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Library Skills Tutorial

Information Literacy and the Research Process

One of the most important and useful things we can learn is how to find, evaluate, and use information. This is information literacy, the ability to identify an information need, search for and find resources, evaluate the information, and put it to use. In college, you have to do assignments and write research papers that require you to find and use information sources. The skills you learn for these assignments will help you throughout your life when you need to find information on any topic. This tutorial will help you become information literate.

There are a number of steps involved in research . . . .

In this tutorial, we will follow Sandy, an Athens State student, as she prepares to write a research paper.

Sandy has been assigned a research paper on communication. Her professor says she must use at least five resources, including a minimum of one book and two journal articles.

The remaining two resources that Sandy may use can be magazine articles, newspaper articles, interviews, or additional books or journal articles. No more than one source may be an Internet site (this does not include articles from journals or magazines that are available online).

The first thing Sandy must do is decide exactly what her topic will be.