1 Referencing and Information literacy By (Student's Name) Institutional Affiliation Instructor's Name Course Date 2 Referencing and Information literacy Part 1 When writing a research paper, the types of references considered peer-reviewed and credible include academic journals, which are articles that are published and associated with universities, professional organizations, or academic writers; scholarly reviews often found in academic journals; books written and published by reputable experts, government publications that include reports and publications based on researches conducted by experts, dissertations, and theses that represent original researches (Jones-Jang, 2021); research reports particularly those that provide credible information; peer-reviewed websites, for example, Google scholar which is a reasonable and reputable source. Those which are not credible include Wikipedia- contents of Wikipedia are editable by anyone, may contain errors, and are subject to biases; social media- information from social media is not credible as they lack accuracy and knowledge in social media may spread with lack of facts (Fraillon, 2020); personal blogs- information on blogs may be biased as they are based on a person's understanding and opinions on different subjects; anonymous sources- these sources contain information that cannot be verified or traced back to the original author or organization; outdated sources which have data that are no longer accurate or relevant due to the ever-evolving research fields. Part 2 Information literacy makes my life easier with my academic studies in different ways. Primarily, I can obtain information within a very short time, therefore avoiding time wastage in getting information; I can compare the reliability of one source from another with ease; I can navigate a massive load of information that is relevant with ease (Modern librarian memoirs, 2017); I can identify the source of reliability and context of data quickly, it allows 3 me to create news or build lead through a process and stages; I can acknowledge the value and usefulness of information I obtain, through trial and error; I can examine the report and widen my research skills; I am also able to organize and synthesize information through information literacy. There are various situations and examples where I believe information literacy skills can benefit me in my everyday life outside of academic studies. I can find reliable and relevant information online; for example, I can pinpoint it quickly if I am looking for a particular article. Information literacy also allows me to safeguard my personal and financial information. As supported by Modern Librarian Memoirs (2017), this would enable me to understand and evaluate information shared on social media, which is biased often or sometimes false; it will allow me to be informed when making big life decisions, for example, buying a house or investing in a particular company; it will enable me recognize that intellectual property comes in many forms for example photos, videos and songs which require permission from owner or citation when sharing; it will allow me have informed conversations with others as information I have are facts. 4 Reference Jones-Jang, S. M., Mortensen, T., & Liu, J. (2021). Does media literacy help the identification of fake news? Information literacy helps, but other literacies don't. American Behavioral Scientist, 65(2), 371-388. Modern librarian memoirs. (2017, August 2). What is information literacy? [video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbe6xBibOL4. Fraillon, J., Ainley, J., Schulz, W., Friedman, T., & Duckworth, D. (2020). Preparing for life in a digital world: IEA international computer and information literacy study 2018 global report (p. 297). Springer Nature.
