Research and resources How the LRC can help you with your studies
Research and resources
How the LRC can help you with your studies
We are in the ‘Information Age’
• Did You Know?
Where do I start?
• Make it easy on yourself• You can’t control the AMOUNT of information• You can control the QUALITY of information• Think about what you really need
6 key questions
• What? Why? How? Where? When? Who?
• Eg) Discuss the impact of colonial rule on British Burma before 1870.
• This should give you a starting point to look for the information you need
What resources can I use?
Start with the library catalogue
Discovery@Liverpool Community College
Check out our e-resources
Beware of Google
• Google is ranked• Google is funded by advertising• Google is the ‘white bread of the mind’*• “Google offers easy answers to difficult
questions. But students do not know how to tell if they come from serious, refereed work or are merely composed of shallow ideas, superficial surfing and fleeting commitments”
*According to Dr Tara Brabazon, University Of Brightonhttp://www.browsermedia.co.uk/2008/01/17/google-is-%E2%80%98white-bread-for-the-mind%E2%80%99/
Evaluating websites
• Who is the author of the site?• Do they have sufficient knowledge, credentials
and authority ?• Are there any contact details?• Is there an organisational or corporate
sponsor?• Is the page authentic or a hoax?• Is there a reference/reading/citations list?
How can you tell?• .gov Government agency• .net Internet Service Provider• .com Commercial site• .edu Education • .ac Academic • .mil Military• .org Organization (non-profit)• Countries are abbreviated to 2 letters –eg)UK,
FR (France), US (USA), TW (Taiwan)
Some plausible hoaxes..
• http://www.rythospital.com/2011/
• http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
• http://www.hetracil.com/
A very useful tutorial
• The Internet detectivehttp://www.vtstutorials.ac.uk/detective/
To summarise....
AND Use to narrow search and retrieve information containing all of the words it separates.
OR Use to broaden search and retrieve information containing any of the words it separates.
NOT Use to narrow search and retrieve information that contain none of the words following it.
Give me two subjects to search and I’ll apply Boolean
operators........
Make notes......
• What have I used?• Where did I access it?• Have I made reference to it?• Have I acknowledged it?
Plagiarism
Making referencing easier....
Harvard Referencing Generator - CiteThisForMe
Come and ask us!
• We are here to help you• Qualified librarians• IT qualifications• Teaching qualifications• If we cant answer your question straight away
we will endeavour to find out!
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