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
Evaluating Research Materials
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?
Currency
Evaluation Criteria--Continued
 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?
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
editorial
 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
Scholarly (Authoritative) Web Sites
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
Finding Scholarly Websites
 Use Internet subject directories
 Academic—sites have been selected for quality, may be annotated
 Find using Internet Subject Directories link on Electronic Reserves
http://www.internettutorials.net/
 Specialized search engines
 iSEEK targets substantive websites; InfoMINE: http://infomine.ucr.edu/: Librarian’s Internet Index
 Use search engine “Advanced Search” features to limit domains
to .edu, .org, .gov, etc.
 Google
 Ask.com
Web Site Evaluation
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
Exercise:Would you use these websites in a
research paper?
3 Websites
 China Tibet Online
 http://eng.tibet.cn/
 International Campaign for Tibet
 http://www.savetibet.org/
 TWELVE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
ABOUT TIBET AND CHINA
 http://webspace.webring.com/people/jd/dorje005/
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?
Here is a link to Cornell Library’s page on making
an annotated bibliography:
http://guides.library.cornell.edu/annotatedbibliog
raphy
This is North Carolina’s, which has a bit more
detail: https://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/a
nnotated-bibliographies/
An Example of bad
annotated bibliography