After an Information literacy session about useful resources for students in Dr. Spicer's Computer Assisted Journalism course, students participated in a 3 minute question burst session. Afterwards they selected questions they most wanted answered. This video was created to answer those questions.
Questions from session & Time Stamps:
1:17 - Research Assistance
- Where can we get help if we are having trouble finding sources?
- What if we have trouble finding sources?
- When is the best time to contact you for help?
2:53 - Authority
-
When is it okay to not use a scholarly source?
- How do you know what non-scholarly articles can be trusted?
- How do we verify that sources are reliable?
- Are these sources credible and unbiased?
-
How to make sure experts are creditable? (also watch at 4:10 - using google scholar to check credibility)
- How do you determine credibility on a source in a database?
**Link to interactive tutorial discussed in this section that will help with the above 6 questions:
Selecting Appropriate Digital Sources
3:38
- Are academic journals the all around best resource?
**Link to video mentioned called
What is Authority (start viewing at 1:53)
** Link to video mentioned called
What is Bias (2 minute video)
9:17 - Age of Sources
- How far back (in terms of recency) can you go when researching?
- When do sources start to lose credibility?
- How modern should these sources be?
10:49 - Primary vs Secondary
- How many primary versus secondary sources?
- Which is preferred? More primary sources or secondary sources?
-Should we include secondary sources, and how many?
**Link to a video on understanding primary sources called:
Primary Sources (3:40 in length)
**Link to a video on understanding secondary sources called:
Secondary Sources (2:30 in length)
12:16 Research/Search Techniques
- If there is too many sources, what is the best way to narrow the number down?
- How to narrow down articles when there’s a lot of results?
- How can I narrow down my topic question?
**Link to video mentioned called:
How to Narrow Your Topic (start viewing at 1:23)
14:24 - When should you restrict the area of knowledge you search for (related to Policy Maps)?
**Link to video mentioned called:
PolicyMap Quick Start 14:58 - What's the best way to come up with an idea for a topic if you don't have an idea?
**Link to video mentioned:
Mind Mapping Research Ideas16:45 - Your Professor Should Answer These Questions
- What types of sources are required?
- How should I make a quote from an article more concise?
17:21 - It Really Depends on the Situation
- How many sources should you start with before starting project?
- Is it possible to have too many sources?
- Should I narrow down the number of sources?
- When should you start researching before starting a project?
- How long should I spend collecting resources?
- How should the sources be organized?
18:01 Miscellaneous Questions
- What to do when a source isn’t useful for your specific topic? Can it be salvaged?
- Qualitative or quantitative data?
*** Link to video that discusses quantitative & qualitative data called:
Data, Information, and Knowledge (start viewing at 2:44)
19:19 - Final Thoughts