Navigating

Information
Literacy
Your Information Society Survival Toolkit

Third Edition

Theo Bothma • Erica Cosijn • Ina Fourie • Cecilia Penzhorn

The authors, Professor Theo Bothma, Dr Erica Cosijn, Professor Ina Fourie and Dr Cecilia Penzhorn, are all faculty members of

the Department of Information Science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. They all have vast experience in teaching

many aspects of Information Science at undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Authors’ profiles can be viewed on their

personal websites at http://is.up.ac.za

 Pearson Education South Africa (Pty) Ltd
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permission of the copyright holder.

First published 2006

Second edition 2008
Third edition 2011

Navigating Information Literacy is the third edition of Information Society

Survival Toolkit

Print ISBN 978 177578 2278

ebook ISBN: 978 177578 3 336

Publisher: Philippa van Aardt

Managing Editor: Deanne Vorster
Editor: Tracy Blues
Proofreader: Candice Platt

Book and cover design: The Nimblemouse, Cape Town

Typesetting: Richards DTP Studios

Acknowledgements
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Contents at a glance
Chapter 1 Information literacy 10

Chapter 2 Information sources and resources 18

Chapter 3 Portals, gateways and library websites 40

Chapter 4 Constructing a search query 56

Chapter 5 Internet searching 68

Chapter 6 Searching databases and online journals 84

Chapter 7 Organising and retrieving information on your computer 108

Chapter 8 Ethical and fair use of information 118

Chapter 9 Referencing and reference techniques 134

Chapter 10 Evaluating information and information sources 154

Chapter 11 Writing assignments and research reports 166

Chapter 12 21st Century communication 182

Index 196

Glossary 203
 Contents
Chapter 1 Information literacy 10
1 What is information literacy? 11
2 Why is it important to be information literate? 12
2.1 What is the relationship between information literacy and lifelong learning? 12
2.2 What is the importance of information literacy for your studies? 12

3 What are the competencies of an information literate person? 12

3.1 How do I know that I need information before starting a task? 13
3.2 How do I know what information I need for my task? 13
3.3 How do I find the information I need? 13
3.4 How can I organise the information I find so that I can use it when I need it? 13
3.5 What are the ethical and legal issues about the use of information? 14
3.6 How do I know that the information I find is the ‘right’ information for my
task? 14
3.7 What other competencies do information literate people have? 14
3.8 What are the latest trends in communication and information technology? 15

4 Where do these information literacy competencies come from? 15

4.1 What are process models for teaching information literacy? 15
4.2 What are frameworks for assessing information literacy? 16

Chapter 2 Information sources and resources 18

1 Books 20
2 Periodicals 20
2.1 Journal articles 22
2.2 Magazine articles 23

3 Open access 24
4 The Internet 24
4.1 What is the Internet? 24
4.2 What is the World Wide Web? 25
4.3 Internet communications services that also carry information 28
4.4 What is Web 2.0? 29

5 Reference works 29
5.1 Encyclopaedias 30
5.2 Dictionaries 30
5.3 Thesauri 31
5.4 Bibliographic databases 32
5.5 Maps and atlases 32
5.6 Bibliographies 32
5.7 Directories 34
5.8 Yearbooks 35

4
 6 Other sources 35
6.1 Conference proceedings 35
6.2 Diaries 35
6.3 Geographic Information Systems 36
6.4 Government publications 36
6.5 Grey literature 36
6.6 Newsletters 37
6.7 Newspapers 37
6.8 Reports 39
6.9 Theses and dissertations 39

Chapter 3 Portals, gateways and library websites 40

1 Portals and gateways 41
1.1 Regional portals and gateways 42
1.2 Government portals and gateways 43
1.3 Enterprise portals 44
1.4 Subject portals and gateways 47
1.5 Library portals 47
1.6 What do the portal examples illustrate? 48

2 Library websites 48
2.1 The library catalogue 48
2.2 Electronic journals 50
2.3 Databases 51
2.4 Electronic books 54
2.5 Faculty and subject-specific websites 54
2.6 Other resources 54

Chapter 4 Constructing a search query 56

1 Concept identification 57
1.1 Automatic concept identification 58
1.2 Manual concept identification 58
1.3 Controlled vocabulary 58
1.4 Natural language 59
1.5 A detailed example of concept identification 59

2 Information retrieval systems 60

2.1 How to use Boolean operators 60
2.2 How to construct a Boolean query 63

3 Search engine mathematics 64

4 Natural language queries 64
4.1 How to use documents as queries 65

5 Examples of query construction 65

5
Chapter 5 Internet searching 68
1 Directories 69
2 Search engines 71
2.1 General web search engines 72
2.2 News search engines 72
2.3 Non-text or multimedia search engines 75
2.4 Blog search engines 76

3 Meta search engines 76

4 Meta sites 77
5 GoogleTM Scholar 78
6 Advanced web searching 78
6.1 Examples of complex searches 79

Chapter 6 Searching databases and online journals 84

1 What is a database? 86
1.1 Bibliographic databases 87
1.2 Full-text databases 87

2 What is an online journal? 88

2.1 Subscription journals 89
2.2 Subscription journals available free after a limited period 89
2.3 Free open access journals 89

3 How to access databases and online journals 90

3.1 Controlled access databases and online journals 90
3.2 Free access on the WWW 91
3.3 Access through digital libraries, pre-print archives, subject gateways
and portals 91

4 How to choose an information resource 92

4.1 Criteria for choosing a database 92
4.2 Criteria for choosing a platform 93

5 How to search databases and platforms 93

5.1 How to use different search forms 93
5.2 How to use fields to refine search results 98
5.3 How to use natural language and controlled vocabulary 102
5.4 How to use the information from database records 103

6 How to use the iterative process to adapt a search strategy 105

7 How to use search strategies 106
7.1 The quick or brief search 107
7.2 Most unique concept first 107
7.3 The building block approach 107
7.4 The citation pearl growing or snowballing strategy 107

Chapter 7 Organising and retrieving information

on your computer 108
1 What is personal information management? 109
 2 How to organise information on your computer 110
2.1 How to organise information in folders 110
2.2 How to use metadata to describe documents 113

3 How to retrieve information on your computer 114

3.1 How to use a desktop search engine 114

4 The importance of organising and retrieving information on

your computer 117

Chapter 8 Ethical and fair use of information 118

1 What is ethics? 119
1.1 What is information ethics? 119

2 What are intellectual property rights? 121

3 What are patents and trademarks? 121
3.1 The use of patented material 121
3.2 The use of trademark material 122

4 What is copyright? 123

4.1 What are the elements of copyright? 123
4.2 What are the basic rights of copyright holders? 123
4.3 What is copyright infringement? 124
4.4 What is copyright in the electronic environment? 124
4.5 What are exceptions to copyright? 125
4.6 What are practical copyright issues? 125

5 What is plagiarism? 127

5.1 What is common knowledge? 128
5.2 What is the public domain? 128
5.3 How does plagiarism work on the Web? 128
5.4. How is plagiarism detected? 129
5.5 How to avoid plagiarism 130
5.6 How to acknowledge the work of others 133

Chapter 9 Referencing and reference techniques 134

1 What is referencing? 135
1.1 Why is referencing or citing necessary? 135
1.2 When do I reference? 136
1.3 What is the referencing terminology? 136

2 What is the Harvard system of referencing? 136

2.1 How do I reference in the text with the Harvard system? 136
2.2 How do I reference at the end of the document with the Harvard system? 137

3 How to reference printed sources 137

3.1 How to reference books 137
3.2 How to reference journal articles 143
3.3 How to reference dictionaries and encyclopaedias 145

4 How to reference electronic sources 145

4.1 How to reference electronic journals 146
4.2 How to reference electronic books 146
4.3 How to reference web documents and web pages 146
4.4 How to reference websites 146
4.5 How to reference e-mails 149
4.6 How to reference newspaper articles on the Internet 149
4.7 How to reference blogs 149
4.8 How to reference online images and illustrations 149

7
 5 How to reference other forms of non-print sources 150
6 What are other styles of referencing? 150
6.1 What is the Vancouver style? 150
6.2 What is the MLA style? 150
6.3 What is the APA style? 153
6.4 What is the Oxford system of referencing? 153

Chapter 10 Evaluating information and

information sources 154
1 What is the process of evaluating information and
information sources? 156
1.1 Assess the information source 156
1.2 Evaluate further if the information source is potentially useful 156
1.3 Get the information source and assess whether it is usable 162
1.4 Study the information source and evaluate the information 165

Chapter 11 Writing assignments

and research reports 166
1 What is an assignment? 167
2 What is the process of writing assignments and
research reports? 168
2.1 Analyse the topic 168
2.2 Do the required reading 170
2.3 Identify aspects to discuss 172
2.4 Search the literature 174
2.5 Take notes 176
2.6 Write the assignment 177
2.7 Submit the assignment 180

Chapter 12 21st Century communication 182

1 What is social software? 183
2 Web 2.0 and social media 184
3 Social networking 184
3.1 MySpace 184
3.2 Facebook 184
3.3 Ning 184
3.4 Plaxo 184
3.5 LinkedIn 185
3.6 Academia.edu 185

4 Blogs and Wikis 185

4.1 Blogs 185
4.2 Wikis 186

5 Microblogging 186
5.1 Twitter 186
5.2 Twitxr 186

6 Photo sharing 186

6.1 Flickr 186
6.2 Picasa 187
 7 Video sharing 187
7.1 YouTube 187
7.2 Yahoo!® Video 187

8 Movie and music networks 187

8.1 FilmCrave 187
8.2 Fixster 187
8.3 iLike 187

9 Podcasts 187
9.1 iTunes 188
9.2 PodBean 188
9.3 MediaMonkey 188

10 Social bookmarking 188

10.1 Delicious 189
10.2 StumbleUpon 189

11 Interpersonal communication 189

11.1 Skype™ 189
11.2 Yahoo!® Messenger 189
11.3 Google Talk 190
11.4 Meebo 190
11.5 GoToMeeting® 190

12 RSS (Really Simple Syndication) 190

13 Virtual worlds 190
14 Gaming 190
15 Mobile communication 191
16 Social libraries 191
16.1 LibraryThing 191
16.2 Shelfari® 191

17 Library 2.0 191

18 Using social media to enhance your studies 191
18.1 Social networking 192
18.2 Blogging 192
18.3 Wikis 192
18.4 Microblogging 192
18.5 Social bookmarking 192
18.6 RSS feeds 192
18.7 Video sharing, photo sharing and podcasts 192
18.8 Mobile phones 192

19 Issues in the world of social media 193

19.1 Privacy 193
19.2 Copyright 193
19.3 Identity theft 193

20 How to evaluate informal information and

information sources 194

Index 196

Glossary 203

9
Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
answer the following questions:
n What is information literacy?
n Why is it important to be information literate?
n What are the competencies of an information
literate person?
n What are the theoretical models and frame-
works for information literacy competencies?
Have you ever tried to find your way around in a new place?
You might have been in a new town, at a new place of
learning, at a new workplace, or even in a new country. You
probably got yourself a map, asked people who knew the
place for directions and found your way. You were able to
cope because you are information literate. You knew what
information you needed, where to find the information and
how to use the information you found. In this chapter you
will learn about the concept of information literacy and how
to be an information literate person.

Chapter 1 Information
Key terms

n Competencies
n Frameworks
n Information literacy
n Information literate person
n Lifelong learning

10
Information literate people have the necessary
skills to make choices and decisions that will
impact on their lives as students, as researchers
and in the workplace. It is very important to be
information literate in an educational setting and
in a work environment. You need to be information
literate to survive in the information and
knowledge economy.
1 What is information literacy?
Information literacy is broadly defined as the
ability to know when information is needed, to
literacy
be able to find the information, to evaluate the
information and to use the information that has
been found.
From this definition, you can see that
information literacy has the following core features:
n Information literacy requires specific skills
or abilities. You need to be able to perform
certain tasks associated with information
literate behaviour. These skills and abilities will
help you to function effectively in the current
information and knowledge economy.
n Information literate behaviour starts with
recognising that you need information for both
11
 decision-making and task completion as a
student, as a researcher and in the workplace.
n Being information literate means that you have
to be able to find the information you need.
Finding information is a process that requires
knowledge of available information sources. It
involves the intelligent application of systematic
searching strategies.
n Part of information literacy is recognising that
not all information sources are necessarily
useful and/or relevant to your information
needs. You need the skills to be able to evaluate
information sources carefully and to select only
sources that you can use. You also need to be
aware of the relevant legal issues about the use
of information, so that you are able to use
information in a legal and responsible way.
n You finally need the ability to use the selected
information for a specific purpose. Being infor-
mation literate means that you are very clear
about how you are going to use the information
to complete your task.
2 Why is it important to be
information literate?
The world has changed from a society with
an economy based on labour and capital to an
economy based on information and knowledge.
We live in an increasingly complex world that
contains an abundance of information. Information
is now available in a variety of formats but it may
not necessarily be of the same quality. In order for
you to survive in this information and knowledge
society, you need the skills to make sense of
information and to use information technology
effectively. Being information literate is vital for
successful studies at university and also for your
future in the workplace. There are two questions
that need to be answered about the importance of
information literacy:
n What is the relationship between information
literacy and lifelong learning?
n What is the importance of information literacy
for your studies?
2.1 What is the relationship between
information literacy and lifelong learning?
Becoming an information literate person is not a
quick-and-easy process. It is also not a once-off
occurrence. Becoming information literate is part
of lifelong learning and being a lifelong learner is
part of being information literate.
In the information and knowledge-based
society that we live in, people who know how to
12 navigating information literacy | 1 | information literacy
find, evaluate, analyse and communicate informa-
tion to others efficiently and effectively are held
in high esteem. People who are well read in the
relevant literature, who keep up to date with the
latest developments in their specific field and keep
on learning in the process, and whose intellectual
and conceptual skills are continuously developing,
are seen as lifelong learners. Lifelong learners are
successful at solving problems, providing solutions
and producing new ideas and directions for the
future.
The ability to access, evaluate and use infor-
mation from a variety of sources is central to
all successful learning and therefore also to a
successful life. If you see information literacy as a
tool for lifelong learning, you will be prepared for
survival in the greater information and knowledge
society.
2.2 What is the importance of information
literacy for your studies?
To be successful in your studies you need a high
level of information literacy. Breivik and Senn
(1998: 2), in their book Information literacy:
educating children for the 21st century, state that ‘...
an “educated” graduate student will no longer be
defined as one who has absorbed a certain body of
factual information, but as one who knows how to
find, evaluate and apply needed information’.
As an information literate person you will be
able to think critically and use a wide variety of
information sources and resources in your studies.
The ability to manipulate and use information will
give you the confidence that is critical to academic
success and personal self-directed learning. In
addition, you will be able to apply and transfer
these skills to many other areas of learning and
research. You will become aware of the empow-
ering role that information plays in your social life
and in your work life.
3 What are the competencies of
an information literate person?
The aim of this book is to help you to become
fully information literate. The book covers twelve
themes, providing you with a comprehensive
overview to guide you in the process of becoming
a fully-fledged information literate person. Various
skills and competencies have been identified as
vital to being information literate and each chapter
discusses a specific aspect in detail.
There are a number of fundamental compe-
tencies that you need to acquire in the process of
developing into an information literate person.
These fundamental competencies will help you to
answer the following questions:
n How do I know that I need information before
starting a task?
n How do I know what information I need for
my task?
n How do I find the information I need?
n How can I organise the information I find so
that I can use it when I need it?
n What are the ethical and legal issues about the
use of information?
n How do I know that the information I find is the
‘right’ information for my task?
n What other competencies do information
literate people have?
n What are the latest trends in communication
and information technology?
3.1 How do I know that I need information
before starting a task?
If you are unable to answer a question or solve a
problem within your current frame of reference,
you know that you need more information. As an
information literate person, you will know that you
need accurate and appropriate information to help
you make intelligent decisions.
3.2 How do I know what information I
need for my task?
As a student and in the workplace you will be
required to complete a number of tasks. These
tasks will include assignments, research projects
and reports. Every task needs information. As an
information literate person you have to decide on
the type of information you need and how much
information is required to complete the specific
task. The following fundamental competencies will
help you to decide on what information you need
for your task:
n Analyse the topic – Make sure that you
understand the topic clearly. Discuss it with
your lecturer or boss and fellow students or
colleagues if necessary.
n Decide what sources to use – Make sure the
sources you choose are appropriate, as some
sources may not suit your task. Your lecturer or
manager may provide you with sources, but you
will also be expected to look for information
yourself.
n Use a variety of sources – Make sure that
the sources you choose are obtainable and
accessible.
Chapters 2 and 3 of this book provide you with
the necessary background to help you to make
navigating information literacy | 1 | information literacy
responsible choices regarding the type and amount
of information that you need for your tasks.
Chapter 2 gives you an overview of the nature
and extent of the most commonly used types of
information sources and resources. Chapter 3
looks specifically at the resources available through
portals, gateways and websites. Several websites of
libraries of academic institutions are discussed to
show you the typical services and resources offered
by these types of website.
3.3 How do I find the information I need?
As an information literate person, you will be able
to find the information you need effectively and
efficiently. This involves more than just being able
to look for information. It also means that you have
the ability to phrase questions in such a way that
the information you find is relevant and of suffi-
cient scope and depth for the task at hand.
n You have to decide which methods and systems
are most appropriate to access the information
for your specific task.
n You have to formulate questions and queries
based on your information needs.
n You have to develop search strategies to facili-
tate the successful location of the information
you need. If necessary, your search strategies
may have to be refined, depending on the type
and quantity of the information that you found
and how appropriate it is for your topic.
Chapters 4, 5 and 6 of this book address these
issues. Chapter 4 gives you background about the
way information is represented. Chapter 4 also
provides a framework of searching principles and
techniques to ensure that you acquire the appro-
priate skills to search for information effectively
and efficiently. Chapter 5 concentrates specifically
on searching on the Internet. Chapter 6 focuses
on what you need to know to search databases and
online journals effectively. These databases may be
available through a library or free via the Internet.
3.4 How can I organise the information I
find so that I can use it when I need it?
When you have found the information that you
need for your task, you need to organise the
information on your computer so that you can find
it again with as little effort as possible. Deciding
how to organise and retrieve information on your
computer forms part of what is called personal
information management (PIM).
Chapter 7 in this book addresses two issues
in this regard, namely organising information
on your computer and finding information on
13
 your computer. You can find the information
again either by browsing a folder structure or by
searching for it with a desktop search engine.
3.5 What are the ethical and legal issues
about the use of information?
Ethical and legal issues are an extremely important
part of being information literate. Ethical and legal
issues have an impact not only on whether you may
or may not use the information you need, but also
on how to use information correctly and according
to the law.
n You need to know the rules and laws about
access to and use of information.
n You need to know when to acknowledge your
information sources and how to acknowledge
your sources according to certain standardised
methods.
Chapters 8 and 9 in this book cover these issues.
Chapter 8 provides an overview of ethics in the
information environment. In Chapter 8 you will
look at the principles underlying intellectual
property and intellectual property rights.
Chapter 8 also covers the laws about when you may
legally copy information and how much you may
copy. The link between copyright and plagiarism is
also addressed. Committing plagiarism is regarded
as a very serious offence. Chapter 9 provides you
with the skills necessary to avoid plagiarism. It does
this by showing you how to reference correctly.
3.6 How do I know that the information
I find is the ‘right’ information for my task?
As an information literate person, you need to
evaluate the information sources that you have
found as well as the information contained in
the sources. The need for evaluation and critical
thinking is not confined to one period in the
process of completing a task such as an assignment
or a research project. It is implicit in all stages of
your work. Evaluating information and information
sources requires a number of steps:
n You need to use accepted criteria to evaluate the
reliability, validity, accuracy, authority, timeli-
ness and bias of the sources of the information.
n You need to decide whether the information is
useful and relevant for the specific purpose or
topic of your task.
n You need to reflect on your search strategies
and make sure that your information needs are
satisfied. You may have to change your initial
query if additional information is needed.
14 navigating information literacy | 1 | information literacy
Chapter 10 in this book looks at the reasons for
evaluating the information and the information
sources you intend to use for your tasks.
Chapter 10 considers evaluation criteria that are
applied to traditional print sources as well as
sources on the Internet.
3.7 What other competencies do
information literate people have?
As an information literate person, you need to be
able to interact with and use the information that
you have found for your task. There are three other
competencies that you will need to develop:
n You need to be able to extract and organise the
information you have found.
n You need to be able to integrate the new infor-
mation into your existing body of knowledge.
n You need to be able to use the information for a
specific purpose.
3.7.1 Extract and organise the information
Once you have found the information, you need to
extract it using various methods such as scanning,
photocopying and audio-visual equipment. You
also need to organise the extracted information so
that you can access and use it at a later date.
3.7.2 Integrate new information into your existing
body of knowledge
When you use information to complete a task,
you process that information in your brain and it
becomes part of your knowledge. This means that
you need to compare your new knowledge with
what you already know. You need to decide the
value of the new information in terms of different
information and viewpoints that you already know
about. You may need to create new ideas based on
the new information that you integrate into your
existing body of knowledge.
3.7.3 Use the information for a specific purpose
Once you have collected all the information you
need about a topic, you need to decide what you
are going to do with the information. You need to
ask yourself:
n How am I going to use the information effec-
tively in critical thinking and problem solving?
n How am I going to write a report that
incorporates all the information according
to academic standards or the standards and
conventions applicable in the workplace?
Chapter 11 in this book provides in-depth coverage
of all these additional competencies of information
literate people. In Chapter 11 you will look at the
reasons for writing assignments and research
reports, how to decide on the content of a task
and the typical requirements and components
of an assignment. You will also see how you can
benefit from the subject literature and how to use
the skills of information literacy in the workplace
and industry. You will learn about collecting
information and different methods of reporting
your ideas and findings. A well-designed and
well-written report (whether it is an assignment, a
thesis, a dissertation, a general research report or a
business report), is a crucial factor in ascertaining
whether you have mastered the necessary
information literacy competencies.
3.8 What are the latest trends in
communication and information
technology?
Information technology products and services
are continuously being updated and upgraded. As
an information literate person you have to keep
up with these changes. You need to know how
the latest trends affect the ways in which you can
access and manage information.
Chapter 12 in this book gives an overview of
the latest trends in online communication, with
an emphasis on Web 2.0 and the latest social
networking services. You will also look at the use
of mobile computing tools and general and social
networking applications in academic and research
tasks. The need to evaluate the information found
by these means is stressed.
4 Where do these information
literacy competencies come from?
The skills and competencies that have been
identified in this chapter as being crucial for
an information literate person have not been
‘invented’. These competencies are derived from
models and frameworks implemented in informa-
tion literacy programmes in various countries.
You will look at two process models that were
developed for teaching information literacy and
two frameworks that were designed for assessing
information literacy competencies.
4.1 What are process models for teaching
information literacy?
Many process models have been developed for
specific circumstances and specific needs. The two
process models for teaching information literacy
that you will look at are applicable to the university
navigating information literacy | 1 | information literacy
teaching environment. The two models are the
Big6™ information literacy model and the REACTS
model.
4.1.1 What is the Big6™ information literacy model?
The Big6™ information literacy model
(http://www.big6.com) was created by Eisenberg
and Berkowitz. It is the most widely known and
widely used approach for teaching information
literacy skills. It provides a straightforward
summary of activities related to information
seeking and project completion. It focuses more on
completion of the task than on decision making.
The model comprises six stages:
n Task definition – Here you define the informa-
tion problem and identify the information need.
n Information seeking strategies – Here you
identify all possible sources of information and
select the best sources.
n Location and access – Here you find the sources
and the information in the sources.
n Use of information – Here you read, look at, or
touch the source of information and extract the
appropriate information.
n Synthesis – Here you combine all the informa-
tion and present it as an assignment or report.
n Evaluation – Here you evaluate the product and
the process to determine the effectiveness and
efficiency of the information.
4.1.2 What is the REACTS model?
The REACTS model (Thomas, 2004: 51) was devel-
oped by Stripling and Pitts as a model for preparing
assignments. It presents six levels of activity and
focuses on critical thinking in the research process.
n Fact-finding – This level results in reporting on
the available information and involves initial
searching for specific information in various
sources.
n Asking and searching – At this level you have to
pose ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘when’ questions
and seek information to answer these questions.
n Examining and organising – At this level you
have to ask more in-depth questions around
the why and the how, and then organise the
information to fit your specific assignment
requirements.
n Evaluating and deliberating – At this level you
are expected to judge the information you have
found on the basis of various criteria such as
authority and bias.
n Integrating and concluding – This level provides
you with the opportunity to give your own
personal perspectives based on the information
obtained and to draw your own conclusions
from this.
15
 n Conceptualising – At this level you are expected
to create original solutions to the problems that
were posed.
4.2 What are frameworks for assessing
information literacy?
Various frameworks and standards for assessing
information literacy have been developed.
Information literacy depends very much on
context. In practice this means that a wide variety
of information literacy competencies are needed,
that their application depends on a specific
situation and that information literacy programmes
need to be tailored to fit specific needs. The two
frameworks for assessing information literacy
that you will look at are the set of competencies
References
Breivik, P.S. & Senn, J.A. 1998. Information literacy:
educating children for the 21st century. 2nd ed.
National Education Association: Washington
DC.
Bundy, A. (ed.) 2004. Australian and New Zealand
Information Literacy Framework: principles,
16 navigating information literacy | 1 | information literacy
developed by the Association of College and
Research Libraries (ACRL) and the Australian and
New Zealand Information Literacy Framework.
4.2.1 What is the Association of College and
Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework?
The set of competencies for information literacy
developed by the Association of College and
Research Libraries (http://www.ala.org/acrl) is
widely recognised as a benchmark in the field of
information literacy advancement. These stan-
dards focus on the needs of students in higher level
education. It consists of five standards and lists a
wide range of outcomes for each standard against
which a student’s progress towards information
literacy can be assessed.
standards and practice. 2nd ed. Australian and
New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy:
Adelaide.
Thomas, N.P. 2004. Information literacy and infor-
mation skills instruction: applying research to
practice in the school library media centre. 2nd
ed. Libraries Unlimited: Westport, CT.
4.2.2 What is the Australian and New Zealand
Information Literacy Framework?
The Australian and New Zealand Information Critical thinking questions
Literacy Framework (Bundy, 2004) is a set of
competency standards that are widely used. The
framework consists of six standards for assessing n Why is it important to become information
information literacy competencies, with a compre- literate?
hensive description of outcomes set for each n How can information literacy help you in life-
standard. long learning?
The competencies and outcomes described n What are the characteristics of an information
in the two frameworks above represent the literate person?
core competencies that people need to become
information literate. They form the basis for the
competencies identified and expanded on in the
book and have therefore not been discussed in
detail here.

Summary

In this chapter you covered the basic principles
underlying the concept of information literacy
and the characteristics of information literate
people. You gained an insight into the role and
importance of information literacy for your
studies and research, for lifelong learning and
for coping in the information and knowledge
society. You looked at an overview of the theo-
retical background and practical examples of the
skills and competencies that you need to become
wholly information literate. In the rest of the book
you will consider these competencies of informa-
tion literacy in more detail.

navigating information literacy | 1 | information literacy 17

Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
answer the following questions:
n What sources are available in print format?
n What sources are available in digital format?
n How do I access information sources and
resources?
n Why should I use information sources and
resources?
n What are the differences between books and
periodicals, and magazines and journals?
n What is the Internet and what applications are
available on the Internet?
n What are digital libraries and subject
gateways?
n What are reference works and why do I need
to use them?
n What other sources of information are
available?

Chapter 2
Key terms Information
n Article
n Bibliographic database Have you ever tried to find information about a new place? You
n Dictionary might have been going there to study or for work or even for a
n Digital library
n Directory holiday. You probably went to your local library and looked at
n Document books about the new place such as encyclopaedias, atlases and
n Encyclopaedia guide books. You probably looked for information in magazines
n Internet
n Invisible web and newspapers and maybe even looked on the Internet. In
n Journal your search for information you looked at various information
n Periodical sources and resources. In this chapter you will get a basic
n Publication
n Subject gateway overview of the most commonly used information sources and
n World Wide Web (WWW) resources.
n Yearbook

18
sources and resources
In the next few chapters (Chapters 2-6) you will
get an overview of what resources are available
and how you should use them. These chapters will
guide you on where and how to find the informa-
tion you need while you are studying at a tertiary
institution or in a work situation. In Chapter 3 you
are going to look at the resources typically available
through the libraries of universities and colleges.
In Chapter 4 you will learn how to construct
proper queries when you use the Internet and
databases. Chapter 5 focuses on Internet searches
and Chapter 6 focuses on searching databases and
online journals.
In this chapter you will look at the following
information sources and resources:
n Books
n Periodicals (journals and magazines)
n The Internet
n Reference works (encyclopaedias, dictionaries,
thesauri, maps, atlases, bibliographies,
directories and yearbooks)
n Other sources (conference proceedings,
diaries, Geographic Information Systems,
government publications, grey literature,
newsletters, newspapers, reports, theses
and dissertations)
19
 infobits
Useful definitions
Q What is a document?
A document is written, printed or electronic
material that provides information. You can use the
term ‘document’ for many things, such as books,
articles, maps, web pages, photographs and videos.
Q What is a publication?
A publication is a work that is produced and made
available to the public. Some publications are for
sale and others are free. Examples of publications
are books, songs, maps, software, videos and
journals.
Q What is text?
Text can broadly be defined as the written or
printed material that forms the main body of a
publication.
Q What is a user?
A user is a person who uses information. As a
student you use information all the time, therefore
you are a user.
1 Books
Books are some of the oldest and most well-known
information sources. There are many types of
books, for example, gardening books, children’s
books, story books, recipe books, textbooks,
encyclopaedias and dictionaries. The United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) says that a publication
has to have at least 49 pages to be defined as a
book. However, this definition excludes a lot
of children’s books, some poetry books and
many other books. To make matters even more
complicated, there are also electronic books (or
e-books) that are not printed on paper at all. For
the purposes of this chapter, a book is defined as
having pages and a cover. This definition excludes
magazines and journals. E-books are books that are
not printed, but are available in electronic format
such as on the Web or on CD.
You will use many types of books during your
lifetime. Here is a list of some of the types that you
may come across during your studies:
n Textbooks are used in schools or tertiary
institutions and are generally an introduction to
a particular aspect of a field of study. Textbooks
do not contain any original research. They
are generally factual books that aim to teach
students the basics of a particular discipline.
n Handbooks are similar to textbooks, but they
are usually aimed more at specialists in a field,
for example, a handbook of grammar.
n Manuals contain rules and procedures relating
to a specific field, for example, a manual on how
to use specific software.
20 navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources
There are several projects worldwide to make
books available in electronic format, especially
books that are out of print or books and
manuscripts that are so valuable and old that
people studying them are not allowed to handle the
fragile originals. This process is called digitisation
and these electronic texts are made available
through the Web or on CD. Some of the projects
are listed below:
n The African Digital Library
(http://africaeducation.org/adl) is available
free of charge to people living in Africa and
currently gives access to about 9 000 e-books.
n The Digital Book Index
(http://www.digitalbookindex.org) provides
links to over 148 000 e-books of which about
120 000 are free.
n The Million Book Project (http://www.archive.
org/details/millionbooks) currently has about
13 000 e-books available.
n Questia (http://www.questia.com) is the world’s
largest online library and makes available
more than 72 000 books, over two million
articles (newspapers, journals, etc.) and a set
of reference works. You have to subscribe to
Questia to get the full benefit of the service,
but some of the books are free.
n Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.
org) has over 30 000 e-books available free
of charge. These are mainly books where the
copyright has expired. (See the screen shots
from Project Gutenberg in Figures 2.1 and 2.2)
The screen shot in Figure 2.1 explains what Project
Gutenberg is about. Figure 2.2 shows the e-book
download page for William Shakespeare’s Romeo
and Juliet. You can download the text in a variety
of formats, depending whether you want to read it
on your PC, on an e-book reader or even on your
cell phone.
E-books are very convenient, but remember
that not all books that you may require in the
course of your study will be available in electronic
format. So don’t forget to pay your local library or
information centre a visit!
2 Periodicals
Periodicals are published at regular intervals
such as weekly, monthly or quarterly and they
keep the same title. (See the examples of different
periodicals in Figure 2.3 on page 22) The issues are
numbered consecutively and usually several people
contribute to a single issue. The contributions
may take the form of a regular column, an article,
a review and so forth. The two most common
types of periodical articles are journal articles and
magazine articles.
 figure 2.1
Project Gutenberg was the first producer of free electronic books. Used with permission.

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

figure 2.2
The download page for William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet on Project Gutenberg. Used with permission.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1513

navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources 21

 figure 2.3
There are many types of periodicals. Some are more general in scope, such as Time
Magazine, and others are subject specific journals, such as Chemical Reviews
2.1 Journal articles
Journal articles generally report original research
that has been undertaken to increase the body of
knowledge within a specific discipline, for example
philosophy. Journal articles are longer than articles
in magazines and they list bibliographies of other
sources consulted in the research process. The title
and author of a journal article appear prominently
on the first page of the article and there is an
abstract as a summary of the content. (See the
example of the first page of a journal article in
Figure 2.4.) Also note the full bibliographic
reference for this article at the bottom of the page.
In this case, other sources used for this research are
indicated in footnotes. You will learn more about
referencing in Chapter 9.
Journal articles can be written by one or more
authors and they are usually peer reviewed. This

figure 2.4
This is the first page of an article in an academic journal. The journal title is Early Medical drugs save lives and imp
Medieval Europe and this article appeared in Volume 14, Issue number 1, pages lot of millions, but high-level expo
41–63. Reproduced by permission of Rightslink
pharmaceutical industry’s behind

Undue
manipulation is leaving a bad tas
consumer’s mouth Words Wendy Kn

influence
Every day, millions of consumers across the globe
swallow pills to treat their asthma, depression, hypertension or
high cholesterol. What they’d find more difficult to swallow is
the possibility that their doctor chose that drug for them based
on scientific research devised, conducted or written up by experts
with links to drug companies that have vested interests in the
research findings. workings of the US Government
The reality is that truly unbiased scientific research about the (NIH) – the nation’s top agency for
quality and efficacy of medical drugs is being overshadowed by the at least 530 government scientists
research findings money has influenced. Big money – in 2002, the or stock options from biomedica
top 10 drug companies made more profit than the other 490 busi- culminated in a series of reports d
nesses on the Fortune 500 list put together. ‘For example,’ Willman wrot
Across the globe, study findings and ‘awareness campaigns’ ‘Dr P Trey Sunderland III, a sen
are being scrutinised and their funding traced back to big business, US$508 050 in fees and related inc
tainting them with those dirty words – ‘vested interests’. time that he collaborated with Pfiz
Of course, we have the major pharma- – in studyin
ceutical companies to thank for medicinal disease.

Moore on medicines
drugs that make life easier – or even possible ‘Without
– for millions of us, but consumers are by company, Sun
and large unaware of the enormous influence Movie director Michael Moore’s Alzheimer’s d
exerted by these companies in the process next movie apparently has the US a nationally te
of getting the drugs from their labs to our drug giants on high alert – called in 2003.’
bathroom cabinets. Sicko, it focuses on the practices He provid
It begins with the findings of clinical of the pharmaceutical industry. ple, that of N
trials. Thanks to research not sponsored by According to the Los Angeles An esteemed
private enterprise, paid-for endorsements Times, Pfizer ran a story in its praised contr
masquerading as independent findings are online newspaper informing staff Crestor in a
being exposed on a grand scale. of the documentary and warning article identif
A five-year investigation by David them to be on the lookout for ‘a not as a paid
Willman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter scruffy guy in a baseball cap’. Astra-Zeneca
for the Los Angeles Times, into the inner keting Cresto

136 FAIRLADY JUNE 2005

22 navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources

 means that after the author has written an article, Magazines are usually more attractive to the eye,
it is not published immediately, but experts in the easily digestible, practical and informative. The
field review it first. The reviewers may accept the most obvious differences between magazines and
article as is, they may recommend that the author academic journals are that magazines have attrac-
makes changes before the article is published, tive graphics and the articles are shorter and more
or they may even reject the article. The rigorous informal than journal articles.
process of reviewing articles before publication There are some magazines, such as Nature
ensures that the standard of contributions to a and Science that are accepted as authoritative,
specific journal is set and maintained. but in general magazine articles are not subjected
to the same strict reviewing process as journal
articles and you should use them with caution in
2.2 Magazine articles
an academic environment. Students in the field of
Magazines serve a different purpose from academic contemporary history and political science may
journals. Magazine articles are mostly aimed at find magazines such as Time and Newsweek useful
the general public and cater for popular opinions for their studies, but magazine articles are generally
and interests. Magazine articles are not necessarily not recommended for use in assignments.
written by experts, and are also not peer reviewed.
Figure 2.5 is an example of a magazine article.

prove the Brewer’s findings without mentioning that he was on its payroll.
osure of the Moves are now afoot to ban medical consulting by NIH
scientists while they are working in a government capacity. In a
d-the-scenes media statement released in February after congressional hearings
into the allegations, US Congressman Dan Burton said the evidence
te in many a suggested that ‘past recommendations have clearly benefited the
industry that these NIH scientists were working for, rather than the
intended health and wellbeing of the general public’.
owler ‘The Food and Drug Administration’s credibility has been
all but destroyed by accusations that the agency helped cover up
the dangers of prescription drugs like Vioxx, which ultimately
contributed to the injury and even death of potentially hundreds of
thousands Americans.’
He was referring to one of America’s biggest medical scandals.
After spending hundreds of millions of dollars convincing
consumers to take its ‘super aspirin’ despite the company’s own
evidence that it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes,
Merck withdrew Vioxx worldwide last September. Burton has
called for ‘desperately needed’ ethical reforms for the scientists,
figure 2.5
CONSUMERAFFAIRS An example of a
Lancet, disclosed he was effectively offered bribes to publish magazine article from
Fair Lady, June 2005,
papers showing drugs in a favourable light. He said firms offered
to buy ‘hundreds of thousands of reprints’ – which could be worth
pages 136–137 used with
up to half a million pounds to his magazine – if their paper was
printed, the journal reported. permission from Gallo
Asked to comment on the accusation that drug companies
influenced the clinical outcomes of drug trials, Maureen Kirkman
Images/Fair Lady
of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PMA) of
South Africa supplied a vociferous denial.
‘In terms of Good Clinical Practice guidelines, multinational
research-based companies have their drug trials approved by
ethics committees as well as each country’s medicines regulatory
authority – in South Africa’s case the Medicines Control Council.
‘It would be virtually impossible for a company to influence
the clinical outcomes, since nearly all studies are “blinded”,’ she
said – neither the clinical investigator nor the patient knows if the
placebo or test medicine is being given. She did concede, though,
that studies ‘with negative results’ were often not published in
medical journals.

The best research money can buy

researchers, and regulators of all government health agencies.

