specific statistic, interview, quote, or example? 

Once you have a better sense of your information need, you can move forward in your research process and start finding and evaluating relevant sources you'll use to structure your paper (or other artifact) and inform your arguments. 

Types and Formats

Certain types and formats of information tend to be used for specific purposes or at different times in the information cycle. Because of this, many instructors will tell you what types and formats to use (or avoid) for research assignments.

Books

Books tend to be longer – and go into greater depth or detail – than newspaper, magazine, and journal articles. Books can provide you with a “big picture” perspective on a topic. You can find books and eBooks (academic as well as "general" or "popular") in the library catalog.

Books can be aimed at general readers or academic audiences. Scholarly books are usually written by academics (e.g., college professors or researchers) and/or published by a university press (e.g., University of Minnesota Press, Stanford University Press). Scholarly books provide a comprehensive account of their subject. Scholarly books also contain a detailed list of notes and a bibliography at the end of the book. Other types of academic books are edited anthologies where each chapter is written by a different author and an editor brings all of these chapters together as a whole.
 

Book Chapters

You don’t always need to read an entire book front to back. This is frequently the case for scholarly anthologies and edited collections – books where different authors submit individual chapters or essays that are brought together thematically by an editor.
 

Scholarly Journals

Scholarly journal articles are dense, lengthy, and focused on a particular topic or research question. Scholarly articles are written by subject experts and published in scholarly journals. Your instructor may tell you to use “peer-reviewed journal articles” in your assignments.
 

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedias contain relatively short, factual entries or articles that provide an overview of a topic. They are useful for finding background information and gathering important factual information like dates, names, and concepts related to your topic. Encyclopedia entries are usually written by topic experts, and they can cover a wide variety of interdisciplinary topics or provide more in-depth entries focused on a single subject of field of study.

Wikipedia is an example of a free, crowd-sourced, and interdisciplinary online encyclopedia. You can find other traditionally published encyclopedias in the library catalog or by using the Libraries' Encyclopedias Research Guide, which includes links to reference collections such as CREDO ReferenceOxford Reference, and Britannica Online.  
 

Conference proceedings

Conference proceedings are the compiled presentations and papers published after a scholarly or professional organization’s conference is over. This is done so there is a lasting record of the research ideas that were shared at the event. Some academic disciplines rely heavily on scholarly conferences as a means of quickly sharing and discussing new research and creative contributions by scholars in that subject area.
 

Gray Literature

Gray literature is content that’s written by academics, researchers, or other experts in a field but that is informally published or just posted/made available online. Gray literature includes technical reports, clinical trials, conference presentations, draft articles authors want feedback on before formally publishing, data sets, graduate school dissertations, professors’ lecture notes, or blog posts from credentialed experts. Gray literature can be valuable for alternative perspectives or updates to ongoing research in the field. The term “gray” refers to the undefined or uncategorized nature of the information; gray literature does not fall under the categories of popular, scholarly, or trade sources. Some gray literature, like clinical trials and data sets, are primary sources of information, while other forms or gray literature would be considered secondary sources.
 

News

Newspapers and online news sites contain fact-checked articles (or other content) to help you stay informed about current events at local, regional, national, and international levels. They might include references or links to other information sources they reference (e.g., linking out to a more in-depth study they’re reporting on, or providing the name and credentials for a subject expert being interviewed), but do not provide a formal bibliography at the end. Older archival issues of newspapers provide a record of past events and public opinion and serve as primary sources for in-depth historical research. You can find news sources on the open web or in the Libraries' Newspaper Research Guide.  
 

Magazines

Magazines entertain and inform a general audience and frequently cover current events, developments, and opinions. Journalists or other professional writers/content creators, rather than subject experts, typically author magazine articles. Magazines are considered “popular sources” because they use language that’s familiar and understandable to most readers, may offer an opinion or point of view in their coverage, and often mix color photos and ads in with the articles. Some magazines or websites are considered trade publications because they provide practical information to individuals working in a particular field or industry (or “trade”).
 

