Information Literacy Guide

This guide is aimed at helping students in their literature search. It will equip students and staff with the necessary skills and knowledge to enable them to use the library’s information resources effectively.

A research process for literature search involves the following:

·         Identify the information you need

·         Know the purpose and suitability of the resources available

·         Develop an appropriate research plan

·         Evaluate the worth and relevance of the information retrieved

·         Document information and its sources

·         Organize information

Identify the information you need

·         What questions do you need to be answered?

·         Identify the main concept and scrutinize the scope of the topic

Know the purpose and suitability of the resources available

·         Distinguish Academic vs Popular, Primary vs Secondary resources

·         Understand that the Library Catalog leads to resources in the Library, but does NOT contain details at chapter / journal article level. Know how to interpret A. M. Al-Refai Library holdings

·         Distinguish the different types of literature – Reference books, Textbooks, Journal articles

·         Understand that library databases contain indexed subject references to journal articles, books, reports, etc. Databases can be of different types – index, abstract, full-text with different subject coverage

·         Understand that internet leads to some excellent information, but results need to be evaluated

·         Use varied sources of information

Develop an appropriate research plan

·         Create the search terms/phrase (keywords)

·         Identify the resources that are relevant to your research

·         Execute the search by linking the keywords with Boolean operators and narrowing the results to retrieve appropriate information quickly

Evaluate the worth and relevance of the information retrieved

·         Review the relevance of the information retrieved

·         Understand and apply criteria for evaluating the information

·         Identify inaccuracies and misinformation in the information retrieved

Document information and its sources

·         Document all search strategies, sources used and location of sources

·         Acknowledge/reference sources using standard reference styles (MLA, APA, etc)

Organize information

·         Combine information from various sources to compile your research

·         View/Save/Print/email information retrieved from various sources

·         Maintain a backup of the research