Politicians in the UK are expressing similar concerns about
the drug industry. MPs recently heard evidence in a Commons
enquiry of ‘disease mongering’ – drug firms inventing diseases
for which they could sell their treatments, from mild depression
to low female sex drive. Furthermore, as the Observer newspaper
reported in April, the enquiry found that papers marketing drugs
to doctors written for medical journals, ostensibly by independent
experts, were, ‘in fact, ghostwritten by the firms, which [paid]
academics to lend their names to the reports’.
‘Dr Richard Horton, editor of leading British journal The
’s National Institutes of Health
T
hese days, more international medical research is being
conducted by for-profit research companies than by
academic medical institutions, according to Dr Thomas
Bodenheimer of the University of California at the San
Francisco School of Medicine. In the May 2000 issue of
The New England Journal of Medicine, Dr Bodenheimer
said the amount of industry money for clinical trials that went to
academic medical centres halved – from 80 percent to 40 percent
– between 1991 and 1998, with the profit-based companies ➜

S
medical research – revealed that
at the NIH had taken fees, stock

moke and mirrors

l companies. The investigation
this guy is worse – he conducts his own “clinical trials”
uring 2003 and 2004.
and publishes them not in peer-reviewed journals but in his
te in a December 2004 report,
ior psychiatric researcher, took
Naturally, not all accusations of vested interests advertisements, and he operates completely outside the
ome from Pfizer Inc at the same in the pharmaceutical industry stand up to usual regulatory frameworks.’
zer – in his government capacity investigation. The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa has
ng patients with Alzheimer’s UK-based German scientist Dr Matthias Rath has taken ordered Rath to withdraw his unsubstantiated claims; the
out double-page adverts in South African newspapers British Advertising Standards Authority has forced Rath to
declaring his affiliation with the and distributed leaflets in townships in recent months in remove his advertisements for treatments, as they were
nderland endorsed the use of an which he claims that vitamins and micronutrients are more unsupported by evidence and misled the public; and the
drug marketed by Pfizer during effective at treating HIV and Aids than antiretrovirals US Food and Drug Administration has cautioned Rath for
elevised presentation at the NIH (ARVs). He has also repeatedly accused the Treatment advertising some of his products in contravention of US law.
Action Campaign (TAC) of being funded by ‘pharmaceutical A 1998 British Medical Journal (BMJ) article examined
ded an even more chilling exam-
interest groups’. the claims made about one of Rath’s products regarding
NIH leader Dr Bryan Brewer.
However, TAC spokesman Nathan Geffen says, ‘We their effectiveness in treating coronary heart disease, high
cholesterol researcher, Brewer
have neither directly nor indirectly taken money from blood pressure, diabetes and other conditions, and found
PHOTOGRAPH: ANGIE LÀZARO

oversial cholesterol medication

medical journal in 2003. The pharmaceutical companies. no evidence to support them.
fied him as an NIH scientist, ‘Rath markets his own range of fairly expensive The BMJ pointed out that some companies misused
consultant to the manufacturer, products, so he’s hardly an impartial commentator here,’ the Internet for ‘uncontrolled distribution of drugs that
Pharmaceuticals, and in mar- Geffen says. ‘The pharmaceutical industry has a poor have not been tested properly by national authorities or
r to doctors, the company cited reputation with regard to their marketing practices, but medical societies’.
JUNE 2005 FAIRLADY 137

navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources 23

 3 Open access
In the past, you could only access the full text of
scholarly journal articles through the journals in
which they appeared. You could subscribe to a
journal or access it through interlibrary loans.
With the Internet, however, there is a move
towards open access (OA) digital scholarly articles
and papers. OA means that if the authors of a
research article would like to make the content
freely available, in addition to having the article
published, they can do so on the Internet before it
is published in the journal (pre-print) or after it has
been published (post-print).
Many universities all over the world have local
repositories so that academics may make their
research available through the library or informa-
tion services website. Making your own articles
available is known as OA self-archiving or the
‘green road’. OpenDOAR is a directory of self-
archiving open access repositories, where you
can search by subject, country, language, reposi-
tory name and content. (See the screen shot from
OpenDOAR in Figure 2.6.)
There is also the ‘golden road’ of OA publishing
where OA authors publish their articles in open
access journals that make the entire journal freely
available on the Internet upon publishing. Some
publishers still offer a print subscription edition
of the journal as well as making the articles
available online free of charge. Other publishers
have abandoned print journals and only make
articles available in digital format. Examples of
OA publishers are PubMed, the Public Library of
Science and ArXiv.org.
OA publishing has had quite a serious impact
on copyright issues. When a scholarly article is
published in a journal, it is usually the publisher of
the journal that holds the copyright of the article
(sometimes jointly with the author). When the
author of an article self-publishes the content in
an OA repository, there are no subscription fees to
be paid and the article is usually not copyrighted
(meaning that there are no permission restrictions
on the number of copies that may be made of the
article). This does not mean, however, that anyone
figure 2.6
OpenDOAR is a
directory of open access
repositories. Screen
shot used with their
permission.
http://www.opendoar.org/find.php
24 navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources
can use this work with no restrictions, since the
author of the article still holds the rights to the
intellectual content of the article. If you use the
article in your research, report or assignment, you
must still acknowledge the author of the article
otherwise you will be guilty of plagiarism. You
will learn more about the issues of copyright and
plagiarism in Chapter 8.
4 The Internet
The Internet is regarded by many as the ultimate
information resource. However, in this book you
will learn that there are sources of information
available that are better than general web pages on
the Internet. Nobody can deny that the Internet
has, in a very short period, influenced our lives
and that there is some very useful information to
be found on the Internet. Furthermore, Internet
technology is also used to make high-quality
sources available through digital libraries. However,
you should be cautious when using Web resources
because there is also some very suspect informa-
tion on the Internet. You will learn more about
evaluating information sources in Chapter 10.
4.1 What is the Internet?
The Internet is a network of computer networks
that operates worldwide using a common set of
communications protocols, known as TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol).
The Internet started with four interconnected
computers in 1969. It was known as ARPANET and
it had mainly American military applications. In
1990 ARPANET was replaced by NSFNET. NSFNET
was linked to CSNET that connected universities
around North America and eventually linked to
EUnet, which then linked Europe into the Internet.
Up to this time the Internet was still controlled by
the American government, but in 1995 manage-
ment of the Internet was transferred to independent
organisations. In reality, e-mail predates the Internet,
since e-mail has been in limited use since 1965, but it
was only through the use of ARPANET that e-mail
became widely used as a medium of communication
in 1970. See Figure 2.7 for a timeline of the develop-
ment of the Internet and its applications.
Today, the Internet has become an indispen-
sable part of many people’s lives. The Internet’s
protocols offer various services and applications
that can be divided into two categories: communi-
cations services and information services.
The most widely used of the communication
services is e-mail or electronic mail. E-mail has to
a very large extent replaced traditional postal serv-
ices (often referred to now as ‘snail-mail’).
Many people also use Internet Relay Chat (IRC),
another communication service. Through IRC you
can ‘chat’ (type) in real time to other computer
users linked to the Internet.
A fairly recent development in communication
is real-time voice conversations, called Voice Over
Internet Protocol (VOIP). Instead of using normal
telephone lines and paying a lot of money for
long-distance calls, you can use your local Internet
connection to talk to other people. Skype
(http://www.skype.com) is a software program
that you can download to make free calls using an
Internet connection.
Some communication services on the Internet
also function as information services. Examples
are newsgroups, discussion groups and blogs.
There are technical differences between these, but
functionally they serve as forums for discussion by
millions of people on a variety of topics.
The most widely used of the information
services is the World Wide Web (WWW). You
will find out about the WWW as an information
resource in more detail below. You need a web
browser to access the WWW. The most well-
known browsers are Internet Explorer, Mozilla
Firefox and Google™ Chrome.
4.2 What is the World Wide Web?
The term ‘World Wide Web’ or WWW is often
used interchangeably with the term ‘Internet’, but
this is strictly speaking not correct. The WWW is
only one of many applications of the Internet. The
most outstanding feature of the WWW is hyper-
text. Hypertext is highlighted text that you can
click on that allows you to jump between websites
and web pages by clicking on links embedded
in the web pages. Hyperlinking is facilitated by
HyperText Mark-up Language (HTML) that also
structures the information into headings, para-
graphs, tables and so on.
You will look at the following aspects of the
WWW in more detail:
n Websites and web pages
n Subject gateways
n Digital libraries
n The invisible web
4.2.1 Websites and web pages
The WWW consists of websites that in turn consist
of web pages. There are many different types of site
on the Web. You will look at two types: corporate
websites and personal websites.
Corporate websites The main purpose of a corpo-
rate website is to disseminate information about
the company, institution or organisation. In the
case of commercial companies, the main function
of the website is usually to inform the user of their
products and services. Non-profit organisations
and institutions typically inform the user about the
body itself. In all cases of corporate bodies, as the
website is usually funded and maintained by this
body, the information may be biased. Corporate
websites are created by organisations, institutions
and companies.
n Organisations such as the United Nations have
websites as you can see in Figure 2.8 on page 26.
The United Nations site provides information
about the organisation itself, events related to
the organisation, international politics and many
other topics. There is no advertising on the site.
n Institutions such as the University of Oxford
have websites as you can see in Figure 2.9 on
page 26. The information that is available figure 2.7
through the University of Oxford site is aimed A timeline showing
at staff members, current students and alumni the development of
(past students) as well as potential students. the Internet and its
applications

1982 1988 1990 1998 2007 2010

1971 Word Internet World Google™ 2001 1.1 1.55
1969 1970 Mailing 1973 1980 ‘Internet’ Relay Chat Wide Web opens Wikipedia billion billion
ARPANET E-mail lists TCP/IP Usenet first used (IRC) (WWW) first office created websites websites

1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources 25

 figure 2.8 Some of the information on this site is acces-
The United Nations website. Used with permission. sible to anybody who enters the site; other
information may only be accessed by staff
members. Students can also access certain parts
of the site by logging in with a user name and
password.
n Companies such as IBM have websites as you
can see in Figure 2.10. The IBM website serves
as a gateway to many resources and services
offered by IBM. Some of the information
is accessible to everybody, but you can also
customise the interface so that every time you
access the site, information that is of specific
interest to you will be displayed.

Personal websites Personal websites are also

sometimes known as ‘vanity sites’. They are
created by individuals or small groups, sometimes
purely for their own amusement. There are
http://www.un.org/en different types of personal websites, such as:
n Professional sites – These are created by people
figure 2.9 who wish to advertise their services or make
The University of Oxford website used with their permission their CVs or publications available.
n Celebrity sites – These are the personal pages of
celebrities. They are often called ‘official pages’
but they are often little more than vanity sites.
n Student sites – These sites are created by
students to share their research, their hobbies or
simply because they can.

Not all personal websites are bad. Some are created

by world-class researchers with the sole purpose of
disseminating their research results to interested
parties. However, due to the nature of personal
websites, you should use information from these
websites with extreme caution. You should not, for
example, use another student’s site as an authorita-
tive source for your own assignments.

4.2.2 Subject gateways

Subject gateways are web pages that serve as
a single point of entry to available electronic
resources. Subject gateways often have a hier-
archical arrangement by subject or topic of the
http://www.ox.ac.uk resources made available through the site. The
resources are usually selected and arranged by
figure 2.10 people researching the topic and, because the infor-
The IBM website . Reprint courtesy of International Business Machines Corporation, © mation is chosen and evaluated by them, the results
2010 International Business Machines Corporation. are generally more focused and relevant than those
produced by a web search engine (see Chapter 5).
In addition to your prescribed and recommended
reading for an assignment, subject gateways are a
good source of relevant and quality information.
Your subject lecturer may be able to recom-
mend a good gateway for that particular subject.
Alternatively, Pinakes is a good example of a subject
gateway. It allows access to a vast amount of infor-
mation on topics such as Aerospace, Agriculture,
http://www.ibm.com/us/en

26 navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources

 figure 2.11
The Pinakes Subject Launchpad used with their permission
http://www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/pinakes/pinakes.html
figure 2.12
A screen shot of what happens when you select The Math Forum from the Pinakes
Subject Launchpad used with their permission
http://mathforum.org/library
navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources
Architecture, Arts, Biology, Biomedicine, Botany,
Business/Economics, Cartography, Chemistry,
Communication, Computer Science, Conflict,
Defence, Design, Digital Information/Libraries,
Displaced Peoples, Education, Engineering, Envi-
ronment, Food Science, Forced Migration, Forestry,
General, Geography, Geology, Health, History,
Horticulture, Hospitality, Humanities, Informa-
tion, Interdisciplinary, Languages/Linguistics,
Law, Leisure, Libraries/Information, Maritime,
Mathematics, Media, Medicine, Military Studies,
Multi-Subject, Music, Philosophy, Physics, Plan-
ning, Psychology, Refugees, Science, Social Science,
Sport, Tourism, Urban Design, Urban Develop-
ment, Veterinary Science and Zoology.
For each of these broader subject categories,
Pinakes makes databases available that contain
information dealing with that topic. Figure 2.11 is
a screen shot from the Pinakes site showing some
of the databases available. By clicking one of these
databases, you can search through millions of high
quality documents to find information. Figure 2.12
shows what happens when you select ‘The Math
Forum’ from Figure 2.11. You are linked to another
gateway for mathematical sciences. You can either
search across all the gateways and databases on The
Math Forum simultaneously, or you can select a
more specific gateway from the list.
4.2.3 Digital libraries
Digital libraries are libraries where the collection
of documents is not printed, but is in electronic
format so that it can be accessed by computer.
Digital libraries are also called virtual libraries,
electronic libraries and e-libraries. You have
already heard about some digital libraries such as
Project Gutenberg and Questia when we discussed
e-books. Digital libraries can either be free or
fee-based, which means that you might have to
subscribe and pay for information. The fee-based
digital libraries often contain specialist informa-
tion. Here are some examples of digital libraries:
n The Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM) Digital Library – This is a subscription-
based IT resource archive powered by the
ACM Guide to Computing Literature (with
over a million bibliographic citations). Non-
subscribers can browse, search and view
citations and abstracts in the database, but must
purchase full-text documents. There is a screen
shot of this website in Figure 2.13 on page 29.
n IEEE Xplore – This is a fee-based digital library
maintained by the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers. Although this is a fee-
based digital library, it can be accessed through
most university and college websites. The
institution usually pays the subscription to this
library, so that students and staff can use it free
of charge.
27
 n The WWW Virtual Library – This is a free
digital library and can be accessed through the
Web at http://vlib.org.
4.2.4 The invisible web
The invisible web (also called the deep web or
hidden web) is that part of the web that is not
accessible to general search engines (see Chapter
5). The invisible web consists of pages that are not
linked to by any other web pages (external pages).
The content of the invisible web is accessible to
people online but not visible to conventional search
engines.
Most of the material on the invisible web
consists of searchable databases that create
a dynamic web page in response to a query.
Dynamic web pages are pages that are specifi-
cally created to display the results of a query to
a database. The information in such a display is
retrieved from tables created by programs such
as Oracle or MYSQL. The Internet Acronym
Server in Figure 2.14 is part of the invisible web.
Searching the content of the database of acronyms
is, however, not possible through the normal web
search engines. The site’s own database software
has to be used. In other words, the interface
on display in Figure 2.14 is part of the WWW.
However, the answer that was found in response
to the query and that is displayed on the interface
is not part of the WWW. This particular site states
clearly that you are not searching the Web, but
gives you the opportunity to do so through a single
click.
The rest of the invisible web consists mainly of
websites that require a password to access them, or
websites that require a subscription in order to gain
access (both free and fee-based).
It is estimated that the invisible web is much
larger than the visible web, and the information
contained on the invisible web is usually of a higher
quality. Many of the digital libraries discussed
previously are also part of the invisible web.
Academic libraries usually subscribe to a number
of invisible websites, containing full-text and
bibliographic details of millions of good quality,
peer-reviewed documents. You will learn how to
access these in Chapter 6.
4.3 Internet communications services that
also carry information
Internet technology supports two types of serv-
ices or applications, namely communications and
information. You have looked at most of the impor-
tant information-carrying services in the previous
section. This next section deals with applications
that are basically for communication, but they also
28 navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources
carry information that you may use in research.
The three types of communication services that
also carry information that you will consider are:
n Blogs
n E-mail, electronic mailing lists and Listserv®
n Bulletin boards and groups
4.3.1 Blogs
The term ‘blog’ is short for web log or weblog.
It refers to a personal or non-commercial peri-
odic publication on the Web, usually in reverse
chronological order, meaning the latest postings are
displayed first. Keeping a blog up to date is called
‘blogging’ and a person who keeps a blog is called a
‘blogger’. There are many types of blogs.
n Business blogs share information, such as share
prices, and promote business.
n Collaborative blogs are written by more than
one author and can be limited to a few people,
or open to all.
n Directory blogs are used to disseminate informa-
tion on a particular topic that has to be updated
regularly, for instance a particular news topic.
n Educational blogs are used to facilitate commu-
nication between lecturers and students and
between students themselves.
n Personal blogs are very much like diaries, in the
sense that they are the blogs of a single person
sharing their own thoughts and experiences with
readers.
n Political blogs are used by politicians to share
their viewpoints with voters.
n Science blogs are used to disseminate and
discuss research findings.
n Subject blogs are limited to one topic, such as
films or animals. Some subject blogs deal with
very specific and unusual topics. These are called
eclectic blogs.
You can find blogs and information contained in
blogs by using blog search engines (see Chapter 5).
Information contained in blogs is generally very
biased, so if you have to use information obtained
from a blog in an assignment, do so with extreme
caution.
4.3.2 E-mail, electronic mailing lists and Listserv®
Electronic mail, or e-mail, is a way of composing,
sending and receiving electronic messages using
Internet protocols. Electronic mailing lists are a
special use of e-mail that allows the distribution of
information to many users on the Internet. Mailing
lists are usually limited to a particular topic or used
by a particular group or organisation to dissemi-
nate information to its members. ‘Listserv’ is often
used incorrectly as a generic term equivalent to
mailing list, but it is actually a specific trademarked
mailing list software application. E-mail and elec- Figure 2.13
tronic mailing lists are both ‘pushed’ to the user’s The ACM Digital Library. Used with permission.
computer and are received through the message
inbox. When e-mails and mailing lists are used
as an information source, they are found on the
user’s personal computer and are not accessible to
anybody else. You will learn how to reference
e-mails that you use in an assignment in Chapter 9.

4.3.3 Bulletin boards and groups

Bulletin boards and groups are similar to e-mails
and electronic mailing lists in the sense that they
are communications between people. However,
while e-mails and electronic mailing lists are
‘pushed’ to the user’s computer, bulletin boards
and groups have to be ‘pulled’. This means that if
you want to access a bulletin board or a group, you
have to go to a repository on the Internet. Groups
are often called newsgroups, but in reality they are http://www.acm.org/dl
discussion groups. There are about 100 000 discus-
sion groups in existence, but about 80% of these Figure 2.14
are not active. Discussion groups are organised in The Internet Acronym Server. Used with permission.
hierarchies, such as ‘comp’ for computer-related
discussions, ‘alt’ for alternative discussions, ‘rec’
for recreation and ‘soc’ for social. Newsgroups,
as an information resource, are vast and in 1990
DejaNews started to index the groups in order to
make the content searchable. Google™ has taken
over from Deja and Google™ Groups
(http://groups.google.com) is now one of the
best ways to access this resource. Groups are not
moderated which means that nobody checks the
information before it is posted. So, use informa-
tion from bulletin boards and groups with extreme
caution.

4.4 What is Web 2.0?

The term ‘Web 2.0’ was coined in 2004 and
http://acronyms.silmaril.ie
refers to a second generation of Internet-based
services that focus on online collaboration and
sharing. Examples of Web 2.0 services are wikis, Figure 2.15
folksonomies, community database generation and The entry for ‘Boolean Logic’ on Wikipedia
photo sharing.
At this stage Web 2.0 is a contentious issue.
Many critics say that sharing resources and
knowledge using the Internet as a platform already
existed long before the term ‘Web 2.0’ was coined.
For example, there are the book reviews that
people write on the Amazon.com website. See
Website has been updated.
Chapter 12 for more information on Web 2.0.
Please use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Boolean logic to access the latest webpage.
5 Reference works
Reference works are sources that provide factual
information. Reference works are good starting
points to find information when you do an

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_logic

navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources 29

 assignment, as they provide definitions and general
information about many topics. They are especially
useful if you do not know much about or do not
understand the assignment topic.
Reference works can contain general or subject-
specific information. They can be in printed form
or electronic (on CD-ROM or the Web). Some
reference works are available free and others have
to be paid for. Most academic libraries have a
comprehensive selection of general and subject-
specific reference works, some in printed form and
some available through their websites (see Chapter
3). In this section you are going to look at the
following types of reference works:
n Encyclopaedias
n Dictionaries
n Thesauri
n Bibliographic databases
n Atlases and maps
n Bibliographies
n Directories
n Yearbooks
5.1 Encyclopaedias
The term ‘encyclopaedia’ comes from the
Greek words meaning ‘rounded education’.
Encyclopaedias are collections of knowledge
in printed format, but they are not necessarily
paper-based. There are general encyclopaedias
dealing with many different topics and there are
subject-specific encyclopaedias, such as medical
encyclopaedias. Whether an encyclopaedia is
general in scope or subject-specific, the purpose is
to convey as much of the most important informa-
tion within the domain as possible. Encyclopaedias
can be arranged either alphabetically or hierarchi-
cally according to broader and narrower topics. As
information is in constant flux, it is important that
encyclopaedias are updated regularly.
Print-based encyclopaedias are not used very
much these days, mainly due to the fact that they
are difficult to update and it is expensive to reprint
and buy new editions. Most encyclopaedias are
now available in electronic format, either directly
via the Internet, or on CD with links to more
complete and updated information on the Internet.
Most encyclopaedias cost money to access, but
there are several good quality encyclopaedias avail-
able free of charge on the Internet.
One of the most interesting experiments in
collecting knowledge in encyclopaedic form is
the Wikipedia project (http://www.wikipedia.
org). The typical format of a Wikipedia entry is a
short description of the topic, some pictures when
applicable and then an extensive description in
full-text. In Figure 2.15 on the previous page you
30 navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources
can see the first part of the entry for ‘Boolean logic’
on Wikipedia. Note the links to the full content of
the article. The actual article is not shown here, but
continues at length on the web page. The links in
the text as well as the external links to other sites
of interest dealing with the same topic are typical
of a Wikipedia entry. Anybody who does not agree
with any of the content can edit it and post a new
version on the website.
The English version of Wikipedia was started in
2001. Anyone can submit an article on any topic
to the website or edit an existing article on any
topic on the website. Currently there are nearly
two million different articles on various topics.
Although there is controversy surrounding the
accuracy of the information submitted, a recent
study has shown that in general Wikipedia is not
much less accurate than the Encyclopaedia Britan-
nica. However, Wikipedia submissions are not
checked by editors and fact-checkers (as is the case
with most other encyclopaedias) so the informa-
tion found on Wikipedia is not guaranteed to be
correct. If you choose to use Wikipedia as a source
of information, it is your responsibility to verify the
accuracy of the information.
Most academic libraries have several excellent
general encyclopaedias, as well as subject-specific
encyclopaedias for most subjects, available in print
format. They also offer access to several general
and subject-specific encyclopaedias through
the e-publications’ general reference section.
Figure 2.16 shows the entry for Boolean algebra
in the Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy.
This is a subject-specific encyclopaedia and the
discussion is more technical than the Wikipedia
entry in Figure 2.15. The text continues on the next
pages and the user can navigate either by using
the arrows on the bottom right-hand corner of the
screen, or by clicking on the links below the intro-
duction. You will learn more on how to access this
sort of information in Chapter 3.
5.2 Dictionaries
A dictionary is a list of words with their definitions
or a list of words with their translations in one or
more languages. Some dictionaries also provide a
history of the origin of the word (etymology), the
pronunciation of the word, grammatical informa-
tion, examples of the use of the word in sentences
and set expressions. You can use a dictionary to
find the meanings of words, check the spelling of a
word, and find synonyms, translations and specific
examples of usage.
Dictionaries are available in print or elec-
tronic format. Some of the dictionaries on the
Web are free, while you have to be a subscriber
to use others. The following two general online Figure 2.16
dictionaries may be subscribed to by the libraries The entry for Boolean algebra in the Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy.
of academic institutions so that staff and students Used with permission.
may use them free of charge:
n The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
(http://www.merriamwebster.com)
n The Oxford English Dictionary or OED
(http://www.oed.com)

The OED is regarded as the most authoritative

English language dictionary available. Figure 2.17
is an example of an entry in the OED. The
OED shows the pronunciation of the word, the
etymology, a date chart to indicate when the word
was coined for the first time and some quotations
where the word appears. The date chart is compiled
according to the dates of the quotations. http://www.rep.routledge.com

There are also many dictionaries on the Web Figure 2.17

that you may use free of charge, such as: The entry for ‘liger’ in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Used with permission.
n Cambridge Dictionaries Online
(http://www.dictionary.cambridge.org)
n Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
(http://www.oup.com/elt/oald)
n Wiktionary (http://www.wiktionary.org)

Wiktionary is compiled according to the same

principles as Wikipedia. Figure 2.18 is an example
of an entry in Wiktionary. As with Wikipedia,
anybody may edit this entry or add a translation to
the entry. The level of detail for the entry is entirely
dependent on the person who submits the entry
and the people who edit the entry.
© Oxford University Press

5.3 Thesauri Figure 2.18

A thesaurus (singular form of thesauri) is a book The entry for ‘liger’ on Wiktionary
that contains an alphabetical list of words with
similar, related or opposite meanings attached to
each entry. A thesaurus usually does not supply
meanings of words like a dictionary. It simply shows
relationships between an entry and its synonyms Website has been updated.
(words with similar meaning), antonyms (words Please use http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/liger
with opposite meaning) and related words. One to access the latest webpage.
of the most well-known thesaurus for the English
language is Roget’s Thesaurus. Figure 2.19 shows
the entry for ‘antediluvian’ in Roget’s Thesaurus.
The underlined words in small letters are http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/liger
synonyms. ‘START’ and ‘NEW’ are antonyms. Links
are available to any of the underlined words. In the Figure 2.19
field of information technology, the term ‘thesaurus’ The entry for ‘antediluvian’ in Roget’s Thesaurus. Used with permission.
has another meaning. In information technology,
thesaurus means a list of subject keywords used
to represent and retrieve documents. You will
learn more about this in Chapters 4 and 6 under
controlled vocabulary.

http://www.bartleby.com

navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources 31

 Figure 2.20
This is an example of a bibliographic record. The abstract was shortened in this image.
Used with permission.
5.4 Bibliographic databases
Bibliographic databases do not contain full-text
documents. They contain representations of
documents. A bibliographic database will typically
represent a document in terms of the title, abstract
and keywords of a document. It will state who the
author of a document is and when and where the
document was published. A library catalogue is a
good example of a bibliographic database.
Although bibliographic databases do not
contain the full texts of documents, the infor-
mation contained in the representation will be
sufficient for you to see whether the document
will be relevant to you. Sometimes there will be a
hyperlink to the full text of the document, which
makes it easier for you to access the full text. In the
example in Figure 2.20, there is no hyperlink to the
full-text item. This means that you would have to
use the library catalogue to find the journal in the
library and make a photocopy of the article.
Bibliographic databases accessible through
the Internet are usually part of the invisible web.
Academic libraries provide access to many biblio-
graphic databases. You will learn more in Chapter
3 on how to access these databases. In Chapters
4 and 6 you will learn how to find information in
these databases.
5.5 Maps and atlases
Maps are flat, abstract representations of the
surface (or parts of the surface) of the earth. There
are many different types of maps, some of which
are illustrated and described in Figure 2.21. In
Figure 2.21 the following types of maps are shown:
n A is an orthophoto. This is an aerial photo-
graph that has been corrected so that there are
no distortions, for example, due to the earth’s
curvature. Orthophotos are used to measure
the true distances between objects. In some
orthophotos, townships and contour lines are
indicated on the photo.
32 navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources
n B is a relief map that shows the geographical
features, such as mountains, in an area.
n C is a map showing language distribution in a
particular geographic area. In this example, the
different colours indicate different languages.
n D is a topographical map that shows topograph-
ical features, such as dams and mountains, as
well as townships, roads and farm boundaries.
n E is a street map. There is usually quite a lot of
detail on street maps. They are used for naviga-
tion in a relatively small area such as within a
town.
n F is a road map. There is much less detail on a
road map than on a street map. Road maps are
used to navigate in a relatively large area such as
between towns.
Maps are available in printed form or in elec-
tronic form. MapQuest® (http://www.mapquest.
com) is an example of an electronic map system.
On MapQuest®, you can type in any address in
the United States of America and a map of the
surrounding area is generated. You can specify
the detail by zooming in and out. You can also get
directions to and from any address in America.
Figure 2.22 shows an example from MapQuest®.
The example shows the directions and map from
Los Angeles to Seattle. This image combines two
screen shots from MapQuest®. The left-hand one
shows directions from Los Angeles to Seattle.
Every intersection and interchange is shown, with
distances indicated. There is also a map available
for every subsection of the route. The total distance
and estimated driving time is also indicated.
The right-hand image shows the route from Los
Angeles to Seattle. You can zoom in to city and
street level to get more detailed directions. You will
learn more about electronic maps when you look
at Geographic Information Systems later in this
chapter.
An atlas is a bound collection of maps. The first
modern atlas was published by Abraham Ortelius
in 1570. It was called Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
and contained 53 maps of the countries of the
known world. The image in Figure 2.23 shows one
of the world maps from this collection.
5.6 Bibliographies
Bibliographies are lists of publications.
Bibliographies may be compiled to list all the
works of a single author or all the books and
articles on a particular topic. They may also be
compiled according to all the books published in
a certain country or within a particular time span.
Bibliographies do not exist for every conceivable
topic, but if a topic is covered then they are
a b c Figure 2.21
Different types of maps

d e f

Figure 2.22
MapQuest® showing
directions from Los
Angeles to Seattle. Map
© 2010 by MapQuest, Inc.
and NavTeq. MapQuest
and the MapQuest
logo are trademarks of
MapQuest, Inc. Used with
permission.

Figure 2.23
A world map from
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum

navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources 33

 Figure 2.24
An example of a
bibliography compiled for
the works of a particular
author. Used with
permission.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Robert%20Jordan

Figure 2.25
An example of a directory
entry from the Europa
World of Learning. Used
with permission.

http://www.worldoflearning.com

very useful sources of information. If there is a
bibliography it means somebody has already done
the research and listed all the works related to a
particular author, country or topic. Figure 2.24 is
an example of a bibliography from The Internet
Speculative Fiction Database. It is a bibliography
compiled for the works of a particular author,
Robert Jordan. When you click on the titles, the
full bibliographic and publication details are
displayed.
5.7 Directories
Directories are lists of names of people living in
a particular area, organisations operating in a
particular field or individuals in a particular profes-
sion. Examples of directories include:
n Telephone directories
n The American Holistic Health Association
Practitioner Directory
n The Europa World of Learning
Figure 2.25 is an example of a directory entry from
the Europa World of Learning. This fee-based
directory is an international list of educational
institutions. On the left-hand side of the screen you
can see the navigation path: first Australia, then
Museums and Art Galleries, then Queensland and
then the Queensland Art Gallery. You will learn
more about web directories in Chapter 5.

34 navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources

5.8 Yearbooks Figure 2.26
Yearbooks (also known as annuals) are publica- The CIA World Factbook
tions that contain current information for a
particular year. The subject material may be general
or specific and is provided in brief descriptive or
statistical form. Some examples of yearbooks are:
n Yearbook of Sports Medicine
n Yearbook of Paediatrics
n Yearbook of Traditional Music
n Advertising Age Yearbook
n Facts On File
n The World Factbook

Figure 2.26 is is a screen shot of the website for the

CIA World Factbook. This yearbook is published
every year and provides descriptive and statistical
information on the topics listed in the contents
pages. The online version of the yearbook is
updated more regularly.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

6 Other sources
When doing research for study or work you Figure 2.27
will probably use most of the sources described The electronic proceedings of the Nineteenth International Joint Conferences on Artificial
above. What follows are some other sources that Intelligence used with their permission
not everybody will use, but they might be useful
depending on your field of study.

6.1 Conference proceedings

Conference proceedings are published records
of conferences. Usually the full text of the papers
presented at a conference is published in the
proceedings, but sometimes only an extended
abstract or slides are made available. Not all confer-
ences publish proceedings. It is sometimes difficult
to find printed copies of conference proceedings in
libraries, but they are often made available through
the conference website or through digital libraries.
Figure 2.27 shows the electronic conference
proceedings of the Nineteenth International Joint
Conferences on Artificial Intelligence. Clicking on
the titles gives access to the full text of the papers.

6.2 Diaries
Diaries are personal accounts of events and are
usually handwritten. Diaries are sometimes used
by scientists to record the progress of their
experiments. These diaries are very useful sources
of information for other scientists when they want
to replicate the experiments.
Diaries can also be very useful sources of
information for students of history, since they
provide a different viewpoint on a particular period
of time or an event. In Figure 2.28 on the next
page you can see an extract from one of the most
famous historical diaries, the diary of Anne Frank.
http://www.ijcai.org/search.php

navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources 35

 Figure 2.28
An extract from The Diary
of Anne Frank © ANNE
FRANK FONDS Basel,
Switzerland
The Frank family was Jewish and hid from
the Nazis in the attic of an office building in
Amsterdam for 25 months during the Second
World War (1939-1945). They were eventually
betrayed and were taken to a concentration camp
where Anne died when she was 15 years old. Her
diary was published in 1947 and has since been
translated into 67 languages. Her diary is an impor-
tant source of historical information, since it gives
a unique perspective of the life of Jews during the
Second World War.
6.3 Geographic Information Systems
A Geographic Information System (GIS) is used
for creating and managing spatial data using a
computer system. Geographic information is
referenced and stored so that people can use it
interactively by analysing and integrating the
information provided. You are going to look at two
examples of GIS technologies and applications:
n Microsoft® Bing™ Maps
n Google™ Earth
Figure 2.29 shows an example of the Geographic
Information System called Google™ Earth. Google™
Earth is a system where satellite images, aerial
photographs and GIS information are superim-
posed on a three-dimensional model of the earth.
Figure 2.29 shows a part of New York City with
Central Park on the right-hand side of the picture.
In this particular example, some geographic and
other features were layered onto the picture: hotels,
street names, the terrain (aerial photography),
borders and buildings.
Figure 2.30 shows an example of the
Geographic Information System called Microsoft®
Bing™ Maps. It shows how high resolution aerial
36 navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources
Getty/Gallo Images
photographs may be layered to show information
such as shops, restaurants and entertainment. You
can see the list of layers on the left-hand side of
the image. This image shows the Space Needle in
Seattle. A small-scale map is layered onto the image
to show the relative position of the Space Needle.
6.4 Government publications
Government publications are official publications
issued by the government’s printing facility. In the
United Kingdom the government’s printing facility
is called Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO).
Examples of government publications include:
n The Government Gazette which contains laws
that have recently been enacted as well as
regulations for existing legislation
n The Constitution of a country
n Acts and Bills
n Regulations
n Green Papers and White Papers
n Tenders
n Parliamentary documents such as Hansard
which is a serial publication that contains
verbatim reports of debates in Parliament
6.5 Grey literature
Grey literature is information that is not available
through the normal bookselling channels. These
documents are generally very difficult to get hold of
and you may need to approach the original authors
for copies. Examples of grey literature include:
n Interim reports
n Manuscripts
n Patents
n Brochures
n Pamphlets
6.6 Newsletters n SearchDay (http://searchenginewatch.com/
A newsletter is a short publication produced at searchday) – This is a very useful daily e-mail
regular intervals containing news about a specific newsletter containing information such as
organisation or activity. Newsletters may be printed search tips for Internet searching and news
or distributed in electronic format via e-mail. about search engine developments.
Newsletters have a limited audience, but there are
millions of newsletters on virtually any topic avail-
able. Specific examples about information literacy
topics that might be of interest to you are:

Figure 2.29

An image taken from

Google™ Earth © 2010
Google™ Earth

http://earth.google.com

Figure 2.30

An image taken from

Microsoft® Bing™ Maps.
Used with permission
from Microsoft®.

http://www.bing.com/maps

navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources 37

 Figure 2.31
Mail & Guardian online
used with their permission

Summary of this hapter

http://mg.co.za

Figure 2.32
The Internet Public
Library’s website. Used
with permission.

http://www.ipl.org/div/news

38 navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources

6.7 Newspapers
A newspaper is a publication issued at regular
intervals such as daily, weekly or monthly. A news-
paper contains news, opinions, advertisements and
other topical material. Articles from newspapers
are regarded as primary sources of information and
you may be expected to use newspaper articles in
your assignments.
Newspapers can appear in print or electronic
format. Some newspapers, such as the South
African newspaper the Mail & Guardian, dissemi-
nate news in at least four formats.
n The printed version is published weekly.
n The online version is updated as soon as news
becomes available. Figure 2.31 shows an
example of the Mail & Guardian online.
n You may subscribe to a daily e-mail newsletter
that contains a summary of the news with links
to the full-text articles.
n Breaking news is sent to your computer desktop
or cell phone as soon as it becomes available.
Newspapers on the Internet can be accessed
through sites such as the Internet Public Library
that provides access to thousands of online news-
papers from around the world. You can see the
Internet Public Library’s website in Figure 2.32.
Summary
In this chapter you learned about sources of
information and resources and where these
sources are made available. You learned that
sources and resources are available both in print
and digital format, and that some of them are
free and some have to be paid for. You have seen
why it is important to know where to look for
the right kind of information. You have looked at
and discussed most of the information sources
and resources you will need to access in your
studies and your working life.
navigating information literacy | 2 | information sources and resources
You will learn more about news search engines in
Chapter 5.
6.8 Reports
A report is a written description of a completed
research project or an interim description of
progress made towards the completion of a
research project. As with grey literature, reports
are often difficult to get hold of and you usually
have to contact the original author for copies of the
document. Reports are also very common sources
of information in the business world.
6.9 Theses and dissertations
A thesis or dissertation is a report or a treatise as
part of an academic course for a higher degree
or diploma. Conventions vary from institu-
tion to institution regarding the use of the terms
‘dissertation’ and ‘thesis’. Digital copies of theses
and dissertations from all over the world can be
accessed through the Networked Digital Library of
Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) that currently
has more than 200 members worldwide. As theses
and dissertations are often very difficult to get hold
of, this is a very valuable resource.
Critical thinking questions
n Why is it important to be aware of the different
types of information sources and resources that
are available?
n Why is it important to use the right type of
resource or source of information to solve prob-
lems and other types of information needs?
n In which subject areas could you use newspa-
pers as sources of information?
n What are the advantages of digital libraries over
traditional libraries?
n Why is it important to carefully evaluate Web
resources before using the information in an
assignment?
39
 Have you ever tried to find information
to complete an assignment or to write a
report? You might have gone to the library
to access information. If you went to a
well-stocked library at university or work,
you might have been overwhelmed by the
amount of information available. Whether
you are studying at a tertiary institution
or working, access to information is very
important. Many institutions facilitate
access to information by creating portals
and gateways for students and employees.
The main focuses of this chapter are
college and university libraries as
information resources and the portals,
gateways and websites that help you to
access that information.

Chapter 3

Outcomes

After reading this chapter, you should be able to

answer the following questions:
n What are portals, gateways and library
websites?
n What are the main differences between portals
and gateways?
n What features are typically available on library
websites?
n How do I search for information using a library
catalogue?
n How do I navigate the platforms for electronic
journals?

40
Libraries offer a variety of sources and resources
to help students and staff and often have a website.
The website allows you to search the bibliographic
data of physical sources such as books, maps and
videos electronically. The website does not usually
provide the full text of physical sources but it may
give you access to the full text of thousands of
electronic journals, reference sources, theses and
dissertations.
Library websites typically show some
characteristics of a portal, some of a gateway, and
some of a website. So, before you start looking at
library websites, you need to understand the theory
and practice of websites, portals and gateways.
Portals and gateways are one-stop information
resources offering various features.
1 Portals and gateways
There are many definitions of portals and gateways
and not all of them are in agreement. This is
mainly because the Web is a rapidly evolving
environment. Both portals and gateways are
websites that serve as a single point of access to
collections of information sources and resources.
The terms ‘gateway’ and ‘portal’ are often used
interchangeably. However, gateways do not always
offer the same features as portals. In a simple way,
a portal can be seen as a web-based user interface
to access a variety of electronic resources, both on
in-house as well as other servers.
In this book a portal is defined as a website that
has a federated search function. This means that
users can use a single log-on to access a variety of
platforms and search all of these platforms simul-
taneously. This is instead of having to log onto and
search each database separately. To make things
even easier, portals often offer link resolution
together with federated searching. This means that
users can, for example, seamlessly search for an
article, evaluate the abstract, and access the full text
of the article or order a full-text copy of the article
through interlending (interlibrary loan).
As portals give access to so many different
sources of information, users can easily be over-
loaded with information, and therefore portals
usually have some sort of relevance ranking built
into the search function. All the information
retrieved is ranked according to the relevance of
the information to the topic of the query, regardless

Portals, gateways
and library websites
Key terms

n
n
Customisable interface
Database
infobits
n Electronic book Useful information
n Electronic journal Q Who created the first portals?
n Enterprise portal The first portals were created in corporate
n Federated searching environments so that employees could easily
n Gateway access all the different corporate information
n Government portal sources that are typically run on a variety of
software platforms.
n Interlending
n Library catalogue
n Library portal
n Library website
n Link resolution
n Regional portal
n Subject portal

41
 of the platform the information was retrieved from.
Some definitions of portals require that a
user has to be able to personalise and customise
the interface. This means that users can create
profiles and set preferences so that they can have
information delivered to them that is relevant on
an individual basis. As different levels of employees
need different types of information, security may
be set on a portal so that people only have access to
information relevant to their jobs.
A portal can also offer employees or users
facilities to share information with each other,
for example through the use of chat facilities,
e-mail, shared calendars and central scheduling of
meetings.
Gateways, on the other hand, do not offer all
these features, but rather serve as a single point of
entry to many information resources.
The characteristics of portals as described above
are an ideal situation. In practice, however, compre-
hensive websites that offer access to a variety of
sources are often also called portals, although
they do not, in the strictest sense, conform to all
the criteria described above. By looking at some
websites as examples, you will look at some of the
characteristics of individual portal and gateway
sites. Once you have looked at these examples, you
will look at library websites in more detail.
Portals are created with certain goals in mind.
They are usually limited to a particular audience
such as a company or to a specific geographic area
Figure 3.1
The Oslo municipal
website. Used with
permission.
http://www.oslo.kommune.no/the_city_of_oslo
42 navigating information literacy | 3 | portals, gateways and library websites
such as New York or to a specific discipline such as
Geography. Now you will look at the characteris-
tics of specific websites that will serve as examples
of particular types of portal or gateway.
1.1 Regional portals and gateways
A regional portal is limited to a specific geographic
region and offers information on that region.
You can see an example of a regional website for
the city of Oslo in Norway in Figure 3.1. The
main website for the Oslo municipal region is in
Norwegian, but an English version is available
as you can see in Figure 3.1. Here you can find
information about the governance of the region,
business and tourist information, contact numbers,
rules and regulations, and much more. The Oslo
municipal website offers a single search function
but no communication between users. The
interface is not customisable. From the criteria
set out above, this is not a portal. There are no
central search functions. The interface is not
customisable. There is no federated search engine
or link resolving and individual users cannot
communicate with each other using the interface.
On the other hand, it is a single point of entry to
all the information that one can reasonably expect
to be made available to residents of and visitors
to the region. The Oslo municipal website cannot
really be called a portal, but rather a gateway to
information about the region.
 Figure 3.2
The South African
Government website used
with their permission

http://www.gov.za

Figure 3.3
Display of search results
on the South African
Government website used
with their permission

http://www.search.gov.za/info/search.jsp?qa=1&qt=1&q=foreign+affairs+policy&rps=20&rsm=true&s=true&st=b

1.2 Government portals and gateways
Government portals offer information on a
particular country for citizens of that country and
other people interested in this information. The
South African Government website is shown in
Figure 3.2 as an example of a government portal.
The web page at http://www.gov.za links to
two separate websites, namely the South African
Government Information website
(www.info.gov.za) and the South African Govern-
ment Services website (www.services.gov.za). Each
of these websites has its own search function.
The interface of this portal is not customisable.
In Figure 3.3 you can see a sample search on the
phrase ‘foreign affairs policy’ on the
www.info.gov.za website. The search results show
a variety of information resources to be searched,
for example a white paper and a speech. You can
access the full text of the documents retrieved
directly by clicking on the links provided after a
summary of the document.
Individuals cannot communicate directly with
each other using the interface. However, this
website has some characteristics of a portal, for
example federated searching.

navigating information literacy | 3 | portals, gateways and library websites 43

 1.3 Enterprise portals
Enterprise or corporate portals are portals in
the true sense of the word. They offer federated
searching, customisability and communications
features. Although enterprise portals are usually
closed and only provide access to employees of the
organisation, you can look at the Microsoft® site as
an example of an enterprise portal in Figure 3.4.
This site is not customisable, but it has a single
search function to search the entire portal (see
top centre of Figure 3.4). Virtual communities
have been created on the Microsoft® site, where
people can communicate directly with each other
by blogging, e-mail or chat facilities (see
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/default.
mspx).

Figure 3.4
The Microsoft® website.
Used with permission
from Microsoft®.

http://www.microsoft.com

Figure 3.5
Search results on the
Microsoft® website. Used
with permission from
Microsoft®.

http://search.microsoft.com

44 navigating information literacy | 3 | portals, gateways and library websites


http://web.up.ac.za
http://web.up.ac.za
A sample search on the phrase ‘Windows 7’
(an operating system by Microsoft®) shows that
information is retrieved from a variety of plat-
forms, for example products, press releases and
documentation. Figure 3.5 shows how the results
are displayed in a single list. You can assume they
are ranked by relevance because the first sites listed
have the word in the title highlighted, and later
listings (not on this screen capture) only have the
word highlighted in the short abstract. Access to
the original documentation is possible by clicking
on the links provided after the summary. You can
see that federated searching and link resolving are
possible on this website.
Another example of a corporate website is the
University of Pretoria (UP) website that you can
see in Figure 3.6. On this website it is possible to
search across several platforms simultaneously. See
the ‘Search’ button at the top of Figure 3.6. There
are no facilities for users to communicate with each
other on this website. In some ways this website
acts as a portal. However, it also serves as a gateway
to other relevant websites connected to the univer-
navigating information literacy | 3 | portals, gateways and library websites
Figure 3.6
The University of Pretoria
website. Used with
permission.
Figure 3.7
Search results on the
University of Pretoria
website. Used with
permission.
sity, for example the library, departmental websites
and the alumni website.
A sample search on the word ‘nursing’ shows
that the entire site is searched. Figure 3.7 shows
how the results are displayed from various
resources, such as the departmental website,
the theses and dissertations database and press
releases. The full text of these results can be
accessed by clicking on the link below the summary
of the page.
On the UP main web page, there is also a link
to the UP portal. The full portal is accessible to
lecturers and a limited version is accessible to
students. In both cases a password is required. It is
fully customisable as you can see in Figure 3.8 on
the next page where a lecturer has customised the
portal. This means that the portal can look different
to each person who logs in, because users can
specify what they want to see on the portal. If, for
example, a person uses the portal to read e-mail on
a regular basis, then the e-mail portlet should be in
a position on the portal page where it can be seen
and accessed easily. You can also customise where
45
 Figure 3.8
The UP Portal. Used with
permission.