Company Profiles & Industry Reports

Company profiles often include a business’ description, financial statements, competitors, and key employees. Industry reports often include market forecasts, trends, challenges, and more. You can find company profiles and industry reports in library research databases like Business Source Premier and D&B Hoover's
 

Government Information

Government websites, documents, and publications are issued by local, state, national, or international governmental bodies or organizations. Government information includes laws, regulations, treaties, statistics, congressional records, presidential papers, consumer information, and other reports. A substantial amount of government information is available online. Government documents are typically considered primary sources of information and credible sources to use in your research. Examples: 2010 Census Data (U.S. Census Bureau)National Center for Education Statistics (U.S. Department of Education)UNESCO Institute for Statistics (United Nations).
 

Websites

You can use websites to access a broad range of electronic information. Websites can provide access to most publication and format types, from blogs and online forums to company information and government information, from video aggregators and online marketplaces to news sites, eBooks, and academic journal articles. However, as you're likely aware, almost anyone can publish content online and the quality, purpose, and depth of this content varies widely. Sometimes it can be difficult to determine who authored or created online content, and increasingly, we're encountering a lot of AI-generated content too. You'll need to develop habits to help you evaluate online information to know if your sources are accurate and credible – we’ll go over some of these habits in Tutorial 5: Evaluating Information.

The Information Cycle

 

Information Timeline - Information Evaluation - Los Angeles Valley College  Library at Los Angeles Valley College

Information Timeline Graphic is by adstarkel. Used under the CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

 

 

Primary vs Secondary vs Tertiary Sources

Note: There are some discipline-specific understandings of what constitutes a primary source. If your instructor wants you to use primary sources in an assignment, check to make sure you understand what their definition of a primary source is. 

Primary sources, for historians, document an event first-hand; they are artifacts written or created by someone who experienced or witnessed an event themselves. (Some primary sources, like diary entries, letters, photographs, and newspaper articles, are created during or right after an event; others, like memoirs, autobiographies, or interviews, might document an individual's recollections many years after an event.) In the sciences, primary sources are documents about original research written by the original researchers themselves. Primary sources can also include raw data, an artifact from an archeological dig, or a newspaper article or social media post written soon after a historical event took place. The Libraries' Primary Sources Research Guide includes resources and research tips to help you find different types of primary sources. 

Secondary sources describe or analyze primary sources. Types of secondary sources include articles and books that interpret, review, or synthesize original research articles or other primary sources. Secondary sources might include original analysis, but they get their evidence or data from other sources. 

Tertiary sources, which compile and summarize information from primary and secondary sources, are even further removed from first-hand accounts. A lot of "reference" works like encyclopedias (including Wikipedia), dictionaries, and handbooks are considered tertiary sources. They provide introductions or overviews of topics and can be good for getting basic background information, but you usually shouldn't cite them as your main sources in college-level assignments - move on to more detailed and analytical secondary sources.

GenAI Tools

Can I Use GenAI Tools?

If you plan to use ChatGPT or a similar generative AI tool for a class assignment, check with your instructor first about their expectations! GenAI technology has only recently become widely available, and even though it's increasingly built into software and search tools that we regularly use, there's still a lot of debate in higher education around when, how, and to what extent it's appropriate for students to use GenAI tools in their coursework. CSB and SJU don't have a one-size-fits-all GenAI policy, so please be mindful that some instructors are fine with students using GenAI tools, others are only comfortable with students using it in specific ways or for specific assignments, and some consider any use of these tools as cheating or an act of academic dishonesty.

If your instructor tells you it's okay to use a GenAI tool like ChatGPT, ask them if they have for specific guidelines for citing the tool, if you should including the specific language of your prompts, or if there are other methods they want you to use to indicate how and why you used the tool. 

Quiz 2: Starting an Assignment