Learning OutcomesLearning Outcomes

Identify six reasons why you need information;

Explain the five steps of information-gathering process as shown in the Information Trail.

Why do we need Why do we need information?information? Supplement and compliment your course

module Prepare for discussions in classroom and

for online tutorials Produce assignments Prepare for oral and written examinations Expand your subject knowledge Satisfy your curiosity

Basic skills in using a Basic skills in using a librarylibrary Information Retrieval Skills (IRS)

Locating and retrieving information Evaluating and selecting information

ICT Skills for Information Retrieval Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) Electronic databases (e-books and e-

journals) Internet websites

The Information TrailThe Information Trail Step 1: Identify topic of assignment Step 2: Identify information resources and

sources Step 3: Apply search strategies Step 4: Evaluate and select information Step 5: Present the relevant information

Identifying and analysing topic Identifying and analysing topic of assignmentof assignment

Identify Main topic Sub-topics

Recognising InformationRecognising Information Types of information resources

Books Journal articles Chapters in a book Conference papers Websites

Types of information sources Local databases Commercial electronic databases

Search StrategiesSearch Strategies Author – to search using the author’s

name Title – to search using the title of the

material Subject – to use if you do not have

information on author or title Keyword – most efficient search strategy

when you are not searching for specific items

Boolean ConnectorsBoolean Connectors AND

Combine more than one keyword Narrow a search Requires all words to be present

OR Combine synonyms Broaden a search Will search any of the words

NOT Excludes a word

Learning Skills: Information Gathering Process by Open University Malaysia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at http://oer.oum.edu.my.

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