Figure 3.9
Intute: Science,
Engineering and
Technology website. Used
with permission.

http://www.intute.ac.uk

46 navigating information literacy | 3 | portals, gateways and library websites


http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/cgi-bin/search.pl?term1=platinum&limit=0&subject=sciences
the different ‘portlets’ should appear on the portal
page. Portlets are small components that make up
the portal, for example the ‘Virtual Groups’ portlet
at the top of the middle column in Figure 3.8.
1.4 Subject portals and gateways
Subject portals are gateways to sources of infor-
mation limited to a particular field of study. The
example in Figure 3.9 is from Intute: Science,
Engineering and Technology, a gateway to physical
sciences information resources created by the
Resource Discovery Network. Intute: Science,
Engineering and Technology offers access to
information sources dealing with various disci-
plines. You can either choose one of the topics to
search on, or search simultaneously across all the
databases. You can recommend sites for inclusion
in the database. You can also register for MyIntute
which is a feature where all records that you select
during a session will be saved.
A sample search using the word ‘platinum’ (a
precious metal) shows that results can be sorted
alphabetically, ranked according to relevance or
with latest additions listed first. As you can see
in Figure 3.10, the results are also summarised
according to the database where they were found.
The full text can be accessed by clicking on the
link below the summary, and the full bibliographic
details of the document may be viewed without
accessing the full text. Intute shows nearly all the
true characteristics of a portal (federated searching,
navigating information literacy | 3 | portals, gateways and library websites
Figure 3.10
Search results on Intute.
Used with permission.
customisability, communications features), so it
can be classified as a portal rather than a gateway.
1.5 Library portals
Library portals are very useful sources of high
quality information. They make a variety of
information resources available through a single
user interface. There are many library portals
available on the Web. Some are free of charge,
others you have to subscribe to and some offer
limited services for free and full service to
subscribers. In Figure 3.11 on the next page you
can see the UNESCO Libraries portal. Go to
http://www.unesco.org, click on ‘Communication
and information’ and then on ‘Libraries’ under the
‘Portal’ section of the page.
This portal serves as an access point to
various libraries, cooperation agreements
between libraries, training sites, reference
works, preservation programs and a database
of meetings and conferences. The entire site is
searchable through a single interface and links to
the source documents are available, so federated
searching and link resolving are supported. It is
not possible for individual users to communicate
with each other, but users may request that a link
be created to particular websites. The interface
is not customisable. You can see that this library
portal serves as a gateway to many resources where
information can be found, and that several of the
features unique to portals are supported.
47
 Figure 3.11
The UNESCO Libraries
Portal. Used with
permission.
http://www.unesco-ci.org/cgi-bin/portals/libraries/page.cgi?d=1
1.6 What do the portal examples illustrate?
Through the examples of websites and portals
above, you can see that although all of the
above are single access points to a variety of
information resources, some sites conform more
to the definition of a true portal than others.
The Microsoft® site and the Intute site are good
examples of portals, although they do not allow
the user to customise the interface. The UNESCO
Libraries portal is also a fairly good example of a
portal, since cross-platform searching is possible
and federated searching and link resolving are
supported. The South African Government site
displays some characteristics of a portal, but is not
a portal in the true sense of the word. The Oslo
municipal site offers access to a large collection of
information resources, but cannot really be seen
as a portal in the strictest sense of the word, and
should rather be viewed as a gateway. You will
look at library websites in more detail in the next
section.
2 Library websites
The websites of libraries connected to tertiary
institutions function mainly as gateways to sources
and resources, but in some ways they also show
characteristics of portals. In this section, you are
going to look at the various aspects of typical
library websites. These websites are rich sources of
48 navigating information literacy | 3 | portals, gateways and library websites
information. Being able to use these resources will
help you in your studies.
2.1 The library catalogue
The library catalogue is a database of all the
information sources in the library (and sometimes
includes related institutions as well). Here you
can search for any document (for example books,
journal titles, maps and videos) contained in the
library, as well as special and electronic collections
of sources.
As an example, figures 3.12 to 3.16 show the
library catalogue of the University of Cambridge.
On this website you can access information on the
different libraries related to Cambridge and infor-
mation for new users and visitors. You click on the
link to ‘Library Catalogue’ in the centre column of
Figure 3.12 to access the search facility.
The website offers a simple search interface
as you can see in Figure 3.13 and an advanced
(or guided) search interface as you can see in
Figure 3.14. The advanced searching interface
allows you to combine various concepts with
Boolean operators to search for single terms or
phrases and to customise the display of results.
In the example in Figure 3.14, the search is for
‘quarks’ limited to the title of the document and
‘particle physics’ as a keyword anywhere in the
record.
 Figure 3.12
The library website for the
University of Cambridge.
Used with permission.

http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk

Figure 3.13

The simple search

interface for the University
of Cambridge’s library
catalogue. Used with
permission.

http://depfacae-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/searchBasic

Figure 3.14
The advanced search
interface for the University
of Cambridge’s library
catalogue. Used with
permission.

http://depfacae-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/searchAdvanced

navigating information literacy | 3 | portals, gateways and library websites 49

 Figure 3.15
List of results from the
search shown in
Figure 3.14. Used with
permission.

http://depfacae-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/search?searchArgl=quarks

Figure 3.16
The full bibliographic
detail and loan status of
the first record on the
list shown in Figure 3.15.
Used with permission.

http://depfacae-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/search?searchType=78searchld

You will learn more about Boolean operators and
query construction in Chapter 4.
The results are displayed in a list as you can
see in Figure 3.15. The list gives information such
as title, author and publication date. The list can
be sorted by any of these fields. You can select
the records that are relevant to your information
need by clicking in the boxes to the left of the title
and e-mail the details of these books to yourself
or somebody else. By clicking on any of these
titles, the full bibliographic detail of the record is
displayed as you can see in Figure 3.16.
2.2 Electronic journals
Most university and college libraries subscribe
to electronic versions of journals as well as paper
versions of these journals. It is often more conve-
nient to access the electronic versions of required
articles through the library’s website than it is to go
to the library and make photocopies. Figure 3.17
shows the interface to search for electronic jour-
nals through the University of Oxford’s libraries.
A message warning users of copyright issues is
displayed prominently. Figure 3.18 shows the first
part of the list of all the journals available.

50 navigating information literacy | 3 | portals, gateways and library websites

 Since subscription costs to these journals are
very high, the access to the full text of electronic
journals is typically limited to registered students
and staff of the particular institution paying for the
subscription of these journals.
2.3 Databases
Many electronic databases of information sources
in all fields of study are also available through
the websites of academic libraries. Figure 3.19
on page 52 shows the homepage of the North-
West University library. Under the column ‘Find
information’ there is a link to ‘Search by subject’.
Figure 3.20 on page 52 shows a list of databases
specifically related to the subject of Theology. See
Chapter 5 for more information on using electronic
databases.

Figure 3.17
The interface to the
electronic journal
collection of the University
of Oxford. Used with
permission.

http://oxford1-direct.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com

Figure 3.18
A small part of the
complete list of journals
subscribed to by the
library of the University
of Oxford. Used with
permission.

http://oxford1-direct.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com

navigating information literacy | 3 | portals, gateways and library websites 51

 Figure 3.19
Home page for the
library of the North-West
University. Used with
permission.

Website has been updated.

Please use the URL to access the latest webpage.

http://www.nwu.ac.za/library/index.html

Figure 3.20

A list of databases
related to Theology
accessible through the
North-West University’s
library website. Used with
permission.

Website has been updated.

Please use the URL to access the latest webpage.

http://www.nwu.ac.za/library/subjects/theology.htm

52 navigating information literacy | 3 | portals, gateways and library websites

 Figure 3.21
E-resources available
through the library
website of the University
of South Alabama. Used
with permission.

http://library.southalabama.edu/ebooks.html#free

Figure 3.22
Website for the Law
Faculty on the University
of Pretoria’s library
website. Used with
permission.

http://www.library.up.ac.za/law/index.htm

navigating information literacy | 3 | portals, gateways and library websites 53

 2.4 Electronic books
There are many projects worldwide to make books
available in electronic format (also known as
e-books). Many library websites provide links to
these sites and the books on these sites. Figure 3.21
shows the free e-book library accessible through
the University of South Alabama library website.
2.5 Faculty and subject-specific websites
In many academic libraries, the information
specialists compile lists of the most important
resources (databases, special collections and
websites) pertinent to a particular subject and
make it available through the subject pages on
their website. Figure 3.22 shows an example of a
website for the Faculty of Law on the University of
Pretoria’s library website.
2.6 Other resources
Libraries supply access to various other resources
through their web pages:
n Examination papers – Papers from previous
examinations may be available through the
library’s website. These are useful in your prepa-
ration for tests and examinations.

Summary

In this chapter you learned the functional differ-

ences between portals, gateways and websites.
You looked at some examples of regional, govern-
ment, enterprise, subject and library portals
and discussed the functionality of these. You
also looked at several websites of the libraries of
academic institutions in order to ascertain the
typical services and resources offered by these
types of website.

54 navigating information literacy | 3 | portals, gateways and library websites

n Guidelines to referencing – Many libraries
provide guidelines on various referencing tech-
niques for your assignments. More information
on referencing can be found in Chapter 9 of
this book.
n Guidelines about plagiarism – On most library
websites you will find guidelines on plagiarism
and how to avoid it. There is more information
on this serious issue in Chapter 8 of this book.
n Forms – Forms required for registering as a
library user are usually available on library
websites.
n Training tutorials – Most library websites offer
training tutorials to teach people how to use the
various services available.
Critical thinking questions
n What are the major differences between a portal
and gateway?
n What are federated searching and link resolu-
tion?
n Find the United States of America Government
portal. In terms of requirements for portals and
gateways, do you think it is a good example of a
portal or a gateway? What do you think of the
design in general?
n Find the Microsoft® portal. Compare it with the
United States of America Government portal.
Which has the better functionality? Why do you
say so?
navigating information literacy | 3 | portals, gateways and library websites
n Ask a Librarian – ‘Ask a librarian’ is an e‑mail
and chat facility where you can contact an
information specialist with questions on
issues related to the use of the library and the
resources available in the library. This is also
known as an ‘electronic reference service’.
n Interlending – If the library does not have a
book or a journal, they may request it from
another library either locally or internationally
(also called interlibrary loans). This service is
often only available to postgraduate students
and staff.
n Find the library homepage for an institution.
What are your opinions about the following
features of that library website?
n Navigability
n User friendliness
n Knowing what to do and where to find things
Do you think the most important aspects (that
you would expect to find on the homepage) are
clearly visible?
55
Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
answer the following questions:
n How do I identify concepts to represent my
information need?
n How do I convert an information need into a
query?
n How do I combine concepts, synonyms and
alternative terms with Boolean operators?
n What are the differences between controlled
vocabulary and natural language?

Chapter 4

Key terms Constructing

n Automatic indexing
n Boolean logic
n Boolean operator Have you ever tried to search for information about buying a cell
n Concept identification phone on the Internet? You might have been overwhelmed by
n Controlled vocabulary
n Human indexing the amount of irrelevant information your search returned. You
n Natural language needed to refine your search to help you to filter the information.
n Natural language query In this era of information overload you need to develop the
n Query
n Query construction important skills of constructing and refining searches. In this
n Search engine mathematics chapter you will learn how information is represented and the
principles and techniques for constructing effective and efficient
searches. You will learn how to construct a search query by
choosing the correct search terms (concept identification) and
combining the search terms using Boolean logic.

56
 a search query
1 Concept identification
The idea of retrieving information is to match your
information needs with the information that is
available. So, when you search for information, you
are actually trying to match the words that you are
using to describe what you are looking for to the
words that are in a document on the Web (or in a
database). This can cause many difficulties because
you have to try to think of the same words that the
information provider used in order to make this
match. If the words in your query do not match
the words in a document (or a representation
of the document), then the document, such as a
web page, will not be retrieved. You can see that
representation and retrieval are two sides of the
same coin. Since you cannot do anything about the
way someone wrote a document, it is up to you to
use the proper words when searching the Internet
and querying the system.
Documents can be represented in two ways:
through natural language or through controlled
vocabulary.
n If a document is represented in terms of natural
language (discussed in more detail later), it
means that it is represented by using exactly the
same words that the authors used when they
wrote the document. This type of representation
may contain the entire text (full text) of a
document, only parts of the document, or only
single words contained in the document.
57
 Table 4.1 A summary of concept identification for document representation and retrieval

Document representation

Automatic indexing Human indexing Searching

Natural language Computer programs can
do this very accurately,
inexpensively and fast.
Controlled vocabulary Computer programs can do
this, but it requires a lot of
programming. It is not always
accurate because human
language is very complex and
interpretations can vary.
It is often too expensive to
pay people to do what a
computer can do much faster
and more accurately.
It is a complex, time-
consuming and expensive
procedure, but people can
do this more accurately
and more consistently than
computers can.
Easy, you can use any
words in your query, but
you will retrieve only those
documents where the words
in your query are exactly the
same as those the authors
used.
More difficult, because you
may only use words from the
thesaurus that was used to
represent the document. Your
results will generally be more
relevant if you choose the
correct terms.

n If a document is represented in terms of
controlled vocabulary (discussed in more detail
later), it means that somebody (usually an
indexer) allocated keywords to the document
from a thesaurus. These keywords may or
may not be identical to the (natural language)
words the authors originally used. Controlled
vocabulary is usually less specific than natural
language, so if the authors wrote ‘chair’, the
indexer might use ‘furniture’ to represent the
content of the document.
Documents can also be represented by indexers
(manual concept identification) and/or computer
programs (automatic concept identification). Both
human indexers and automatic indexing computer
programs can represent documents either in terms
of natural language or controlled vocabulary. Look
at Table 4.1 for a short summary of the different
ways in which concepts are identified.
The implication is that you have to know
whether a document was represented in natural
language or controlled vocabulary, because the
words in the query have to match the words in the
document (or document representation).
1.1 Automatic concept identification
It is possible for computer programs to
automatically identify concepts. Automatic
indexing ranges from a simple identification of
words in a document, to complex analyses and
identification of names, topics and phrases, to
the automated classification of documents into
categories. Automatic concept identification can
be done both in terms of natural language (the
same words that the authors used) and controlled
vocabulary (predefined broader or narrower topic
categories). Automatic indexing is a cheap way of
processing large volumes of text, but it may not
always be very accurate.
1.2 Manual concept identification
When indexers create representations of
documents by allocating keywords to describe
the content (indexing), it is a slow and expensive
process. However, it is usually more accurate than
automatic concept identification. Manual indexing
is usually carried out by means of a controlled
vocabulary using a thesaurus. A thesaurus is a list
of broader and narrower terms within a particular
discipline (also see Chapter 2).
1.3 Controlled vocabulary
Controlled vocabulary is a way of using
standardised terminology to represent a document,
typically as broad categories of topics. For example,
a particular document contains the term ‘alsatian’
and another document contains the term ‘poodle’.
If you are looking for a document on dogs and
these documents were represented using natural
language, then you would have to use the phrases
‘alsatian’ or ‘poodle’ in the query exactly as the
author used them. If, however, the document was
indexed by an indexer using controlled vocabulary,
the indexer would probably have used the term
‘dogs’ because ‘poodle’ would be too specific. A
query with the search term ‘dogs’ would retrieve
both these documents, even if the word ‘dogs’
did not appear in either of them. You will learn
more about finding information using controlled
vocabulary in Chapter 6. In this chapter, you
will focus on natural language searching because
documents on the Web are written in natural
language and that is the way they are represented.

58 navigating information literacy | 4 | constructing a search query

1.4 Natural language
Natural language indexing, or natural language
representation of documents, means that the same
words that the author used in the document are
used to represent the document. When a web
search engine indexes a website (a document),
almost all the words in that particular document
are used to represent the document. Only words
that occur very frequently in a particular language
are excluded (for example ‘the’, ‘in’ and ‘of’ in
English). These words are called stopwords.
Look at this example of a sentence in a
document.
What the author wrote:
‘The summer of 2007 was particularly hot and dry,
and in many regions the rain came too late to save
the crops.’
The natural language representation:
summer, 2007, hot, dry, regions, rain, late, save,
crops
In this natural language representation, only
content-bearing and meaningful words were
retained and all the stopwords have been excluded.
If you want to find this particular document, you
need to use exactly the same words that the author
used, although they need not be in the same order.
You can construct your search as follows:
The query
2007 summer
Both of these words (or search terms) appear in the
original document and because natural language
indexing was used to represent the document, both
terms appear in the representation as well. The
document will thus be retrieved.
If you had used the query ‘weather 2007’,
the document would not have been retrieved.
Although the document deals with weather, the
word ‘weather’ did not appear in the original
document or in the representation, since natural
language indexing was used. This example serves
to illustrate how important it is to think about the
search terms very carefully when you construct
natural language queries.
1.5 A detailed example of concept
identification
For this example, you are going to assume that you
want to buy a new cell phone. You would like to
do some research on the different models available
and the features they offer.
navigating information literacy | 4 | constructing a search query
In order to start looking for information to Figure 4.1
solve your problem, you need to ask yourself the Which cell phone should I
following questions: choose?
n How do I decide which terms to use in a query?
n How do I know which words the author used?
n What if there are several possible terms?
n What if I am looking for a concept that consists
of more than one word, like ‘cell phone’?
n How can I string several search terms together
if I want an answer to a very specific question?
The following sections deal with the issues of how
to select search terms, and how to combine these
terms to create very powerful queries.
1.5.1 Identify topics or concepts
A simple query such as ‘cell phones’ will be much
too wide and will not give you very relevant
results. You first have to identify the most relevant
concepts in your search.
The first step is to decide which features are
important to you. For this example, you decide you
definitely want a cell phone with a camera, SMS,
MMS, Bluetooth and quad-band. At this stage you
are not yet sure which brand name to choose, you
first want to see which cell phones offer all of these
features. The search terms for your query then are
all the features listed above, namely ‘camera’, ‘SMS’,
‘MMS’, ‘Bluetooth’ and ‘quad-band’.
You also have to identify synonyms or
equivalent terms for the keywords you have
identified. On the web page with the specifications
of the phone, the author may have used ‘Short
Message Service’ and ‘Multimedia Message Service’
instead of SMS and MMS. Remember, you need
to use the exact words that the author used in
order to retrieve the document, so you will need to
search for these phrases too.
In these two examples of synonyms, you also
have phrases instead of single words. There are
ways to indicate that you want phrases to be
retrieved instead of single words. For most web
infobits
Worldwide synonyms
If you want to find research done worldwide on a
South African term such as ‘speed bumps’, you have
to include all other names for the same thing, such
as ‘sleeping policeman’ (British term). Your query
will be: ‘speed bumps’ OR ‘sleeping policeman’. This
will ensure that you retrieve documents where either
of these terms appears.
59
 search engines, this can be done by enclosing
the phrase in inverted commas, for example
‘multimedia message service’. You will see this in
Table 5.2 in the next chapter. However, this is not
always the case and you need to look at how the
databases described in Chapter 6 require phrases
to be handled. You will get back to this example
later in this chapter where you will see how to
string all of these concepts and terms together to
make a query.
1.5.2 Identify proper nouns
After identifying the most important concepts and
phrases to construct your search, you can also see
if there are any specific proper nouns that you can
use to make the query even more specific.
You can use trade names as search terms. If,
for example you decide you specifically want a
Motorola™ cell phone with the features above, then
‘motorola’ will be a good term to use combined
with the search term ‘cell phone’.
You can also use names of people. If you are
only interested in finding out which type of cell
phone the singer Madonna is using, then ‘cell
phone’ and ‘madonna’ are very specific to your
information need. Geographical place names can
also be used to make a search more specific. If you
want to know which cell phone brand is the most
popular in Zimbabwe, then use the proper noun
‘zimbabwe’ together with the search term ‘cell
phone’ to make the search more relevant.
Using proper nouns as search terms is a very
powerful strategy to make your search more
specific, whether they are personal names, country
or city names or brand names.
1.5.3 Identify time periods
There is a difference between a date as a keyword
in a search and the publication date of a docu-
ment. If you are looking for information on what
happened in the Second World War during 1942,
you do not necessarily want documents that were
published in 1942. You are interested in finding
all the literature dealing with that particular time
in the war, regardless of the date on which it was
published.
In your example of searching for a cell phone,
you might want to use dates to narrow your search
and exclude some of the older cell phone models
that have fewer features. If you only want cell
phone models that were launched in 2010, you
might consider using ‘2010’ as a search term.
1.5.4 Identify required formats
Decide what format your information should be. In
the cell phone example, what format do you want?
n A description in text only
n Tables that compare different models
n A picture of the cell phone
60 navigating information literacy | 4 | constructing a search query
n Sound clips of ringtones available for the cell
phone
In this case you can also use the format of the
document (or elements of the document) as
keywords in your search, for example ‘cell phone’
and ‘ringtones’. This should retrieve at least some
websites where ringtones are mentioned, and (if
you are lucky) sound clips are provided.
You should also be aware that there are
specialised search engines where sound, video and
pictures are much easier to find than on general
search engines (see multimedia search engines in
Chapter 5).
2 Information retrieval systems
Information retrieval systems in general fall into
two broad categories: Boolean (or exact match)
systems and best match systems. The two retrieval
systems are compared in Table 4.2. Simply put,
in a Boolean system your query is matched to the
database of document representations in a very
strict manner and only documents that match your
query exactly are retrieved. Best match systems, on
the other hand, allow some leeway and will retrieve
documents that not only exactly match your query,
but also match it fairly well. Boolean systems will
display a list of documents retrieved sorted alpha-
betically or by date, whereas best match systems
will rank the retrieved documents according to
how relevant they are to your query.
In the next section you will learn how to string
together your search terms using the Boolean
operators AND, OR and NOT.
2.1 How to use Boolean operators
Formal logic Boolean operators are named after
George Boole, a mathematician who lived in the
19th century. There are three Boolean operators:
AND, OR and NOT. You can see how each of
these operators works in your example of buying a
cell phone.
infobits
Hybrid systems and pure Boolean retrieval
systems
Note that the search engines described in Chapter 5
are mostly combinations of best match and exact
match systems. These are called ‘hybrid systems’. The
databases you will learn about in Chapter 6, on the
other hand, are almost always pure Boolean retrieval
systems. This means that retrieval does not work in the
same way, results are not presented in the same way
and different features are supported.
 Table 4.2 A comparison of Boolean and best match systems

Boolean (Exact match) Best match

Only retrieves documents that have exactly the same Retrieves any document that matches your query to some
words as those in your query extent
Results are sorted alphabetically or numerically Results are ranked according to how relevant they are to
your query
Databases made available through libraries and information Web search engines usually are best match systems with a
services (see Chapter 6) are usually pure Boolean systems Boolean front-end

Table 4.3 Features of cell phone models

Models
Features
A B C D E F G H I J

Camera l l l l l l

Colour display l l l l l l

SMS l l l l l l l l

MMS l l l

Bluetooth l l l l l

Dual-band l l l

Tri-band l l

Quad-band l l l l

Speakerphone l l l l

Voice dialing l l l l

Colour Black l l l

Colour Silver l l l l l

Colour Blue l l

Suppose you want to buy a cell phone and the
ten models in Table 4.3 are available. (This is not
an accurate list of cell phone features!)
2.1.1 The AND operator
The function of the AND operator is to combine
search terms in such a way that all of the terms
combined by AND in the query must appear in
the document for it to be retrieved. For example, if
you want information on a cell phone having both
a camera and Bluetooth, the query will be ‘camera
AND Bluetooth’. If you look at Table 4.3, which
phones would qualify?
n The following cell phone models have cameras:
A, B, D, E, G and H.
n The following cell phones have Bluetooth: A, E,
G, H and J.
n The only cell phones that have both a camera
and Bluetooth (camera AND bluetooth) are: A,
E, G and H.
You can also represent the query and subse-
quent results as a Venn diagram as you can see in
Figure 4.2 on the next page. Cell phones that have
both a camera and Bluetooth are shaded in dark
blue in the Venn diagram.
2.1.2 The OR operator
The OR operator combines terms in such a way
that any of the terms combined by OR can be
present in the document for it to be retrieved. If
you want either speakerphone or voice dialing,
your query will be ‘speakerphone OR voice dialing’.
It is possible that both words may be present, but
this is not a requirement, either one will be good
enough. Which of the phones in Table 4.3 will
qualify?
n The following cell phones have voice dialing: A,
C, E and I.
n The following cell phones have speakerphone:
A, G, I and J.
n A, C, E, G, I and J have either speakerphone or
voice dialing.
The Venn diagram representation is shown in
Figure 4.3 on the next page. Since you are happy to
have either voice dialing or speakerphone,
the entire diagram is dark blue. All six of the

navigating information literacy | 4 | constructing a search query 61

 Figure 4.2 telephones in the diagram will be suitable to your
Cell phones with cameras
The standard Venn stated need.
diagram representation
for the Boolean AND 2.1.3 The NOT operator
operator A
D The third Boolean operator is NOT. It is also
E called the exclusion operator. This operator is
J used to exclude certain search terms from your
G
B query. Say in the cell phone example you want a
H
cell phone with a camera, but the phone must not
be silver, then your query would be ‘camera NOT
Cell phones with Bluetooth
silver’. Which of the models listed in Table 4.3 will
qualify?
n The following cell phones have a camera: A, B,
D, E, G and H.
Figure 4.3 n The following cell phones are silver: B, C, D, E
Cell phones with voice dailing
The standard Venn and G.
diagram representation n A and H are the only cell phones with a camera
for the Boolean OR that are not silver.
operator J
C A
The query and subsequent results can be repre-
sented as a Venn diagram as shown in Figure 4.4.
E I
G Cell phones that have a camera and are not silver
are shaded in dark blue. Since you are not inter-
ested in cell phones that are silver, even if they do
have a camera, only A and H qualify.
Cell phones with speakerphones
Figure 4.4 2.1.4 Truth tables
Cell phones with cameras
The standard Venn You can also represent the difference in logic of the
diagram representation AND operator and the OR operator by using truth
for the Boolean NOT tables as shown in tables 4.4 and 4.5. Truth tables
operator
A B
are mathematical tools used to establish whether a
D statement that combines various other statements
G C
is true or valid. Suppose you have the following two
H E statements:
n X = I want a cell phone with a camera.
n Y = I want a cell phone with quad-band.
Silver cell phones
If you want both features to be present, you have
to use the AND operator as shown in Table 4.4.
On the other hand, if you would be happy to have
either a camera or quad-band, you can use the OR
operator as shown in Table 4.5.
infobits
Venn diagrams
infobits
Variant spellings and alternative forms of words
Venn diagrams illustrate the sets that are
created through Boolean logic. In the example British and American spellings sometimes differ,
in Figure 4.2, the set of cell phones that have for example ‘colour’ (British spelling) and ‘color’
cameras consists of A, B, D, E, G and H. The set (American spelling). To solve this problem, you can
of cell phones that has Bluetooth consists of A, combine the two words with the Boolean operator
E, G H and J. By combining the two sets, a new OR so that either one will be found. The query
set is created: the set that consists of cell phones then is: colour OR color. Similarly you have to allow
that have both features, namely A, E, G and H. for spelling variants containing –ise and –ize, for
The individual cell phones in the different sets example computerise OR computerize.
are called elements of the set.

62 navigating information literacy | 4 | constructing a search query

 Table 4.4 Truth table for the Boolean AND operator

X Y X AND Y
True True True This means that if the cell phone has a camera (X is true) and the cell phone has
quad-band (Y is also true), then X AND Y is true (therefore you want this phone).
True False False This phone has a camera (X is true), but is does not have quad-band (Y is false),
then X AND Y is false (therefore you do not want this phone).
False True False This phone does not have a camera (X is false), but it has quad-band (Y is true),
then X AND Y is false (therefore you do not want this phone).
False False False This phone does not have a camera (X is false) and it does not have quad-band
(Y is false), then X AND Y is false (therefore you do not want this phone).

Table 4.5 Truth table for the Boolean OR operator

X Y X OR Y
True True True This phone has a camera (X is true) and it also has quad-band (Y is true). Then X
OR Y is true (therefore you want this phone).
True False True This phone has a camera (X is true) but not quad-band (Y is false), so X OR Y is
true (therefore you want this phone).
False True True This phone does not have a camera (X is false) but it has quad-band (Y is true),
so X OR Y is true (therefore you want this phone).
False False False This phone does not have a camera (X is false) nor quad-band (Y is false), so X
OR Y is false (therefore you do not want this phone).

2.2 How to construct a Boolean query force ‘quad-band’ to be searched as a phrase, it

It is possible to combine all the Boolean operators
in a single statement. You would construct the
query for the cell phone you are looking for in the
following way:
camera AND (sms OR ‘short message service’)
AND (mms OR ‘multimedia message service’)
AND bluetooth AND ‘quad-band’
In this example you want all the features you
identified previously, so all the main concepts are
combined with AND. You have identified alterna-
tive forms for SMS and MMS, so these have to be
used as search terms and combined by OR. This
means you want either SMS or ‘short message
service’ (or both) in the document. You also want
either MMS or ‘multimedia message service’ (or
both) in the document.
The brackets around these alternative forms are
called nested searching. You effectively force the
search engine to search (sms OR ‘short message
service’) and return the results as a single set.
Similarly (mms OR ‘multimedia message service’)
is handled as a single set. These sets are then
combined with the other features using the AND
operator because you wanted all the features to be
present.
The term ‘quad-band’ is in inverted commas
because it contains a hyphen. Search engines
typically drop any diacritical marks in such terms
and process them as two separate words. If you
will yield much more exact results than ‘quad’ and
‘band’ as two separate and unrelated words.
You will also notice that no capital letters are
used in this query. This is because most Internet
search engines do not support this feature. It is,
however, always a good idea to look at the help files
of a search engine with which you are not familiar.
If the capitals feature is supported, it can be quite a
powerful search aid. For example, if you search for
‘Turkey’, you will only retrieve documents where
Turkey is spelt with a capital letter T (the country
or at the beginning of a sentence), whereas a search
for ‘turkey’ will also retrieve documents containing
information about the bird.
Note that the word ‘cell phone’ is not a keyword
in the query. The reason for this is that the other
keywords in the query are very specifically limited
to cell phones. It is very unlikely that any docu-
ments that are retrieved using all of these keywords
will not have anything to do with a cell phone. In
this case, it will not be wrong to add ‘cell phone’ as
a search term. It just would not make much differ-
ence to the result.
Sometimes, however, it is necessary to be more
specific. Let’s look at another example. Suppose
you are looking for a recipe for a dish that contains
rice, lentils and beans. You put the following query
to the search engine:
rice AND lentils AND beans

navigating information literacy | 4 | constructing a search query 63

 The documents you retrieve all deal with planting
and farming. In this case you have to be more
specific and rather structure your query as follows:
rice AND lentils AND beans AND recipe
Deciding whether to include broad terms in your
query depends very much on the type of query.
Another important point is that all search
engines have a default operator. This means that if
you type in multimedia message service not using
any Boolean operators or inverted commas to
indicate that it should be a phrase, the system will
process it according to the default specified in its
programming. Some search engines will process
it automatically as a phrase. Others, like Google™,
will automatically search it as multimedia AND
message AND system. Unfortunately there are also
still search engines out there that will process it as
multimedia OR message OR system. Knowing your
search engines and their features are very important
in the quest for information retrieval. See Figure 5.4,
Figure 5.7 and Figure 5.9 in the next chapter for
examples of queries for different search engines.
3 Search engine mathematics
Some search engines do not use AND, OR and
NOT. Instead they use ‘search engine mathematics’
that are mathematical symbols, such as + as the
equivalent of the Boolean AND operator and – as
the equivalent of the Boolean operator NOT. Still
other search engines do not give you the opportu-
nity to construct a comprehensive Boolean query,
but use fill-in boxes to allow you to construct your
search. Figure 4.5 shows the AltaVista ‘Build a
query’ option. For this search engine ‘all of these
words’ is the same as the Boolean AND, ‘this
exact phrase’ means the words have to be next to
each other and in the same order as specified in
the query box, ‘any of the words’ is the same as a
Boolean OR and ‘none of these words’ is the same
as a Boolean NOT.
Search engine mathematics can be very
confusing. Table 4.6 shows the equivalent func-
tions and terminologies to try to make it clearer.
4 Natural language queries
As you know, documents can be represented either
using natural language or controlled vocabulary.
When you search for documents that have been
represented using natural language, you have to
use natural language in your query. Similarly, when
the document is represented in terms of controlled
vocabulary, you should use controlled vocabulary
in your query.
Some search engines, such as Ask (http://www.
ask.com) that you can see in Figure 4.6, allow you
to use a natural language question as a query. For
example, ‘Why is the sky blue?’ or ‘What are the
words of the South African National Anthem?’ This

Figure 4.5
The AltaVista advanced
screen option allows you
to fill in the boxes to
construct a Boolean query.
Used with permission.

http://www.altavista.com/web/adv

Table 4.6 Boolean operators and equivalent search functions

Full Boolean Search engine mathematics Template terminology (predetermined)

AND
cities AND Zimbabwe +cities +zimbabwe All of these words
and
cities and Zimbabwe cities +zimbabwe Must contain the words
+
Any of the words
OR cities OR towns
Can contain the words
or cities or towns
Should contain the words
NOT pigs NOT guinea
AND NOT pigs AND NOT guinea
BUT NOT pigs BUT NOT guinea
+pigs -guinea Must not contain the words
not pigs not guinea
pigs -guinea Should not contain the words
and not pigs and not guinea
but not pigs but not guinea
-

64 navigating information literacy | 4 | constructing a search query

is also called natural language searching, but in Figure 4.6
this case it is called natural language because your The Ask interface. Used with permission.
query is a ‘natural language’ sentence (the same
language as you use in everyday conversations).
This should not be confused with natural language
indexing and representation in Section 1.4 above.
Most search engines will also allow a sentence
as a query. Suppose somebody sends you a funny http://www.ask.com
quote by e-mail and you want to find out where
the quote comes from. You can copy the entire
sentence into the search box of a search engine, Figure 4.7
such as Google™ (http://www.google.com), put Using a sentence as a query on Google™ © 2010 Google™
quotation marks around it to indicate that it is a
phrase (see Figure 5.12 in the next chapter) and
search for it as a sentence. You can see an example
of using a sentence as a query in Figure 4.7. This
is not a question as you used in Ask, but rather a
sentence that has to be found in a document.

4.1 How to use documents as queries

Some search engines will also, when displaying
results, have a link next to a document summary http://www.google.com
that says ‘more like this’ or ‘similar pages’. You can
see an example of this in the screen shot from a
Google™ search in Figure 4.8. When you click on Figure 4.8
this link, it takes that particular document and Google™ allows you to use an entire document as a query through the ‘Similar pages’
automatically searches for documents containing © 2010 Google™
similar keywords to that document. The entire
document is in effect used as a query.

5 Examples of query construction

In this section you are going to look at a few more
examples of concept identification, as well as at
another complete example of how to construct a
query. In this example you are going to look at the
following scenario:
A farmer who has been living next to a military
airfield suddenly finds that his hens are not laying
any eggs. He suspects that it might have something
to do with the fact that there is more activity at the
airfield since the war broke out, and that the planes
often break through the sound barrier (the planes infobits
are flying faster than the speed of sound) over his Search advice
farm. The farmer is very worried about his loss of
income and asks you to help him to find informa- Do not give up if you do not find any useful information or if you find too much
tion. What will you do? information. Try different search terms. Check that you have used your Boolean
First you need to identify the concepts neces- operators correctly. Try a different search engine. Very often you have to repeat a
sary and relevant to the search. Have a look at all search several times and make small changes to the search query before you find
the main concepts in the scenario as set out in the right information.
Table 4.7 on page 66 and then decide whether they
are relevant to the query. You will see that there are
only two important concepts here:
n Hens laying eggs
n Planes breaking through the sound barrier

navigating information literacy | 4 | constructing a search query 65

 Table 4.7 Relevance of the main concepts in the scenario

Concept Relevance
Farmer The concept ‘farmer’ itself is not a relevant term, but the fact that it is a farmer that is
looking for information gives you some useful background as to the type of information that
is required.
Military airfield This might give you some more background information about the type of planes that you
are dealing with, but this is also not a very important term in your query.
Hens laying eggs This is what it is all about! The farmer loses money because his hens are not laying eggs,
and you want to find out WHY they are not laying.
War This term is not important at all. It is simply background to explain why there is so much
activity on the airfield.
Planes breaking through Yes, this is important. You assume that it is the planes that are causing the problems, so
the sound barrier you would like to find out if there is any information about the effects of planes breaking
through the sound barrier on the behaviour of hens.
Loss of income This may be important at a later stage, but first you are going to look at the effect of
the noise on the hens. If you find that there is a connection, you might look for legal
information on what the farmer can do about the loss of income.
Information Information is what you are looking for, so this is a pointless concept to use in a query.

Table 4.8 Identified concepts

Concepts dealing with egg production Concepts dealing with noise

Egg production Plane noise (aeroplane / airplane)

Sonic boom
Aircraft noise

infobits The next question you have to ask is whether

Singular and plural forms
There are singular and plural forms of words, for
example library (singular) and libraries (plural). To
solve this problem, you can use truncation to find all
forms of the word. The symbol for truncation varies,
so always ensure that you use the correct symbol.
On the search engines that do support truncation
(not many of them do), it is usually an asterisk (*),
and on most of the databases you are going to look
at in Chapter 6, it is a question mark (?). On a search
engine, the query then looks like this: librar*. This
means then the first letters in the word ‘library’ must
be present and then anything after that as well.
In this case documents containing the following
words will be retrieved: librar (a bookseller), library,
libraries, librarian, librarians and librarious (pertaining
to books).
Be very careful not to make the search term
too short, as cat* will not only retrieve documents
containing the words ‘cat’ or ‘cats’, but also
cataballative (tending to throw down), catadupe (a
waterfall), catalogue and catwalk. There are nearly
700 words starting with cat!
In the databases that you are going to use in
Chapter 6, there is sometimes a tick box to enable
you to specify whether you want the search engine
to automatically search for plurals as well.
these are simple concepts (you can keep them as
they are) or complex concepts (you need to break
them up into smaller components). Consider each
concept one at a time.
n Hens laying eggs – At first glance it seems that
there are two concepts here: ‘hens’ and ‘eggs’.
However, the actual concept is ‘egg production’.
The hens and the eggs as separate concepts
are really irrelevant. Use thesauri, dictionaries
and encyclopaedias to determine the correct
terminology, especially if you are not familiar
with the field.
n Planes breaking through the sound barrier –
Once again, it looks like there are two concepts
here, namely ‘planes’ and ‘sound barrier’.
However, there are two other issues to be
considered:
n If you are only looking at the effects of planes
going through the sound barrier, it is really
only planes that can break the sound barrier,
so it is not necessary to include the ‘planes’
concept in the search. A more appropriate
term would be ‘sonic boom’ (the technical
term for the moment when a plane exceeds
the speed of sound).
n If you are not only considering the effects
of sonic booms, but also the effects of loud
noises caused by the close proximity of
aircraft to the animals, then ‘planes’ is a
relevant concept combined with ‘noise’.

66 navigating information literacy | 4 | constructing a search query

After looking carefully at the possible concepts you
have identified, the next step would be to construct
the query. A good way to deal with complex
queries is to put the concepts you have identified
into a table like the one shown in Table 4.8. This
way, it is quite easy to identify possible alternative
terms, synonyms and plurals.
Now you can construct the query by linking the
concepts with Boolean operators:
Summary
In this chapter you learned that documents
can be represented in different ways, and that
it is important to understand the principles of
representation in order to retrieve documents.
You looked at several examples of information
needs where it is necessary to first identify the
underlying concepts before you can construct
a query, using Boolean logic. You also looked at
various ways in which search engines support
Boolean logic: through the use of Boolean
operators or through the use of search engine
mathematics.
navigating information literacy | 4 | constructing a search query
‘egg production’ AND (‘aeroplane noise’ OR
‘airplane noise’ OR ‘aircraft noise’ OR ‘sonic boom’)
In the query as set out above, you want informa-
tion on egg production in conjunction with any
of the synonyms you have identified for aircraft
noise. Note that concepts consisting of more than
one word have been placed in quotation marks to
indicate to the search engine that this is a single
concept.
Critical thinking questions
n Why is it important to know whether a docu-
ment has been represented through natural
language, controlled vocabulary or a combina-
tion of both?
n Why is it important to analyse an information
need in great detail before constructing a query?
n Why is it important to use Boolean opera-
tors correctly? What are the implications of
confusing the ‘AND’ and the ‘OR’ operators?
n Can you think of examples where it would not
be a good idea to exclude keywords by using the
‘NOT’ operator?
n Why should you always include all variant spell-
ings of keywords in a query, especially in cases
where American spelling differs from British
spelling?
67

Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
answer the following questions:
n What are the differences between directories
and search engines?
n What are the differences between search
engines, meta search engines and meta sites?
n Why can’t I use general search engines for
news searching?
n Where can I search for sound clips, images
and videos?
n What are the differences between Google™
and Google™ Scholar?
Have you ever tried to find information on
the Internet? You might have typed single
words into a search engine such as Google™
and Yahoo!® and waited for a list of sites or
sources to appear on the screen. This kind
of search probably did not provide you with
the information that you needed. You need
to understand how to conduct an effective
search to find sufficient and appropriate
sources to complete your task whether it is an
assignment or a report. In this chapter you will
learn about how information is represented
and how to search for information on the
Internet effectively and efficiently.

