5.17: Assignment- Information Literacy Resources

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Become familiar with the NOVA Library resources. Begin by navigating to the Library Home Page [link to http://www.nvcc.edu/library]. You will find a wealth of information here. Take a look at the library resource tabs – Books & More, Articles & More, Streaming & eMedia, & Research Guides.
1. Books & More provides a box to search the library catalog for books, eBooks, DVDs and streaming videos in all NOVA Libraries.
2. Articles & More has links to the many databases available to help you find articles from journals, magazines and newspapers. You will be using the databases found under the ‘Recommended Databases for Most Topics’ link for this course. When accessing these databases off-campus you will need to log in using your Blackboard username and password.
3. Streaming & eMedia has links to all of our audiobook, eBook, and music databases. Interested in exploring technology further? Check out the link to the SafariTech eBook collection. You will also need to log in to these databases off-campus.
4. Research Guides pull together all types of resources on a subject. These resources may include eBooks, recommended databases, encyclopedias, videos, career information, websites and more. Click on the ‘Research Guides’ tab, and the ‘By Subject’ link. Click on the ‘Information Technology’ link to see the Research Guide for this course.
College-level research generally requires referencing scholarly sources as opposed to popular sources. The following resources will help you to evaluate sources and determine which are appropriate to use.
1. Video: YouTube created by Lynn University [Duration 4:44] (link to http://youtu.be/urCFhPJRhbI)
2. Document: Characteristics of Magazines, Trade Publications & Scholarly Journals – How can you tell the difference between magazines and scholarly journals?(http://nova.libguides.com/content.ph...95&sid=3523205)
3. What about Wikipedia? There are appropriate uses of Wikipedia, but in general it should not be cited as a direct source in your research. For more information see the following link –http://www.nvcc.edu/depts/library_projects/Blackboard/wikipedia_demo.htm. Note that this video has no sound.
Once you have a topic, you will start your research. Searching library resources is different than searching Google. Rather than searching for a sentence or question, you will want to identify keywords. What is a keyword? A keyword is the main idea(s) of your topic. If you want to conduct research on whether cloud computing is a secure method of storing files, your keywords might be: “cloud computing”, files, storage, and security.
After identifying your keywords, you will need to construct a search strategy using appropriate commands. Searches can be done using various techniques, such as searching for a particular phrase, using Boolean operators, and applying truncation. The following resources will demonstrate these different search techniques:
1. Video: Search Strategies in a Database [Duration 6:58] (link to http://youtu.be/RF5mTw5Pujk)
2. Video: Boolean Operators [Duration 3:02] (link to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsSZps3NH-M).
3. Video: Truncation [Duration 1:23] (link to http://youtu.be/KbS9QGHcM0c).
This assignment is not graded. However you will be using these research tools in several assignments in this course.

Introduction to Computer Applications and Concepts, Information Literacy Assignment. Authored by: Jim Shannon. Provided by: Extended Learning Institute of Northern Virginia Community College. Located at: http://www.nvcc.edu/eli/index.html. License: CC BY: Attribution