Information Literacy
Finding and Evaluating On-line Information
PA551 Information Technology Workshop
School of Public & Nonprofit Administration
Grand Valley State University
Journalism
• What: Newspapers, Newsmagazines, Television
and Radio Programs
• For:
– getting the general background
– finding latest statistical and anecdotal information
• evaluating importance of issue to public
• Examples:
– New York Times
– Newsweek
-- All Things Considered
-- 60 Minutes
Journalism
pros & cons
• Advantages
– language very accessible
– some review process (fact checking)
– many indexed, searchable sources
• Disadvantages:
– low authority (author may not have deep
understanding of material)
– possibility of misquotations
– possibility of misinformation
1
Journalism resources (part1)
• LexisNexis
– “general news - magazines and journals” 450+ titles
including:*
• Newsweek (1975)
• Business Week (1975)
• US News & WR (1975)
• The Economist (1975)
• The Weekly Standard (1994)
• Time (rolling)*
– “general news - major papers” 50+ titles including:
• USA Today (1989)
• Washington Post (1977)
• New York Times (1980)
– “transcripts” including:
• All Things Considered (NPR)
• Special Report with Brit Hume: (Fox)
• Google News (news.google.com)
*Time Magazine under “Time Inc. Publications,” back 2 years (rolling)
Journalism resources (part 2)
• Michigan Newspapers:
– Detroit News (1999)
– Grand Rapids Press (2002)
– Lansing State Journal (1999)
• InfoTrac Custom 120 Full Text Newspapers, includes:
– New York Times (2000)
– Washington Times (1996)
– Grand Rapids Press (2000)
• Proquest General Reference General Interest Module includes:
– Time (1992)
– Weekly Standard (2001)
– Newsweek (1998)
– The Economist (1991)
– U.S. News / WR(1988) – Wall Street Journal (1988) *
* Full text for Wall Street Journal is under Poquest’s “Newspaper Abstracts”
Policy Advocacy
• What: newsletters; commentary in magazines, journals,
broadcast media; documentary films / videos
• For:
– personal opinions
– official organization positions
– policy arguments
• Examples:
– Fahrenheit 911
-- Sierra Magazine
– Heritage Foundation Executive Memorandum
2
Advocacy
pros & cons
• advantages:
– very accessible language
– plentiful and varied sources
• disadvantages:
– only one side is presented
– may be no review process (beyond editing)
– may be disguised as journalism or research
Advocacy
resources
• ABI/INFORM Trade & industry
• Meta policy sites
– Public Agenda Online (www.publicagenda.org)
– Almanac of Policy Issues (www.policyalmanac.org)
– OnTheIssues.org (www.ontheissues.org)
• Web Search Engines
– Google (www.google.com)
– Teoma (www.teoma.com)
– All The Web (www.alltheweb.com)
Professional Publications
• What: publications sponsored by an organization
for medical, legal, administrative, religious, etc.