Key terms
Chapter 5
n Blog search engine
n Blog
n Default Boolean operator
n Directory
n Google™ Scholar
n Internet
n Meta site
n Meta search engine
n Multimedia search engine
n News search engine
n Peer reviewing
n Search engine
n World Wide Web (WWW)

68
The Internet is the broad name given to several
communication technologies used on the
worldwide network. E-mail, chat rooms, the World
Wide Web (WWW), and so forth all function
through Internet technologies. People often say
‘I found this information on the Internet through
Google’, but what they actually mean is that they
found the information on the World Wide Web.
The World Wide Web is that part of the Internet
that is accessible through a browser (see Chapter
2). There is usually a www component in the
address of a website. The address is called the URL
which stands for Uniform Resource Locator (see
Chapter 10).
There are various ways of finding information
on the Internet and WWW. In this section you
are going to look at the following aids to finding
information on the Internet and WWW:
Internet searching
n Browsing aids (directories)
n Searching aids (general and specialised search
engines)
n Meta searching aids (meta search engines and
meta sites)
1 Directories
Directories are created by people who search for
information on the Web and index the useful and
informative sites they find. As a result, the data-
base of a directory is relatively small. A directory
is a structured hierarchy. At the first level there
are broad categories on display, such as Arts,
Business, Computers, Education, Games, Health,
News, Recreation, Reference, Science, Society and
Sports. Clicking on these categories will show more
detailed categories, down to the lowest level where
 Figure 5.1
The Dmoz Open Directory
Project © 2011 Netscape
Communications
Corporation. Used with
permission.

http://www.dmoz.org

Figure 5.2
Search results for the
Reference category
of the Dmoz Open
Directory Project © 2011
Netscape Communications
Corporation. Used with
permission.

http://www.dmoz.org/Reference

70 navigating information literacy | 5 | internet searching

web pages dealing with a particular topic are listed.
Directories are made with browsing in mind, rather
than searching.
Here are some examples of directories:
n Galaxy (http://www.galaxy.com) – This was the
Web’s first directory. It was created in 1994.
n The Dmoz Open Directory Project
(http://dmoz.org) – This is one of the largest
directories. It is created solely by volunteers,
usually subject experts, who review websites and
index them according to the categories in the
directory.
You can see a screen shot from the Dmoz Open
Directory Project in Figure 5.1. If you click on
‘Reference’ in Figure 5.1, the screen shown in
Figure 5.2 appears. At the top you have broad
topics (Education, Knowledge Management,
Libraries and Museums). The second list in the
middle is mainly of links to reference sources.
Specific topics are listed at the bottom of the page.
Two very useful directories with excellent
hierarchical lists created by librarians are:
n The Internet Public Library (http://www.ipl.
org). The new Internet Public Library (known as
IPL2) is the result of a merger of two previous
directories, namely the Internet Public Library
and The Librarians’ Internet Index.
n The WWW Virtual Library (http://vlib.org)
Other large commercial directories that are not
created by volunteers or librarians are:
n Google™ (http://www.google.com/dirhp), which
is based on the DMoz Open Directory Project
with some Google™ functionalities added
n Yahoo!® (http://dir.yahoo.com)
2 Search engines
When you search for information on the Internet,
it seems as if the search terms in your query are
compared to millions of websites and the ones
containing relevant information are displayed on
the screen. What actually happens is much more
interesting and complicated.
A search engine basically consists of four parts:
a spider or crawler, an index, a query manager and
an interface.
n Spider or crawler – A robot program called
a spider or crawler starts with a list of URLs
and visits these sites to gather information.
This is also called ‘harvesting’. From here the
spider moves through the Web by following the
hyperlinks on the pages that it visits. If a website
does not have any links pointing to it from other
sites, it is not indexed. This means that it is not
searchable through a search engine. All spiders
can process text created in HTML (HyperText
Mark-up Language). The latest technological

Table 5.1 Features supported by some of the major search engines

Search engine Boolean operators supported Default Boolean operator How to search a phrase
AltaVista AND, OR, NOT AND Use inverted commas around the phrase

Bing™ AND, &, OR, |, NOT, -, +, ( ) AND Use inverted commas around the phrase

Cuil None None Not supported

Gigablast AND, OR, AND NOT, ( ), +, - AND Use inverted commas around the phrase

Google™ AND, OR, -, + AND Use inverted commas around the phrase

Yahoo!® AND, OR, -, + AND Use inverted commas around the phrase

Table 5.2 Illustration of different query formulations by search engine

Search engine Query formulation

AltaVista camera AND sms AND mms AND bluetooth AND ‘quad-band’
camera AND ‘short message service’ AND ‘multimedia message service’ AND bluetooth AND ‘quad-band’
Note: Since AltaVista does not support nested searching, you cannot have concepts in brackets. You will have to do two separate
searches – one with the terms ‘SMS’ and ‘MMS’, and the other with the abbreviations written out.
Bing™ camera AND (sms OR ‘short message service’) AND (mms or ‘multimedia message service’) AND bluetooth AND ‘quad-band’
Cuil Type in as many keywords as you think relevant. The order of the terms and the operators used do not seem to matter.
Gigablast camera AND (sms OR ‘short message service’) AND (mms or ‘multimedia message service’) AND bluetooth AND ‘quad-band’
Google™ camera sms mms bluetooth ‘quad-band’
camera ‘short message service’ ‘multimedia message service’ bluetooth ‘quad-band’
Note: Since Google™ does not support nested searching, you cannot have concepts in brackets. You will have to do two separate
searches – one with the terms ‘SMS’ and ‘MMS’, and the other with the abbreviations written out.
Furthermore, the default operator for Google™ is AND, and you will be informed that the AND is unnecessary if you put it in your search.
Yahoo!® camera AND (sms OR ‘short message service’) AND (mms or ‘multimedia message service’) AND bluetooth AND ‘quad-band’

navigating information literacy | 5 | internet searching 71

 developments also allow some search engine
spider programs such as Google™ to crawl and
index a variety of formats such as PowerPoint
files, word processing documents, and PDFs.
PDF stands for Portable Document Format. This
is a secure format which does not allow users to
change documents. You need Adobe Acrobat or
similar products to be able to open and read a
PDF document.
n Index – The crawled text is indexed at the
search engine site. In other words, the crawled
website is represented and a database of
these document representations is created.
Depending on the search engine, either the
entire text (full text) is indexed or only parts of
the text, such as the title and main headings, are
indexed.
n Query manager – The query manager matches
the user’s query, consisting of search terms and
other instructions, such as Boolean operators,
with the database index. Most search engines
support Boolean queries to some extent,
although some search engines, such as Ask
(http://www.ask.com), support queries in
natural language. It is important to know
which features are supported by the various
search engines in order to use them optimally.
Table 5.1 on the previous page lists some of the
larger search engines and the features that they
support.
n Interface – The interface displays the search
results, usually ranked according to relevance.
This is the only part of the search engine that
the user actually sees.
Once the database is built, the search engine
robots have to revisit the pages already crawled and
indexed and ensure that if the page has changed
since the last crawl, the new information is updated
in the database.
The various search engines handle queries
differently. Table 5.2 on the previous page
infobits
Search engine features
Search engine technology changes rapidly. It is
important that you consult the help function on
your chosen search engine site regularly. Two good
summaries of search engine features that are
regularly updated can be found on Greg Notess’
Search Engine Showdown site
(http://www.searchengineshowdown.com),
the Search Engine Watch site
(http://www.searchenginewatch.com) and the
Infopeople Project site (http://www.infopeople.org).
72 navigating information literacy | 5 | internet searching
illustrates how your original cell phone query from
Chapter 4 should be entered on each of the search
engines listed in Table 5.1. The original query was:
camera AND (sms OR ‘short message service’)
AND (mms OR ‘multimedia message service’)
AND bluetooth AND ‘quad-band’
2.1 General web search engines
General search engines cover a wide variety of
interests. You can find information on nearly every
conceivable topic on a general search engine.
Directories are created by people but search engine
indexes are created by computers and they are
massive. Since it was not a person who decided to
include the information, not everything is reliable
or pertinent and so you should use the information
with caution.
Some examples of general search engines are:
n Google™ (http://www.google.com) offers much
more than simple web searching. It is worth
taking time to look regularly at what new
services Google™ has on offer. The most recent
services are shown in Figure 5.3. The sizes of
search engine databases change constantly and
the competition between them is fierce. It is
generally accepted that Google™ is currently the
most popular search tool on the Web.
n Bing™ (http://www.bing.com), the search engine
developed by Microsoft®, has been relaunched
in direct competition with Google™.
n Yahoo!® (http://www.yahoo.com) was one of
the original directories on the Web. It has been
relaunched as a major search engine.
Other search engines with relatively large databases
are:
n Gigablast (http://www.gigablast.com)
n Cuil (http://www.cuil.com)
n AltaVista (http://www.altavista.com)
2.2 News search engines
News has to be available and accessible as soon
as possible. For this reason, it is important to use
specialised news search engines with a very short
update speed for news searching. The general
search engines described above should not be used
for news searching, as the time it takes to update
these sites may vary from one day to three months
(and up to a year in extreme cases).
The following three sites are good examples of
general search engines containing a specialised
search engine where news is made available and
updated within minutes:
n Google™ News (http://news.google.com)
n Yahoo!® News (http://news.yahoo.com)
n Bing™ News (http://www.bing.com/news)
In Figure 5.4 you can see a screen shot of the the news article, you can also see the source of the
Bing™ News website. The search relates to the article and the currency (how long ago the article
explosion of volcanic ash in 2010 that prevented was made available on the database).
air travel in Europe. In addition to the summary of

Figure 5.3

Services offered by
Google™ © 2010
Google™

http://www.google.co.za/about/products

Figure 5.4
The Bing™ News
search engine. Used
with permission from
Microsoft®.

http://www.bing.com/news

navigating information literacy | 5 | internet searching 73

 Figure 5.5
World News is a website
that gives access to
breaking news around
the world. Used with
permission.

http://wn.com

Figure 5.6

Corbis® Images search

engine. Used with
permission.

http://www.corbisimages.com

Other sites dedicated to accessing the latest
news around the world are:
n World News Network (http://www.wn.com) –
You can see an example from World News in
Figure 5.5
n Newstrawler (http://www.newstrawler.com)
n NewsLookup (http://www.newslookup.com)
The major news services around the world also
have websites dedicated to the dissemination of
news. Two examples are:
n CNN (http://edition.cnn.com)
n Skynews (http://www.sky.com/skynews)

74 navigating information literacy | 5 | internet searching

Most newspapers, locally and internationally, also
have updated websites for breaking news. You can
search for these using a directory such as Internet
Public Library (http://ipl.org). You can also use a
news hub such as:
n Daily Earth (http://dailyearth.com)
n Online Newspapers (http://www.onlinenewspa-
pers.com)
2.3 Non-text or multimedia search engines
It is very difficult to use general search engines to
find pictures or sound clips on the Web because
they typically index text only (such as HTML,
MSWord and PDF documents). Fortunately there
are some specialised search engines available that
can help you to find multimedia and non-text
material on the Web.
Most general search engines have a specialised
search engine for image searching, such as:
n Google™ Images (http://www.google.com/imghp)
n Yahoo!® Images (http://images.search.yahoo.com)
n Bing™ Images (http://www.bing.com/images)
n Ask Images (http://www.ask.com/pictureslanding)
http://www.findsounds.com
navigating information literacy | 5 | internet searching
infobits
Images and copyright
Remember that pictures are also protected by
copyright, just like text. Any images downloaded
from the Web must always be referenced properly.
There are other specialised image databases
available for searching, such as:
n Corbis® Images (http://pro.corbisimages.com)
n Picsearch™ (http://www.picsearch.com)
n Proteus Image Search
(http://www.thrall.org/proimage.html)
Corbis® Images is a commercial image search
engine where you may download images for free,
but they are then watermarked with the Corbis®
logo. This means they are stamped with an image
or piece of text over the image. If you do not want
them stamped, you have to pay to download the
pictures. You can see the Corbis® Images search
engine in Figure 5.6.
Figure 5.7
Findsounds audio search
engine. Used with
permission.
75
 You can also use search engines specialising in
finding sound and video clips such as:
n AOL Video Search (http://video.aol.com)
n Findsounds (http://www.findsounds.com)
Findsounds is a search engine specialising in video
and audio search. Figure 5.7 is an example of a
search for the sound of a European police siren.
Two hundred sound clips were found. The file
format, the file size, the duration of the sound clip
and other details are displayed.
2.4 Blog search engines
A blog (short for web log or weblog) is a personal
or non-commercial periodic publication on the
Web. It is usually in reverse chronological order,
meaning the latest postings are displayed first.
Blogs may be on any topic imaginable. Information
retrieved from blogs should be used with extreme
caution, since they are usually only opinions
and usually not written by experts. As ‘blogging’
becomes an important source of information,
especially scholarly blogs, search engines have been
specifically developed to index blog sites and make
these available for searching.
Here are some examples of blog search engines:
n Google™ (http://blogsearch.google.com)
n Technorati™ (http://www.technorati.com)
n Blog Search Engine (http://blogsearchengine.
com)
n Blogdigger™ (http://www.blogdigger.com)
Figure 5.8
Technorati™ blog search
engine. Used with
permission.
http://technorati.com
76 navigating information literacy | 5 | internet searching
n IceRocket (http://www.icerocket.com)
You can see an example from Technorati™ in
Figure 5.8 below. Technorati™ is a search engine
specialising in crawling, indexing and making
information on blogs available for searching.
3 Meta search engines
You may not always find relevant results on the
first search engine you use and you may have to use
another search engine. In cases where you get no
results on a single search engine, and you do not
wish to repeat the search on several other search
engines, you might consider using a meta search
engine. These engines do not build their own
databases like general search engines. Instead, they
‘translate’ the user’s query and send it to a variety of
other general search engine databases. Meta search
engines need to ‘translate’ the query because all
search engines support different functionalities.
The results are then collected from the various
search engines. They are sorted and displayed
in rank order by relevance or by search engine
database. This ‘translation’ process does not always
work out the way you might think it should and
sometimes the results are quite strange.
If you want to search for the lyrics to the Beatles
song ‘Yellow submarine’, the query on Google™
might look like this:
lyrics beatles ‘yellow submarine’
In this case, the concepts are not combined by
AND because Google’s default is the AND operator
and ‘yellow submarine’ is in inverted commas
because it is a phrase.
The same search on Yahoo!® would be:
lyrics AND beatles AND ‘yellow submarine’
The same search on Gigablast would be:
+lyrics +beatles +yellow +submarine
This means that all the terms have to be present in
the query. Look back at tables 5.1 and 5.2 to see
how queries must be formulated for the various
search engines.
Here are some examples of meta search engines:
n Yippy!™ (http://www.yippy.com)
n Search.com (http://www.search.com)
n DogPile (http://www.dogpile.com)
n Metacrawler (http://www.metacrawler.com)
n Mamma (http://www.mamma.com)
n Ixquick (http://ixquick.com)
n MetaGopher (http://www.metagopher.com)
Yippy!™ is one of the best meta search engines. Not
only does Yippy!™ translate the query and send
it to various search engines, it also clusters the
retrieved results in ‘clouds’ according to topic. It
clusters results ‘on-the-fly’ according to broader
topics. In Figure 5.9 you can see the results of a
search using Yippy!™. In this search, 249 documents
were found dealing with the topic ‘information
retrieval’. These were clustered in several categories
listed in the left-hand column: ‘Intelligent
(Information Retrieval)’ (23 documents), ‘Image
(Information Retrieval)’ (19 documents), ‘Media’
(16 documents), etc. The category ‘Search Engine’
http://www.clusty.com OR http://www.yippy.com
navigating information literacy | 5 | internet searching
was further expanded and showed that it contained
subcategories ‘Digital Libraries’ (2 documents),
‘Computing, Maths’ (2 documents), ‘Optimization’
(2 documents), etc.
4 Meta sites
Meta sites are sites about sites. If you are looking
for a list of meta search engines, for example a list
of medical databases and medical search engines,
a meta site is the place to go. Meta sites do not
build databases containing information, but rather
build databases of search engines and databases of
databases by topic and region and so on.
In Figure 5.10 on page 78 you can see an
example of one of the biggest meta sites called
Beaucoup! This meta site lists databases and search
engines. If you are looking for a search engine
dealing specifically with South African information,
click on ‘Mid-East/Africa’ under ‘Geographical’.
Similarly, if you would like a list of meta search
engines, click on ‘Parallel/Meta’ under ‘General’.
You can see the Beaucoup! list of general search
engines in Figure 5.11 on page 78. In this example
the link ‘General searchers’ under ‘General’ in
Figure 5.10 was clicked. This only supplies a list
of search engines and not an option to search the
search engines. You have to click on the links to go
to a search engine to perform a search. This is why
Beaucoup! is called a meta site – a site about sites.
Some directory sites also function as meta sites
to an extent, in that they give access to databases
and search engines about various topics, limited
to particular geographic regions and so on. Some
examples of these directories are:
n Internet Public Library (http://www.ipl.org)
n Virtual Library (http://vlib.org)
Figure 5.9
Search results from the
Yippy!™ (formerly Clusty)
search engine. Used with
permission.
77
 Figure 5.10 5 Google™ Scholar
The meta site Beaucoup! Google™ Scholar (http://scholar.google.com) gives
access to scholarly literature. General search engine
databases are created by harvesting any site that
has a link from another site. This means that the
information you find using a general search engine
should always be viewed with caution. Scholarly
information, on the other hand, has been peer
reviewed and is generally trustworthy.
The goal of Google™ Scholar is to make
peer-reviewed papers, articles, abstracts, books
and theses available and to help you to identify
the most relevant scholarly research. If you have
to find academic material on the Web, you should
seriously consider using Google™ Scholar rather
than Google™. Figures 5.12 and 5.13 show the
difference between the types of information
retrieved on Google™ and Google™ Scholar. The
example in Figure 5.12 used the term ‘cellular
phones’ as a phrase to search on Google™. Over
four million websites were found. These are
mostly commercial sites dealing with cell phones.
The relevant websites found are displayed on the
left-hand side of the screen. The column on the
http://www.beaucoup.com
right-hand side of the screen is a list of ‘Sponsored
Links’. This means that the owners of these websites
Figure 5.11 paid Google™ to display their information on the
The Beaucoup! list of general search engines results screen. An interesting fact about Google™
is that although over four million sites were found,
only the first thousand results can be accessed.
The example in Figure 5.13 also used the term
‘cellular phones’ as a phrase to search but this
time the search was on Google™ Scholar. Google™
Scholar found researched and peer-reviewed
articles about cell phones that are published in
scholarly journals. For this search, only 41 000
results were found. There are no sponsored links
on Google™ Scholar because academic integrity
must not be compromised by paid advertising.

6 Advanced web searching

Most of the general search engines, as well as some
of the more specific search engines listed above,
allow you to do some very complex searching.
As an example of the type of advanced searching
capabilities that search engines offer, you are going
to look at Google™ in some more detail.
Figures 5.14 and 5.15 on page 80 compare the
simple and advanced search interfaces of Google™.
http://www.beaucoup.com On the simple interface in Figure 5.14, there is a
single text box in which to type your query.
Figure 5.15 shows the advanced search
interface. To access it, click on the ‘Advanced
Search’ link in Figure 5.14. As you can see in
Figure 5.15, there are many more options to
search on the advanced screen. Instead of the
formal Boolean operators, predetermined template
terminology is used (see Table 4.6 in Chapter 4).

78 navigating information literacy | 5 | internet searching

There are also a number of limits, for example
domain, language, format and date. When dealing
with web search engines, this is called ‘limit
searching’. In Chapter 6 you will learn about
advanced searching on databases which is called
‘field searching’.
It is still possible to do very complex searches
using the simple interface by combining limits
and keywords. For a full list of limits supported by
Google™, go to http://www.google.com/intl/en/
help/operators.html. Figure 5.16 on the next page
shows an example of a complex limit search using
the Google™ simple search interface. The simple
search interface to Google™ is used very effectively
to search for very specific information about
search engines, in English, but not information that
resides on commercial domains.
http://www.google.com
http://scholar.google.com
navigating information literacy | 5 | internet searching
6.1 Examples of complex searches
By studying three examples of complex searches,
you are going to explore the differences between
using limits on the simple interface and using the
advanced interface of Google™.
6.1.1 Example 1
In this example imagine you are looking for infor-
mation because you want to go to Spain on holiday,
but you can only read English. On the advanced
Google™ interface, your search query will look as
shown in Figure 5.17 on page 81.
On the Google™ simple search interface, your
query will look as shown in Figure 5.18. There are
no AND operators to combine the search terms,
because the default operator for Google™ is AND
(see Table 5.1).
Figure 5.12
Search results for ‘cellular
phones’ on Google™
© 2010 Google™
Figure 5.13
Search results for ‘cellular
phones’ on Google™
Scholar © 2010 Google™
Scholar
79
 Figure 5.14
The simple Google™
search interface © 2010
Google™

http://www.google.com

Figure 5.15
The advanced Google™
search interface © 2010
Google™

http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

Figure 5.16
Using the simple Google™
search interface to do a
complex search © 2010
Google™

http://www.google.com

80 navigating information literacy | 5 | internet searching

 Figure 5.17
Search for Example 1 on
the advanced Google™
interface © 2010 Google™

Figure 5.18
Search for Example 1
on the simple Google™
interface © 2010 Google™

Figure 5.19
Search for Example 2 on
the advanced Google™
interface © 2010 Google™

Figure 5.20
Search for Example 2
on the simple Google™
interface © 2010 Google™

Figure 5.21
Search for the educational
sites that link to Example
2 on the simple Google™
interface © 2010 Google™

navigating information literacy | 5 | internet searching 81

 Figure 5.22
Search for all the sites that
link to Example 2 except
commercial sites on the
simple Google™ interface
© 2010 Google™

Figure 5.23
Search for Example 3 on
the advanced Google™
interface © 2010 Google™

Figure 5.24
Search for Example 3
on the simple Google™
interface © 2010 Google™

Figure 5.25
Search for Example 3 with
‘microsoft’ and ‘windows
7’ as two separate terms
on the simple Google™
interface © 2010 Google™

82 navigating information literacy | 5 | internet searching

 infobits
Search engine features
The advanced search engine features for the various
search engines are not the same. The examples in
this section only refer to Google™. You will have to
access the search help functions on the different search
engines to see what is available on each of them.
6.1.2 Example 2
In this example imagine you have created a
beautiful website that is full of useful information
(http://www.wonderfullstuff.com.sa). You have
searched for it on Google™ and found it! Now you
would like to see if there are any sites that link to
your site. On the Google™advanced search inter-
face, your query will look as shown in Figure 5.19
on page 81.
You can also perform the same search on the
simple Google™ search interface as shown in
Figure 5.20.
You can also see which educational sites link to
your page by typing into the simple Google™ query
box as shown in Figure 5.21.
You can even search for all sites linking to your
site, but excluding commercial sites as shown in
Figure 5.22.
Summary
In this chapter you learned how to find informa-
tion on the Internet. You looked at various search
tools, such as search engines (both general and
specialised), directories, meta search engines and
meta sites. You looked at Google™ Scholar as an
alternative to Google™. You also looked at some
advanced search techniques using the fields and
limits on Google™.
navigating information literacy | 5 | internet searching
6.1.3 Example 3
In this example imagine you are looking for English
language information on the Microsoft® Windows
7 operating system, but you only want information
from the Microsoft® website itself. On the Google™
advanced search interface, your search will look as
shown in Figure 5.23. (Please note that the image
has been edited and irrelevant search options have
been removed.) In this case, because you specified
‘microsoft windows 7’ as a phrase that has to be
present, this is carried over into the ‘where your
keywords show up’ section of the query. Both these
terms will have to be present, in the URL and as a
phrase.
You can also perform the same search on the
simple Google™ search interface as shown in
Figure 5.24. Note that ‘microsoft windows 7’ has
been specified as a phrase.
If the results from the search shown in
Figure 5.24 are not satisfactory, it is also possible
to search ‘microsoft windows 7’ as two separate
terms (or three separate words), as shown in
Figure 5.25. You assume that Microsoft®’s web
address contains the word ‘microsoft’, so you
specify that it must be part of the URL.
Critical thinking questions
n Look for information on the dangers of radia-
tion from cell phones on both Google™ and
Google™ Scholar. What are the differences in the
types of sources on these engines?
n Where would you start looking for search
engines and databases specifically for general
reference works?
n Where would you look for users’ opinions on
products, such as cell phones and MP3 players?
n Do you think collaborative projects on the Web,
such as Wikipedia, contain reliable information?
n What do you think the advantages are to using
the advanced search features on search engines,
such as Google™?
83
Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following
questions:
n What types of database and online journal are available?
n How do I access databases and online journals?
n How do I choose the most suitable databases and online journals
for my subject field and topic?
n How do I search databases and online journals?
n How can I use database records to refine search strategies?
n How can I use digital libraries, pre-print archives and open access
resources for information?
n How do I print or save information from a database or an
online journal?
n What is the value of saving search strategies for future use?

Chapter 6
Searching
databases…
Key terms

…and online
n Bibliographic database
n Controlled vocabulary
n Database
n Descriptor
n Full-text database
n Iterative information search
n Keyword Have you ever tried to find information in databases and
n Natural language online journals? You might have been expected to find, choose
n Online journal
n Open access journal and search databases and online journals for your studies
n Record structure or at work. In this chapter you will learn about databases
and online journals and how to access and search them. You
will also look at how to use search forms and how to refine
search results. If you search smartly, by applying the principles
discussed in this chapter, you will find that accessing relevant
information sources can be easy and stress-free.

84
 journals
If you are a student at an academic institution you will have access to the
information resources to which the library subscribes. If you are working,
however, you may have to make your own arrangements, either by subscribing
to information resources or using what is freely available. Your need for
information is a lifelong one! This chapter focuses on how to use the databases
and online journals to which academic libraries normally subscribe. However,
you will also learn about the databases and journals available free via the
WWW. Although they may be less sophisticated in the search facilities they
offer, the basic search and selection principles discussed here still apply.
Google™, Google™ Scholar, Wikipedia, online dictionaries and all the other
Internet sources you have learned about in Chapters 2 and 5 are excellent
sources of information. You are probably very familiar with these by now and

85
 they are especially useful in the workplace and in
your life. However, when doing assignments at an
infobits
academic institution it might be better to start by Information resources at different institutions
searching online journals and databases. They are
widely considered to be the most suitable sources The discussion in this chapter is mostly generalised
in academic contexts because they offer access to because institutions subscribe to different
quality, reliable, authoritative information. Online information resources and offer different training.
Information resources and their interfaces also
journals and databases may be new to you, but change frequently.
learning how to search and use them will save you
time and effort in the long run.

LA (language), DT (document type), AB (abstract),

1 What is a database?
A database is an organised collection of data or
information that is stored in records in electronic
format. These records can be representations of
information sources or they may contain the full
text of the source as well. Databases are organised
to support the finding of information from books,
journal articles, people and conferences.
Records in databases have fields such as a title
field, author field and language field. Records
include data that describe a specific piece of
information such as the name of an author or
journal title. These fields build the record structure.
Figure 6.1 shows an adapted example of a database
record. The example comes from ERIC which is an
educational database.
The database record in Figure 6.1 consists of
fields that are indicated by two letter codes such as
TI (title), AU (author), PY (publication year),
DE (descriptors) and ID (identifiers). The
descriptors and identifiers are assigned by human
indexers to indicate the intellectual or subject
content of the record. Descriptors are selected
from a controlled vocabulary. In this case the
controlled vocabulary is from the Thesaurus of
ERIC descriptors. Identifiers are selected from
natural language because the terms are not
included in the thesaurus. However, they give
sufficient indication of the content of a publication
to be assigned by a human indexer. The abstract
may be the author’s own abstract or it may be
adapted or rewritten by an abstractor or indexer.
The abstract also represents the intellectual content
of the record. (Natural language and controlled
vocabulary are explained in Chapter 4.)
As you will see from the examples in this
chapter, the structure of records and the types
of fields for databases vary widely. Based on the

Figure 6.1
TI- Stimulant Effect on Matching Familiar Figures: Changes in Impulsive and Distractible Cognitive
Example of a database
record Styles.
AU- Mock, Karen R. And Others
PY- Mar 1978
NT- 22p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association
(Toronto, Canada, March 27-31, 1978)
LA- English
DT- RESEARCH REPORT (143)
CP- Canada Ontario
AB- This study investigated whether the stimulant methylphenidate (Ritalin) would differentially affect
performance on a test of cognitive style by hyperactive children.Subjects were 55 children, (ages 7
to 15) referred to the Learning Clinic at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada for hyper-
activity and/or learning problems.A paired associate learning task was used to classify subjects as
favorable or adverse responders to stimulant medication. Favorable responders included two distinct
clinical groups: those described by teachers and parents as aggressive, impulsive, and acting out, and
those referred for daydreaming, distractibility, and problems in maintaining attention. All subjects
were given Kagan’s Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) test, a test of reflective/impulsive cognitive
style. It was found that stimulant medication (Ritalin) resulted in poorer MFF performance for ad-
verse responders but improved performance for the impulsive and distractible groups.Results sug-
gest that stimulants affect cognitive style differentially depending on the child’s clinical/behavioral
profile. (Author/SE)
DE- Behavior Change, Behavior Problems, Cognitive Processes, Cognitive Style, Conceptual Tempo,
Drug Therapy, Elementary School, Students, Exceptional Child Research, Hyperactivity, Junior
High School Students, Learning Theories, Medical Services, Self Control, Stimulants
ID- Matching Familiar Figures Test (Kagan), Ritalin (Methylphenidate)

86 navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals

 infobits
Bibliographic databases
Bibliographic databases are very useful information
resources. However, when searching them it is
essential to remember that you may need extra
time to trace the full-text publications. When doing
an undergraduate assignment, it might therefore
be better to start by searching in online journal
platforms first because this will offer you the full-text
documents.
record structure and information they include,
databases are divided into different types, such
as bibliographic databases, numeric databases,
directories, statistical databases, image databases
and full-text databases. Bibliographic and full-
text databases are typically the most important
for undergraduate studies since they lead you
to publications such as journal articles with
authoritative, reliable information for your
assignments and research reports. Most students
will not use statistical databases or directories. You
will also find that the databases to which academic
institutions subscribe are mostly bibliographic or
full-text databases.
1.1 Bibliographic databases
A record in a bibliographic database is only a repre-
sentation of an information source. It does not
include the complete text of the publication.
A record typically includes the bibliographic
information that enables you to trace an informa-
tion source such as a journal title and volume
number. It can also include brief descriptions of
the intellectual content of the information source
such as fields for descriptors, identifiers and
abstracts as indicated in Figure 6.1. You will find
some bibliographic databases refer to descriptions
such as subject headings, major descriptors and
indexing terms. The record in Figure 6.1 is actually
from a bibliographic database. The catalogue of a
library or information service is also an example
of a bibliographic database that you will search
for books, printed copies of journals, videos and
prescribed or recommended material. There are
many other bibliographic databases that academic
libraries subscribe to such as EconLit, Medline,
African Studies and ArtIndex.
1.2 Full-text databases
Full-text databases contain the complete
text of journal articles, newspaper articles or
encyclopaedia chapters or articles. Full-text
databases are similar to bibliographic databases
because the records contain information on the
bibliographic details, as well as the intellectual
content, as you can see in Figure 6.2. In addition a
record also includes the full text of the information
source. When searching a full-text database, you
don’t need to make any further effort to trace
the publication. You can simply print or save
a copy. Although there has been a growth in
full-text databases, most databases are still of the
bibliographic type.
In Figure 6.2, parts of the fields and the
complete text were cut to shorten the record. /LP is
the code indicating the leading paragraph and /TX
is the code indicating the full text. The newspaper
database is available through Dialog (http://library.
dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0471.html#RC).
Subscription is required to access the database.

Figure 6.2
TI= Can U.S. Companies Even Get a Bonjour?
Example of an adapted
AU= MARK LANDLER record from a full-text
JN= PG= New York Times, Late Edition - Final ED, COL 2, P 1 newspaper database
PD=, PY= Monday October 2 1995 called New York Times
DT=, JC= DOCUMENT TYPE: Newspaper JOURNAL CODE: NYT LANGUAGE: Fulltext
LA= English
RT=, SH= RECORD TYPE: Fulltext SECTION HEADING: SECTD
Word Count: 1355
TEXT: /LP /TX GENEVA, Oct. 1 - Within a radius of a few hundred miles around this lakeside city
are two of the four richest telecommunications markets in the world. And around them are glass walls
that say “Keep Out.” The state-owned French monopoly telephone company, France Telecom, in 1994
had revenues of roughly $25 billion, while its German counterpart, Deutsche Telekom, had revenues of
almost $40 billion. Only AT&T, with revenues of $49 billion, and NTT of Japan, at $70 billion, are larger.
[…………………………..]
/DE DESCRIPTORS: TELEPHONES AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS; MERGERS,
_ACQUISITIONS AND DIVESTITURES; REGULATION AND DEREGULATION
OF INDUSTRY; PRIVATIZATION; ANTITRUST ACTIONS
/NM, NM= PERSONAL NAMES: LANDLER, MARK; HUNDT, REED E (CHMN)

navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals 87

 2 What is an online journal?
Online journals are available in electronic format,
mostly via the WWW, and usually only on a
subscription basis. Although some journals have
printed counterparts as well, for example Nature,
there are journals such as Reading Online that
are available in electronic format only. Journals in
electronic format are often more convenient to
use than their printed counterparts since copies of
articles can be printed or saved immediately.
Online journals may be available as single
journal titles through a journal publisher such as
Emerald or through a service or service provider
that provides access to journals available from
various publishers such as ScienceDirect or
IngentaConnect. Some libraries, such as those of
the University of Pretoria (UP) and the University
of Cape Town, use the term ‘platforms’ to refer to
such services or service providers. Others, such as
the University of Loughborough in England, refer
to ‘full-text publishers and providers’. Figure 6.3
shows the selection of online platforms to which
the UP library subscribes, such as Blackwell
Synergy, EBSCOHost, Emerald, ScienceDirect,
Swetswise and Open Access. It also shows the open
access journals to which UP offers links.
Figure 6.4 shows the full-text journals and
providers to which the University of Loughborough
subscribes. Although libraries distinguish between
databases and platforms, in reality there is often
very little difference in the search functions
provided. The main difference is that you can
expect the platforms or full-text service providers
to provide access to the full text of publications.
There are three types of online journals:
n Subscription journals
n Subscription journals available free after a
limited period
n Free open access journals

Figure 6.3
Online journal platforms
to which the University of
Pretoria subscribes. Used
with permission.

http://www.library.up.ac.za/journals/journalsplatforms.htm

Figure 6.4
Full-text e-journal
publishers and providers
to which the University of
Loughborough subscribes.
Used with permission.

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/library/resources/eJournals.html

88 navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals


http://uctfx.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/uct/az/?lang=eng
2.1 Subscription journals
Academic libraries may subscribe to hundreds
of online journals on a wide variety of topics.
Figure 6.5 gives you an indication of some of
the titles to which the University of Cape Town
subscribes. Subscriptions to these journals cost
academic institutions large amounts of money per
year. However, they are very useful information
sources since they are mostly peer reviewed and
usually of an acceptable academic quality. Access to
subscription journals is normally limited to regis-
tered users and therefore you require a password.
While you are a student at an academic institution,
the subscription journals are available to you free
of charge because the academic institution covers
the cost.
One of the conveniences of online journals
is that the newest edition may be available long
before the printed copy is mailed. Journals such as
Information Processing & Management publish arti-
cles as soon as they are accepted for publication,
while waiting for authors to make final corrections
or while going through the proofreading phase.
However, there are also online journals where
the publishers place embargoes or restrictions
on access to the latest issues. These embargoes
can range from two weeks to 24 months after the
printed edition has appeared.
2.2 Subscription journals available free
after a limited period
Some subscription journals may be available free
after a limited period, such as six months or one
navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals
Figure 6.5
Extract from the
alphabetical list of
journal titles to which the
University of Cape Town
subscribes. Used with
permission of UCT Libraries
and ExLibris.
or two years. This means that you will be able to
access the older issues of these journals after a
certain time without being a member of a library.
Examples of these types of journals include Journal
of Virology, Journal of Neuroscience and Biophysical
Journal. It is useful to remember these journals
when you are not a student at an academic institu-
tion. The only shortcoming is that you only have
access to older issues.
2.3 Free open access journals
There are also a number of highly academic and
peer-reviewed journals available through open
access. Open access refers to publications where
the authors and copyright holders grant free access
to a publication on a worldwide basis. You can
copy, use, distribute, transmit and display these
journals in any digital medium for any respon-
sible purpose. The authorship of the publication
must always be acknowledged, as is explained in
Chapter 9. Normally you may also print a copy for
your personal use. Here are two examples of open
access journals:
n The Journal of Clinical Investigation
(http://www.jci.org)
n CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians
(http://caonline.amcancersoc.org)
Sometimes open access journals are stored in an
online repository. This is a collection of publica-
tions that is maintained by an academic institution,
scholarly society or government agency.
89
 Figure 6.6
Directory of Open Access
Journals. Used with
permission.
http://www.doaj.org
There are many open access repositories such as:
n DISA (Digital Innovation South Africa)
(http://disa.nu.ac.za)
n Directory of Open Access Journals
(http://www.doaj.org)
n HighWire Press
(http://highwire.stanford.edu)
n Public Library of Science
(http://www.plos.org)
n PubMed Central
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc)
You can see an example of an open access
repository in Figure 6.6.
3 How to access databases and
online journals
If you want to be successful in searching databases
and online journals, you first need to know how to
access them. Databases and online journals should
become so familiar to you that they should become
your first choice for finding literature for writing
assignments. Google™ and other Internet search
tools are great, but online journals and databases
can be a much better choice when writing an
academic assignment. Your time is limited and
quality is important.
You can access databases and online journals in
one of three ways:
n Controlled access – These are databases and
online journals available through the library of
an academic institution.
n Free access on the WWW
90 navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals
n Access through digital libraries, pre-print
archives, subject gateways and portals.
3.1 Controlled access databases and
online journals
All databases and online journals to which the
libraries of academic institutions subscribe must
be accessed through the library of that institution’s
website. Figure 6.7 shows you an example of
the electronic journals and databases that can
be accessed through the University of Sheffield
Library. The University of Sheffield is in England.
If you select the option for electronic resources
on the screen in Figure 6.7, there is a link to
databases that leads to an alphabetical list of
database titles. This list of database titles is shown
in Figure 6.8. For each title there is a very brief
description of the subject scope and coverage, for
example ‘Full text poetry databases’ or ‘Data from
the 1881 Census returns’. The time span is also
covered, for example 1990–current.
infobits
Access to controlled access databases
and online journals
To access the databases or electronic journals
to which the library of an academic institution
subscribes, you first need to register as a member of
the academic library. You will be given a password
which you will need to access a specific database or
journal.

http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/library
http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/cdlists/cdtable.html
3.2 Free access on the www
No passwords are required to search databases and
online journals that are free on the WWW. They
can be accessed through open access repositories
as explained in Section 2.3. These databases and
online journals are very useful when you are no
longer a member of an academic institution.
3.3 Access through digital libraries,
pre-print archives, subject gateways
and portals
As explained in Chapters 2 and 5, there are many
digital libraries available via the WWW that you
navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals
Figure 6.7
Access to electronic
journals and databases
through the University of
Sheffield Library used with
their permission
Figure 6.8
Alphabetical list
of databases with
descriptions to which the
University of Sheffield
subscribes used with their
permission
can use to access databases and online journals.
Some digital libraries offer free access and others
only with subscription. Digital libraries and
subject gateways and portals can be very valuable
in finding sources of acceptable academic quality.
They can be especially useful to supplement
sources identified through databases and
subscription journals.
Another useful resource is archives of pre-
prints (also referred to as e-prints). These are
archives of scientific or technical documents that
are circulated electronically for comments by
peers such as fellow researchers. Pre-prints can
include pre-publication drafts of journal articles,
91
 scholarly papers, technical communications or
similar documents in which research results are
shared. Subscription to such networks can offer
an excellent method of keeping track of research
results. However, since they are mostly in draft
format, there is no guarantee that the documents
are error free. Examples of pre-print archives
include:
n Chemical Physics Preprint Database
(http://www.chem.brown.edu/chem-ph.html)
n E-print Network (http://www.osti.gov/eprints)
– This is an archive for research in subjects such
as Chemistry, Physics and Fossil Fuels.
n Chemistry, Math and Computer Science
Preprint Archives (http://www.sciencedirect.
com/preprintarchive)
4 How to choose an information
resource
Once you have decided on the type of information
resource you will use in your literature search, for
example a database, platform or search engine, you
still need to decide on the specific databases and
platforms you will search. To save yourself time and
effort during the search process, it is worthwhile to
select these with care.
4.1 Criteria for choosing a database
When deciding on the most suitable database for
your information need, the following criteria can
help you choose:
n Scope of the database and topics covered
n Type of publications covered
n Time span covered
n Descriptions of the intellectual content of the
information source
n Fields available to refine the search strategy
n Type of search forms available
4.1.1 Scope of the database and topics covered
Some databases focus on a single discipline such as
Law or Medicine, while others are more multidis-
ciplinary. You need to consider the extent to which
the topic you are searching for is covered by the
infobits
Analysing your information need
Before choosing your information resource or
searching databases, you need to analyse your
information need. In analysing your information
need you should be able to answer the following
questions: What is the topic? What type of
information do I need? How much information do I
need? This is explained in more detail in Chapter 11.
92 navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals
database. Each database will have brief descriptions
of the topics covered, as you saw in Figure 6.8 on
page 91. For example, if you were searching for a
topic such as ‘collaborative learning practices for
students in economics’, it would be better to search
in ERIC, an educational database, than in EconLit,
an economics database that may also include some
records on education and teaching. However, if the
library does not subscribe to ERIC, you would have
to make do with EconLit.
4.1.2 Type of publications covered
Types of publications covered could include journal
articles, books, book reviews, research reports,
conference proceedings or standards. For example,
if you are looking for conference proceedings and
they are not included in a particular database, you
will need to search another database or another
information resource. There is a distinction
between databases with scholarly content that are
aimed at professionals and databases with more
popular content that are aimed at the lay person.
The databases to which academic institutions
subscribe mostly focus on scholarly content. There
are some databases that cater for both professionals
and lay people. For example, the Gale Group
Health & Wellness database is a database aimed at
health and medical professionals that also contains
content for people seeking general information. If
you are a lay person with a health-related query,
this would be an appropriate database.
4.1.3 Time span covered
Different databases cover different periods of time.
Databases will give their time span, for example
2000–current. The longer the time span you
search, the better your chances of finding informa-
tion, except if it is a very new topic or development.
However, be careful of dated information in fields
that develop very quickly such as Computer
Science and Medicine.
4.1.4 Descriptions of the intellectual content of the
information source
When you find two databases that rate more or
less equally on the first three criteria, you can
consider the descriptions of the intellectual content
of publications. Your chances of finding informa-
tion are much better in a database where a number
of keywords are assigned to publications and that
includes longer, more informative abstracts. In
Figure 6.1 on page 86 you saw an example of a
record with an abstract as well as descriptors and
identifiers. Your chances of finding this record
are better if it includes the abstract than without
it. Remember that you need to use the same
terms in your query that the author used in the
‘representation’ or as used in the record that is the
representation in the database. The more terms
included in the record, the better your chances of
finding a match with your search terms.
For example, if the record in Figure 6.1 on page
86 did not have an abstract, you would not be able
to retrieve it by using search terms such as ‘hyper-
active children’, ‘learning problems’ or ‘stimulant
medication’. These terms do not appear in the
descriptor and identifier fields. They only appear in
the abstract.
4.1.5 Fields available to refine the search strategy
The fields available to refine the search strategy can
also make a difference to the quality of your search
result. You will see examples of limiting a search
strategy according to fields later in this chapter.
If you look at the record in Figure 6.1 on page
86 as an example, you can use the fields for docu-
ment type (DT) and country of publication (CP) to
specify that you want to search for research reports
published in a particular country. If the record did
not include these fields, that search strategy would
not be possible.
4.1.6 Type of search forms available
Databases should preferably have search forms
that allow for different levels of sophistication in
searching, such as novice or basic forms as well
as advanced search forms. The different types of
search forms are explained in more detail later in
this chapter.
4.2 Criteria for choosing a platform
Platforms provide access to the full-text of journal
articles. Some libraries refer to platforms as ‘service
providers’ or ‘full-text publishers and providers’.
The criteria for selecting platforms are very similar
to those for databases. To choose the best platform
to start your search with, you can consider the
following:
n Scope of the platform
n Journal titles included on the platform
n Availability of full-text access
n Fields available to refine the search strategy
n Type of search forms available
4.2.1 Scope of the platform
Some platforms focus on single disciplines while
others are multidisciplinary. You need to consider
the scope of the platform you choose in terms of
the topics covered.
4.2.2 Journal titles included on the platform
It is important to consider the journal titles
that are included as well as those that are not
covered. If particular journal titles that you need
are not included, you would have to search other
platforms. As an undergraduate student it may be
difficult for you to judge which journal titles you
navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals
need. However, it is worthwhile to develop your
sensitivity to this criterion.
4.2.3 Availability of full-text access
Some platforms offer full-text access to all journal
articles, while others only offer full-text access
to selected journals. For example, the platform
Emerald offers full-text access to all journal articles,
while Chemistry, Math and Computer Science
Preprint Archives only offers full-text access to
selected journals.
4.2.4 Fields available to refine the search strategy
Platforms are the same as databases with regard to
the fields available. The fields available for searching
make a difference to the quality of your search
result. You can only refine your search strategy
successfully if there are enough fields to search.
4.2.5 Type of search forms available
Just like databases, the search forms available on
platforms should preferably allow for different
levels of sophistication in searching, such as novice
or basic forms as well as advanced search forms.
5 How to search databases and
platforms
In this section you will look at general principles
that apply when searching databases and platforms.
Databases and platforms change frequently so you
will not deal with specific examples. You will focus
on general principles such as:
n Using different search forms
n Using fields to refine a search strategy
n Searching in natural language and controlled
vocabulary
n Using the record structure and the information
contained in records
5.1 How to use different search forms
Most databases and platforms have at least two
levels of search forms. For novices there are basic
search forms (also referred to as quick or elemen-
tary forms) and for experienced searchers there are
advanced search forms. Sometimes there is even
infobits
Searching databases and platforms
There is no database or platform that will cover
all information on a topic. It might sometimes be
necessary to search more than one database or
platform or a combination of databases, platforms
and other information resources.
93
 a third level, such as intermediate or expert. The
level of the search form will influence the sophisti-
cation of your search strategies.
5.1.1 Novice search forms
A novice search form is easy and straightforward
to use. There are, however, fewer options to refine
your search strategy to ensure that you retrieve
only the most relevant information. The most basic
forms allow you only to type a single topic such as
a word or phrase. This is sometimes referred to as
a quick search. Figure 6.9 shows examples of three
novice search forms. You will see that, although
there is some overlap, there are also considerable
differences.
The novice search forms in Figure 6.9 are from
the following databases:
(A) ProQuest (http://il.proquest.com)
(B) S cienceDirect
(http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.innopac.
up.ac.za)
(C) CSA Illumina (http://www.csa.com)

Figure 6.9
Examples of novice search
forms. Images A and C
published with permission
of Proquest. Further
reproduction is prohibited
without permission.
Image B used with
permission.

