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Library Orientation: Navigating through Information Sources

The pages of this guide identify ways to get help using the Library and its resources

Introduction

As a student of The UWI, you will be required to do some research, whether it is to complete an assignment in your first year, or a more extensive project in your final year of study. It is vitally important that from the onset of your degree programme that you understand at least the basics involved in conducting research and academic writing.

This section of our orientation guide will introduce you to concepts such as searching for information and data sources that can provide evidence for for forming your analysis and findings when you complete your project. At the Library there are literally thousands of sources for you to access when conducting research. Those sources are often described as either primary or secondary, and we will spend some time here briefly explaining the difference in these two categories and where you can actually find them.. This section also includes tips on evaluating sources to ensure that they are fit for your purpose.

Research Process

Effectively Using Information Resources to Successfully Complete Your Research Project

Library research involves the step-by-step process used to gather information in order to write a paper, create a presentation, or complete a project. The research process itself involves identifying and locating relevant information, analyzing what you found, and then developing and expressing your ideas. These are not only skills you will need while at The UWI, but later on also in the world of work when you write a report or proposal.

In gathering information for your assignment or research project, you will be considering secondary and primary sources for that information.

Secondary sources are studies by other researchers. They tend to describe, analyse, and/or evaluate information found in primary sources. By repackaging information, secondary sources make information more accessible. A few examples of secondary sources are books, journal and magazine articles, encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and reviews, etc.

Primary sources are original works. These sources represent original thinking, report on discoveries, or share new information. Usually these represent the first formal appearance of original research. Primary sources include statistical data, manuscripts, surveys, speeches, biographies/autobiographies, diaries, oral histories, interviews, software codes, or original documents such as birth and death certificates, etc.   Primary sources can be found, for example in the Library's Special Collections which form part of the West Indiana Division.

Evaluating Sources: General Guidelines

Adopted from the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University

Once you have an idea of the types of sources you need for your research, you can spend time evaluating individual sources. If a bibliographic citation seems promising, it’s a good idea to spend a bit more time with the source before you determine its credibility. Below are some questions to ask and things to consider as you read through a source. 

Find Out What You Can about the Author

One of the first steps in evaluating a source is to locate more information about the author. Sometimes simply typing an author’s name into a search engine will give you an initial springboard for information. Finding the author’s educational background and areas of expertise will help determine whether the author has experience in what they’re writing about. You should also examine whether the author has other publications and if they are with well-known publishers or organizations.

Read the Introduction / Preface

Begin by reading the Introduction or the Preface—What does the author want to accomplish? Browse through the Table of Contents and the Index. This will give you an overview of the source. Is your topic covered in enough depth to be helpful? If you don't find your topic discussed, try searching for some synonyms in the Index.

If your source does not contain any of these elements, consider reading the first few paragraphs of the source and determining whether it includes enough information on your topic for it to be relevant.

Determine the Intended Audience

Consider the tone, style, vocabulary, level of information, and assumptions the author makes about the reader. Are they appropriate for your needs? Remember that scholarly sources often have a very particular audience in mind, and popular sources are written for a more general audience. However, some scholarly sources may be too dense for your particular research needs, so you may need to turn to sources with a more general audience in mind.

Determine whether the Information is Fact, Opinion, or Propaganda

Information can usually be divided into three categories: fact, opinion, and propaganda. Facts are objective, while opinions and propaganda are subjective. A fact is something that is known to be true. An opinion gives the thoughts of a particular individual or group. Propaganda is the (usually biased) spreading of information for a specific person, group, event, or cause. Propaganda often relies on slogans or emotionally-charged images to influence an audience. It can also involve the selective reporting of true information in order to deceive an audience.

Identify the Language Used

Is the language objective or emotional? Objective language sticks to the facts, but emotional language relies on garnering an emotional response from the reader. Objective language is more commonly found in fact-based sources, while emotional language is more likely to be found in opinion-based sources and propaganda.

Evaluate the Evidence Listed

If you’re just starting your research, you might look for sources that include more general information. However, the deeper you get into your topic, the more comprehensive your research will need to be.

If you’re reading an opinion-based source, ask yourself whether there’s enough evidence to back up the opinions. If you’re reading a fact-based source, be sure that it doesn’t oversimplify the topic.

The more familiar you become with your topic, the easier it will be for you to evaluate the evidence in your sources.

Cross-Check the Information

When you verify the information in one source with information you find in another source, this is called cross-referencing or cross-checking. If the author lists specific dates or facts, can you find that same information somewhere else? Having information listed in more than one place increases its credibility.

Check the Timeliness of the Source

How timely is the source? Is the source twenty years out of date? Some information becomes dated when new research is available, but other older sources of information can still be useful and reliable fifty or a hundred years later. For example, if you are researching a scientific topic, you will want to be sure you have the most up-to-date information. However, if you are examining an historical event, you may want to find primary documents from the time of the event, thus requiring older sources.

Examine the List of References

Check for a list of references or other citations that look as if they will lead you to related material that would be good sources. If a source has a list of references, it often means that the source is well-researched and thorough.

 

Another method used for evaluating resources is referred to as the CRAAP test. The basic framework is captured as follows:

Avoiding Plagiarism

"When should I cite a source to avoid plagiarizing? 

 Always give credit where credit is due. If the words that you are including in your research belong to someone else, give credit.  

Here is a brief list of what needs to be credited or documented: 

  • Words or ideas presented in a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV program, movie, website, computer program, letter, advertisement, or any other medium 
  • Information you gain through interviewing or conversing with another person, face to face, over the phone, or in writing 
  • When you copy the exact words or a unique phrase 
  • When you reprint any diagrams, illustrations, charts, pictures, or other visual materials 
  • When you reuse or repost any digital media, including images, audio, video, or other media 

There are certain things that do not need documentation or credit, including: 

  • Writing your own lived experiences, your own observations and insights, your own thoughts, and your own conclusions about a subject 
  • When you are writing up your own results obtained through lab or field experiments 
  • When you use your own artwork, digital photographs, video, audio, etc. 
  • When you are using "common knowledge," things like folklore, common sense observations, myths, urban legends, and historical events (but not historical documents) 
  • When you are using generally accepted facts (e.g., pollution is bad for the environment) including facts that are accepted within particular discourse communities (e.g., in the field of composition studies, "writing is a process" is a generally accepted fact)." 

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/using_research/avoiding_plagiarism/plagiarism_faq.html

Challenge yourself