Identify Options

Puzzle piece labeled: Identify Options

You identify what kinds of information you need, what tools are available to locate that kind of information, and what format the information is in:

  • You recognize the various types of information available to you (e.g., statistics, standards and codes, popular and scholarly articles, primary and secondary sources, government documents);
  • You identify possible search tools (e.g., library catalog and databases, search engines);
  • You understand the difference between primary and secondary sources;
  • You recognize the purpose and audience of potential resources (e.g., popular vs. scholarly, current vs. historical);
  • You can find information in a variety of formats (e.g., book, periodical, multimedia.)

Evaluation Step:

You should assess the search tools you have used in terms of your needs. Some tools are better than others for giving different types and formats of information-- have you chosen the best for your needs? Have you looked for the best types and formats for addressing your assignment, question or problem?  If you are not sure, you may need to revisit your understanding of the question to help you choose what tools and types would be most likely to provide the information you need.

Next Concept: Access and Retrieve Sources

Back to the Information Literacy Puzzle

 

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Information Literacy at Grays Harbor College by the John Spellman Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at Seattle Central Community College Library. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available. For more information, contact the John Spellman Library.