Research Skills Assessment Instrument
Lehigh University Library and Technology Services will be working with our
faculty to develop an information literacy program for our students. This
assessment of the research skills of our incoming students will help us identify
those skills that are most important to this training program. Completing this
assessment will make you eligible to win one of ten, $50.00 gift certificates to
the Lehigh University Bookstore.Your score on this assessment will not be
associated with your personal record. It will be used solely to help with the
planning and design of the Information Literacy program.
1. During the past 2 years, I have used a library online catalog...
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Never
Occasionally
Often
Not sure
2. During the past 2 years, I have written a paper that required a
bibliography or list of works cited...
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Never
Occasionally
Often
Not sure
3. In an online database or an online catalog, which search below would
result in the greatest number of hits? Choose one:
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MTV and music television
MTV or music television
MTV not music television
I do not know
4. You are writing a paper comparing current events in Afghanistan and
Iraq. In searching an online library catalog or research database, which
search would retrieve only items discussing both Afghanistan and Iraq?
Choose one:
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Afghanistan and Iraq
Afghanistan or Iraq
Afghanistan Iraq
All three strategies will produce the same results
I do not know
5.You need to find examples of what average Americans were reading in
the 1950's about the threat of communism. What would be the best
source of information?
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Hearings of the House Committee on Un-American Activities
Articles in magazines like Newsweek or Time
A biography of Senator Joseph McCarthy
Articles from the American Political Science Review
Articles from Political Quarterly
6. The online Expanded Academic Index provides indexing for more than
1800 scholarly and general interest journals in many fields. Many article
listings have links to full text. Which of the following terms would
describe the Expanded Academic Index? Choose one:
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A library catalog
A periodical database
A search engine
An electronic encyclopedia
I do not know
7. You have just done a search on “teen smoking” in the library catalog.
The search retrieved one book. Here is the catalog listing:
****************************************************
Title: Combating teen smoking : research and policy strategies / Peter D. Jacobson ... [et al.].
Publication info: Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, c2001. Physical description: viii,
299 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. Bibliography note: Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-291) and
index. Subject: Teenagers--Tobacco use--United States--Prevention. Subject: Youth--Tobacco
use--United States--Prevention. Subject: Smoking--United States--Prevention. Subject: Smoking-prevention & control--Adolescence—United States Subject: Health Policy--United States.
Personal author: Jacobson, Peter D. LEHIGH CALL NUMBER COPY MATERIAL
LOCATION 1) 362.2967 C729 1 BOOK FM-3-NORTH
What step(s) could you take to efficiently find additional books?
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None, there is only one book on teen smoking in the library
Find book on shelf, look for others on teen smoking nearby
Click a subject heading: Youth-Tobacco use-US- Prevention
Search term “smoking," scan list for books on teen smoking
I do not know
8. What key concepts below would be most useful in developing a
search strategy for the following topic: "Does attending an all-girls
school have a positive impact on girls’ academic success?" Choose
one:
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Private schools, academic achievement
Single sex education, academic achievement
Male students, female students, academic achievement
Gender discrimination, academic achievement
I do not know
9. Which of the following is the best way to start if you want to locate
good journal articles on a specific topic? Choose one :
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Page through journals
Use a research database
Use a web search engine
Use the library catalog
I do not know
10. You have been assigned to find a primary source on the lives of
slaves. Which two of the following would qualify?
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Garrett, Patricia. Analyzing slavery and the slave narrative. Rural
Sociology 2001 66(2): 294-300.
North American slave narratives [electronic resource]. Publication info:
[Chapel Hill, N.C.] : Academic Affairs Library, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, c1998-http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/neh.html [1]
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Earley, Samantha Manchester. Dismantling master thought: discourse
and race in Frederick Douglass’ Narrative. Atenea [Puerto Rico] 2001
21(1-2): 179-192.
Douglass, Frederick, 1817?-1895. Title: Narrative of the life of Frederick
Douglass, an American slave / written by himself. Publication info:
Boston : Pub. at the Anti-slavery office, 1845.
I do not know
11-14. The following citation is from a periodical research database. The
real challenge of multiculturalism. W.M.Chace. The Education Digest 56:
34-36 May '91
.
