THE INFORMATION

CYCLE

Day of Event

Next Days

Next Weeks

Next Months

Next Year

TV News, Radio, Facebook, Twitter

Newspapers

Magazines

Academic/ScholarlyJournals

Books

The Day of an EventTelevision, The Internet, and RadioThe information:• Is primarily provided through up-to-the-minute

resources like broadcast news, Internet news sites, and news radio programs.

• Is quick, generally not detailed, and regularly updated.

• Explains the who, what, when, and where of an event.

• Can, on occasion, be inaccurate.• Is written by authors who are primarily

journalists.• Is intended for a general audience.

The Day After An EventNewspapersThe information:• Is longer as newspaper articles begin to apply a

chronology to an event and explain why the event occurred.

• Is more factual and provides a deeper investigation into the immediate context of events.

• Includes quotes from government officials and experts.

• May include statistics, photographs, and editorial coverage.

• Can include local perspectives on a story.• Is written by authors who are primarily

journalists.• Is intended for a general audience.

The Weeks Following an EventWeekly Popular Magazines and News MagazinesThe information:• Is contained in long form stories. Weekly

magazines begin to discuss the impact of an event on society, culture, and public policy.

• Includes detailed analysis of events, interviews, as well as opinions and analysis.

• Offers perspectives on an event from particular groups or geared towards specific audiences.

• While often factual, information can reflect the editorial bias of a publication.

• Is written by a range of authors, from professional journalists, to essayists, to commentary by scholars or experts in the field.

• Is intended for a general audience or specific nonprofessional groups

Six Months to a Year After an Event and On...Academic JournalsThe information:• Includes detailed analysis, empirical research

reports, and learned commentary related to the event.

• Is often theoretical, carefully analyzing the impact of the event on society, culture, and public policy.

• Is peer-reviewed. This editorial process ensures high credibility and accuracy.

• Often narrow in topic.• Written in a highly technical language.• Includes detailed bibliographies.• Is authored by scholars, researchers, and

professionals, often with Ph.D's.• Is intended for other scholars, researchers,

professionals, and university students in the • field.

A Year to Years After an Event and On...BooksThe information: • Provides in-depth coverage of an event, often

expanding and detailing themes, subjects, and analysis begun in academic research and published in journals.

• Often places an event into some sort of historical context.

• Can provide broad overviews of an event.• Can range from scholarly in-depth analysis of a

topic, to popular books which provide general discussions and are not as well-researched.

• Might have a bias or slant, but this dependent on the author.

• Includes bibliographies.• Is often written by scholars, specialists,

researchers, and professionals, though credentials of authors vary.

• Can be intended for a broad audience depending on the book, ranging from scholars to a general audience.

Years LaterGovernment ReportsThe information: • Comes from all levels of government from state, federal, and

international governments• Includes reports compiled by governmental organizations and

summaries of government-funded research• Is factual, often including statistical analysis• Often focuses on an event in relation to public policy and legislation• Authored by governmental panels, organizations, and committees• Is intended for all audiences.

Reference MaterialThe information: • Is considered established knowledge.• Is published years after an event takes place, in encyclopedias,

dictionaries, textbooks, and handbooks.• Includes factual information, often in the form of overviews and

summaries of an event.• May include statistics and bibliographies.• Often not as detailed as books or journal articles.• Authored by scholars and specialists.• Often intended for a general audience, but may be of use to

researchers, scholars or professionals.

Internet, TV, Facebook, Twitter, Radio

Newspapers

Magazines

Academic/Scholarly Journals

Books

College Professors will expect you to know the Steps in the Research ProcessThe Steps

STEP 1: Formulate your question

STEP 2: Get background information

STEP 3: Refine your search topic

STEP 4: Consider your resource options

STEP 5: Select the appropriate tool

STEP 6: Use the tool

STEP 7: Locate your materials

STEP 8: Analyze your materials

STEP 9: Organize and write

STEP 10: Compose your bibliography

College Professors will expect you to know how to:

• Cite sources

• Develop a thesis statement

• Use your Library’s Catalog

• Use an advanced search screen

• Find scholarly journals

• Interview experts

• Write a research question

• Use electronic journals, periodical resources, and subscription databases

and to• Know that libraries offer subscription databases and how to use them

• Know that it is illegal to steal clip art or other images unless they are copyright-free

• Know libraries have websites

• Know how and why it is necessary to synthesize information from multiple sources

• Understand the concept of copyright, plagiarism and its consequences

• Know how to interpret the quality of information you are finding

• Know what is full-text and that not every resource is available in full-text

• Understand how recorded information about an event changes over time

• Judge timeliness of a source

• Judge relevance and objectivity of a source based on date of publication

• Judge relevance and objectivity of a source based on type of publication

This is called being

INFORMATION LITERATE

Know

Find

EvaluateUse

Respect

Someone who is information literate can

information

Know what kind of car you’re interested in

Find info about that make and

model

Evaluate the sources of info

and decide if the info is useful

Use that info to make a good

decision

Respect the work that other people did to make that

info available

For instance, if you’re going to buy a new car, you need to

beep beep

Know what topic you want to write on and

maybe some keywords to use

Find books and articles about that topic, and

maybe some info from the web

Evaluate the sources that you find for

currency, accuracy, authority, and quality

Use your research to make your paper

stronger and better

Respect the work of the authors by not

plagiarizing

Or if your professor assigns a paper, you need to

A+

How can the library help?

http://www.ggc.edu/library