• For:
–
–
–
–
news important to members
policy positions of organizations and officers
the perspective of people close to an issue
policy arguments
3
PA / NP - specific professional
publications
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
PA Times (www.aspanet.org/patimes)
Governing Magazine (Proquest, 1988; LexisNexis, 1992)
Nonprofit Times (www.nptimes.com)
The Public Manager (Proquest)
PM: Public Management Magazine (Proquest)
Government Executive Magazine (www.govexec.com)
Philanthropy News Digest (fdncenter.org/pnd)
Chronicle of Philanthropy (philanthropy.com –
subscription only)
Academic Research
• What: Scholarly journals
• For:
– scientific findings
– survey research
– disciplinary perspectives
• Examples:
– Public Administration Review
– Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
Academic Research
pros and cons
• advantages:
– methodology and conclusions subject to blind review
(peer review)
• disadvantages
– inaccessible (academic jargon, complex
methodologies, cryptic tables)
4
Academic Research
resources
• ProQuest General Reference - Social Science
Module (check “peer reviewed” option)
• Wilson Select Plus / First Search
• ECO / First Search
• EBSCOhost E-Journals
• LexisNexis (law journals)
• Infomine (infomine.ucr.edu)
• Google scholar (scholar.google.com/)
For a list of journals at GVSU and their online and hard copy location, see
http://www.gvsu.edu/spna/resources/peer_review.pdf
Applied Research
• What: Publications from university research
centers, planning agencies, think tanks
• For:
– survey research
– local conditions and trends
• Examples:
– The Billion Dollar Impact: Kent County Nonprofits in 1999
– State of Ohio's Urban Regions Reports: Employment Change
– Pharmaceuticals: Access, Cost, Pricing, and Directions for
the Future
Applied Research
pros and cons
• advantages:
– fair language accessibility
• disadvantages
– often limited to single geographic area
(generalization issue)
– hard to locate (limited publication)
– often non-standardized data
5
Applied Research
resources
• Web Search Engines
–
–
–
–
Infomine (infomine.ucr.edu)
Google (www.google.com)
Teoma (www.teoma.com)
All The Web (www.alltheweb.com)
• ISI Basic Social Science Index (abstracts only)
Historical Research
• What: (a) articles older than 20 years; (b) books old
enough to be in the public domain; (c) old web pages
• For
– Historical perspective
– Classic articles
– Interesting trivia and quotes
• Example: Articles by Woodrow Wilson, Jane Adams,
Richard Childs, Mary Follet. Web pages like Vice
President Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing
Government; FEMA web site on 13 Sept 2001
Historical research
pros & cons
• advantages
– Can have high authority
– Demonstrates thoroughness
– Provides novelty
• disadvantages
– Easy to misinterpret (change in language, context)
– Hard to find
6
Historical Research
resources
• Old print articles
– ASP Online (in Proquest) 1100+ titles (1740-1940)
– J-Store about 200 titles, including:
• Political Science Quarterly 1886-1999
• Administrative Science Quarterly 1956-2000
• Books (in public domain):
– Project Gutenberg ( www.gutenberg.org )
• Defunct / old version web sites
– CyberCemetery ( govinfo.library.unt.edu )
– Way Back Machine ( www.archive.org )
Expert opinion
• What: testimony of experts, books, personal interviews,
magazine and journal articles, list serves, discussion
boards, personal interviews
• For
– all purposes
– but not peer reviewed
• Example: personal interview with John Ort, Deputy
State Director of Homeland Security and Emergency
Management; Paul Light on “True Size of
Government,” NPR’s Talk of the Nation, 24 Jan 04;
Administrative Evil by Dan Balfour
Expert opinion
pros & cons
• advantages
– high authority (check credentials)
• disadvantages
– may be advocate (selling policy)
– may be consultant (selling self)
– may be quacks
7
Expert opinion
resources (part 1)
• Books
– NetLibrary
– a9.com (Amazon.com full text book search)
– Questia subscription service (www.questia.com)
• Congressional speeches and testimony
– Thomas (thomas.loc.gov)
– GPO (www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs)
• Online forums
– Usenet & listserves (see tile.net for guide)
Expert opinion
resources (part 2)
• Interviews
– LexisNexis, News Transcripts, includes:
•
•
•
•
Meet The Press (NBC)
The O'Reilly Factor (Fox)
The Diane Rehm Show (NPR)
Hardball (MSNBC)
Public Information
• What: Documents published by US, state or local
governments
• For:
–
–
–
–
government policies
program descriptions
research
government compiled statistics
• Example:
– FBI Uniform Crime Report,
– Congressional Record
8
Public Information
pros & cons
• advantages:
– highly standardized
– assume a review
• disadvantages:
– "Politics of Numbers"
– outdated standards (poverty line?)
– incompatible standards (census "race" definition)
Public Information
resources
• GPO (www.access.gpo.gov)
• National Technical Information Service
(www.ntis.gov)
• FirstGov (www.firstgov.gov)
• LexisNexis Government Periodicals Index
• Federal Electronic Publications from U of M
(http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/fedelec.html )
9