94 navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals


Note the use of search terms in the basic search
boxes in Figure 6.9. You are searching all topic-
related fields unlike in the advanced search forms
shown in Figure 6.10 where you can specify which
fields you want to search.
The databases in Figure 6.9 are only available
through controlled access, so they require that you
or your institution must subscribe to the database.
You will be prompted for a password.
5.1.2 Advanced search forms
Advanced search forms are meant for experienced
searchers as they offer more options for sophis-
ticated searching. This is one of the advantages
databases and platforms have over search engines.
If you understand the search principles, you can
be very specific in your search strategy to ensure
navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals
Figure 6.10
Examples of advanced
search forms. Image A
used with permission.
Image B published with
permission of Proquest.
Further reproduction
is prohibited without
permission.
that you retrieve only highly relevant information.
Figure 6.10 includes two examples of advanced
search forms. As with novice search forms there are
common features, but they also vary considerably.
Figure 6.10 shows examples of advanced search
forms from the following databases:
(A) ScienceDirect
(http://www.sciencedirect.com.innopac.
up.ac.za)
(B) C
 SA Illumina (http://www.csa.com)
5.1.3 How to use search forms
Each database or platform varies greatly in what
they offer for the novice and advanced level
search forms. As you develop your search skills,
you should gradually move from novice to more
complex search forms. In Table 6.1 on page 97
95
 there is a selection of typical options that you can
expect when searching on the novice and advanced
levels, although most interfaces will not include
all of these. If you do not make a selection for an
option such as database, field or discipline, the
default will normally be to search all.
The examples in Figure 6.11 are taken from the
following databases that are only available through
controlled access:
(A) ProQuest (http://il.proquest.com)
(B) Wiley InterScience
(http://www3.interscience.wiley.com)
How to use truncation and wildcards Although
different symbols are used to indicate the use of
truncation or wildcards, the ‘*’ and ‘?’ symbols are
the most commonly used. However, how they are
interpreted varies considerably. You need to check
the database or platform specifications of each
one you choose for their use of these symbols.
The explanations in Table 6.2 illustrate how to use
truncation and wildcards.
How to use proximity operators Proximity opera-
tors are used to indicate the position and order
of words used as search terms. For example,
proximity operators are used to indicate that
two or more words must be next to each other
in the exact order given, ‘student academic
performance’. Proximity operators indicate that
there may be one or more ‘unknown’ words
between the specified terms, for example:
‘student [annual, monthly, preliminary, final]
academic performance’. Proximity operators

Figure 6.11
Examples of pull-down
menus for specifying
search fields. Image A
published with permission
of Proquest. Further
reproduction is prohibited
without permission.
Image B is reproduced
with permission of John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.

96 navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals

Table 6.1 Options in search forms
Option
Help screen
Single search box (sometimes
also indicated as ‘all content’)
Database
Discipline or sub-discipline
Dates or date ranges
Limiting results
Journal titles
Fields to be searched
Boolean operators
Proximity operators
Searching for phrases
Truncation
Display formats
How to use the option
Use the help screen for more detail and examples on how to use a database or platform.
Type a word or phrase here and the system will search all fields.
Select a specific database or more than one. Sometimes the default is indicated as ‘multiple databases’.
Choose to search a specific discipline or sub-discipline such as Education, Law, Mathematics or Linguistics.
These normally include the year of publication, for example 2005 or 2000 – 2008.
A variety of options is available that varies considerably. These can include searching ‘full-text only’, ‘scholarly journals
only’, ‘last update’, ‘journal articles only’, ‘English only’, ‘local holdings’, ‘review articles’, ‘research’ or ‘references
available’. The advanced level normally includes more options than the novice search forms.
Specific journal titles can be selected.
Specific fields can be searched, for example only title, author or subject. As a default, all fields are searched. The fields
available for searching will depend on the record structure of the database. Most search forms have a pull-down menu
option to display available fields as shown in the example in Figure 6.11. Apart from the content-related fields, these
can include fields such as ‘product name’, ‘person’, ‘location’, ‘classification code’, ‘agency’ and ‘affiliation’. Searching in
fields is explained in more detail later in this chapter.
Although the Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) are often available on novice and advanced levels, the advanced
forms allow for more complex combinations as shown in the example from Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA) in
Figure 6.10. Pull-down menus that will display the operators are sometimes used between fields. Some interfaces
allow nested searching where search terms combined with Boolean operators are grouped together by the use of
brackets. Here is an example of a nested search string: (media violence OR media aggression) AND (children OR young
people OR adolescents OR teenagers) AND (laws or legislation). The brackets indicate the order in which the Boolean
combinations must be executed.
Many of the interfaces allow the use of proximity operators to specify the order and position of words. These will be
explained in more detail at the end of this section.
Some interfaces allow you to search for phrases by specifying ‘all words’, ‘phrase’ or ‘exact phrase’.
Most search forms allow for the use of truncation to specify the word stem or part of a word to search for. Sometimes
there are options to select automatic truncation and/or automatic singular or plural searching. Here is an example
of a complex search string using truncation: (media violence OR media aggression) AND (child? OR young people OR
adolescent? OR teenager?) AND (law? or legislat?). The truncated words will retrieve terms such as child, children,
adolescent, adolescents, teenager, teenagers, law, laws, legislation, legislations, legislature, legislate, legislates.
Some interfaces allow you to specify the display format when starting the search. A ‘short format’ can, for example,
display the title, author and sources. There may also be ‘full formats’ with or without references and ‘custom formats’.

Table 6.2 Truncation and wildcard search options

Option How to use the option

Truncation It expands a search to include all forms of the root or stem of a word. For example, manage* will retrieve manage,
manager, managers, managed, management and managerial. Some systems allow you to specify the number of
characters that may follow on the root word, for example only one, two or three characters. This is useful when searching for
a short word where you only need the singular and plural forms. For example, specifying two characters when you search for
house and houses.
Wildcard It replaces characters in the middle of a word. A single character or multiple characters can be replaced. Sometimes different
symbols are used for these. This is useful when searching for words with different British and American spellings or for
some singular and plural forms. For example, behav*r will retrieve behaviour and behavior, organi?ation will retrieve
organisation and organization and wom?n will retrieve women and woman.

Table 6.3 Proximity operators

Option How to use the option

Order of words This means words must be in the order specified, for example ‘health economics’ and not ‘economics health’. You can specify
that one of the words must come before the other, for example ‘social BEFORE security’ to search for ‘social security’. You can
also specify that words may come in any order, for example ‘soccer playing’ and ‘playing soccer’.
Number of intervening This specifies the number of words that may come between the specified words. For example, the search string ‘database*
words NEAR design*, database* WITHIN 3 design*’ will retrieve combinations such as ‘database design’, ‘design of bibliographic
databases’ and ‘design of web-driven databases’. The ‘3’ indicates that three words or fewer may appear between the
specified words.

navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals 97

 can also be used to indicate that the specified
terms can occur in any order, meaning it does
not matter which term comes first, for example
‘playing cricket’ or ‘cricket playing’. The use of
proximity operators makes it easier to allow for
the different possibilities of search terms that
are needed to retrieve the information you are
looking for. It means that you do not need to
specify all the exact possibilities.
Although different formats of proximity opera-
tors are used, for example WITHIN ‘X’, NEAR,
BEFORE and AFTER, the underlying principles
are mostly the same. When searching phrases,
proximity operators are used to indicate the order
of words and the number of intervening words.
The explanations in Table 6.3 on the previous
page illustrate how to use proximity operators to
indicate the order of words and the number of
intervening words.
5.1.4 How to use command interfaces
You have been looking at how to search databases
and platforms by filling in novice and advanced
search forms using pull-down menus to select
fields and Boolean operators. However, a few
databases and platforms also allow for command or
expert interfaces. Command interfaces are where
you have to use command language to write search
statements using Boolean operators and to specify
in which fields you want to search. Figure 6.12 is
an example of a command-driven search inter-
face for a Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA)
database that is only available through controlled
access.
Command interfaces are mostly used by infor-
mation specialists. Field codes and nested Boolean
searches are typed into the command search form
or box. In the example in Figure 6.12, the two letter
code ‘py’ indicates the year of publication needs
to be either 1999 or 2000. The two letter code ‘de’
specifies that the search term ‘freshwater mollusc’
must appear in the descriptor field. The two letter
code ‘ab’ indicates that the search term ‘schisto-
soma mansoni’ must appear in the abstract field.
5.1.5 How to search online journals
The principles discussed so far also apply to
searching online journals through platform inter-
faces. When you are looking for a specific article
you can use the following options:
n Search for the title in the journal title option
offered by the platform interface and then
follow the links to the specific issue and article.
n Search for the title in the alphabetical list of
journal titles offered by the library and then
follow the links to the specific issue and article.
98 navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals
5.2 How to use fields to refine
search results
The fact that databases consist of records with a
variety of fields enables you to search in different
parts of a record and to be very precise in your
search strategies. It also enables you to refine your
search if too many or too few records are retrieved.
If you do not specify a field or a combination of
fields, the default is normally all the fields, or all
the content-related fields such as titles, descrip-
tors, identifiers and abstracts. Each database has
its own interpretation of ‘default’. As you saw in
Figure 6.11, database fields vary widely.
In this section you will see how some of the
most commonly used fields can be used to refine
a search strategy. The discussion will be about
the example in Figure 6.13. The example comes
from a bibliographic database called CSA Socio-
logical Abstracts which is only available through
controlled access. You will use the example to
see how to use the record structure to search
in specific fields. When you are searching in a
database or platform for online journals, your
representation (your query with search terms)
should match the representation of the docu-
ment in the record in order for you to retrieve the
particular record.
The fields that you can use to refine your search
query include:
n Title
n Descriptors or keywords
n Author
n Language
n Date
5.2.1 Use the title field
To ensure that you retrieve a limited number of
highly relevant records, you can start by searching
in the title field only. You can assume that if a word
appears in the title of a publication, the publication
will include substantial information on the topic.
When searching in the title field only, your search
strategy should not be too complex otherwise
you may retrieve no results. Titles are normally
short so not all the words that may be used to
describe the content of the article will appear in
the title. Although you should retrieve the most
useful information sources (on condition that you
use all relevant search terms), there is also a lot of
information that you will not retrieve by searching
the title field only. Table 6.4 shows the effect of
searching for different search terms in the title field
in the example from Figure 6.13.
 Figure 6.12
Example of a command-
driven search interface.
Image published with
permission of Proquest.
Further reproduction
is prohibited without
permission.

http://www.csa.com
Figure 6.13
A record from a
bibliographic database.
Image published with
permission of Proquest.
Further reproduction
is prohibited without
permission.

http://www.csa.com

Table 6.4 Searching for different search terms in the title field

Database record (representation of the document)

Field Entry in the database record Comments on the entry
Title Media Violence in the News: Natural language (the author’s own words) is used in
American Psychological the title field.
Association Public Policy
Initiatives
Retrieval when searching in the title field
Search term (also called Will the record in Figure 6.13 Explanation of why the record
search string) be retrieved? is retrieved or not
Media violence Yes These exact words appear in the title in the record.
Media violation No ‘Violation’ is not the same as ‘violence’ in the title.
Media AND violence Yes The two separate terms are combined with the Boolean
AND, and both appear in the title in the record.
Media AND violent No Although ‘media’ appears in the title, ‘violent’ does not.
APAPPI No Although ‘APAPPI’ is an acronym for ‘American
Psychological Association Public Policy Initiatives’, the
acronym does not appear in the title.

navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals 99

 5.2.2 Use descriptors or keywords
Search forms use different terms to refer to the
field based on indexing by human indexers.
Although the field is often referred to as the
‘descriptor’ field, it can also be called a ‘keyword’
or ‘identifier’ field. Other terms that you may come
across include ‘subject’, ‘index heading’, ‘major
concepts’, ‘subject terms’ and ‘topics’.
The ‘descriptor’ normally comes from a
controlled vocabulary such as a thesaurus.
Sociological Abstracts, the database searched in
Figure 6.13 on page 99 uses ‘descriptors’ assigned
from the Sociological Thesaurus. Sometimes the
terms assigned by human indexers can also come
from natural language, in which case they are often
referred to as identifiers or keywords. Databases
will differ in how descriptors, keywords or identi-
fiers are assigned and the types of controlled
vocabulary used. You can search in these fields to
retrieve more information than when searching
in the title field. Some databases also allow you to
search in a combination of the title and descriptor,
keyword or identifier fields. Table 6.5 shows the
effect of searching for different search terms in
the descriptor field in the record in Figure 6.13 on
page 99.
Table 6.6 shows the results when searching for
the same topic ‘media violence’ in different subject-
content fields such as title, descriptor, keyword and
abstract. Once again, the search is of the Sociolog-
ical Abstracts database in Figure 6.13. Sociological
Abstracts is a Cambridge Scientific Abstracts
database available only through controlled access.
If you do not specify a field for Sociological
Abstracts, the default is ‘anywhere’. Selecting the
keyword option will search the title, descriptor and
abstract fields.
5.2.3 Use the author field
You will search in the author field when you know
about a publication by a specific author and would
like to retrieve only that publication. In this case
you would combine searching in the author field
with a few words from the title. You may also be
familiar with the name of a key author in a field.
Instead of doing a subject or topic search, you can
start by searching for all the publications by that
author, and then use those publications to identify
appropriate search terms to find more literature or
to follow up on the lists of references included with
the publications. When searching for the name of
an author, you need to provide the surname and

Table 6.5 Searching for different search terms in the descriptor field
Database record (representation of the document)

Field Entry in the database record Comments on the entry

Descriptor
Retrieval when searching in the descriptor field
Search term (also called
search string)
Media violence
Mass media violence
Media AND violence
Media AND violent
Mass Media Violence The descriptors were assigned from a controlled
News Coverage vocabulary, namely the Sociological Thesaurus. The
Communication Research thesaurus prefers ‘mass media violence’ and not ‘media
Psychological Research violence’ as a descriptor.
Policy Research
Will the record in Figure 6.13 Explanation of why the record is retrieved or not
be retrieved?
Yes These words appear as part of the descriptor ‘mass
media violence’.
Yes The exact phrase appears as a descriptor.
Yes The two separate terms are combined with the Boolean
AND, and both appear as part of a descriptor (‘mass
media violence’) in the record.
No Although ‘media’ appears as part of the descriptor ‘mass
media violence’, ‘violent’ does not.

Table 6.6 Searching for the same term ‘media violence’ in different fields

Field Results Comments

Title 23 Records should be highly relevant because the words ‘media violence’ appear in the title.
Descriptor 227 Records should be reasonably relevant, because the descriptors were assigned by
indexers.
Abstract 47 The words ‘media violence’ are in the abstract because the document contains some
information on media violence. However, unlike when the words appear in the title field,
it may not always be substantial information.
Keyword 259 For this database the keyword option will search for ‘media violence’ in the title, abstract
and descriptor fields.

10 0 navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals


Table 6.7 Searching for different search terms in the author field
Database record (representation of the document)
Field Entry in the database record
Author McIntyre Jeff J
Retrieval when searching in the author field
Search term (also Will the record in Figure 6.13
called search string) be retrieved?
McIntyre Jeff J Yes
McIntyre* Yes
McIntyre J No
McIntyre JJ No
preferably also the full name or initials. If you are
unsure about these, most databases offer an author
index that you may browse to verify the format of
the author’s name.
To retrieve all publications by an author, you
need to use all the variations of the name that
might have been used for different publications.
Databases have different conventions for writing
the names of authors, for example surname and
initials only, or surname, name and initials, or using
commas between the surname and name. You can
display and browse the author index as shown in
Figure 6.14. You can also truncate the name of
the author or you can truncate the surname with
one initial. Sometimes there may be more than
navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals
Figure 6.14
Example of displaying the
index for authors. Image
published with permission
of Proquest. Further
reproduction is prohibited
without permission.
Comments on the entry
Databases have different conventions for writing the names
of authors. This will have an effect on whether a document
is retrieved or not since the format in the search term
should match the format in the representation for a record
to be retrieved.
Explanation of why the record is retrieved or not
The author name appears exactly as in the record.
The surname is truncated and all names and initials
following the surname will be included.
The author name does not appear exactly the same as in
the record. ‘Jeff’ should be included.
The author name does not appear exactly the same as in
the record.
one variation of an author’s name. For example, in
Figure 6.14 it seems as if the entries for ‘McIntyre
Jennie J’ and ‘McIntyre Jennie’ are for the same
person. For the example in Figure 6.13 on page 99
you can either search for ‘McIntyre’, or you can use
truncation to search on ‘McIntyre*’ or ‘McIntyre J*’.
The last option will bring you closer to the entry in
the record in Figure 6.13. For the first two options
you will also get to ‘McIntyre Jeff J’ but you will
have to scroll through quite a number of author
names.
Table 6.7 shows the effect of searching for
different search terms in the author field in the
record in Figure 6.13 on page 99.
101
 5.2.4 Use the language field
Many databases include publications in a wide
variety of languages such as French, German,
Russian and Spanish. However, the titles and
abstracts of the records for these publications are
usually available in English as well. If you do not
retrieve too many search results, especially when
searching literature for a dissertation or thesis, it
may be worthwhile to search in all languages since
you can get a good idea of the topics of interest
from the titles and especially from longer, informa-
tive abstracts. However, if you get too many search
results, you can limit the results to English only.
5.2.5 Use the date field
Sometimes it might be worth limiting your search
strategy to the year of publication, especially if
you are working on a topic where it is essential
to consider the latest developments only, such
as trends in the subject field, the latest research
findings or anything concerning information
technology or current-day politics. However, by
limiting the strategy according to date (year of
publication or a range of years), you may miss
some very important information sources. Often
the publications with the best overview on topics
such as systems design or curriculum design are
older publications. If you are working on the latest
developments in a rapidly developing field or a
topic that you have already researched before, it
might be very useful to limit your search to the
latest publications only.
Although limiting the result according to date
or language of publication is useful in ensuring
that you retrieve fewer records, you should also
Figure 6.15
Extract from the
Sociological Thesaurus.
Image published with
permission of Proquest.
Further reproduction
is prohibited without
permission.
102 navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals
realise that you may fail to retrieve useful informa-
tion. Also remember that you can use more than
one limitation, for example searching in the title
field, only English publications and only publi-
cations since 2004. There are other options for
limiting your search as mentioned in the section on
advanced search forms on page 95.
5.3 How to use natural language and
controlled vocabulary
Most databases allow you to use a combination
of natural language and controlled vocabulary.
Natural language refers to the words used by
the authors of a publication in the title, text and
abstract fields. It also refers to the words experi-
enced users of databases and subject experts will
prefer when searching for information. These are
the search terms experts will use based on their
own experience and subject knowledge. Controlled
vocabulary, on the other hand, refers to the use
of words from a controlled list of terms such as
a list of subject headings or a thesaurus. These
words (also referred to as descriptors) are used
by indexers to describe the intellectual content of
a publication. When searching in the descriptor
or keyword field, users then also have to use
the controlled vocabulary to look up the terms.
Some databases offer indexes with terms you may
browse. These are very useful to verify spelling
variations and alternative words as well as phrases
that may be used.
Figure 6.15 is an extract from the Sociological
Thesaurus. In Figure 6.15 the term searched is
‘children’. For example ‘children’ must be used

instead of terms such as ‘girl’ or ‘girls’ when
searching the controlled vocabulary. You can also
see the broader and narrower terms indicated.
Natural language can be found in fields such as
the title, abstract, full text and some keywords and
identifiers. When using natural language, you will
retrieve more records. However, some may not
be relevant to your topic. You need to consider all
possibilities for search terms, spelling variations
and variations in word order. You may miss useful
information if you are not using all or the most
appropriate search terms.
Controlled vocabulary can be found in the
descriptor field. Although records will mostly
be very relevant, you may miss some informa-
tion because the controlled vocabulary does not
allow for all the specific terms you may use when
searching in natural language fields.
In summary, when deciding how to use natural
language and controlled vocabulary, you should:
n Use a combination of natural language and
controlled vocabulary to ensure that you
retrieve as much relevant information as
possible.
n Use the controlled vocabulary, such as a
thesaurus, to get suggestions for search terms
that you can use in the natural language fields
such as the title and abstract.
5.4 How to use the information from
database records
In the previous sections you have learned how to
use the record structure of a database (the search-
able fields) to manipulate your search results to
ensure that you find the best and most relevant
navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals
Figure 6.16
Relevant bibliographic
records are used to search
for more search terms.
Image published with
permission of Proquest.
Further reproduction
is prohibited without
permission.
records. When retrieving records, you first decide
whether they are what you need. If they are
relevant, you can use the records in a number of
ways. The ways you can use the information from
the database records includes:
n Refine your search strategy.
n Find actual publications.
n Compile a list of references.
n Follow links from references.
n Save successful search strategies and keep up
with new information.
5.4.1 Refine your search strategy
You can use relevant records to identify addi-
tional search terms in order to refine your search
strategy. In this way you can use these records to
retrieve more records that are relevant by adding
additional search terms. You can look at the words
and phrases in the title of a relevant record, in the
descriptors and also in the abstract. In Figure 6.16
the search is for ‘media violence’ in the title field.
The information need is for information about
the effect of media violence on young children.
By considering the descriptors and the titles, you
could identify the following search terms to expand
your search strategy: ‘media violence’, ‘aggression’,
‘mass media effect’ and ‘violence’.
5.4.2 Find actual publications
Once you have found records through your search
strategy, you have to decide whether you will be
able to use them and whether you would like to
look at the full-text publications. A bibliographic
database only offers bibliographic detail, but
you can use that detail to get hold of the actual
publication through a library. In order to find an
103
 Table 6.8 Information needed to find different publications
Publication Information needed
Journal article Journal title, year of publication, volume number, page numbers, as well as the author and title of
the journal article
Book Title of the book, author, publisher, date of publication and edition (if applicable), the ISBN might
also be useful
Conference paper Title of the conference, date and place where the conference took place, publisher, date of
publication, page numbers and the author and title of the conference paper

Figure 6.17
Example of options for
printing records. Image
published with permission
of Proquest. Further
reproduction is prohibited
without permission.

http://www.csa.com

actual publication such as a journal article, book
or conference paper, you need to know certain
information as outlined in Table 6.8.
You can find the full-text publications in a
number of ways:
n Use links in the record to the full-text publica-
tion or holdings.
n Search the library catalogue for publications
such as books, conference proceedings, mono-
graphs and videos.
n Search for a journal in the alphabetical list of
online journal titles.
n Check the library catalogue for printed journal
titles and then access these from the library
shelves.
n Use search engines such as Google™ Scholar or
Scirus (http://www.scirus.com) to find open
access versions of articles in digital libraries and
pre-print archives.
n Use interlibrary loans to get copies of books and
journal articles (this service is mostly aimed at
postgraduate students).
save the records you find for further use. You can
also print or e-mail the records. You will normally
have the following options:
n Mark selected records that are relevant.
n Mark all records from your search strategy.
n Select a single record.
In Figure 6.17 you can see the options for printing
records as displayed by a Cambridge Scientific
Abstracts (CSA) database. When saving the search
results you have the benefit that you can incorpo-
rate the results into a word processing document
and edit it for your list of references or bibliog-
raphy. For some databases you can even specify
the style of the referencing technique in which the
records must be saved, such as the Harvard style. In
Figure 6.17 the default style is APA, the referencing
technique used by the American Psychological
Association. Even though these records will be
referenced for you, it is still important that you
understand the principles of referencing techniques
that will be discussed in Chapter 9.

5.4.3 Compile a list of references 5.4.4 Follow links from references

Once you are satisfied with the records you have Following up on relevant links from your list of
found, you can begin to compile a list of records. references is a very useful way to expand your
Both databases and online journals allow you to literature search. This is known as crosslinking.

104 navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals

Some databases and platforms such as IEEE Xplore
offer links to CrossRef. CrossRef is a project in
which a number of publishers participate to imple-
ment full-text inter-publisher searchability. This
means that once you have found a relevant article
on a database or platform, you can scan through
the list of references at the end of the article. When
you click on a reference, you will immediately have
access to the full text, if the publisher of the cited
reference is a participant in the CrossRef project.
You can find out more about the project on the
CrossRef website (http://www.crossref.org).
5.4.5 Save successful search strategies and keep up
with new information
Many databases allow you to save your search
strategy for later use or to have it run against new
updates to the databases. This will ensure that you
stay up to date with the latest developments in your
topic or field of interest.
You can use alerts or an alerting service to
keep up with new information. To use an alerting
service, you need to set up a personal profile that
requires some personal details, your e-mail address
where you can receive notification of new informa-
tion and a password. The alert may be for a topic,
author, company or citation. An alert for a citation
means that every time a specific record is cited, you
will receive an e-mail notification.
Many journal platforms also allow you to select
journal titles you would like to monitor. Whenever
there is a new issue, the table of contents is sent to
you via e-mail. You can also monitor the catalogues
of book publishers available through the Web.
Most databases and platforms also allow for the
use of RSS feeds for alerting services. RSS stands
for RDF Site Summary or Rich Site Summary or
Really Simple Syndication. It is an XML (eXtensible
Markup Language) tag for a page that allows the
content or headlines of a blog or table of contents
to be pulled automatically into another web page or
onto your desktop.
6 How to use the iterative process
to adapt a search strategy
When you are searching for information you may
find it necessary to change your search strategy
Table 6.9 Initial search strategy
Field searched Search terms
Title media violence AND children
navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals
and to repeat your search several times until you
find the exact information you need. This is called
the iterative or repeating nature of information
seeking.
You have learned how to manipulate your
search results by searching in different subject-
content fields and how to limit your search results
to specified fields. You have also learned how
to use database records to search for alternative
search terms and how to combine search terms
with Boolean or proximity search operators. When
searching databases it is important to use all the
options available to ensure that you do not waste
time with irrelevant records, as often happens with
search engines, and that you retrieve all the records
that would be really useful.
In this section you will work through an
example of how to adapt a search strategy. The
topic is ‘the effect of media violence on children’.
n Identify the main concepts – In the example, the
main concepts are ‘media violence’ and ‘chil-
dren’.
n Identify the search terms – You can either do
this by trying to think of all the possibilities,
or you can search with the concepts as search
terms and then use the records to identify
further search terms. If there are indexes or a
thesaurus available, you can use these as well.
n Choose the fields in which to search - You have
two choices. One choice is to search in all
content-related fields such as keyword, title and
abstract and retrieve as much information as
possible. This is the default. Your other choice
is to be very specific and only search in the title
field first. You will retrieve fewer records, but
they will usually be highly relevant.
Table 6.9 shows you an example of an initial search
strategy of searching the title field using the search
terms ‘media violence AND children’.
This initial search strategy provides additional
and alternative keywords so the search strategy can
be expanded. Table 6.10 on the next page shows
you an example of an expanded search strategy.
An expanded search strategy can have one
of three results. The best result is a reasonable
number of records that meet your information
need. The other two results are too many records
or too few records.
Results
This strategy will retrieve a few highly relevant records on
the topic. Scan records for additional or alternative search
terms. Especially note words appearing in the title or
keyword fields and how you can use these to expand and
refine your search strategy. If you retrieve too few records,
you can repeat the same strategy in the keyword field or in
all subject-related fields including the abstract field.
105
 Table 6.10 Expanded search strategy
Field searched Search terms Results
Title media AND (violence OR aggression) This strategy will ensure that you retrieve as many highly
AND (young OR children OR youth relevant records as possible. If you retrieve too few records,
OR adolescents OR boys OR girls OR you can repeat the same strategy in the keyword field or in
toddlers) Use truncation and automatic all subject-related fields such as the abstract field.
singular and plural searching. You can
also use (media violence OR media
aggression) as the first part of the
search string.

If there are too many records, you can limit the
search strategy in a number of ways including:
n Language – For example, you can limit your
search to English records only.
n Year of publication – For example, you can limit
your search to a particular time period such as
2004–2008.
n Other criteria – For example, you can limit your
search to peer-reviewed or research publica-
tions only.
For more examples of how to limit your search
strategy, look back at the section on how to use
advanced search forms.
If there are too few records, you can expand the
strategy in a number of ways including:
n Search in fields that will retrieve more records.
First try the keyword field and if you still
retrieve too few records, you can search all
fields including the abstract field.
n Scan more records for more search terms.
n Scan lists of controlled terms such as a
thesaurus for search terms.
n Check the spelling and the search terms. If you
are using phrases that are too specific it might
cause low or zero results. In the example, the
phrase ‘effect of media violence on young chil-
dren’ would be too specific.
n Drop one of the concepts. In the example that
would be the concept ‘children’, because ‘media
violence’ is the main focus.
n Consider an alternative database. If you have
a problem in finding literature, you may be
searching in the wrong database.
7 How to use search strategies
There are a variety of search strategies that you can
use. Your strategy may be influenced by the search
forms and the options allowed on specific databases
or platforms. The four most commonly used search
strategies are:
n The quick or brief search
n Most unique concept first
n The building block approach
n The citation pearl growing or snowballing strategy

Summary

In this chapter you explored the use of databases

and online journals that are available to registered
members of libraries as well as through open
source repositories. You looked at criteria for
how to choose databases and platforms as well
as the use of record structures. You considered
ways to keep up with new information. You also
examined a selection of retrieval techniques and
search strategies to ensure you get the best search
results.

10 6 navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals

7.1 The quick or brief search
The most common initial search strategy is the
quick or brief search. You use a quick or brief
search to search in the title field for the key concept
or a combination of key concepts. For example,
if you were looking for information on collabora-
tive information seeking, you would search the
title field for the concept ‘collaborative informa-
tion seeking’. This would retrieve a few highly
relevant records that you could scan for ideas on
other search terms to expand your search. In this
example, it would lead you to search terms such as
‘collaborative information retrieval’ and ‘collabora-
tive searching’.
7.2 Most unique concept first
If you expect there will be very few records on
a topic, it is useful to start by searching for the
concept for which you expect the fewest records.
For example, if you were looking for information
about librarians and space research, you would
start by searching a Library or Information Science
database for ‘space research’.
7.3 The building block approach
For this type of strategy you search for each
concept and its search terms separately and then
you combine the results of the different strategies.
This search strategy is called the building block
approach because each search is a block in building
the information that you need to complete your
task. For example, if you were looking for docu-
ments on the information needs and information
seeking of lecturers, you could search for:
n information need* OR information seeking
OR information searching (The * is used as the
truncation symbol to retrieve the singular and
plural form and ‘information searching’ is added
as a synonym for ‘information seeking’.)
n lecturer* OR academic* OR faculty OR
professor* (The * is used as the truncation
symbol to retrieve the singular and plural form
and synonyms for ‘lecturer’ are added.)
The results from the two searches are then
combined by means of the Boolean operator AND.
7.4 The citation pearl growing or
snowballing strategy
If you find a highly relevant document in an initial
search, you can use the list of references to identify
other useful documents, search terms to expand
your search and authors and journal titles to
search. From a single citation you may be able to
identify a number of further useful citations. This is
referred to as citation pearl growing or a snow-
balling strategy.

Critical thinking questions

n Why is it important to use advanced search

forms when searching databases?
n Why is it preferable to search databases and
online journals to which libraries subscribe
for your assignments instead of searching
Google™ Scholar with which you are probably
more familiar?
n Why are iterative information searches
important?
n Why is it so important to allow for different
forms of search terms such as spelling
variations?
n Why is it useful to use relevant records to
identify further search terms?

navigating information literacy | 6 | searching databases and online journals 107

Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
answer the following questions:
n Why should I organise information on my
personal computer?
n What is personal information management?
n How can I organise information on my personal
computer?
n How can I use taxonomies to help me organise
my information?
n What is metadata?
n Why should I install a desktop search engine on
my personal computer?
n What are the typical characteristics of desktop
search engines?

Chapter 7 Organising
information
Key terms
Have you ever searched for information to complete a task
such as an academic assignment, a report for work or even
n Browse
n Desktop search engine the plan for your holiday? You might have spent a lot of time
n Metadata and effort on finding all the information. You probably wanted
n Personal information management (PIM) to be able to use the information whenever you needed
n Taxonomy
it. However, unless you organised your information so that
you could retrieve it later, you might not have been able to
find it again. In this chapter you will learn how to organise
information on your computer so that you can retrieve it easily
whenever you need it.

10 8
 and retrieving
on your computer
You have already learned how to search for and
retrieve relevant information for a variety of
purposes. Some of the information you search for
and retrieve can be ephemeral. That means you
need the information now to make a decision,
but you probably won’t need it again, for example
information about the movies showing tonight.
Other information may have a more lasting value
and you may need to refer back to it at a later
stage. This type of information typically includes
information for assignments and information for
work tasks. This is the type of information that you
need to save and organise.
1 What is personal information
management?
Deciding how to organise and retrieve information
on your computer forms part of what is usually
called personal information management (PIM).
There are many tools and gadgets for PIM. These
include a personal digital assistant (PDA), a digital
calendar, certain functions on your cell phone and
electronic calendars on your computer. However,
in this chapter you will focus only on organising
and retrieving information on your personal
computer. You will not deal with organising or
10 9
 retrieving information on other PIM appliances
because their functionalities and software differ so
vastly. However, the principles of personal infor-
mation management remain the same whether
you use your computer or your cell phone. The
principles also remain the same whether you are
using a Windows® machine, an Apple Macintosh or
a computer running another operating system such
as Linux.
2 How to organise information
on your computer
If you have made quite a bit of effort to find
information, it would be a good idea to organise it
so that you can find it again with as little effort as
possible. You also have to organise information that
you create such as assignments, work reports and
collections of photographs. Everything needs to be
filed properly so that you can retrieve it again. This
means that you have to decide how you are going
to organise your information on your personal
computer. There are many options available. You
need to consider the various options and decide on
one that works for you. You need to find the option
that will help you to find what you need when you
need it.
There is no one correct way of organising your
information on your personal computer. What
works for one person may not necessarily work
for another. However, you need to make informed
choices and understand the implications of your
choices. You also need to stick to the organising
principles that you choose.
One option is to pile all the documents that you
are currently working on directly onto the desktop
of your computer. This is a very common way of
working and makes your current documents easily
accessible. However, if you don’t file documents
that you have finished, your computer desktop
could become so cluttered that you cannot find
anything.
Organising your information need not be a
tedious job and it could save you lots of time at a
later stage. There are a number of questions that
you need to answer when deciding how to organise
your information:
n Am I going to pile all my files into one folder,
or am I going to construct different folders for
different projects?
n Am I going to organise these folders hierarchi-
cally or will I simply create a long list of folders
all at the same level?
n What naming conventions am I going to use to
name the files and folders I create and down-
load?
110 navigating information literacy | 7 | organising and retrieving information on your computer
n Am I going to add metadata (data about data)
such as descriptions (abstracts), keywords and
version information to the documents that I
create? If so, which fields will I need?
n What facilities are available for metadata in
a typical word-processing or spreadsheet
environment?
n To what extent can I use metadata in multi-
media documents such as photographs, music
files and video files?
2.1 How to organise information in folders
When you store your information on your personal
computer, you could put all the information into
one folder called ‘My Documents’. This would be
the same as taking all your physical printouts,
photocopies, journals, books and assignments and
putting all of them together into one drawer of a
filing cabinet (or on top of your desk). You have
organised your information in the sense that you
have put everything together in the same place and
you know exactly where to find it. However, this
may not be a very effective way of organising the
information. If you have hundreds of information
objects such as documents, photographs and audio
files, it could be very tedious to hunt through them
to find the relevant object.
2.1.1 How to decide on a folder structure
In the physical world, filing cabinets have drawers.
Each drawer can be subdivided into numerous
‘hanging files’, each with its own label. You can
follow exactly the same principle on your computer.
If you have a main folder called ‘My Documents’,
you could create different sub-folders below this.
Within these sub-folders, you could create further
folders in which to organise specific files. The depth
of this hierarchy of folders depends entirely on you.
If the hierarchy is too deep, it would entail too many
clicks to get to the relevant information. However,
if the hierarchy is too shallow, you may need to do
lots of scrolling to get to the correct folder.
Here is an example. If you are a first-year
student in Multimedia at a university, you
will probably take quite a number of different
academic subjects. In addition to this you may
have information about your hobbies and sports
that you would like to save, as well as business-
related documents, photographs and music.
Your academic subjects could include Computer
Science, Web Design, Visual Design, language
modules and Mathematics. In each of these
subjects you would probably have different
modules. For instance, in Computer Science you
could have modules on program design, computer
architecture and netcentric computer systems.
Web design could include modules on markup Figure 7.1
languages and information architecture. Your A hierarchical folder
choice of language for the language modules structure in Windows® 7.
was English, and you have two modules, one on Used with permission
from Microsoft®.
English prose in the 20th and 21st centuries and one
on English poetry. For Mathematics and Visual
design you have only one module each. Your
main hobby is photography, but you have recently
also started hiking. As for sports, you are an avid
follower of both cricket and soccer. You have
many MP3s that you have downloaded from the
Internet. You are a student so you don’t have many
business documents. You only have regular bills
for the Internet access in your commune and the
occasional bank statement that you get from the
Internet.
There are many ways to organise a filing
structure for the information in this example. You
could simply create one long list of fifteen folders
under ‘My Documents’. However, a list of folders
is typically sorted alphabetically, which means that
cricket will be listed directly after computer archi-
tecture and before English prose, and soccer will
be listed before Visual Design. This is not wrong,
but it is not optimal. It would be much better to
group all the academic subjects together and all the
different hobbies and sports together.
A more user-friendly structure is shown in
Figure 7.1. With this structure it is possible to
subdivide specific folders further. For example,
in Figure 7.1 the academic module of Informa-
tion architecture under Web design is subdivided
into ‘Assignments’, ‘Prescribed reading’ and
‘Studyguides’. There is also the possibility of making
further divisions. Photography is also subdivided.
This is to accommodate the many reviews you have
of different cameras and accessories, the articles
you downloaded on photographic techniques and
the photographs you downloaded that you have
categorised under different topics. You also have
your own vast collections of photographs organised
according to year and place.