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11: What is the article title? The real challenge of multiculturalism
12: What is the journal title? The Education Digest
13: What is the volume number? 56
14: What is the first page of the article? 34
15. To what does the following citation refer (choose one answer)?
Borzutsky, Sylvia. (1998). “Chilean democracy before and after Pinochet.” In
von Mettenheim, Kurt and Malloy, James, (Eds),
Deepening Democracy in Latin America
. University of Pittsburgh Press: Pittsburgh, PA. Pages 89-107.
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Book
Chapter within a book
Encyclopedia article
Newspaper article
Periodical article
16. To what does the following citation refer (choose one answer)?
Wilson, Bruce M.
Costa Rica: Politics, Economics and Democracy
. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1998.
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Book
Chapter within a book
Encyclopedia article
Newspaper article
Periodical article
17. To what does the following citation refer (choose one answer)?
Branch, David. Tycho's Mystery Companion.
Nature
. 431:1044-1046. (28 October 2004)
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Book
Chapter within a book
Encyclopedia article
Newspaper article
Periodical article
18. Which of the following are considered primary sources? Choose all
that apply:
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Letters
Personal diaries
Biographies
Bibliographies
Encyclopedia articles
19. The Art Bulletin is published quarterly by the College Art
Association. It contains articles on all aspects of art history. It
publishes, after “rigorous peer review, articles and critical reviews of the
highest quality in all areas and periods of the history of art. Its mission
is to foster an intensive engagement with intellectual developments and
debates in contemporary art-historical practice.” What type of
publication is this? Choose one:
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Popular periodical
Book
Professional/trade periodical
Scholarly periodical
Government document
20. Newsweek is published weekly. It reports on and analyzes current
events and issues in the US and throughout the world. Articles cover
business and financial news and issues, as well as social and
technological trends that affect our everyday lives and examine
important issues from multiple perspectives. What type of publication is
this? Choose one:
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Popular periodical
Book
Professional/trade periodical
Scholarly periodical
Government document
21. You have been assigned to find a scholarly journal article on the
effects of television commercials on children. Which of these items
would best fulfill your assignment? Choose one:
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Young, Brian M. Television advertising and children. New York :
Penquin Press, 1990.
Australian kids inundated with junk food ads. Chris Prichard. Medical
Post Newsletter Apr 22, 2003. Vol. 39, Iss. 16; pg. 71.
Children and television advertising: When do they understand
persuasive intent? Author: Oates, Caroline Source: Harvard Review of
Consumer Behavior Vol 1(3) (Feb 2002): 238-245
Television advertising leads to unhealthy habits in children; says APA
task force. APA Press Releases Date: February 23,
2004. http://www.apa.org/releases/childrenads.html [2]
I do not know
22. Which of the following oral presentation topics requires the most
current information? Choose one:
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A critique of Maya Angelou’s poem “On the Pulse of Morning”
The origin of the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle
Issues in Iraq’s transition to an independent government
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Sleep deprivation among high school students
I do not know
23. Which aspects of a website are important when evaluating its value
as a source for a research paper? Choose all that apply:
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Author’s identity and credentials
Indication of date of the creation and revision of the site
Website’s use of graphics
The website offers a chat group option
The website domain: what institution sponsors the website
24. You are doing research on gun control policy and have found several
websites which discuss this topic. Which of the sites listed below might
have the most balanced and authoritative information? Choose all that
apply:
http://www.atf.gov/firearms/index.htm [3] - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms, U.S. Department of Justice
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http://www.nra.org/ [4] - The National Rifle Association
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http://www.banhandgunsnow.org [5] - The Violence Policy Center
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http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/gunlaw.htm [6] - University of Pittsburgh Law
School
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I do not know
25. Suppose you are writing a research paper and you read an article on
your topic. In which of the following instances would you include a
citation to the article in your paper? Choose all that apply:
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When you quote a whole paragraph
When you write a paragraph over in your own words
When you quote one sentence from the article
None of the above
I do not know
26. Which of these kinds of information would you not expect to be able
to retrieve doing a search of Google on the open Internet? Choose all
that apply:
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Today's news
Newspaper archives
U.S. Census information
Journal articles that require paid subscriptions
Books in the Urbana University Library catalog on a topic
27. In my high school, I attended a class session about library resources
and research strategies that was presented by a librarian or a teacher.