2.1.2 How to use taxonomies to organise folders

Figure 7.1 contains a simple but fairly effective
layout that allows you to browse the content of the
different folders easily. The names of the folders
are clear. There is also a very clear hierarchical
ordering of the different items. Things that belong
together are grouped together and the relation-
ships between items are clear. The higher category
in the folder structure, the parent, is typically the
broader term, and the lower categories, the siblings
or children, are more specific terms, as shown in
Figure 7.2 on the next page. In Figure 7.1 ‘higher’
would refer to the categories on the left and ‘lower’
to those that follow on the right.

navigating information literacy | 7 | organising and retrieving information on your computer 111
 Figure 7.2
Photos
A ‘parent-sibling’
relationship between
folders
Articles Downloads
Digital
Lighting Nature Cityscapes People
photos
To classify information in this way you use
taxonomies. The term ‘taxonomy’ refers to the
science of classifying objects. Originally the term
was used to classify living organisms, but the
use has broadened to include all things and the
principles underlying the classification. Taxono-
mies consist of broader terms at the higher level,
and narrower terms at the lower level. Very often
the relationship between the higher level and the
lower level is one of ‘consists of’. For example, ‘My
Pictures’ in Figure 7.2 consists of collections of
photographs from 2006, 2007 and 2008.
There are some fixed scientific taxonomies
such as the original taxonomy to classify living
organisms. However, there is no single taxonomy
available for you to organise your own information.
You will have to create one yourself. Take care to
create something that will work for you, and that
you can adapt easily as the amount, diversity and
complexity of your information increases. Ensure
that the structures you create are logical and that
things that belong together are kept together.
The folder structure that you create will not be
static. It will grow organically as your interests
and responsibilities change. For instance, in the
example, if you develop an interest in movies and
movie reviews, you could create a new folder under
‘Hobbies’ to store this information.
A typical example of adapting your folder
structure would be if you are a student and you
progress from one year of study to the next. Your
first reaction may be that you want to delete all
information of your first year of study when you
become a second-year student. This would not be
Figure 7.3
Two options to reorganise
the ‘Studies’ folder of
Figure 7.1
112 navigating information literacy | 7 | organising and retrieving information on your computer
My Pictures Reviews
2006 2007 2008 Cameras Accessories
a good idea because there may very well be some
information that is reusable. You should weed out
the information that you are sure is useless, but you
should also archive all other information. The hier-
archy in Figure 7.1 could then be adapted to have a
separate folder called ‘2010’ or ‘Studies 2010’ under
‘Studies’. You could move all your course folders
for your 2010 studies to this folder. Alternatively
you could rename your current ‘Studies’ folder to
‘Studies 2010’ and create a new one called ‘Studies
2011’ directly in ‘My Documents’. One option is
not better than the other. You need to decide what
works for you. The two options are illustrated in
Figure 7.3.
Take note of the naming conventions used in
Figure 7.3. It is important to use names that you
actually understand within the context of your
studies or your work. Don’t use names that are too
long or even full sentences. This clutters the inter-
face and may even make it more difficult to find the
relevant folders or information.
You can use exactly the same principles to
organise the folders in your e-mail program. Move
e-mails that you have read and want to keep to
specific folders so that you group related e-mails
together. Don’t leave everything in your Inbox.
You can also use the same principles to
organise your ‘Favorites’ or ‘Bookmarks’ in your
Internet browser. You will learn more about
this in Chapter 12. Make sure that you keep this
up-to-date. Each time you add a new ‘Favorite’,
immediately move it to the correct folder in your
hierarchical folder structure.
2.2 How to use metadata to describe Figure 7.4
documents Metadata in ‘Properties’
Metadata is simply ‘data about data’. Metadata is in a Microsoft® Word
data that do not form part of the body of a docu- 2007 document accessed
by right-clicking on
ment. It is data that describe the properties of the the document. Used
document. This is a very powerful management with permission from
tool to enable you to manage documents that Microsoft®.
you create yourself. Most programs that create
documents or even multimedia files automatically
add limited metadata to the document. However,
in most cases you can add your own keywords,
descriptions and comments.

2.2.1 How to use metadata in Office applications

Office applications are word-processing, spread-
sheet, database and presentation applications as
found in Microsoft® Office and Open Office. If you
right-click on the file name of any Microsoft® Office
document, you can access the ‘Properties’ section
of that document. ‘Properties’ contains a limited set
of metadata for the document. In Figure 7.4 you
can see the metadata in ‘Properties’ in a Microsoft®
Word document accessed by right-clicking on the Figure 7.5
file name and selecting ‘Properties’. Metadata in ‘Properties’
If you open a document with its application, in a Microsoft® Word
for example a spreadsheet with Microsoft® Excel 2007 document
accessed by selecting
2007, you can access the properties by going to the the ‘Office’ button, then
Office Button (top left), then ‘Prepare’ and then ‘Prepare’ followed by
‘Properties’. This opens a metadata ribbon at the the ‘Advanced’ button
top of the document with the option of selecting under ‘Properties’ when
‘Document Properties’ and ‘Advanced Properties’. the file is open. Used
with permission from
‘Properties’ in this case contains more data than Microsoft®.
when you right-click on the document to access
its properties. In Figure 7.5, you can see that there
are five different tabs available at the top: General,
Summary, Statistics, Contents and Custom. The
‘General’ tab contains information about when
the document was created and modified, as well
as its size. Under the ‘Summary’ tab you can add
your personal details, keywords, a description,
etc. Under the ‘Statistics’ tab you will find detailed
information on when the document was created,
modified, printed, how many revisions the docu-
ment has undergone, etc. This is calculated by how
many times you have saved the document. You can
also see how long you have worked on the docu-
ment. However, this statistic only shows how long
the document was open in the application. The
system does not know whether you have taken a
couple of breaks while the document was open in
the application.
Similar metadata options are available in
Open Office document properties under the tabs
‘General’, ‘Description’, ‘User Defined’, ‘Internet’ and
‘Statistics’.

navigating information literacy | 7 | organising and retrieving information on your computer 113
 Figure 7.6 Figure 7.7
Image properties in Windows 7. Used with permission
®
Image properties in Adobe Photoshop CS. Used with permission.
from Microsoft®.
2.2.2 How to use metadata in multimedia files
Multimedia files such as images or audio files also
have properties. As with Office applications, you
can access a limited subset of the properties by
right-clicking on the file name. You will again be
able to add your own descriptions and keywords
and the system will add a number of the features of
the file automatically. For example, if the image is
a photograph, you will be able to see the name and
model of the camera, the exposure time, the F-stop
and so on. You can see an example of the metadata
of a photograph in Figure 7.6.
If you open the image in an image editing
program such as Adobe Photoshop CS, you will
be able to access much more information under
the heading ‘File Info’ (under ‘File’). You can again
add your personal description and keywords, as
you can see in Figure 7.7. There is a list of clickable
items in the left-hand panel. Under ‘Advanced’ you
will find detailed technical information regarding
the image.
Audio files, such as MP3s, have similar proper-
ties. Again, these properties can be accessed by
right-clicking on the file name to show the name
of the artist, the title of the album, the date and the
track number. You can also add your own descrip-
tion and keywords. The same principles apply to
video files.
114 navigating information literacy | 7 | organising and retrieving information on your computer
3 How to retrieve information on
your computer
Now that you have organised your information
objects very carefully with a logical folder struc-
ture, you might think you will be able to browse
easily for any file that you may need. However,
human memory is fallible. You will definitely not
be able to remember exactly where you saved each
and every file. What seemed very logical when
you organised your information, may not seem so
logical when you want to retrieve your informa-
tion. You could browse for the information, but
this may be tedious and is not always efficient. You
need an additional tool to enable you to retrieve
the information. That tool is a search engine on the
desktop of your computer.
3.1 How to use a desktop search engine
A desktop search engine is a search engine that
forms part of the operating system of your personal
computer or that you can install on your personal
computer. A desktop search engine will help
you to search the information on your personal
computer. Desktop search engines may not be
as sophisticated as commercial search engines
and they may not have all the features, but they

will definitely make finding information on your
personal computer easier. There are two types of
desktop search engines:
n Search engines that form part of the operating
system
n Desktop versions of Internet search engines
3.1.1 Search engines that form part of the
operating system
All major operating systems, such as Microsoft®
Windows, OS X on the Apple Mac and the
different versions of Linux, have built-in search
engines.
Windows® Search is integrated into the task
bar of Microsoft® Windows 7 that enables you to
search for files and folders. If you click on the ‘Start’
button in Windows 7, a search box opens directly
above the button. Alternatively, a search box is
available in the top bar of a folder for searches
within the folder.
Spotlight is the search engine that forms part of
the Apple Mac OS X. You can find out more about
Spotlight on the website http://www.apple.com/
xsan/features/spotlight.html.
Beagle is an open source desktop search tool for
Linux. You can find out more about Beagle on the
following website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Beagle_(software). Figure 7.8 shows an example
navigating information literacy | 7 | organising and retrieving information on your computer
Figure 7.8
Search results in the Linux
search engine Beagle
of the search results in Beagle. Please note that
personal information in this example has been
blurred intentionally.
In all desktop search engines you can search
on file or folder names and on file content. You
can also specify various parameters such as the
location, the date the file was created or modified
and the file size.
3.1.2 Desktop versions of Internet search engines
A number of Internet search engines have desktop
versions that you can download and install on
your personal computer. These are free and the
installation procedures are very simple. Two of the
most common desktop versions of Internet search
engines are:
n Google™ Desktop
n Copernic Desktop Search
These desktop search engines have very similar
features. They index the local hard drive which
enables very fast retrieval. They allow you to specify
which type of file to search such as e-mails, docu-
ments, images or audio files. You can even search
on the metadata of multimedia files and on other
parameters such as date and size specifications.
Google™ Desktop is available at
http://desktop.google.com. You can see an example
11 5
 Figure 7.9
Google™ Desktop search
interface © 2010 Google™

Figure 7.10
Copernic Desktop Search
interfaces. Used with
permission.

Summary

In this chapter you explored why it is necessary

to design an appropriate folder structure for
all the documents on your personal computer,
including your e-mail folders. You learned how
to add metadata to all your documents, including
multimedia files such as photographs, audio files
and video files. You also looked at the impor-
tance of using a desktop search engine to retrieve
information on your personal computer.

116 navigating information literacy | 7 | organising and retrieving information on your computer
of the Google™ Desktop search interface in
Figure 7.9. It uses a simple search box and also has
a floating search box for very easy access to local
content. The floating search box is represented in
Figure 7.9 by the small search box above the larger
search box.
Copernic Desktop Search is available at
http://www.copernic.com. You can see examples
of the Copernic Desktop Search in Figure 7.10.
As you can see in the examples, Copernic Desktop
Search allows searches across different categories
and the possibility to refine your search further.
Yahoo™ Desktop Search is currently a commer-
cial solution, available at http://desktop.yahoo.com.
4 The importance of organising
and retrieving information on
your computer
In this chapter you learned about two issues:
organising information on your own computer by
using a folder structure and adding metadata, and
finding information on your own computer by
means of browsing a folder structure or searching
for it with a desktop search engine.
You are probably asking yourself: why should I
take the trouble to design a proper folder structure,
add metadata and install a desktop search engine?
The answer is very simple: it helps you to manage
your information more effectively and efficiently.
You can save and retrieve your information more
easily which will enable you to do your work better.
When you download information from the
Internet, save the download in the correct folder
immediately. When you create a new docu-
ment, add the relevant metadata such as author,
keywords and a brief description or abstract, and
save the document in the appropriate place in your
folder structure. When you copy your latest holiday
snapshots from your camera to your computer, add
metadata to enable you to identify the place and
the people in future.
When you want to find your information:
n Browse the folder structures you have created
on your personal computer.
n Search for specific documents and files by
searching the full text and metadata of your
documents.
If you manage your personal information properly,
you will have a more productive study and work
experience.

Critical thinking questions

n What will the consequences be if you dump all

your files and documents in one folder?
n How would you go about designing the
taxonomy for a folder structure on your
computer?
n What is the trade-off between adding too much
or too little metadata to image files such as
photographs?
n For whom and why would the system metadata
be valuable in digital photographs?
n To what extent is the fact that desktop search
engines don’t support complex Boolean
searches a limiting factor in retrieving relevant
information?

navigating information literacy | 7 | organising and retrieving information on your computer 117
Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
answer the following questions:
n What are general ethics and information ethics?
n How do ethics relate to intellectual property
and copyright?
n How important is copyright for print and elec-
tronic sources?
n What is infringement of copyright?
n What are fair use and fair dealing?
n When is photocopying of print sources allowed?
n When is copying of electronic sources allowed?
n What is plagiarism?
n How can I avoid plagiarism?
n What are acceptable ways of using sources for
assignments?

Chapter 8
Key terms Ethical and
n Common knowledge
n Copyright Have you ever written an assignment at university or a report
n Copyright infringement at work and been asked to sign a declaration that the work
n Ethics
n Fair dealing is yours and not plagiarised? Have you ever taken a book out
n Intellectual property rights of the library and asked the local copy shop to photocopy
n Law it for you and they have refused because it would infringe
n Morals
n Normative ethics copyright? You might have been surprised in both cases and
n Paraphrasing been unsure of what plagiarism and copyright infringement
n Patent are all about. In this chapter you will learn about these issues
n Plagiarism
n Public domain and many others surrounding the right to duplicate (copy) the
n Quotation work of others and how to use copied information correctly.
n Trademark

118
 fair use of information
In this chapter you will find out about the ethics
of information use and academic honesty. You
will learn about intellectual property, patents,
trademarks and copyright, with an emphasis on
copyright and its relationship to plagiarism and fair
dealing.
The law governs the right to make copies of
other people’s work. You will learn what the law
says about when you may copy and how much
you may copy, both in the print and electronic
environments. You will also learn how to avoid
plagiarism when you do your assignments or write
research reports in the workplace.
1 What is ethics?
Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with
human conduct and character. It is the study of
morality and how to distinguish right from wrong.
Ethics asks questions such as ‘Is the action I took
fair?’ and ‘What would be the right thing to do?’
In the answers to these questions there might be
uncertainties or even conflicts of opinion.
1.1 What is information ethics?
Everybody uses information and every person has
an ethical responsibility in the way that they use
119
 that information. Information ethics looks at moral
values in the information field. For example, it deals
with ethical questions regarding information on
the Internet, in computer science, in biological and
medical sciences, in the mass media, in library and
information science and in the business field.
There are a number of concepts about rights in
information ethics that you need to know about:
n The right to privacy
n The right of access to information
n The right of information production
n The right to intellectual property
1.1.1 What is the right to privacy?
The right to privacy is the right to keep personal
information private. The right to privacy has
become a very important ethical question in
the technological age. Some of the ethical ques-
tions about the right to privacy are: ‘Who has the
right of access to a person’s private information?’,
‘Can people’s private and personal documents be
displayed to the public?’ and ‘Under what circum-
stances must a person’s private information be
made public?’.
1.1.2 What is the right of access to information?
The right of access to information refers to the
public’s right to all types of information. It is also
seen as the duty of public authorities not only to
provide access to the information but also to assist
anyone seeking the information. Most democratic
societies regard access to information as a basic
human right. However, access to information can
be limited under certain circumstances. The right
of access to information does not mean that you
have the right to ‘trade secret’ information or to
other people’s private information. The right of
access to information also does not necessarily
mean free access to information. The debate
surrounding ‘free of charge’ versus ‘free to do what
you want with’ information is an important issue
when you use information to do research. ‘Free of
charge’ means that, although you do not have to
pay for the information, you may not copy from
the source or use the information without taking
copyright issues into consideration. ‘Free to do
what you want with’ information means you may
use the information as you please.
Some of the ethical questions about the right of
access to information are:
n Should there be any form of censorship
(forbidding or preventing the publication or
distribution of something)?
n In which cases is it justified to ask a fee for the
access to information?
120 navigating information literacy | 8 | ethical and fair use of information
n Will the digitisation of information enhance the
access to the information or not?
1.1.3 What is the right of information production?
The process of information production starts
when, for example, you have an idea for a book in
your mind. There are no intellectual property rights
for the idea only. However, when you write down
the idea, you have produced information. This
information product is your intellectual property
for which you may be granted intellectual property
rights by law. So, the field of information produc-
tion is concerned with the protection of intellectual
property. The right to intellectual property is
discussed in more detail in the next section.
Different traditions have lead to different
laws for the protection of intellectual property in
different countries in the world. For example, some
countries emphasise the moral rights of authors to
their intellectual creations, while other countries
are more concerned with their economic rights.
Conflicts can arise when national and interna-
tional laws and ethics do not coincide. Different
conventions have addressed this problem on the
international front, for example:
n The Berne Convention about copyright
(http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne)
n The Universal Copyright Convention
( http://www.unesco.org/copyright)
n The agreement on Trade-related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
(http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/
trips_e.htm)
Many countries in the world have agreed to and
signed these conventions and agreements. So, the
principles underlying them can be applied consis-
tently internationally.
1.1.4 What is the right to intellectual property?
Intellectual property refers to the creative ideas
and expressions of the human mind or intellect.
Intellectual property is about these intellectual
products that possess commercial value and
receive the legal protection of a property right.
Intellectual property covers copyright, patents and
trademarks.
Intellectual property has commercial and
personal value for the owner and must be
respected and protected. So, the right to intellec-
tual property refers to the rights of the owners of
intangible intellectual products. Intangible means
they are not solid and cannot be touched. Intel-
lectual property rights entitle the owner or holder
of the rights to the exclusive control or monopoly
of the rights to the exclusive control or monopoly
over the use of the intellectual product. Such intel-
lectual products may range from ideas in books, to
musical compositions and ideas for inventions. In
this chapter you will concentrate on a discussion of
intellectual property rights.
2 What are intellectual
property rights?
Both the individual creators of the intellectual
product and the home country of the creator
benefit if intellectual property rights are protected
by law. Not only are the individual rights of the
owners protected, but copyright laws encourage
the production of literary and artistic works. Patent
laws encourage the discovery and invention of new
and improved products and processes. Trademark
laws encourage the development and maintenance
of high quality products to ensure customer loyalty.
Individual intellectual property is a product
of mental activity so it is incorporeal. This means
it does not have a material or physical form. For
example, the story of a novel is the intellectual
property of the author or creator of the book, but
not the physical book itself as anyone can buy the
book.
You have to distinguish between the concepts of
‘ownership’ and ‘intellectual property’. According to
the law, ownership of something tangible such as a
book usually lasts forever. Tangible means it is solid
and can be touched. Intellectual property rights of
the intangible ideas contained in the book, lapse
after a specific period as determined by the laws of
individual countries. It is important to remember
that intellectual property always has economic
value. The creator of the intellectual product, for
example the author of a book, receives a certain
percentage of the money generated from the sales
of a book as royalties.
The fact that intellectual property rights lapse
after a certain time may sometimes cause concern,
especially where money is concerned. A good
example is the ‘case’ of Mickey Mouse. After Walt
Disney (the creator of Mickey Mouse) died, the
Disney studios still had the copyright on his prod-
ucts and made a lot of money by reusing his old
movies. They also used his name and the Mickey
Mouse logo which is discussed in the section on
trademarks. If the copyright on any of the old
Disney material lapsed, the company could have
faced financial losses by losing their exclusive right
to use the well-known Mickey Mouse logo.
navigating information literacy | 8 | ethical and fair use of information
Copyright for books lasts for the life of the
author plus 70 years. This is longer than the copy-
right of music and movies that lasts for the life of
the composer or artist plus 50 years. The execu-
tives of the Disney business took their case to court
to try and extend the copyrights on this type of
artistic material. The resulting bill, which extended
the copyright of such material, was called ‘the
Mickey Mouse Copyright Act’ (not its real name)
by some of the people who did not agree with it.
Exclusive rights regulate the reproduction or
the commercial misuse of an intellectual product
or item. Exclusive rights mean that only the holder
of the rights can use these rights. The owner of
an intellectual product usually has a bundle of
exclusive rights regarding the subject matter of
their intellectual property. Exclusive rights can be
transferred or licensed.
Exclusive rights can be divided into two
categories:
n Patents and trademarks – The exclusive rights
of the holders of patents and trademarks mean
they can prevent others from doing or using
something.
n Copyright – The exclusive rights of the holders
of copyright mean they can prevent others from
copying and reproducing an item.
3 What are patents and
trademarks?
Patents and trademarks are forms of intellectual
property. Patents concern new and useful inven-
tions. A patent grants the inventor of a product
the sole right to make, use, and sell an invention
for a limited period. Trademarks are signs which
uniquely identify the commercial origin of products
or services. A registered trademark is a trademark
that is officially registered and legally protected.
3.1 The use of patented material
Patents may be granted to protect an invention,
such as a machine, medicine or design that is
new, inventive and useful, from being copied. The
granting of patents is governed by various patent
Acts specific to individual countries. Annual patent
renewal fees generally have to be paid or else the
patent will lapse. Patents help inventors to make
money from their inventions. A patented product
must be marked with the word ‘patent’ and with
the number of the patent. If the inventor of the
product, or the person working on behalf of the
121
 Figure 8.1 inventor, does not do this, compensation cannot
The zip fastener is a patented invention be recovered from the person who infringes on the
patent by copying the product.
The inventor of a product can also indicate that
the patent is pending. In this case the patent has
been applied for but has not yet been granted and
the item is not yet protected by law. However, it
does mean that another person should not use the
idea for a similar invention as that will infringe on
the idea the moment the patent is granted.
No one may infringe on a patent. In other
words, the specific invention for which a patent
is pending or has been issued, cannot be made,
used, imported, sold or offered for sale without the
permission from the person who owns the patent.
The zip fastener that you can see in Figure 8.1
is an example of a patented invention. The first zip
fastener was invented and patented by Whitcombe
Judson in 1893. It did not work too well, so it
never really took off. The modern-day zipper was
invented and patented by Gideon Sundback in
Figure 8.2 1917. He called it a ‘separable fastener’. The patent
Microsoft® guidelines on the correct use of the trademarks of their products. Used with meant that nobody else could use Sundback’s
permission from Microsoft®. invention and he, as the inventor, would have all
the economic advantages that came with selling the
zipper.

3.2 The use of trademark material

http://www.microsoft.com/About/Legal/EN/US/IntellectualProperty/Trademarks/Usage/General.aspx
Figure 8.3
The well-known logo of the AA
used with their permission
Trademarks protect words, names, symbols and
designs that uniquely identify and distinguish
goods or services from other similar goods or
services. This means that competitors are prohib-
ited from using registered trademarks and names
or brands of products are protected. Trademarks
can be bought or sold. They can also be licensed to
another manufacturer who then pays royalties for
the use of the trademark. Trademark products are
usually indicated by the use of the symbol ™. The
symbol ® is used for registered trademarks.
An example of a well-known trademark
is Microsoft®. As you can see in Figure 8.2,
Microsoft® gives strict guidelines on the correct
use of the trademarks of their products. These
Figure 8.4 products must be used in the correct way as
The Pearson logo used with their permission prescribed by Microsoft®.
Corporate logos are also important trademarks
and are associated with the quality and value of
the company’s products. There are some corporate
logos that are known throughout the world. You
can see examples of the corporate logos of the
Automobile Association (AA) and Pearson in
Figure 8.3 and Figure 8.4. You may not use or
copy any logos, symbols or icons either in print or
non-print format without the permission of the
owner of the trademark. Make sure that you follow
the guidelines for the use of trademarks. You can
find the guidelines on the relevant web pages of
individual companies and their products.

122 navigating information literacy | 8 | ethical and fair use of information

4 What is copyright?
Copyright is another form of intellectual prop-
erty. It is the legal, exclusive right that is granted
to copyright owners to regulate the use of their
intellectual creation for a limited period of time.
Copyright is often indicated by use of the symbol ©
that you can see in Figure 8.5.
4.1 What are the elements of copyright?
There are certain conditions or elements that apply
to copyright:
n It is a right that in the first instance accrues to
the author or creator. This means that the author
is the owner of the copyright and is the one who
can enforce the copyright.
n The work in which copyright vests must be
original. This means that it must be a new
and original idea that no one else has used or
published before. If you translate a novel for
example, you do not obtain the copyright of the
book. The author with the original idea has the
copyright.
n The work must be in material form. This means
that there is no copyright in ideas only, they
must be written down.
Copyright subsists in a wide range of works that
may include literary works, musical works, works of
art, sound recordings, photographs, software, live
performances and television or sound broadcasts.
In many countries official texts of a legislative
nature, political speeches, addresses made during
legal proceedings and current news that are items
of press information, are regarded as being in the
public domain. The public has the right to read and
use this information freely.
A practical example of such a situation is a
political speech made by the president of a country.
An unlimited number of copies of the speech can
be made and distributed to people all over the
country. The speech, or parts of the speech, can be
quoted in newspapers or on the radio, or distributed
as pamphlets. As an elected representative of the
people, the president’s public speeches are in the
public domain and not subject to copyright.
4.2 What are the basic rights of copyright
holders?
Copyright refers to the right of the copyright
owner, who is in most cases the creator of a work,
to control and authorise the reproduction of that
work. In other words, copyright is the right to
control who may make copies of the copyrighted
work and how the copies are made. Copyright
owners also have the right to distribute the work, to
adapt it, to perform and display the work publicly,
and to sell or assign the copyright to others.
navigating information literacy | 8 | ethical and fair use of information
Figure 8.6 is an example of the imprint page Figure 8.5
of a book where all the various copyright holders The copyright symbol
of the different editions of the book are indicated.
These include the copyright owners of the French
edition, the publishers who have the copyright
for the first English edition and the author who
has copyright. You can also see the annotations
regarding the possible copyright of illustrators and
photographers and the trademark owners.
In countries that have signed the Berne Conven-
tion, a work is automatically copyrighted from the Figure 8.7
moment of its creation. This does not mean that The Copyleft logo
everyone is always satisfied with the restrictions
that are imposed as a result of copyright.
In the 1980s Richard Stallman was unhappy
with the way in which the copyright on his soft-
ware was handled. As a result he created his own
copyright license, the GNU General Public License,
based on principles that later became generally
known as ‘Copyleft’. In Figure 8.7, you can see the
Copyleft logo which is the reverse of the copyright Figure 8.8
logo. The followers of Copyleft argue that owner- The Creative Commons
ship of intellectual property that lasts too long logo
robs the public of free information to which they
have the right. Copyleft is a method for making
a computer program and its modifications and
versions free for others to use. Some types of open
source software licences are based on these ideas.
Figure 8.6
Example of an imprint page of a book indicating a variety of copyright holders
EqualSpace Education
A Division of EqualSpace Publishers (Pty) Ltd
Crowns Court, Sunningdale, Cape Town, 0001
EqualSpace: A Division of Worldpub (UK) Inc
Simon Square, Norfolk, NO0001, UK
EqualSpace Educational Books (Côte d'Ivoire) Ltd
ALT 4422, Abijan
Copyright for original
BERLIN MILAN VIENNA PERTH French edition
CAPE TOWN SHANGHAI HONG KONG
RIO DE JANEIRO
Le Chien Copyright held by
©1974 Le Livre contemporain publishers for English
This translation ©1972 Freesia & Co (Pty) Ltd
First published by EqualSpace Education in 1978 translation
First published in this edition 1991
Series Editor: Joachim de los Rios
READING SERIES and its accompanying logo is a trademark
in the UK of EqualSpace: A Division of Worldpub (UK) Inc
The right of Starcke du Bois to be identified as the author
Copyright held by
author
of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Cover illustration by Daniël R Hofmeyr Copyright not indicated
Photographs by Camille Samuels
Artwork by JP Cranston but should be cited if
Printed and bound in India by
illustrations or photos
The Print Co, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala are used
ISBN 0 000 000000 000
RS
Trademark for Reading
Series
123
 Creative Commons is another example of an
organisation that does not support all the condi-
tions of copyright. However, it does not turn away
from copyright altogether. You can see the Creative
Commons logo in Figure 8.8. Creative Commons
is based on the idea that there could be copyright
holders who may not want to exercise all the copy-
rights available to them by law. It is a non-profit
organisation that helps copyright owners to keep
their copyright while still allowing others to use
their work. It fills the gap between full copyright
where no copying is allowed, and public domain
where no permission for copying is required. You
will learn more about public domain later in this
chapter.
4.3 What is copyright infringement?
Copyright infringement takes place when anyone
performs an action which may legally only be
performed by the holder of the copyright. Direct
infringement of copyright usually means the
unauthorised use or illegal copying of a work. A
good example of direct copyright infringement
is when you use a photocopier to make a paper
copy of a written document such as a book or
journal. The information in the document is
copyrighted. You cannot use or copy it as you
wish. Photocopying is easy to do, but according
to the law it may only be done under specific
circumstances. You will learn more about this later
in the chapter.
4.4 What is copyright in the electronic
environment?
The digitisation of information has made copying
very easy. However, the same principles underlying
general copyright are applicable in the electronic
environment. The main issues about copyright in
the electronic environment are:
n Software copyright
n Copyright law and changing technology
n Internet copyright
4.4.1 What is software copyright?
Software is valuable intellectual property. It is
illegal to use or create unauthorised copies of
software. This means that you may only have
software on your computer for which you have a
relevant licence or authorisation. You may not copy
any software for or from anyone else. A computer
user or even a computer manufacturer who copies
and installs software on more than one computer
if the licence agreement does not permit this, is
committing ‘software piracy’.
124 navigating information literacy | 8 | ethical and fair use of information
4.4.2 How does copyright law apply to changing
technology?
Copyright also applies to electronic games and
music. Unauthorised copies of computer and
console games, CDs, DVDs and MP3s may not be
downloaded from the Internet. Before you down-
load games and music from the Internet, make sure
that the producer or publisher has authorised the
distribution of the product.
Copyright on music and the downloading
and copying of music is not that simple. Issues
surrounding copyright and peer-to-peer (P2P)
file sharing of music have become quite problem-
atic. P2P file sharing means that computers trade
information, in this case music, without the inter-
vention of a third party. File sharing is a flexible and
easy-to-use way of obtaining music, so it is very
popular. This creates problems for copyright laws
as unauthorised file sharing means that the artists
are not paid for the use of their music.
Napster was the first widely used peer-to-peer
file sharing service. Its technology allowed people
to share MP3 music files with each other. This
meant that you could obtain single songs without
having to buy the whole album, or you could get
copies of music that was otherwise difficult to
find. However, as this was all free, the payment of
copyright royalties on the music was evaded. This
caused a lot of unhappiness in the music industry
that said that Napster was ‘stealing’ their music.
A lawsuit was filed. Napster lost the case and had
to close down in 2001. In the meantime the brand
name and logos of Napster have been acquired by
someone else and they have started business again.
The copyright issue is not a problem any more,
as you now pay a small Napster membership fee
which allows you to transfer an unlimited amount
of music to your PC and compatible MP3 player.
Although Napster was not a ‘pure’ P2P service, as it
used a central service to maintain lists of connected
systems, it did pave the way for decentralised P2P
file sharing programs.
Apple Computers changed the scene of ‘free’
sharing of music with its iTunes music store and
the introduction of its iPod. iTunes music store
offers downloads at prices that are the same as
others in the business, however, it provides more
flexible terms for the use of the music. iPod is a
portable digital audio player that replicates what
you can store on your computer. It is a very func-
tional and popular ‘gadget’. Apple Computers say
that, although iPods may be partially filled with
unauthorised downloads, their goal is to change
these illegitimate users into legitimate users as
the iPod attracts people who have not previously
entered the digital market and who may possibly
also buy legitimate products. iPod was originally
only available for Apple operating systems, but it
now offers a Microsoft® compatible version as well.
 Many others have followed suit in providing free
music sharing programs. LimeWire, Music Jukebox
(previously Musicmatch Jukebox), Squidoo, Weed-
share and Amazon’s downloads are examples of
the many products now available on the Internet.
Many of these are offered in MP3 format and some
are iPod compatible. File sharing is often free but
users pay a small subscription fee. In some cases,
the music files can be played for free, but they have
to be bought before they can be shared.
4.4.3 What is Internet copyright?
Copyright laws also apply to the Internet. Works
put on the Internet are considered ‘published’ and
qualify for copyright protection even if they do not
display a copyright notice. Just because material
may be available free of charge on the Internet,
does not mean that it can be copied and used
without permission from the copyright owner.
4.5 What are exceptions to copyright?
There are some instances when the use and/or
copying of material are not deemed to be infringe-
ments of copyright. These instances include
exceptions created by regulation, as well as general
exceptions based on ‘fair use’ and ‘fair dealing’.
‘Fair use’ is the American term and ‘fair dealing’
is the term used in the United Kingdom (UK) and
other countries whose copyright ordinances were
derived from the UK’s. Fair use and fair dealing
are concerned with the question of when it is fair
to use a copyrighted work without having to get
permission from the copyright holder or owner.
Although these two concepts are similar, they are
not exactly the same as they approach the issue
from different viewpoints.
4.5.1 What are the criteria for determining fair use?
Fair use provides for the legal, non-licensed citation
or incorporation of copyrighted material in another
author’s work under certain, specified conditions.
The term ‘fair use’ is unique to the United States
of America. The Fair Use Doctrine has four
criteria for determining the fair use of copyrighted
material:
n The nature of the work – Is it in the public
domain? Is it out of print or no longer available?
If any of these apply, you may use the work.
n The purpose and character of the use – Is it used
for commercial or non-commercial purposes?
Is it used for comment, research, teaching or
other similar purposes? Is the use transforma-
tive? That means it has a different character or
purpose to the original.
n Amount and substantiality – How much of the
work will be used? You should never copy more
of a work than is necessary.
navigating information literacy | 8 | ethical and fair use of information
n The effect of the use on the value or marketability
of the copyrighted work – Will your use of copy-
righted material damage a copyright holder’s
ability to profit from their work?
4.5.2 What is fair dealing?
Fair dealing is the right that is granted by copyright
laws to reproduce limited portions of copy-
righted works without infringing on the rights
of the authors or the copyright owners. You will
concentrate on the concept of fair dealing because
that is what applies in South Africa. The Berne
Convention makes provision for the reproduction
of copyrighted works in special cases, provided
that this does not harm the legitimate interests of
the author or copyright owner.
Under the fair dealing principle, copyright is
not infringed if a work is used or copied for the
following purposes:
n Research or private study by the person using
the work
n Personal and private use of the person using the
work
n Criticism or review
4.5.3 How does fair dealing work in the
electronic environment?
In the digital era, information from all over the
world is now available electronically. The concepts
of fair use and fair dealing create many problems
as different countries have different interpretations
and regulations. However, generally speaking, the
underlying principles remain the same as for the
print environment that you have already learned
about.
4.6 What are practical copyright issues?
Copyright infringement is a criminal offence. If
you break the law and make illegal copies, you
may be fined or imprisoned and run the risk of a
criminal record. Pressure is applied to universities
and other academic institutions to ensure effective
control over the reproduction of copyrighted
works on campus. Academic institutions are very
serious in their attempts to make sure that all
members of staff and students adhere to the laws
and regulations regarding the reproduction of
copyrighted material and the payment of royalties
where necessary.
4.6.1 What are the practical copyright issues for
students?
Students are confronted with copyright and its
implications every day. If you do not adhere to
the provisions of the applicable copyright laws in
a country, you can be found liable for infringing
copyright and you may be prosecuted. University
libraries often provide information on how
125
 copyright applies to you personally and how
to prevent infringing on someone else’s rights.
Figure 8.9 shows you the information on copyright
and fair use from the website of an American
university library.
The three most frequently asked questions
(FAQ) that students have about copyright issues are:
n When may I make photocopies?
n How much may I copy?
n What about downloading and printing from the
Internet?
When may I make photocopies? You may photo-
copy a section from any book, journal or other
source for the purposes of research or private study
only. You should make the copy or a librarian can
make it for you. No one else may make a copy on
your behalf. You may only make a copy on the
condition that you do not make the copy available
to anyone else. You may make one photocopy when
Figure 8.9 it is for your own use only.
Stanford University
Libraries’ web page with How much may I copy? Most copyright acts state
information on copyright that you may copy a ‘reasonable portion’ of a work
and fair use. Used with
permission. without obtaining permission from the copyright
http://fairuse.stanford.edu
Figure 8.10
An example of a website copyright notice
Copyright Notice
The copyright in this website and the material on this website (including without
limitation the text, computer code, artwork, photographs, images, music, audio
material, video material and audio-visual material on this website) is owned by TBA.
TBA grants you a worldwide non-exclusive royalty-free revocable license to:
• view this website and the material on this website on a computer or mobile
device via a web browser;
• copy and store this website and the material on this website in your web browser
cache memory; and
• print pages from this website for your own personal and non-commercial use.
TBA does not grant you any other rights in relation to this website or the material
on this website. In other words, all other rights are reserved. This means you must
not adapt, edit, change, transform, publish, republish, distribute, redistribute,
broadcast, rebroadcast or show or play in public this website or the material on this
website (in any form or media) without the prior written permission of TBA.
TBA takes the protection of its copyright very seriously. If TBA discovers that you
have used its copyright materials in contravention of the license above, TBA may
bring legal proceedings against you seeking monetary damages and an injunction
to stop you using those materials. You could also be ordered to pay legal costs.
126 navigating information literacy | 8 | ethical and fair use of information
owner or paying compensation. This is a difficult
prescription as there is no specific quantity and no
general rule as to what a reasonable portion entails.
Generally speaking it takes into account ‘the whole
and the significance of the work’. The intention is
to enable you to copy a substantial portion of the
work necessary to meet your reasonable needs, but
not so much (an unreasonable amount) that can
harm the economic or other interests of the copy-
right owner. So, making multiple copies of a work
for personal use falls outside the bounds of fair
dealing. Photocopying a whole book is expressly
forbidden.
Definitive specifications regarding how much
copying you may make are not available, but
certain guidelines for the copying of material
for the purposes of non-commercial research or
private study were developed in Britain (http://
www.keele.ac.uk/depts/li/info/copyright.htm).
Although these generally have no legal force, it is
a good idea to use them as guidelines for copying
for your personal study and research purposes. The
guidelines state that you may copy:
n One complete chapter from a book or 5% of the
total, whichever is the greatest
n One article from a journal issue or set of
conference proceedings
n One article from an issue of a newspaper
n One single case from a published report of
judicial proceedings
n One short story or poem of up to ten pages
from an anthology
n A single extract not exceeding A4 size from an
Ordinance Survey map
n Short excerpts from musical works, but not
whole works or movements and not for
performance purposes
What about downloading and printing from the
Internet? The basic rules for copyright of print
material also apply to electronic material. Nearly all
the material on the Internet is copyrighted. Most
websites and other electronic resources such as
databases and electronic books and journals have
copyright and downloading conditions posted on
their sites. You can see an example of the detailed
instructions regarding the rights of a copyright
holder in the screen shot in Figure 8.10. You must
always read the copyright conditions on websites
and follow them.
The basic principles of fair dealing underlying
the copying of print material also apply in the
electronic environment. In other words, copying
must be for personal study purposes only, making
multiple copies is not allowed, and making further
copies from the original (paper or electronic) copy
is not allowed.
 In 1998, some basic guidelines for fair dealing
in the electronic environment were developed in
Britain and published by the Joint Information
Systems Committee and the Publishers Association
(http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/papers/pa/
fair). You may find the guidelines useful:
n Any incidental copying to disk involved in the
viewing of part or all of an electronic publi-
cation is fair dealing. This means that if the
operation of the computer software, for example
a web browser, results in the automatic copying
(cache) of a document that you are viewing on
screen to your hard disk and you have no inten-
tion to store the copy permanently, this is fair
dealing.
n It is fair dealing to print onto paper one copy of
part of an electronic publication. It is not fair
dealing to print all of an electronic publication.
n It is fair dealing to copy onto disk part of an
electronic publication for permanent local
electronic storage, where the disk is accessible
to only one user at a time.
n It is not fair dealing to copy onto disk all of an
electronic publication for permanent local elec-
tronic storage.
n It is not fair dealing to post part or all of an elec-
tronic publication on a network or website open
to the public. If you send an e-mail, for example,
do not send the full text of a document, send
only the URL.
n It is fair dealing to make digital copies of images
on the Web such as drawings and photographs
if they are an integral part of the textual mate-
rial that is being copied. It is not fair dealing to
copy and transmit an image with little or no text
associated with it.
5 What is plagiarism?
You commit plagiarism when you present or use
someone else’s published or unpublished ideas
or intellectual products as if they were your own
new and original ideas, without acknowledging or
crediting the source of your information.
Every student and researcher is exposed to the
intellectual creations of other people on a daily
basis. This includes all forms of written and visual
texts, multimedia products, music, spoken texts
and audio texts. For study and research purposes
you are expected to incorporate this information
into your own work and the writing of assignments
and reports.
It is essential that you always acknowledge the
fact that you have used the ideas of another person
in your work. This is the most important rule for
not committing plagiarism. Even if you have copied
the information legitimately according to the fair
use or fair dealing principles discussed above, you
navigating information literacy | 8 | ethical and fair use of information
have to acknowledge your sources when you use
the relevant information in an assignment. This is
done by referencing or providing references to your
sources. Referencing and referencing techniques
are discussed in Chapter 9.
If you use the ideas of someone else in your
work and you do not acknowledge your source,
you are stealing those ideas. You are committing
plagiarism. It is sometimes difficult to decide when
to acknowledge these sources. The following ques-
tions and answers should help you.
Q. I did not know the meaning of a word and I
looked it up in the dictionary. Do I have to make
a reference to the dictionary when I use the
word in my assignment?
A. No.
Q. I have a topic that interests me but before I
started writing my assignment I read about the
topic on Wikipedia. In this case do I have to
refer to Wikipedia when I do the assignment on
this topic?
A. No. In the above two instances, you simply used
the sources to get background information.
You did not use anybody’s ideas with the aim of
‘pretending’ that they are your own ideas. You
are not committing plagiarism.
Q. Whilst writing my assignment, I needed further
information about something specific to
support my argument. I found the information
on Wikipedia. Do I have to refer to Wikipedia?
A. Yes, because the information that you found
was researched and placed there by another
person, and you are using this person’s ideas in
your work.
 In this case, you are using content from the
Wikipedia article. In the previous example, you
only used the article as background information
to clarify issues for yourself. You did not use the
content of the article to support your argument.
Q. I have just read three articles by three different
authors, and they all say the same thing about
my research topic. This helped me a lot in
formulating my own argument for my assign-
ment. Do I have to refer to the authors of the
articles?
A. Yes, because the ideas of these authors have
directly influenced your way of thinking. You
have used their ideas. Without the use of these
sources you would probably not have been able
to develop your own ideas on the subject.
127
 Q. I have read two articles by two different authors
on my topic, but my views on the subject differ
greatly from theirs. This has convinced me not
to subscribe to their opinions, but to write what
I think is the correct way of approaching the
topic. Do I have to refer to these two articles?
A. Yes, because these authors’ ideas and opinions
influenced the way that you think about the
topic. In other words, you used their ideas to
formulate your own ideas.
 In this case, when you refer to the authors
and their ideas, you may say something like:
Although Jones (1997) and Brown (2003: 8)
argue that … I am of the opinion that …
When you use the ideas and work of others in your
assignments, you have to make decisions about
when and how to acknowledge the original work
to avoid committing plagiarism. Some of the terms
and concepts about plagiarism are difficult to
understand and may be confusing. Two of the most
important concepts that you need to understand
are ‘common knowledge’ and ‘public domain’.
5.1 What is common knowledge?
‘Common knowledge’ refers to the facts that are
likely to be known by many people and can be
found in many places. For example, the fact that
Nelson Mandela was freed from prison to become
the first president of the democratic South Africa
is generally-known information. It is common
knowledge and you do not need to acknowledge a
source that provides the information. However, if
you state in your work that some act or decision by
the former president had a specific consequence
infobits
What is the difference between
copyright and plagiarism?
Copyright protection is given to the creator of an
original work. Copyright gives the holder of the
copyright the right to decide when and how copies of
the work can be made. This copying has to be done
according to certain rules and regulations laid down
by law.
You commit plagiarism when you make copies,
even in the correct way stipulated by law, and you
use this information in your assignment, but you do
not acknowledge the source that you have used. This
means that you are stealing the ideas in the work
of another person to be able to do your assignment,
and presenting them as your own ideas.
128 navigating information literacy | 8 | ethical and fair use of information
for the country, the source of the information
needs to be acknowledged. This is an interpretation
of facts and of history, not a generally-known fact
or ‘common knowledge’.
5.2 What is the public domain?
Publications are in the public domain if they are
not subject to copyright. They are free for everyone
to use without asking for permission or paying
royalties. Some examples of such publications are
certain government publications, and products and
publications that are no longer protected under
patent or copyright when this has expired. It means
that the information is not owned by the original
creator any more and can be freely used or copied.
However, the idea is still originally that of the
creator, and the proper acknowledgement for using
the information still needs to be given.
Sometimes there may be controversies over
what information should or should not be available
to the public. An example of a controversial case is
the Human Genome Project. This is research on the
mapping of human genes. The government-funded
project releases information on the project into
the public domain. This is done so that scientists
around the world have free access to this informa-
tion and the benefits of the research are available
to all. However, there are profit-driven companies
working on the same research, and they have a
different approach to the information. These private
laboratories obtain patents for their discoveries,
and provide their research findings only to people
who pay. They are using the patents to protect their
market shares and their future profits. This issue
regarding free access to what is regarded as break-
through scientific research, became so important
that the former President of the United States, Bill
Clinton, and former British Prime Minister, Tony
Blair, made an announcement in 2000, pledging
that the two countries would ensure that the human
genome remained in the public domain.
5.3 How does plagiarism work on the
Web?
It is very easy to find a wealth of relevant informa-
tion sources on the World Wide Web. It is very
easy to copy and paste sections of these informa-
tion sources or to copy a whole document, and
to hand in the product as your own work. This is
plagiarism and it is illegal. The fact that a lot of this
information is publicly and freely available makes it
difficult to understand that this information is still
regarded as the intellectual property of the creator
of the information.
You may not use any information that you have
found on the Web without acknowledging the
original author or creator of the work. If you do

Please use https://turnitin.com/static/index.php
to access the latest webpage.
not give credit to the originator of the idea, you are
committing plagiarism. The same rules that apply
to acknowledging and crediting print sources,
whether textual or graphic, apply to information
sources found on the Web.
5.4 How is plagiarism detected?
Academic honesty and integrity is taken very
seriously at universities and other academic institu-
tions. Plagiarism is theft. It undermines the trust
between students and lecturers and wastes valuable
university resources.
Lecturers may make use of various tools
to detect and put a stop to plagiarism. These
resources are used internationally which means
that plagiarised information can be detected
and linked to their sources, no matter where
this has been published, or by whom. Turnitin,
MyDropBox, Eve2, and CopyCatch are just some
of the tools that can be used to detect instances of
plagiarism. These tools comprise a database of Web
sources, and a database containing records of all
the assignments that have been submitted to them
over time.
When a lecturer submits a student’s work to the
chosen plagiarism tracing tool, this new document
is compared to the records contained in both of the
databases. The newly submitted document itself
becomes part of the database of assignments. In
practice this means that not only will your work
navigating information literacy | 8 | ethical and fair use of information
Figure 8.11
Example of results from
Turnitin.
be checked against the Web documents and the
assignments submitted from all over the world,
but also against assignments of students who have
completed the course you are currently doing, or
another student in your class.
Figure 8.11 shows you an example of Turnitin
results. In this case, 92% of the assignment had
been copied from sources found by Turnitin.
infobits
Open source software
It is important that you are aware of open source
software. Open source means making source code
(program instructions) free and freely available to
anyone who wants to use or work with it. Open
source software tools are free of charge. Some open
source products that you may be interested in for
yourself are:
n LINUX – This is an example of an open source
operating system, based on UNIX, that runs on
web servers.
n OpenOffice – This is an open source office suite
which is compatible with and competes with
Microsoft® Office.
n The GNU General Public License – This is a good
example of this type of approach towards the use
of software. You learned about it in Section 4.2
earlier in this chapter on page 123.
129
 Figure 8.12
The University of
Pretoria’s web page that
deals with plagiarism.
Used with permission.
http://www.ais.up.ac.za/plagiarism/index.htm
Figure 8.13
The University of Hong
Kong’s web page that
deals with plagiarism
used with the permission
of the University of Hong
Kong Libraries
http://lib.hku.hk/turnitin/turnitin_plagiarism.html
The text in red on the left-hand side is the text
that has been copied from the site that is high-
lighted on the right-hand side. By clicking on the
link to sherlock.sims.berkeley.edu, the lecturer can
view the site, and the areas that have been copied
will also be marked in red.
Most institutions have academic integrity
policies or standards of conduct. If you plagiarise,
you will be punished according to the disciplinary
system of the institution where you are studying.
This punishment may range from giving you a zero
mark through to being expelled from the course,
or suspended from the university. You can see
examples of university web pages that deal with
plagiarism in Figure 8.12 and Figure 8.13.
5.5 How to avoid plagiarism
There are many ways to avoid committing
plagiarism. Some of the most important are:
n Use your own work.
n Only use referenced word-for-word quotations.
n Do not just make cosmetic changes to source
material.
n Use paraphrasing correctly.
130 navigating information literacy | 8 | ethical and fair use of information
5.5.1 Use your own work
The most important way to avoid plagiarism is to
use your own ideas and your own words when you
are writing an assignment. To be able to do this
you have to understand the topic. You need enough
time to do thorough research of the subject and
to think things through properly. However, this
does not mean that you should not consult or use
sources prescribed or suggested by your lecturer,
or sources that you find yourself. In fact, you will
be expected to make use of other information
sources when writing assignments or reports. The
information obtained from these sources has to be
used in the correct way in order not to plagiarise.
You have to cite and acknowledge any sources that
you have used. You will learn about specific citation
and referencing techniques in Chapter 9.
5.5.2 Only use referenced word-for-word quotations
When you quote someone, you are using the
other person’s direct words as they were written
or spoken. Using word-for-word quotations is
sometimes called quoting verbatim. Any verbatim
material that is taken directly, word-for-word, from
a book, article, speech, statement, remarks, the
Internet, or any other source, is the most obvious
and most easily identifiable type of plagiarism.
Such quotations can consist of a passage (a few
lines from the text), or just a phrase (a few words
of a sentence). Sometimes you may use a single
word that fits well in your own sentence. To avoid
committing plagiarism when using word-for-word
quotations, you have to make sure that:
n The quotation is not too long
n The passage or phrase is copied exactly as it was
written originally
n Passages, phrases and words are placed in
quotation marks
n The source is cited.
Here is an example of how you could use a quota-
tion in your own text.
Even though people may have different opinions
on the issue, for the purposes of the current argu-
ment it is fitting to emphasise that ‘the exceptional
cannot be separated from the international nor the
intellectual from the political, the social from the
cultural, and the informational from everything
else’ (Dick, 2004: 361).
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml
navigating information literacy | 8 | ethical and fair use of information
The first part of the paragraph contains your own
words, and the rest of the paragraph, in quotation
marks, is what has been taken from the literature.
In the example, the source of the quotation is cited
in brackets at the end of the quotation.
5.5.3 Do not just make cosmetic changes to
source material
Cosmetic changes are superficial changes made
to the original sentence or paragraph. If you use
information, and only a few words or phrases of the
original text have been changed, but the content
and structure of the original source remains, it
is still the work of the original author or creator.
Some examples of cosmetic changes are using ‘big’
instead of ‘large’ in a sentence, or changing terms in
a computer code, or altering a spreadsheet layout.
In all these cases the original author must always
be cited in order to avoid committing plagiarism.
Here is an example of cosmetic changes made
to a passage. The student submitted the following
as part of an assignment:
Secondly, the processor, that part of the retrieval
system concerned with the retrieval process. The
Figure 8.14
Example of cosmetic
changes made to a
passage. Used with
permission from Writing
Tutorial Services at Indiana
University and their Board
of Trustees.
Figure 8.15
Examples of incorrect and
correct paraphrasing. Used
with permission from
Writing Tutorial Services
at Indiana University and
their Board of Trustees.
131
 process may involve structuring the information in
some appropriate way, such as classifying it.
Figure 8.14 on page 131 shows how this passage
has been taken from the literature. Figure 8.14
is a screen shot from the student’s paper that has
been analysed by Turnitin. The coloured text is the
plagiarised text and the black text the changes that
the student made to the original.
5.5.4 Use paraphrasing correctly
Paraphrasing takes place when you rewrite the
original passage contained in a document in your
own words so that almost nothing of the original
language remains in the new paragraph. However,
you need to be careful. If you are just replacing
some of the original words in a few phrases, or
merely rearranging the sentences, you are not
paraphrasing. Reread the original paragraph or
sentence, compare it with your own new one, and
check that, although the original idea is still there,
you have not directly rewritten any of the original
sentences or words.
When you write a paraphrase, you restate the
original author’s ideas, meaning and information.
You have not created your own new ideas or
information. To avoid being accused of committing
plagiarism, you must acknowledge this by citing the

Summary

In this chapter you looked at various issues about

the ethical use of information for study and
research purposes. You learned about the funda-
mental principles of general ethics and information
ethics, and the way in which they relate to intel-
lectual property and copyright. You looked at
copyright in the print and the electronic environ-
ment and covered issues such as infringement of
copyright, exceptions to copyright, and how much
and when copying of copyrighted material may
be done. You also learned about plagiarism: the
consequences of committing plagiarism, and ways
of avoiding plagiarism.

132 navigating information literacy | 8 | ethical and fair use of information

original author or creator. Figure 8.15 on page 131
shows good examples of incorrect, unacceptable
paraphrasing and correct, acceptable paraphrasing
provided by the Writing Support Services at
Indiana University in the United States of America.
5.6 How to acknowledge the
work of others
At any level of study and research you are expected
to make use of the facts or ideas of people who
are experienced and/or knowledgeable in their
field. This is not wrong. You must always learn
from others and adapt those ideas to develop
your own understanding and interpretation of a
topic. However, it is your responsibility to distin-
guish clearly between what is your own work and
what is not. If you are unsure whether you should
acknowledge a source, rather be cautious and do
so. As has been mentioned in the previous section,
to avoid plagiarism you have to acknowledge that
you have used the work of other people in your
assignments and research reports. This is done
by citing the author or creator of the work and by
making references to their work. You will learn
about citing and referencing in detail in Chapter 9.

Critical thinking questions

n How do information ethics, intellectual prop-

erty rights and copyright relate to one another?
n How could you, as a student, infringe on copy-
right in your studies, at home or when you use
your computer?
n How much photocopying is a ‘reasonable
portion’ of a book, a journal, a piece of sheet
music, a video or a CD?
n How can you avoid plagiarism when you write
assignments or research reports?
n What can happen to you if you are found guilty
of plagiarism?

navigating information literacy | 8 | ethical and fair use of information 133

 Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
answer the following questions:
n What are citing and referencing?
n Why is it necessary to reference?
n When is referencing done?
n How do I apply the Harvard reference system
for print and non-print material?
n Are there any other reference methods that I
can use?
n How do other reference methods work?

Key terms
n Bibliography
n Citing
n Harvard referencing system
n In-text reference
n Reference list
n Referencing
n Referencing system

Chapter 9
Referencing and
Have you ever found information and wanted to use it to complete
a task? You might have been writing an assignment at university
or doing a research report at work. You knew that you had to
acknowledge your sources of information otherwise you would be
committing plagiarism. However, you might have been confused
about exactly how to acknowledge your sources. In this chapter you
will learn about what referencing and reference techniques entail,
and how to reference correctly. You will look at the different styles of
referencing techniques, with a focus on the Harvard system which is
a simple and widely-used method.

134
 reference techniques
1 What is referencing?
‘Referencing’ is giving relevant, accurate and
complete information indicating and acknowl-
edging which source(s) you used for writing
an assignment or a research report. Citing (or
citation) means the same as referencing. The two
terms are often used interchangeably. Referencing
or citing a source of information is usually done
in a standardised manner according to specific
citation or reference styles and methods. You
will learn why referencing or citing is necessary,
when to reference and some useful referencing
terminology.
1.1 Why is referencing or citing necessary?
Copyright law and academic integrity require that
you acknowledge when you have used the idea of
another person in the creation of your own work.
If you do not do this, it means that you are stealing
someone else’s ideas and committing the serious
offence of plagiarism.
On a practical level, referencing shows that you
have done extensive reading and research on your
topic. It shows that you are not presenting only
your own ideas and opinions and also helps you
to emphasise or illustrate a point that you want
to make in your work. Referencing your sources
135
 means that the reader can view and perhaps also
use those sources, and that the sources can be
verified.
1.2 When do I reference?
References are made every time that you use an
idea in your work that is not purely your own,
original idea. An ‘idea’ can be a fact, a quotation,
a table, graphics, music, or anything else obtained
from a source of information such as a book, an
article, a newspaper, the Internet or an e-mail.
1.3 What is the referencing terminology?
There are many terms used in referencing that you
need to understand. The two most important refer-
encing terms are ‘reference list’ and ‘bibliography’.
1.3.1 What is a reference list?
A reference list is usually an alphabetical list at the
end of your document which contains a detailed
description of all the sources that you used and
referred to or cited in the text of your assignment.
1.3.2 What is a bibliography?
The term ‘bibliography’ has several meanings.
A bibliography is another name for a reference
list and serves the same function, namely a list
of sources that were used and referred to in an
assignment or research report. This is the meaning
of the term that you are interested in for the
purposes of this chapter. For the sake of clarity, the
combined expression ‘reference list/bibliography’ is
used where applicable throughout this chapter.
A bibliography can also be a list of information
sources that you have made use of in preparing
the assignment, but that you have not referred to
in your document. There are different opinions
regarding the use of such a list. For the purposes
of this chapter, a bibliography is a list of sources
that were used and actually referred to in the text.
You need to clarify which type of bibliography is
expected of you for each assignment or research
report.
Figure 9.1
Example of an in-text
reference As far as can be determined in the literature (Simpson, 2003: 54), the rest of …
surname
136 navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques
The term ‘bibliography’ also refers to other lists
of publications and sources, such as a list of all the
books written by one author, or a list of informa-
tion sources on a specific subject. These types
of bibliographies are discussed in Chapter 2 (see
Figure 2.24 on page 34), and are not relevant for
referencing.
2 What is the Harvard system of
referencing?
The Harvard system of referencing was developed
in the United States of America. It is a flexible and
simple system that is clear and easy to use from
the point of view of both the author (the student
or researcher writing a paper) and the reader. The
Harvard system does not require any footnotes or
numbers that may be used in other systems. In the
Harvard system, references are cited in the body
of the text and in an alphabetical list at the end of
the work.
The Harvard system is one of the most
commonly used systems internationally, and is
used for illustrating the application of reference
techniques in this chapter.
There are many other accepted methods or
systems of referencing. Different systems are
prescribed for example by a faculty or by the editor
of a specific journal in which a research article is
published. You can easily adapt these other refer-
encing systems, which you will look at later in this
chapter on page 150.
2.1 How do I reference in the text with the
Harvard system?
When using the Harvard system of referencing,
you are firstly required to acknowledge the source
of your information in the text of your work. These
are known as in-text references. You can see an
example of an in-text reference in Figure 9.1. As
you can see, each in-text reference includes:
n The author or creator of the work (surname, no
initials)
date of page
publication number
 infobits
In-text reference and reference lists/bibliographies
You may not refer to any sources in the text that you
have not listed in the reference list/bibliography.
n The date (year) of the publication
n The page or pages where the information was
found (where applicable).
2.2 How do I reference at the end of the
document with the Harvard system?
The Harvard system requires that information
sources used for the creation of your work are
listed alphabetically at the end of the document.
This reference list or bibliography gives the full
details of the source and includes:
n The surname and initials of the author(s) or
editor(s), or the full name of any other entity
that acts as author such as a corporate author
n The year of publication
n The full title of the work, and the subtitle
if applicable
n All other bibliographic details that pertain to a
specific type of work, for example the edition
of a work if it is not the first edition, the place
of publication and publisher for a book, and the
title and volume number of a journal.
The Harvard system sets out the sequence of the
required details to reference a book. It also sets out
the punctuation such as the use of capital letters,
full stops, commas and italics. Here is an example of
the format for the information provided for a book:
n Surname of author: Jones,
n Initials: F.G.
n Date of publication: 2006.
n Title of the book and subtitle: Doing it right:
how to write assignments.
n Edition (never for the first edition): 2nd ed.
n Publisher: ABC Publishers:
n Place of publication: Pretoria.
Delport, S. 1999. Understanding electronic publishing. DEF Publishers: Durban.
surname and date title of book
initials of author
navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques
You can see an example of how a book is described
in a reference list/bibliography in Figure 9.2.
3 How to reference printed
sources
The basic techniques for using the Harvard system
of referencing are standardised. However, certain
aspects, such as the use of capital letters and
punctuation or bold print for names of authors,
can vary. None of these variations is more correct
than the other, so do not become confused if you
come across any of them in the literature, or if they
are not exactly the same as the guidelines that you
are learning in this chapter. The basic principles
stay the same even if the smaller details may vary.
The most important thing to remember is that you
must be consistent in the manner that you apply a
technique in your work. You may not switch tech-
niques or applications in the middle of a document.
You will look at examples of references for the
following printed sources:
n Books
n Articles in journals
n Dictionaries and encyclopaedias
3.1 How to reference books
You can find the full bibliographic information for
books, such as the title of the book, name of the
author, publisher, place of publication and date of
publication on the title page (usually the first or
second unnumbered page) and the back of the title
page of the book. You should not use the cover as
the full information is not always provided there.
infobits
Reference lists/bibliographies and
in-text references
You may not list any sources in the reference list/
bibliography that have not been mentioned in the
text of your document.
Figure 9.2
Example of an entry for
a book in a reference
list/bibliography
publisher place of publication
137
 Figure 9.3 Figure 9.3 illustrates how much more biblio-
Example of information graphic information is found on the title page
found on (A) the cover than on the cover. On the cover, only the title and
and (B) title page of the names of the authors are provided. On the
a book. Used with
permission. title page, you will find the title, the names of the
authors and the name of the publisher. The back
of the title page, which is not shown here, will
give you the place of publication and the year of
publication.
You will now look at examples of how to
provide references and citations to books in the
text of your document and how to list your sources
in the reference list/bibliography. In the examples
you will see the difference between merely refer-
ring to the work or idea of an author in the text and
the use of direct quotations, indicated by the use of
quotation marks.
Please note that all the examples used here are
fictional. None of them has actually been written or
published.
a
3.1.1 How to reference a book by a single author
In Figure 9.4 you can see how to reference a book
Ne elt je du Ple s sis (Lec turer U n i v e r s i t y o f P r e t o r i a)
by a single author in the text and in the reference
N i c k y L o w e (S e n i o r L e c t u r e r a n d C o u r s e C o o r d i n a t o r : B u s i n e s s C o m m u n i c a t i o n
School of Accountancy Universit y of Witwatersrand) list/bibliography.
Ailsa Stewar t Smit h (Direc tor of the E xecutive MBA Graduate School of Business
U n i v e r s i t y o f C a p e To w n)
P a m S y k e s (B u s i n e s s w r i t e r)
Bianc a Wright (Head of the Depar tment of Jounalism Media and Philosophy
N e l s o n M a n d e l a M e t r o p o l i t a n U n i v e r s i t y)
3.1.2 How to reference a book by two or
three authors
In Figure 9.5 you can see how to reference a book
by two or three authors in the text and in the refer-
ence list/bibliography. You will notice that the word
professional communication for business
‘and’ is used when more than one author is cited
fresh perspectives
in the text, and the symbol ‘&’ is used when more
than one author is listed in an in-text reference in
brackets, and in the reference list/bibliography. You
should list a book by two or three authors in the
reference list/bibliography alphabetically under the
name of the first author.

3.1.3 How to reference a book by more than

It is illegal to photocopy any pages from this book three authors
In Figure 9.6 you can see how to reference a book
without the written permission of the copyright holder.

B by more than three authors in the text and in the

reference list/bibliography. Sometimes users of the
Harvard system name all the writers involved no
infobits matter how many there may be. This is unneces-
sary. You should rather name only the first author
The order of authors’ names and add ‘et al.’ The expression ‘et al.’ is a Latin
abbreviation meaning ‘and others’. However, it
Authors’ names should always be given in the order would be a good idea to keep your sources with
in which they appear on the cover and imprint page the names of all the authors, as you may need this
of a book. in some cases where the referencing technique of
choice may require that you list up to six authors.

13 8 navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques

 Figure 9.4
In the text
Examples of how to
reference a book by a
This idea was already proposed in 2006 (Brown, 2006: 55) … single author

or

Brown (2006: 55) already proposed the idea in 2006 …

In the reference list/bibliography

Brown, R. 2006. Coming back to the old country. Manhattan Press: New York.

Figure 9.5
In the text in the case of 2 authors
Examples of how to
reference a book by two
The issue was originally debated at a meeting held in Durban (Van Zyl & or three authors
Mbethe, 2003: 341).
or

Van Zyl and Mbethe (2003: 341) report on a discussion of the issue in Durban
…
In the text in the case of 3 authors

The issue was originally debated upon … (Van Zyl, Mbethe & Coetzee, 2003: 341).

or

Van Zyl, Mbethe and Coetzee (2003: 341) report on a discussion …

In the reference list/bibliography in the case of 2 authors

Van Zyl, J. & Mbethe, A.S. 2003. The influence of traditional medicine on the
treatment of Aids: cases and healers. ABC Publishers: Cape Town.
In the reference list/bibliography in the case of 3 authors

Van Zyl, J., Mbethe, A.S. & Coetzee, H. 2003. The influence of traditional medicine
on the treatment of Aids: cases and healers. ABC Publishers: Cape Town

Figure 9.6
In the text
Examples of how to
reference a book by more
Writers often regard this as the only important issue (Dlamini et al., 2001: 12) … than three authors

or

As demonstrated by Dlamini et al. (2001: 12), this is often regarded as the only …
In the reference list/bibliography

Dlamini, B. et al. 2001. How fiction writers think. Actuality Press: Nelspruit.

navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques 139

 Figure 9.7
In the text
Examples of how to
reference a book complied
by an editor Many different opinions are found on the subject (Jones, 2000: 676).
or

Jones (2000: 676) mentions the many different opinions that are found about …
In the reference list/bibliography

Jones, L. (ed.) 2000. Overview of the biological sciences. 3rd ed. Nature
Publications: Southampton.

Figure 9.8
In the text
Examples of how to
reference a chapter or an
article in an edited book Such an approach could have positive results (Blair, 2007: 23).
or

Blair (2007: 23) posits that such an approach …

In the reference list/bibliography

Blair, S. 2007. Theories of qualitative research. In: Mathews, L. & Schoeman,

V. (eds.) The scope of research methodologies. Power Press: Sydney: 21-34.

Figure 9.9
In the text
Examples of how to
reference more than one
book published by the This theory has been proven to be valid (Sibanda, 2003a: 36, 2003b: 87).
same author in the same
year or

Sibanda (2003a: 36, 2003b: 87) shows that this is a theory that …
In the reference list/bibliography

Sibanda, G. 2003a. Coming from afar. Africa Publishers: George.

Sibanda, G. 2003b. This is what it all means. Africa Publishers: George.

Figure 9.10
In the text
Examples of how to
reference more than one
book published by the One can clearly see that this is still the situation even after many years (Brown,
same author in different 1997, 2004).
years
or

Brown (1997, 2004) clearly shows that …

In the reference list/bibliography

Brown, F. 1997. The many faces of medicine. XY Press: London.

Brown, F. 2004. The faces of medicine revisited. Harvard University Press: Boston.

140 navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques

3.1.4 How to reference a book compiled by an editor
In Figure 9.7 you can see how to reference a
book compiled by an editor in the text and in the
reference list/bibliography. You will notice that
the reference in the text for a book compiled by
an editor looks the same as for a book by a single
author.
It is sometimes suggested that an edited book
is listed alphabetically under the title of the book
in the reference list/bibliography. However, for
the purposes of this chapter, you will list a book
compiled by an editor alphabetically under the
surname of the editor.
You will notice the different uses of (ed.) for
editor of the book, and ed. to indicate the specific
edition of the book, for example ‘3rd ed.’. It is not
necessary to mention the edition of a book if it the
first edition of a book. This edition rule applies to
an authored book as well, not only for books that
have an editor.
3.1.5 How to reference a chapter or an
article in an edited book
In Figure 9.8 you can see how to reference a
chapter or an article in an edited book in the text
and in the reference list/bibliography. You will
notice that the reference in the text for a chapter or
an article in an edited book looks just the same as
for a book by a single author. You will also notice
that Mathews and Schoeman are not listed as
authors in the reference list/bibliography. This is
because the information used was from the chapter
that Blair wrote, so only Blair is listed as an author
in the reference list/bibliography.
3.1.6 How to reference more than one
entry for the same author
There are two possible scenarios when you have to
reference more than one entry for the same author.
n You may have to reference more than one book
published by the same author in the same year.
n You may have to reference more than one book
published by the same author in different years.
In the text
Various experts (Ebrahim, 2002; Gouws, 2005) agree with the opinion that …
or
It is pleasing to note that experts such as Ebrahim (2002) and Gouws (2005)
agree with the opinion that …
In the reference list/bibliography
The authors are listed alphabetically in the normal manner.
navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques
In Figure 9.9 you can see how to reference more
than one book published by the same author in
the same year in the text and in the reference list/
bibliography. You will notice that because the two
publication dates are the same, the titles of the
books are used to list the books in alphabetical
order in the reference list/bibliography. The letters
‘a’ and ‘b’ are added to the dates to distinguish
between the two books in the text.
In Figure 9.10 you can see how to reference
more than one book published by the same author
in different years in the text and in the reference
list/bibliography. You will notice that in the refer-
ence list/bibliography the two publications are
listed chronologically according to publication
date, from the earliest to the latest date.
3.1.7 How to cite more than one book
by different authors
In Figure 9.11 you can see how to cite more than
one book by different authors in the text and in the
reference list/bibliography. Note that the authors
are usually listed alphabetically in the text. The
works of more than two authors can also be used.
3.1.8 How to cite from a secondary source
A secondary source means that you have not seen
the original source or book yourself. It is referred
to in something that you have read. In Figure 9.12
on the next page you can see how to cite from a
secondary source. In the text, you must choose
how to indicate the use of the author’s ideas –
either by using ‘quoted by’ if this is applicable, or by
using ‘cited in’ if that is more appropriate. Do not
use both as is done in Figure 9.12. Choose one or
the other and be consistent. Both were used in the
examples to show you the options. You will notice
that there is no reference for Jones in the reference
list/bibliography. This is because Jones’ book was
not used. It was Bell’s book that was used.
Remember that you will generally be expected
to use original sources in your documents. You
should only use a reference to a source that has
been cited by another author (as in the above
Figure 9.11
Examples of how to cite
more than one book by
different authors
141
 Figure 9.12
In the text
Examples of how to cite
from a secondary source
One can only wonder how dangerous such a situation can be (Jones, as quoted
by/cited in Bell, 2004: 26).
or

In his article, Jones (quoted by/cited in Bell, 2004: 26) also comes to the
conclusion that such a situation can be dangerous.
In the reference list/bibliography

Bell, L.T. 2004. Diving and snorkelling. Aquatic Press: Portsmouth.

Figure 9.13
In the text
Example of how to
reference a corporate
author of a book Organisational behaviour is often characterised by these problems (Company
ABC, 2003: 13).
In the reference list/bibliography

Company ABC, 2003. The ins and outs of organisational behaviour in the new
millennium. Van Schaik: Pretoria.

Figure 9.14
Various pages of a journal
containing bibliographic
information. The
cover of the Journal of
Documentation Volume
57 Issue 6 and the title
page of an article in
that journal entitled
Mapping national
research profiles in social
science disciplines are
published with permission
of Emerald
http://www.
emeraldinsight.com

a b

142 navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques

examples) in exceptional circumstances, such as
when the original source is impossible to find.
3.1.9 How to reference a corporate author of a book
A book of which the ‘author’ is not a single author,
but rather a body of persons such as a business
or any organisation or institution, is regarded as
being produced by a corporate author. The same
referencing rules that apply for single and multiple
authors apply to single or multiple corporate
authors as you can see in Figure 9.13.
3.2 How to reference journal articles
You can find the bibliographic information for
journals such as the title of the journal, volume,
part number and year of publication in various
places in the journal, such as the cover, the
back page, or at the bottom of the first page of the
article itself.
Figure 9.14 illustrates two different possibilities
for finding relevant bibliographic information for a
journal. The cover gives the title of the journal, the
volume number, the issue number and the date of
publication. Bibliographic information regarding
the journal (apart from the specific article details)
is often also found at the bottom of the first page of
the article.
Referencing in the text for authors of journal
articles is the same as for authors in books. So,
you should refer to the previous section regarding
books for examples of referencing to multiple
authors, making more than one entry for the same
author, citing different authors of different articles,
and so forth.
The differences in referencing between books
and journals are in the way in which the informa-
tion concerning the authors and their articles
are referred to in the reference list/bibliography.
For the reference list/bibliography the following
surname and
initials of author date title of article
Delport, S. 1999. An investigation into book publishing on the Internet. Journal
of Practical Publishing, 14(3): 22-29.
Pages of
Volume Issue
article in
Number Number
journal
navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques
bibliographic information should be provided for a
journal article:
n The surname and initials of the author(s) of
the article
n The year of publication
n The full title of the article, and the subtitle if
applicable
n The title of the journal (in italics with the first
letter of meaningful words in capitals)
n The volume of the journal and the part number,
or month, or season of the year (where
applicable)
n The page numbers of the article.
As you know, the Harvard system sets out the
sequence of the required details to reference a
journal article. It also sets out the punctuation such
as the use of capital letters, full stops, commas and
italics. Here is an example of the format for the
information provided for a journal article:
n Surname of author: Jones,
n Initials: K.L.
n Date of publication: 2004.
n Title of the article: How to reference.
n Title of the journal: South African Referencing
Journal,
n Volume number: 13
n Month or season: (June): (When a month or
season is given there is usually not an issue
number, so the month is followed by the page
numbers.)
n Issue number: (3): (There is no space between
the volume number and the brackets of the
issue number.)
n Pages in the journal where the article appears:
17-32.
You can see an example of how a journal article
is described in a reference list/bibliography in
Figure 9.15.
Figure 9.15
journal title Example of an entry
for a journal article in a
reference list/bibliography
14 3
 Figure 9.16
In the text
Examples of how to
reference a journal article
by a single author It is evident that ‘the quality of child care is a particular factor in the
development of a pre-school child’ (Dyson, 2000: 18).
or

Dyson (2000: 18) is emphatically of the opinion that the quality of child care is …
In the reference list/bibliography

Dyson, T.M. 2000. Child care and child development. Journal of Social
Development, 12(3): 11-21.

Figure 9.17
In the text
Examples of how to
reference a journal article
by two or three authors The increasing instances of plagiarism from the Internet have become quite a
concern (Edwards & Mathlaba, 2005: 6).
or

Edwards and Mathlaba (2005: 6) express a special concern about the many
occurrences of plagiarism …
In the reference list/bibliography

Edwards, G. & Mathlaba, B. 2005. Plagiarism and the Internet. Journal of

Plagiarism Education, 23 (Spring): 6-13.

Figure 9.18
In the text
Example of how to
reference a dictionary
with no author In the Dictionary of well-known expressions (2004: 214) the term is defined as …
In the reference list/bibliography

Dictionary of well-known expressions. 2004. Loyalty Press: Edinburgh.

Figure 9.19
In the text
Example of how
to reference an
encyclopaedia with two This is affirmed (Smith & Jones, 1999: 191) as being the only way that it was
authors done.
In the reference list/bibliography

Smith, A. & Jones, B. 1999. Encyclopaedia of Northern Ireland, vol.5. 2nd ed.
Bogus Press: Belfast.

144 navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques

3.2.1 How to reference a journal article
by a single author
In Figure 9.16 you can see how to reference a
journal article by a single author in the text and in
the reference list/bibliography. You will notice in
the reference list/bibliography that the first letter
of all meaningful words in the name of the journal
is in capital letters. In the example, the 12 refers
to the volume number, the 3 to the issue number
and 11-21 to the pages of the journal that cover that
specific article. Not all journals have volume and
issue numbers and some have other information
such as the month that the volume was issued. You
will also notice that the publisher, place of publica-
tion and the name of the editor of a journal do not
appear in the reference list/bibliography.
3.2.2 How to reference a journal article
by two or three authors
In Figure 9.17 you can see how to reference a
journal article by two or three authors in the text
and in the reference list/bibliography.
3.3 How to reference dictionaries and
encyclopaedias
References and citations for dictionaries and
encyclopaedias are much the same as for books. A
dictionary or an encyclopaedia is often compiled by
many people and may have various editors. These
many editors and/or contributors are not listed in
the reference list/bibliography. In such cases, the
publication is referred to by its title in the text as
well as in the reference list/bibliography.
Dictionaries and encyclopaedias may or may
not also have personal authors. If they do have
authors, the references are handled in the same
manner as for authors of books. Sometimes chap-
ters or sections in an encyclopaedia are written
by individual persons. References are again done
in the same way as for authors of chapters in
an edited book. Also note that dictionaries and
encyclopaedias are regularly updated and so they
will often have an edition statement in the biblio-
graphic description.
You will look at three examples:
n How to reference a dictionary with no author
In the text
These facts (Moore, 2002: 420) make it difficult to contradict the opinion that
… single author
In the reference list/bibliography
Moore, P. 2002. Life in the colonies in the 19th century. In: Encyclopaedia of the
Eastern Cape. 3rd rev. ed. Colonial Publishers: Grahamstown: 399-423.
navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques
n How to reference an encyclopaedia with two
authors
n How to reference a chapter in an encyclopaedia
written by a single author
3.3.1 How to reference a dictionary with no author
In Figure 9.18 you can see how to reference a
dictionary with no author in the text and in the
reference list/bibliography.
3.3.2 How to reference an encyclopaedia
with two authors
In Figure 9.19 you can see how to reference an
encyclopaedia with two authors in the text and in
the reference list/bibliography.
3.3.3 How to reference a section in an encyclopaedia
with a single author
In Figure 9.20 you can see how to reference a
section in an encyclopaedia with a single author in
the text and in the reference list/bibliography.
4 How to reference electronic
sources
The basic principles underlying citing and
referencing print sources are also applicable to
electronic or non-print sources. The various possi-
bilities for in-text referencing and bibliographic
referencing will not be expanded on in this section
for non-print sources.
Here are some tips for referencing or citing
sources from the Internet:
n Provide enough information, such as authors
and titles, so that the reader can find the source
later.
n Try to provide the full Internet address (URL).
If it is too long, include enough of the address
to identify the site from which the document
came.
n Sources such as web pages are often linked,
so ensure that the title of the document can
be identified. Also be consistent about which
page you refer to, for example refer consistently
to the main page or the page you are using or
quoting from.
Figure 9.20
Example of how to
reference a section in
an encyclopaedia with a
145
 n Look for the date of an electronic document
at the end of the document. If you use an
electronic document that is not dated at
all, you have the choice of using one of two
abbreviations namely: n.d. (no date), or s.a.
(‘sine anno’, the Latin term meaning ‘without
date’).
n Remember to be consistent in the style of
punctuation that you use.
n Internet material does not always stay available
for a long time so keep personal electronic
copies or print-outs for later reference.
n You are required to add the date on which you
accessed the Internet document.
You will look at some examples of how to reference
the following electronic sources:
n Electronic journals
n Electronic books
n Web documents and web pages
n Websites
n E-mails
n Newspaper articles on the Internet
n Online images and illustrations
4.1 How to reference electronic journals
You will look at how to reference electronic
journals from the Internet and how to reference
electronic journals on the Internet from databases.
4.1.1 How to reference journals from the Internet
In Figure 9.21 you can see how to reference
journals from the Internet in the text and in the
reference list/bibliography. You will notice that the
reference in the text has no page numbers.
4.1.2 How to reference journals on the
Internet from databases
In Figure 9.22 you can see how to reference
journals on the Internet from databases such as
Emerald and ScienceDirect in the text and in the
reference list/bibliography. You will notice that the
reference in the text does have a page number. This
is because the full-text journal is usually available in
PDF format from databases on the Internet.
Figure 9.21
In the text
Example of how to
reference a journal from
the Internet One could assume that it would be feasible to accept these realities (Brown,
2003).
In the reference list/bibliography
Brown, G. 2003. Testing of soil samples in the Northern Province. Agriculture
Review, 12(2). [Online]. Available: <http://www.agrirev.org> [Accessed 4
March 2003].
146 navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques
4.2 How to reference electronic books
In Figure 9.23 you can see how to reference
electronic books in the text and in the reference
list/bibliography.
4.3 How to reference web documents and
web pages
In Figure 9.24 you can see how to reference web
documents and web pages in the text and in the
reference list/bibliography.
4.4 How to reference websites
Websites come in many forms and all the possible
variations cannot be demonstrated here. The most
important thing to remember is that you must
provide enough information so that the reader of
your work can find your source.
Here are some tips to help you with referencing
websites:
n There is usually a title for the document to
which you can refer.
n If a person or an institution or any other ‘author’
or ‘sponsor’ of the document is mentioned, you
must include this in your reference.
n Decide whether you are going to refer to the
main page or to the linked page that you are
actually quoting from, and be consistent.
n Provide the correct Internet address (URL).
n Provide the date on which you accessed the
document.
In figures 9.25 and 9.26 you can see how to refer-
ence websites in the text and in the reference list/
bibliography. When referencing a whole website,
there is often not a specific author who you can
cite. In such cases, give the URL of the site in
brackets in the text as shown in Figure 9.25. If
there is an author responsible for the information
on the website, reference the website as shown in
Figure 9.26.
 Figure 9.22
In the text
Example of how to
reference a journal on the
This is regarded as an everyday occurrence (Rogers, 2004: 45). Internet from a database

In the reference list/bibliography

Rogers, T.P. 2004. Coming to grips with children and their video games. Social
Sciences Journal, 4(5): 43-39. [Online]. Available from Sociological Abstracts.
CSA Illumina.

Figure 9.23
In the text
Example of how to
reference an electronic
Harris (2005) speaks of the challenges facing the uninitiated … book
In the reference list/bibliography

Harris, P. 2005. Reaching the top of the mountain. [Online]. Oxford University
Press: Oxford. Available: <http://www.netLibrary.com/openbook.093456/html>
[Accessed 8 January 2006].

Figure 9.24
In the text
Example of how to
reference a web
It is important to know the basic approach to referencing (University of Pretoria document
Research Group, 2003).
In the reference list/bibliography

University of Pretoria Research Group. 2003. Citing and referencing. [Online].

University of Pretoria: Pretoria. Available: <http://www.up.ac.za/researchgroup.
htm> [Accessed 20 April 2004].

Figure 9.25
In the text
Example of how to
reference a website
Referencing tips found on the Web (http://www.referencetips.org.za) are used
for training purposes in …
In the reference list/bibliography

Useful tips for referencing. [Online]. Available: <http://www.referencetips.org.

za> [Accessed 5 November 2004].

Figure 9.26
In the text
Example of how to
reference a website with
Referencing tips found on the Web (Barclay, n.d.) are used for training purposes in … an author
In the reference list/bibliography

Barclay, T. F. n.d. The basics of referencing. [Online]. Available: <http://www.

referenceonline.org.za> [Accessed 6 April 2004].

navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques 147

 Figure 9.27
In the text
Example of how to
reference an e-mail
In response to personal communication from an authoritative source
(Alexander, 2004) the decision was made to …
In the reference list/bibliography

Alexander, M.M. 2004. E-mail to B. James, 24 April 2004.

Figure 9.28
In the text
Example of how to
reference a newspaper
article on the Internet
Many cases of cholera were recorded during the year (Lawrence, 2005).
In the reference list/bibliography

Lawrence, J.J. 2005. Cholera epidemics in central Africa. The Times, 26 June
2005. [Online]. Available: <http://thetimes.com> [Accessed 27 June 2005].

Figure 9.29
In the text
Example of how to
reference a blog
The original idea was to prepare well enough for the trip (Bartlett, 2005) …
In the reference list/bibliography

Bartlett, J. 2005. Preparation for the great escape. The Bartlett diaries blog.
[Online]. Available: <http://www.janebartlett.com/blog> [Accessed 22 May
2006].

Figure 9.30
Example of how to
reference an online
image. Image used with
permission from the
University of Pretoria.