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Yes
No
28. For courses in high school, please indicate any of the following
specific resources that you have used. Choose as many as apply:
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The MLA Bibliography
General periodical database like Ebsconet, Infotrac or Readers Guide
A full text online newspaper (e.g., The New York Times)
Microfilmed primary sources or periodicals
A science periodical database (e.g., BIOSIS, SciFinder)
29. You are reading an article about African-Americans in Springfield,
Illinois. You want to confirm some of the statistics in another source.
Where should you look? Choose one:
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Essence, a publication targeted to African-Americans
factfinder.census.gov, a U. S. Census Bureau website
America the Book, by Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show"
The Chicago Sun-Times
30. You are writing an article for the newspaper on the use of Ritalin and
related drugs among college students. Which of the following
would not be a useful source of information?
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A drug company flier on the use of Ritalin
Confidential interviews with students who use Ritalin in college
An article in American Baby magazine about a parent's experience with
their elementary school child on Ritalin
A website from the U. S. Food and Drug Administration discussing the
use of Ritalin among adults
Medical journal articles on Ritalin's effect on concentration
31. You cannot find very much information on your chosen topic: Does
caffeine cause high blood pressure in naked mole rats? What other
kinds of information would be useful to you in supporting your
hypothesis? Choose all that apply:
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The effects of caffeinated beverages on mice
The effects of diet change on naked mole rats
The effects of coumadin treatment on blood pressure
Salt's effects on high blood pressure in naked mole rats
32. You are writing a paper on the role of the chief justice of the
Supreme Court. Below are some of the possible statements you might
include in your paper. Which of them is an example of plagiarism?
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The chief justice of the Supreme Court is appointed for life.
According to the Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United
States, "The chief justice's most conspicuous customary duty is that of
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presiding over Supreme Court proceedings and serving as circuit justice
for his allotted circuit."
The chief justice's most conspicuous customary duty is that of presiding
over Supreme Court proceedings and serving as circuit justice for his
allotted circuit.
According to the West's Encyclopedia of American Law, the chief justice
of the Supreme Court is appointed for life.
33. Which of the following represents an inappropriate use of materials?
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Including a copy of a map from the CIA World Factbook in your written
report, and citing the CIA World Factbook as the source.
Copying an outline map of a country from a website that says, "These
outline maps are free of charge for educational uses," making your own
notations, and noting that your map is based on an outline map from the
site.
Saving an image of a map of a country from the PBS website and
uploading it to your website.
Linking to a map of the country from the country's official website.
34. You are starting to do research for a paper about the Great
Depression. You know very little about this topic. What would be a
useful source to consult as you begin your research?
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America: History and Life database
Encyclopedia of American History
Google Scholar
The New York Times
35. From the following excerpt, determine the key concepts that would
be helpful in creating a search strategy for finding more information
related to the topic:
"...the quality, speed, and effectiveness of the public health response to SARS
brilliantly outshone past responses to international outbreaks of infectious
disease, validating a decade's worth of progress in global public health
networking. Thus, in several respects, the SARS epidemic reflected
fundamental improvements in how the world responds to an outbreak of
infectious disease." --Learning from SARS: Preparing for the Next Disease
Outbreak -- Workshop Summary (2004), National Academies
Press, http://darwin.nap.edu/books/0309091543/html/2.html [7]
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Epidemic, global, diseases, severe acute respiratory syndrome
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), public health response,
advancements, international disease outbreaks
International, health response, transmission, outbreaks
Outbreaks, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), international
travel, health response
Research Skills Assessment [8]
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[1] javascript:open_win('http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/neh.html')
[2] http://www.apa.org/releases/childrenads.html
[3] http://www.atf.gov/firearms/index.htm
[4] http://www.nra.org/
[5] http://www.banhandgunsnow.org/
[6] http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/gunlaw.htm
[7] http://darwin.nap.edu/books/0309091543/html/2.html
[8]
http://library.lehigh.edu/teaching_support/information_literacy_teaching_research_skills/
research_success_your_students/resear