Photograph of Kya Rosa, University of Pretoria. http://web.up.ac.za/maps/vitcamp/kyaros.jpg

148 navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques

4.5 How to reference e-mails
Some approaches prefer that e-mails are not listed
in the reference list/bibliography. However, if you
are going to refer to e-mails, you can reference
them as shown in Figure 9.27. It is important to
note that you should not provide an e-mail address
without the permission of the owner of the address
as this may be interpreted as an invasion of privacy.
4.6 How to reference newspaper
articles on the Internet
In Figure 9.28 you can see how to reference
newspapers on the Internet in the text and in the
reference list/bibliography.
4.7 How to reference blogs
Referencing (citing) a blog is much the same as
referencing any other material obtained from the
Internet. In the text, you cite the author of the blog
and the date the blog was posted. In the reference
list/bibliography, as with all Internet sources, you
are required to add the date on which you accessed
the document. In Figure 9.29 you can see an
example of how you can reference a personal blog
in the text and in the bibliography/reference list.
4.8 How to reference online images
and illustrations
If you use online images and illustrations, you
need to provide a note or short sentence under the
image or illustration in the text indicating what the
image is and from where it was obtained. You can
see an example of this in Figure 9.30.
In Figure 9.31 you can see an example of how to
reference an online image where the photographer
and the date when the photograph was taken are
known in the reference list/bibliography. If there is

Figure 9.31
In the reference list/bibliography
Example of how to
reference an online image
Verster, E. 1997. Kya Rosa, University of Pretoria. [Online]. Available: <http:// where the photographer
www.up.ac.za/maps/vitcamp/kyaros.jpg> [Accessed 26 January 2006]. is known

Figure 9.32
In the reference list/bibliography
Example of how to
reference an online image
Kya Rosa, University of Pretoria. n.d. [Online]. Available: <http://www.up.ac. where the photographer
za/maps/vitcamp/kyaros.jpg> [Accessed 26 January 2006]. is not known

Figure 9.33
In the text
Examples of how to
reference other forms of
The following scenes are found in Tomorrow is another day (1999) and are … non-print sources

In the reference list/bibliography in the case of a video

Tomorrow is another day. 1999. Video recording, Central Broadcasting,

Glasgow. Written and produced by Mandy Smith.
In the reference list/bibliography in the case of a DVD

Come and see it with us. 2000. DVD, City Studios, Upington. Directed by Sam
Petersen.
In the reference list/bibliography in the case of a radio programme

Bring on the band. 2002. Radio programme, Happy Radio, Adelaide. Featuring
the Adelaide City Orchestra, 10 May.
In the reference list/bibliography in the case of a television programme

When are you going to know the truth? 2004. Television programme, DCD
Television, Harare, 20 September.

navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques 149

 no indication of who took the photograph (or who
was responsible for an illustration) or when the
photograph was taken, the entry would look like
the example in Figure 9.32.
5 How to reference other forms of
non-print sources
There are many other forms of non-print sources
such as videos, DVDs, radio programmes and
television programmes. In Figure 9.33 you can
see how to reference these other forms of non-
print sources in the text and in the reference list/
bibliography. As you can see, references in the text
should contain the title of the production in italics
and the date of the production. References in the
text have the same format for all the non-print
sources. References in the reference list/bibliog-
raphy specify which form of non-print source it is
and include any relevant information about writers,
producers or directors. You will notice that the day
of broadcast of a radio or television programme is
also provided.
6 What are other styles of
referencing?
Different institutions, individuals or journal
editors may prefer styles of referencing other than
the Harvard system. Although styles may vary,
the basic principles of referencing are the same,
namely:
n to acknowledge the work and ideas of others
that you have used in your work
n to provide enough relevant information of the
original work so that it can be traced and used
by the person reading your work
When writing an assignment, research report
or article, check which style of referencing is
required from you. This is important as you may
be penalised for not adhering to the preferred or
prescribed method.
Many examples of and guides to various refer-
ence styles are available on the Internet. You will
look at a summarised overview of some of the
other most common referencing styles and how
they differ from the Harvard style. The referencing
styles you will look at are:
n Vancouver style
n MLA style
n APA style
n The Oxford referencing system
1 50 navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques
6.1 What is the Vancouver style?
The Vancouver method of referencing is most
often used in the biomedical environment. This
style assigns a number to each reference as it is
cited. The reference list/bibliography is therefore
a numerical list and not an alphabetical list. The
number assigned to the reference is re-used every
time that the reference is cited in the text.
As you can see in the examples in Figure 9.34,
there are quite a few differences between the
Vancouver and Harvard styles of referencing. Here
is a list of the main features of the Vancouver style:
n There is no punctuation between the surname
of an author and the initials in the bibliographic
description in the reference list/bibliography,
only a space. There is also no punctuation or
spaces between the initials of the author.
n The word ‘editor’ is used in full in the reference
list/bibliography. It is not abbreviated to ‘ed.’
n Where there are six or fewer authors, all the
authors have to be listed.
n The date of publication is listed at the end of
the bibliographic description for books and the
punctuation is different to the Harvard style.
n For journal articles the name of the journal is
followed by the date of publication and then the
volume and other numbers of the publication,
and lastly the page numbers. The punctuation
and use of spaces are different to the Harvard
style.
n Titles of books and journals are not in italics.
n When page numbers are given, digits are not
repeated unnecessarily.
6.2 What is the MLA style?
This style refers to the rules established by the
Modern Language Association (America). As
you can see in the examples in Figure 9.35, there
are quite a few differences between the MLA and
Harvard styles of referencing. Here is a list of the
main features of the MLA style:
n For in-test references, the surname of an author
and the page where the information used was
found is provided in the text. There is no date.
n In the reference list/bibliography, the second
and following lines are indented.
n Authors are listed alphabetically by surname.
Full first names are used, if they are provided,
not initials only.
n Every important word of a title is capitalised.
n Titles may be underlined or written in italics.
You can choose either way but you need to be
consistent.
n For journal articles the name of the journal is
followed by the volume, then the date of publi-
cation in brackets, followed by the pages of the
article.
 Figure 9.34
In the text, in the case of one source
Examples of the
Vancouver style of
Jones (2) argues that … referencing

In the text, in the case of more than one source

It has been argued (2, 3, 5) that …

In the reference list/bibliography

1. Mandala CF. The use of drugs in rehabilitation centres. London: Cambridge

Press; 2001.
2. Jones P. Application of bandages in serious cases of burns. Journal of
Everyday Medicine 1999;12(3):123-30.
3. Adler H, Morris P, Baker GP, Dlamini, R. Streamlined treatment of wounds.
Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2003.
4. Valente KS. Tomorrow’s medicine in today’s world. Cape Town: ABC
Publishers; 2001.
5. Botha L. No way out. Medical Journal 2004 Jul 5;19(6):133-6.

Figure 9.35
In the text
Examples of the MLA style
of referencing
It is argued that there is no reason for worry (Jones 124) …
or

It has been argued (Botha 136; Jones 124) that …

In the reference list/bibliography

Botha, Lynette. The Importance of Own Language in Primary School Education.

Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Jones, Peter. Use of Mother Tongue in Schools. Journal of Everyday Language
18 (1999):133-139.

Figure 9.36
In the text
Examples of the APA style
of referencing
It was thought that this could be ascribed to external stimuli (Patterson, 2001).
or

This is often seen as a good reason (Patterson, 2001; Schumann, 2005) …

In the reference list/bibliography

Patterson, G.L. (2001). Religion and health. Johannesburg: Psychology Press.

Schumann, A. (2005). The many faces of mental health in society. Health and
Religion, 12(6), 331-338.

navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques 1 51

 Figure 9.37
Examples of the Oxford system of referencing

Example 1 In the text

Fraser1 is of the opinion … Earlier in his argument Fraser2 offers the opinion that …
This appears as a footnote

1
Richard Fraser, From my point of view, Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 2003, p.66.
2
Fraser, p.56.

Example 2 In the text

Fraser1 is of the opinion … Fraser2 also offers the opinion that …

This appears as a footnote

1
Richard Fraser, From my point of view, Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 2003, p.66.
2
Ibid.

Example 3 In the text

Fraser1 is of the opinion … Fraser2 develops his theory that …

This appears as a footnote

1
Richard Fraser, From my point of view, Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 2003, p.66.
2
Ibid., p.94.

Example 4 In the text

Fraser1 is of the opinion that … This opinion is not held by Wilson2 who says … Fraser3 develops his
theory that …
This appears as a footnote

1
Richard Fraser, From my point of view, Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 2003, p.66.
2
Paul Wilson, How to not be biased, Journal of Free Thought, 42(3): 2004: p.22.
3
Fraser, p.94.

Example 5 In the text

Fraser1 is of the opinion that … This opinion is not held by Wilson2 who says … Fraser3 develops his
theory that …
This appears as a footnote

1
Richard Fraser, From my point of view, Oxford University Press, Cape Town, 2003, p.66.
2
Paul Wilson, How to not be biased, Journal of Free Thought, 42(3): 2004: p.22.
3
Fraser, op. cit., p.94.
In the reference list/bibliography

FRASER, Graham. From my point of view. Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 2003.
WILSON, Paul. How not to be biased. Journal of Free Thought, 42(3): 2004: p.21-25.

1 52 navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques

6.3 What is the APA style?
APA is the well-known and widely used refer-
ence style devised by the American Psychological
Association. As you can see in the examples in
Figure 9.36, there are quite a few differences
between the APA and Harvard styles of refer-
encing. Here is a list of the main features of the
APA style:
n In-text referencing consists of the surname(s) of
the author(s) and date. Pages are optional.
n In the reference list/bibliography, the authors
are listed alphabetically, second and following
lines are indented, and the date of publication
appears in brackets after the surname and
initials of the author(s).
n Where there are six or fewer authors, all the
authors have to be listed in the reference list/
bibliography.
6.4 What is the Oxford system of
referencing?
The Oxford referencing system involves footnotes
or endnotes. A number is inserted next to the
information that you have used in the text and the
full information is given at the bottom of the page
as a footnote. You may also make use of endnotes
at the end of a chapter or article. As you can see in
the examples in Figure 9.37, there are quite a few
other differences between the Oxford and Harvard
systems of referencing. Here is a list of the main
features of the Oxford system:
Summary
In this chapter you explored referencing: what
referencing is, why you need to reference and when
to reference. You learned about the Harvard system
of referencing. You used that system to learn about
the practical application of reference techniques
for referencing printed sources such as books and
journal articles, and non-printed sources such as
electronic books and journals, websites and DVDs.
You also found out about some other widely used
reference styles.
navigating information literacy | 9 | referencing and reference techniques
n Page numbers are indicated by p.
n For repeat references, you can use the style
shown in Example 1 in Figure 9.37 on page 152.
In this case the reference 2 is to the same source
as 1, but to a different page.
n For repeat references you can also use the Latin
term ibid. which means ‘in the same place’. The
term is used for a repeat reference to the same
work that was cited immediately before.
In Example 2 in Figure 9.37, the reference 2 is
to the same source as 1 and to the same page. In
Example 3 in Figure 9.37, the reference 2 is to
the same source as 1 but to a different page.
n There can be more than one reference and
more than one footnote on the same page or on
subsequent pages. You can see this in Example 4
in Figure 9.37.
n For repeat references you can also use the Latin
term op. cit. which means ‘the work cited’. It
is used to refer to a different page of a work
cited earlier. You can see this in Example 5
in Figure 9.37 where op. cit. is used to indi-
cate that 3 refers to the same source as 1 but a
different page, and other sources have been
cited in between.
n There are differences between the bibliographic
descriptions in the footnotes and in the refer-
ence list/bibliography. You can choose the
capitalisation of surnames. You can also choose
to use the full names or initials of authors.
However, once you have made a choice, you
must use it consistently.
Critical thinking questions
n Why do you have to reference or cite the
information sources that you have used in your
work?
n How will you know which method to use when
you have to write an assignment or a report or
an article?
n Are you sure you know how to cite your infor-
mation sources in the text of your assignment
according to the Harvard system?
n Are you sure you know the correct way to list
your sources in the reference list/bibliography
according to the Harvard system?
n What do you think of the other referencing
systems (other than the Harvard system)?
1 53
Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
answer the following questions:
n Why should information and information
sources be evaluated?
n Which criteria should I use to evaluate
information and information sources?
n Which factors may make it difficult to use
information sources?
n How can I analyse Uniform Resource Locators
(URLs) to predict the quality and reliability of
web information sources?

Key terms
n Audience
n Currency
n Evaluation
n Information source
n Objectivity
n Path
n Peer-reviewed publication
n Protocol
n Reputation
n Resource name
n Server domain
n Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

Evaluating information
Chapter 10
Have you ever found information to write an assignment or
do research, or for personal reasons such as to buy a new
cell phone? You might have found so much information that
you were overwhelmed and didn’t know which information
and information sources to use. You probably wanted to find
out what was quality information that would meet your
information need and what was a waste of time. In this
chapter you will learn about evaluating information and
information sources. In a society marked by information
overload, you need to be able to distinguish quality and to be
selective in the information that you use.

1 54
and information sources
It is difficult to evaluate information sources. You
should not expect to be able to make confident
judgements about the quality of the information
sources you plan to use and the information they
contain immediately. It is even more difficult to
judge the reliability, accuracy and trustworthiness
of information. However, the criteria for evaluating
information and information sources that you will
learn in this chapter will help you to make evalua-
tions.
Although there is a slight difference in criteria
that apply to traditional information sources
such as printed sources, and sources available via
the Web such as websites, web pages and online
journals, there is also considerable overlap between
the two. You will focus on the criteria in general,
and only distinguish between the two where
necessary. For example, you will learn how to
analyse a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Apart
from knowing which criteria to apply, you should
also understand the rationale for evaluation, the
rationale for each criterion and the effect it may
have on the quality of your work.
It takes time and effort to find and use infor-
mation sources, and sometimes there may even
be costs involved, for example through subscrip-
tions. You need to make sure that you use the best
available sources. In an academic context your
marks will also be influenced if your information
sources do not meet with the requirements set for
1 55
 academic work. Even if you are selecting informa-
tion sources for a personal reason, you need to
ensure that they will offer you the right informa-
tion and that they will not take you on a wild goose
chase.
1 What is the process of
evaluating information and
information sources?
Once you have searched the literature and used
resources such as databases and platforms to
identify sources with potentially useful informa-
tion, the next step is to evaluate the information
and information sources. There are a number of
steps in the process of evaluating information and
information sources:
n Assess the information source.
n Evaluate further if the information source is
potentially useful.
n Get the information source and assess whether
it is useable.
n Study the information source and evaluate the
information.
n Use the information to produce an end product.
n Evaluate the end product.
n Submit or use the end product.
You can see how these steps develop a roadmap
to the evaluation of information and information
sources in Figure 10.1. In this chapter you will
learn about the first four of these steps in more
detail. You will learn about the last four steps in
Chapter 11.
1.1 Assess the information source
You need to identify information sources that may
be potentially useful. Once you have found records
of information sources, such as bibliographic
records, or full-text publications, your first step will
be to determine if the records or full-text sources
deal with your topic or problem. Depending on
the type of record or publication, you can do the
following to assess whether an information source
meets your information need:
n Scan the bibliographic record (the represen-
tation of the publication). Look at the title,
descriptors and abstract.
n If it is a full-text article, you can also scan the
conclusion or summary and the headings and
subheadings.
n In the case of a book, you can scan the table of
contents, headings, subheadings, introductions
and conclusions of chapters. The index at the
back of the book may also give a good indication
of the content.
1 56 navigating information literacy | 10 | evaluating information and information sources
n For web pages you should consider the title,
URL and the brief description displayed with
the search results.
If an information source does not appear to deal
with your topic or problem or if it seems as if it will
not be able to help you to meet your purpose such
as writing an assignment, then you should not use
it. You will have to consider the other sources you
have identified, or adapt, refine and repeat your
search strategy until you find more suitable sources.
If an information source seems to be dealing
with your topic or problem, there are further
questions you should ask to determine whether the
publication will help you to meet your purpose or
not. The questions will not necessarily apply in all
situations.
n How much information such as depth and
detail is included? For example, if you need only
a summary of the hunting behaviour of lions,
it might be more appropriate to use an article
or chapter in an encyclopaedia than a book
of 200 pages. If the source is only a two-page
newsletter or brochure, it might be better to
search for a more detailed discussion. If you
do not need to deal with the topic in-depth,
less detail might actually be better. However, it
should still provide enough detail to help you to
achieve your purpose.
n Does it provide a general overview or does
it deal only with a specific facet in detail?
Depending on your reasons for wanting the
information, either may be acceptable.
n Does it cover all facets of the topic or problem
or only some of them?
n Does it cover the right time period, for example
South African political history between 1994
and 2007?
n Does it cover the right geographic area, for
example New Zealand and not France?
n Is the slant taken by the publication suitable for
your purpose, for example a marketing slant, or
a political, advertising, advocacy, educational or
entertainment slant?
If it seems as if the publication addresses your
needs or problem and might be useful, you can
move on to the further evaluation.
1.2 Evaluate further if the information
source is potentially useful
In this step you need to determine whether you
will be able to use the source, whether the source
meets the requirements and standards of the
specific situation in which you find yourself and
whether the information source is reliable. There is
no prescribed order in which to ask and answer the
 Figure 10.1
Roadmap to the evaluation of information and
Use resources such as databases and platforms to identify information sources that may be potentially
information sources
useful, e.g. through a literature search.

Assess whether the information source is suitable for your information need
(based on the bibliographic description)
n Will it give you the answer?
n Will it help you to solve the problem? NO Ignore
n Does it deal with the topic?
Consider: amount of information, depth of information, general overview vs. specific focus, all facets vs.
some facets only, period covered, geographic area covered, slant, etc.

YES

Do further evaluation (based on the bibliographic description)

n Is the information source suitable for you as a person? Consider: audience, level of presentation,
language, clarity, reading level, etc.
n Does the information source meet with the standards / requirements for your situation?
Consider: peer-reviewed publications, currency, key publications / key researchers, etc. NO Ignore
n Can it be assumed that the information source will offer information that will be accurate, reliable,
trustworthy, etc? Consider: author’s reputation, publisher, extensiveness of reference list, reliability of
the hyperlinks, personal pages, URL, etc.

YES

Get hold of the information source (e.g. book, web page, article)
n A re there any extraneous factors affecting you? Consider: price, subscription cost, hardware or Try to deal with such factors or look for
software requirements, instability of websites, suitability for disabled users, interactive links, etc. YES alternative information sources.

NO

Read/study the information source and evaluate the information

n Is the information accurate/correct?
n Is the information unbiased, etc.? NO Put the information source aside.
Consider: obvious errors/mistakes, objectivity, inaccurate factual information, etc.

YES

Use the information to make a decision, write an assignment, etc.

n In this phase you will write the assignment.

YES

Evaluate the end product

n Is your answer correct?
n Did you solve the problem? Repeat some processes such as the
n Did you get enough information?
NO literature search.
n Does your assignment address the topic in sufficient detail?

YES

Put the end product on the table

n Apply your decision, etc.
n Submit your assignment and wait for the lecturer’s evaluation.

navigating information literacy | 10 | evaluating information and information sources 1 57

 infobits
Searching databases and assessing
information sources
When searching databases, you can sometimes
choose to display only the titles of publications.
This is an easy way to determine at a glance
which publications seem relevant and need to be
considered in more detail.
For example, the following search was done on
ERIC, an educational database available through
Cambridge Scientific Abstracts and EBSCOhost as well
as free on the Web (http://www.eric.ed.gov). The
search for the topic ‘The effect of media violence
on young children’ was done on all content fields
including title, keyword and abstract. The following
titles were retrieved on the topic:
n Beyond banning war and superhero play:
meeting children’s needs
n ‘Good guys don’t wear hats’: children’s talk about
the media
n Social development of the young child: why can’t
Johnny share?
n Violence prevention for families of young children
n Media culture and media violence: making the
television work for young children, childhood
educators and parents
Only the last title is obviously relevant. Would you
consider reading the abstracts of the bibliographic
records to see if any of the other sources may also
be useful? You could either waste a few minutes, or
you might come across very interesting and highly
relevant information. This is one of the reasons you
need to allocate enough time for research.
questions that will help you to evaluate an informa-
tion source further.
n Is the information source suitable for you?
n Is the information source suitable for your
requirements?
n Is the information source accurate, reliable and
trustworthy?
n What does the Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
reveal about an electronic information source?
1.2.1 Is the information source suitable for you?
You may find excellent, very reliable information
sources that seem to be perfect in every way. They
may even be written by an expert in the field.
Unfortunately they may not be suitable for you
as a person. No matter how good an information
source is, you should be able to use it. To be able
to use an information source, you need to be able
to read and understand it, and use the information
to form your own ideas. If the publication is too
complex or written in very academic language, it
158 navigating information literacy | 10 | evaluating information and information sources
might not be suitable for you. Here are some of the
questions you can ask to determine whether you
will be able to use a particular information source.
n Who is the information source’s audience?
n What is the level of presentation of the
information source?
n What language is used in the information
source?
n What is the reading level of the information
source?
Who is the information source’s audience? The
audience is the type of person at which the infor-
mation source is directed. Is the audience a lay
person, subject specialist, professional, academic,
practitioner or student? Most textbooks are aimed
at students and encyclopaedia articles are aimed
at the general public. Other types of book can be
aimed at practitioners in which case they will have
a more practical slant or they can be aimed at
subject experts and academics. The same applies to
articles and other publications. You need to be sure
that you are included in the target audience.
What is the level of presentation of the information
source? Is the level of presentation suitable for your
current knowledge and understanding of the topic
or problem? Do you have the right prior or back-
ground knowledge to follow the discussion and
arguments? The presentation can be too technical,
theoretical, philosophical or mathematical for you
to fully grasp the content. On the other hand very
complex concepts can sometimes be explained in a
very clear and simple way which would be ideal for
undergraduate students. Are concepts and theories
explained in sufficient detail or is it assumed that
the reader is a subject expert that is familiar with
the concepts? You need to be sure that the level of
presentation is suitable for you.
What language is used in the information source?
It is always easier to read publications in your first
language. However, these are not always available.
You need to consider how complex the argument
and the use of language are in an information
source, and whether you will be able to follow
the discussion. If understanding the language is
a serious problem, you may need to search for
another publication(s). However, most academic
publications are written in English. So, you would
be well advised to work on your command of the
English language if that is an issue for you. You
need to make sure that you can understand the
language used in an information source.
What is the reading level of the information source?
What is the level of the language used in the
information source? Does it use subject termi-
nology that is understandable to a lay person or
 infobits
Dealing with complex publications
If a publication is too complex for your needs, you
should refine, adapt and repeat your search strategy
to find more suitable sources. At the same time,
you should also realise that you need to work on
your subject expertise, knowledge of the subject
terminology and reading skills.
is it written in very academic language where it
is assumed that the reader fully understands the
subject terminology? Is the reading level suitable
for your understanding? Sometimes a publication
can be well-structured, with detailed definitions
and background information, but it can still be too
difficult to read. There are reading indexes which
offer formulas that authors can use to see if the
reading level might be too high for their audience.
Unfortunately these are not always used, and it
would also not help you if the audience is ‘expert
researchers’. You need to assess whether the infor-
mation is clear, well-organised and at a reading
level that you can access and follow.
1.2.2 Is the information source suitable for your
requirements?
If you are a student, you are working in a situa-
tion with requirements of academic standards and
quality. In your personal life and professional life,
there may be other requirements that will influence
the information sources you are expected to use
such as culture and ideology.
Many academic disciplines have their own
requirements with regard to the sources you may
use. For example, in history it is very important to
use primary sources. Primary sources are sources
with original information and no interpretation by
other authors such as letters, diaries and contracts.
In religious studies there might also be prescrip-
tions on the religions or ideologies you may use or
cite in your discussion.
The dominating ideology or culture in a country
may also prescribe the information sources you are
allowed to use. For example, Hitler’s Mein Kampf
is forbidden in some countries – even from that
particular country’s access to Amazon.com (a web-
based bookseller).
In this chapter the focus is on academic require-
ments. There are some specific criteria that apply
to information sources in an academic setting. In
an academic setting you can ask these three ques-
tions:
n Is it a peer-reviewed publication?
n How current is the information source?
n Is it a key publication or by key researchers?
navigating information literacy | 10 | evaluating information and information sources
Is it a peer-reviewed publication? As a student,
you will be expected to use peer-reviewed articles,
journals and conference papers. Sometimes the
procedure for peer review, the editorial advisory
board or the names of the referees are indicated
on the first page or the inside cover of a journal or
conference proceedings. Your lecturers may bring
such publications to your attention. Textbooks and
books for subject experts, and reference works
such as encyclopaedias and dictionaries discussed
in Chapter 2, normally also go through some
processes of peer review and quality checking. It
will be worth your while to get to know the peer-
reviewed publications in your field of study if you
intend to continue with postgraduate studies.
How current is the information source? You will
generally be expected to use current and up-to-
date sources. First determine the year in which the
source you intend to use was published. For web
information sources the date of publication or the
last time the site was updated is not always indi-
cated. If this is the case, you would be well advised
to consider not using the website. Rather look
for other sources. The most current publications
normally have the latest views on a topic. They
also cite the older sources, so they can be used to
identify important sources for a topic as well as
the key researchers in a field. Journal articles are
generally more up to date than books because there
is a shorter time span in publishing an article than
a book.
How current you need the publication to be
will depend on your purpose, the discipline and
the topic. For example, for political science and
economics, recent daily newspapers might be
considered essential sources of information. When
using web news sites, always check to see how
often the site is updated. For Medicine, Chemistry,
Physics, Computer Science, and topics concerning
Information Technology, the latest information is
considered essential.
For History, archival information sources are
essential. Archival information sources are histor-
ical sources such as contracts, diaries and birth
certificates kept in the archives. For topics such as
infobits
What is a peer-reviewed publication?
A peer-reviewed or refereed publication is a
publication that is read and evaluated by experts in a
field of study. In the case of an article, it is evaluated
according to the criteria of the journal. In the case
of a conference paper, it is evaluated according to
the criteria of the conference committee. It is then
accepted, returned for revision or rejected.
1 59
 infobits
How current does an information
source need to be?
It is sometimes difficult to decide on how current
an information source should be. Use your common
sense and think about the following examples to
help you to decide:
n If you plan a trip to London, would you use
a 1980 travel guide to work out a budget for
accommodation?
n If you need to choose a university, would you use
the 2000 yearbook?
n If you are studying the social circumstances of
South African women between 1970 and 1980,
would you use articles published during this
period?
the history of medical education, it might often be
necessary to consult older publications which are
not necessarily archival documents.
Depending on the topic, it might sometimes be
necessary to consult both the older and the latest
publications.
Is it a key publication or by key researchers?
At postgraduate level, university students are
expected to consult the key publications or
seminal works as well as the ongoing publications
by key researchers in the field. For example, Ben
Schneiderman is widely accepted as an expert on
human computer interaction and even at under-
graduate level students are introduced to his work.
Although some key researchers are very successful
in explaining complex concepts in easy-to-under-
stand language, some of these publications may
be too complex for undergraduate students. If it is
difficult for you to understand such publications,
it might be an indication that you need to work on
your subject understanding and reading skills.
1.2.3 Is the information source accurate, reliable and
trustworthy?
A number of aspects can be an indication of
the accuracy, reliability and trustworthiness of
an information source. Some of these might be
difficult to judge. The information sources to which
a library or information service subscribes, such
as the online journals or the bibliographic and
full-text databases you may search, are mostly asso-
ciated with reliable information. The same applies
to peer-reviewed articles and journals, and the
books and other publications forming part of the
collection of a library or information service.
The criteria for evaluating an information
source for accuracy, reliability and trustworthiness
include the following questions:
16 0 navigating information literacy | 10 | evaluating information and information sources
n
n
Is it written by a reputable author?
Is it published by a reputable publisher?
n How extensive is the reference list/bibliography?
n How reliable are the hyperlinks?
Is it written by a reputable author? Your lecturers
can bring the names of reputable authors and
the key researchers in the field to your attention.
Prescribed and recommended reading as well as
the authors cited in that reading can also give you
an indication of authors whose work is respected.
If you are not sure about an author’s expertise,
you can try to check for his or her qualifications
and other publications on the Web. There are also
databases such as the Science Citation database
that can be checked to see how often an author
has been cited. For web-based information sources
it is important to determine whether an author
or at least the corporate body or organisation is
indicated and whether there is any contact detail
available. If not, you would be well advised to
ignore the site.
Is it published by a reputable publisher? Some
publishers specialise in specific fields and build up
a good reputation for their work. For example, Sage
Publications specialise in quantitative and quali-
tative research, and are respected for the quality
of their books. University publishers often also
have good reputations, as do many series. Each
discipline will have its own list of reliable series. In
Computer Science the Lecture Notes in Computer
Science (LNCS) Series is highly valued. In a more
general sense the For Dummies series and the
Schaum’s Outline Series are also highly respected.
How extensive is the reference list/bibliography?
An extensive reference list/bibliography can indi-
cate that a publication is well researched. However,
it does not guarantee quality and accuracy except if
it has been peer reviewed or quality checked.
How reliable are the hyperlinks? When using a
website, you need to check whether the links are to
reliable sites and whether they are working.
1.2.4 What does the Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
reveal about an electronic information source?
Every document on the Web has a Uniform
Resource Locator, more commonly referred to
as a URL, for example www.up.ac.za. The URL
reveals useful information about an electronic
document, such as the owner and the nature of the
organisation and the document or web page. It is
easy for anyone to publish on the Web, so you need
to be able to analyse the URL of a website to get an
indication of what to expect from the website in
terms of quality and before going to the trouble of
accessing the site.
 Table 10.1 An analysis of a URL
Protocol Server domain
http:// www.up.ac.za/
http://www.up.ac.za/research/eng/ethics.html
For example, it is important to recognise when
you are using a commercial site, and to bear in
mind that the information will be biased towards
the product or company. This does not mean
that you cannot use the information. For some
information needs it may be essential. However,
you should be alert to the bias. It is also important
to be able to recognise websites which you would
assume offer accurate information such as the
websites of professional organisations, digital
libraries, governments and academic institutions.
Academic institutions may host web pages with
information on the institution and the courses
offered, as well as the personal web pages of the
lecturers with their work experience, lists of
publications and research interest. Although you
may assume that some websites such as those of
academic institutions are reliable, they may also
Table 10.2 Examples of the most common generic codes in domain names
Generic code Nature of site
.gov Government site
.com or .co Commercial site
.edu or ac. Education site
.net Network site
.org Organisation site
navigating information literacy | 10 | evaluating information and information sources
Path Resource name
research/eng/ ethics.html
Figure 10.2
Example of a web page
from the University
of Pretoria. Used with
permission.
include information of a marketing or promotional
nature, for example on the quality of the courses
and the importance of studying at the institution.
A complete URL has four components:
protocol, server domain, path and resource name.
The different components of a URL can help you to
get some idea of what to expect from a website.
Table 10.1 shows an analysis of a URL. The URL
is http://www.up.ac.za/research/eng/ethics.html.
It is the URL for the web page of the University of
Pretoria website shown in Figure 10.2.
You can look at each component of a URL and
ask the following questions:
n What does the URL protocol reveal?
n What does the URL server domain reveal?
n What does the URL path reveal?
n What does the URL resource name reveal?
Example
http://www.gov.za
http://www.vodacom.co.za
http://www.up.ac.za
http://www.safagoal.net
http://sangonet.org.za
161
 What does the URL protocol reveal? There are
different types of protocol such as Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (http) or File Transfer Protocol
(ftp). For web addresses, the protocol is ‘http://’
and for secure sites (for example, when purchasing
something) it is ‘https://’.
What does the URL server domain reveal? The
server domain specifies the name of the web server
on which the page is located. It often starts with
‘www’, followed by the domain name, for example
up.ac.za. The domain name includes:
n An indication of the name of the company,
institution or organisation, for example, ‘up’ (for
University of Pretoria), ‘microsoft’, ‘lboro’ (for
the University of Loughborough), ‘bankofbo-
tswana’ (for Bank of Botswana) and ‘acm’ (for
Association for Computing Machinery).
n The generic code such as ‘.ac’ (for academic)
which gives a good indication of the type of
group or the nature of the institution. It is
important to note this part of the domain name
since it can give an indication of the slant and
quality that you can expect. Table 10.2 on the
previous page shows you examples of some of
the most common generic codes.
n The two-letter country code such as ‘.za’ (for
South Africa). For the United States of America
no country code is indicated since the Internet
started there. It is important to note the country
code because when conducting a search it
may be an indicator of the material being in
a language other than English, or it may have
implications for download time. The networks
in countries to the east of South Africa such as
Australia may not be as busy as those in Europe.
In the later afternoon and evening the United
States networks are very busy and it may take
a long time to download information from
sites based there. Country codes include: ‘.au’
(Australia), ‘.ca’ (Canada), ‘.ch’ (Switzerland) and
‘.uk’ (United Kingdom). One of the most recent
geographic locations to have a domain is ‘.eu’
(the European Union).
The server domain is extremely important in
deciding whether to access a website or not.
Table 10.3 shows you examples of server domains
and how you can analyse these to determine the
possible value of a web page or website for your
purpose or information need. Some of these
examples are fictional examples with simplified
addresses. They are there to illustrate the princi-
ples. In real life, addresses may be more complex
and less straightforward to analyse.
162 navigating information literacy | 10 | evaluating information and information sources
What does the URL path reveal? The path specifies
the location of a document or page on the server.
It can include the names of subfolders. The path
is sometimes also referred to as the directory or
subdirectories.
What does the URL resource name reveal? A
resource name is a file name with an extension
such as an ‘.html’ file, sound file or graphics file.
The resource extension such as ‘.html’ or ‘.htm’
indicates the type of file. Some other extensions
are ‘.ppt’ (MS PowerPoint), ‘.doc’ (MS Word), ‘.ps’
(Postscript) and ‘.pdf’. ‘Pdf’ indicates that the file
is in portable document format and a special ‘pdf’
reader such as Adobe Acrobat Reader is required
to read it. Images might have the extension ‘.jpg’
and sound might have the extension ‘.mp3’.
Even though analysing the URL is not an
infallible method of evaluating information, it is
definitely worth your while doing so. The URL can
give you a very clear indication about the quality of
the information.
1.3 Get the information source and assess
whether it is usable
If you decide that an information source is suitable
for your needs and situation, and that it meets
with all the criteria, you need to get the full-text
publication and assess whether it is usable or not.
Sometimes you may find sources that meet all the
criteria, but there might still be extraneous factors
(factors outside the information source) that make
it difficult or impossible for you to use the source.
The following are some of the factors that may
inhibit your use of an information source.
n Are there subscription fees?
n Are there any hardware and software
requirements?
n Are the websites stable?
n Are the websites suitable for disabled users?
n Are the links active?
1.3.1 Are there subscription fees?
You may come across websites or documents that
are only available to subscribers, for example the
newsletter of a professional organisation, journal
articles and reference works. Libraries and infor-
mation services subscribe to many information
resources, journals and reference works. These
should be your first port of call. In case you decide
to subscribe to an information source on your own,
you should bear in mind that security of payment
is an important factor. You must ensure that your
credit card information will not be abused.
Table 10.3 Examples of analyses of server domains
URL
http://online.vodafone.co.uk
http://www.mtn.co.za
http://www.bankofbotswana.bw
http://www.bankofscotland.co.uk
www.ohio.edu/esl/help/plagiarism.html
http://www.sopmp.sun.ac.za/docs/5.pdf
www.lazy.com.za/excellent/forsale/
media&violence/assignments.html
www.up.ac.za/sa-media-journal/
peerreviewed- article/media&violence.pdf
navigating information literacy | 10 | evaluating information and information sources
Nature of site Will the site be useful?
A commercial site for Yes, if you want to buy a cell phone in the
a company selling cell United Kingdom.
phones in the United No, if you are looking for a comparison of
Kingdom cell phone prices, contracts and features. A
web page from http://www.wirelessguide.
org/phone/comparison-shopping.htm might
be more suitable.
A commercial site for Yes, if you want to buy a cell phone in South
a company selling cell Africa.
phones in South Africa No, if you are looking for the health-related
dangers of cell phones. A web page from
http://www.naturalhealthweb.com/articles/
Serrabo1.html might be more suitable.
A commercial site for Yes, if you are looking for banking facilities in
the Bank of Botswana Botswana.
A commercial site for No, if you are looking for banking facilities in
the Bank of Scotland South Africa you will not consider the Bank
of Scotland, except if you are interested in
offshore investments.
An educational site for Yes, if you are looking for guidelines on how to
the University of Ohio avoid plagiarism. Although you could assume
that the information is accurate, you need to
realise that it is not a peer-reviewed document,
so accuracy and quality are not guaranteed.
An educational site Yes, if you are looking for guidelines on writing
for the library of assignments. Although you could assume that
the University of the information is accurate, you need to realise
Stellenbosch that it is not a peer-reviewed document, so
accuracy and quality are not guaranteed.
A commercial site No, even if you are really pressed for time
selling assignments in to complete your assignment on the ‘Effect
South Africa of media violence’, it would not be a good
idea to use this site. Words such as ‘lazy’,
and ‘forsale’ in the address should give you
an indication that this is not a peer-reviewed
assignment. There is no guarantee of the
quality and accuracy of the information, and
the assignment might even be purely based on
plagiarism. The author of the assignment could
be anyone - someone who knows slightly
more about the topic than you or someone at
high school.
An educational site Yes, if you are looking for information to
for the University of complete your assignment on the ‘Effect of
Pretoria media violence’. If you follow the link, you
will see that the journal is published by the
Department of Media Communication, it is
available free, and the article has been written
by Prof. Expert. The editorial board of the
journal is indicated on the cover page and
includes academics from other South African
universities, an expert from the industry, and
four academics from universities in Europe, the
UK and the USA. They are responsible for peer-
reviewing to ensure the quality and standard of
the article.
163
 infobits
Evaluating information
Once you start using an information source, you need
to closely monitor the accuracy and usefulness of
the information. Even if it is a reliable source, it may
contain inaccurate or biased information. Evaluation
of information is an ongoing process. Once you have
actually used the information, for example in your
assignment, you need to evaluate again whether
you have used the information appropriately and
whether the problem was actually solved or the
original information need addressed.
able document format). Adobe Acrobat Reader can
be installed free from www.adobe.com.
1.3.3 Are the websites stable?
One of the disadvantages of the Web is that it is
often very unstable. Sites are often temporarily
unavailable, or a site that you accessed today may
no longer be available tomorrow. However, you can
expect the sites of academic institutions, digital
libraries, online journals, government bodies and
professional organisations to be more reliable than
some of the other sites.

1.3.4 Are the websites suitable for disabled users?

1.3.2 Are there any hardware and software
requirements?
Sometimes there may be special requirements for
sound equipment or additional software for video,
audio, older graphics formats and even compressed
files. Additional software that is often required is
Adobe Acrobat Reader for documents in pdf (port-
Although there is an international trend (in some
countries even through legislation) to cater for the
needs of disabled people, you may still come across
websites that are not suitable for disabled users. For
example, websites may not allow for colour-blind-
ness or for enlarging the font.

Summary

In this chapter you covered the importance of

evaluating both the information sources you intend
to use and the information in these sources. You
learned about the steps and criteria for evaluating
information and information sources. You looked
at criteria such as usefulness, quality and accuracy
of information. You also learned how to analyse
URLs and how to use that analysis as an important
indication of the quality of websites.

164 navigating information literacy | 10 | evaluating information and information sources

1.3.5 Are the links active?
Another problem with some documents is inactive
links. Often the list of results from search engines
may seem useful, only to find that some of the sites
have many links that are not working.
1.4 Study the information source and
evaluate the information
Once you have the information source, you need
to evaluate the information it contains in terms
of accuracy, reliability and trustworthiness. With
regard to the accuracy of information, you can
check for the following:
n Are there obvious errors and mistakes?
n Is it objective?
n Is there inaccurate factual information?
1.4.1 Are there obvious errors and mistakes?
You need to check that the publication is free from
obvious errors such as typing errors, and spelling
and grammar mistakes.
1.4.2 Is it objective?
You need to check whether the publication is
objective and unbiased or if it tries to sway your
opinion. A subjective publication is not necessarily
bad. However, as a reader, you should either be
informed that a specific point of view is supported
as would be the case in most academic works, or
you should at least be aware of the bias in the work,
so that you can supplement it from other sources,
and verify the statements, arguments and factual
information.
1.4.3 Is there inaccurate factual information?
If you come across contradicting factual informa-
tion when using different sources, you need to
verify the facts by using further sources. It should
also be a warning to use information from that
particular source with care.

Critical thinking questions

n What are the pitfalls of not evaluating informa-

tion and information sources?
n Why are peer-reviewed information sources so
important in writing assignments and research
reports?
n How can you improve your skills in evaluating
information sources?
n Why is it important to work on your ability to
deal with more academic information sources?
n How can you find a balance between sources
that are easy to use and the need for quality,
reliable and authoritative information sources?

navigating information literacy | 10 | evaluating information and information sources 165

Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
answer the following questions:
n How do I write assignments and research
reports?
n How do I analyse an assignment topic?
n How does the writing of an assignment link to a
literature search?
n What are the components of assignments and
research reports?
n How do I meet the requirements of assignments
and research reports?
n What does the writing process entail?
n What do I need to consider when citing
information sources?
n What do I need to consider when compiling a
list of references or a bibliography?

Key terms

n Assignment
n Bibliography
n Literature search
n Mind map
n Research report

Writing assignments
Chapter 11 Have you ever had to write an assignment or a research
report? You might have felt overwhelmed by the task. You
probably wanted to do a good job but you didn’t know
where to start. In this chapter you will learn about writing
assignments and research reports. You will learn how to
analyse the topic, do the required reading, identify aspects to
discuss, take notes, and write and submit the assignment or
research report. Although the focus is on writing assignments
at undergraduate level, the principles also apply to other kinds
of writing such as theses and dissertations at postgraduate
level and articles and conference papers in the workplace.

16 6
 and research reports
You have learned how to search for information
and information sources and how to assess
information sources and information. Now you
need to learn how to use those information literacy
skills to write an assignment or research report.
1 What is an assignment?
At tertiary level there are many forms of
assessment such as tests, practicals, exams and
assignments. For tests and exams your marks
often depend on how much you can recall from
what you have memorised, how fast you can
write in a limited time and how well you can
analyse, interpret and formulate under pressure.
Assignments, on the other hand, offer an excellent
opportunity to use a variety of resources to collect
information, to reflect on your work and to edit
until you are satisfied with the end product.
An assignment (sometimes also referred to
as a paper) reflects your knowledge of a topic,
your insight into a problem, and your ability to
formulate your thoughts and argue your point
of view. Unlike your answer for an examination
question, an assignment should not merely reflect
your knowledge at the particular point in time
when you received the topic. You should study a
selection of the subject literature and reflect on
it to expand your knowledge of the topic before
attempting the writing process.
167
 infobits
The importance of reading for good writing
In his book, Scientists must write: a guide to better
writing for scientists, engineers and students, Robert
Barrass (1978: 1) writes: ‘We learn many things
through discovery but most of what we know comes
from conversation or reading. Discoveries are made
against a background of existing knowledge which
forms part of the opportunities of place and time.
Reading may save you the fruitless labour of seeking,
by observation and experiment, information which is
already in the literature …’
Writing assignments should prepare you for
other forms of written communication such
as articles and conference papers. There are
some conferences with calls for papers from
undergraduate students such as the Consortium
for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC)
(http://www.ccsc.org). Although the formats of
articles and conference papers are different to an
assignment, the basic principles you will learn
in this chapter, such as the logical ordering of
thoughts, acknowledging sources of information,
and building on a study of the subject literature will
also apply to the other forms of communication.
Assignments gradually increase in complexity
and the level of academic writing expected of you.
The nature of assignments and topics varies widely
between disciplines and modules. Initially you may
find writing assignments difficult since you need
to master many new skills and seemingly diverse
requirements.
2 What is the process of writing
assignments and research
reports?
When you write, you share information so that
others can benefit from your knowledge and expe-
riences, and because you want a wider community
to take note of your work. When you write a
research report, you share your expertise and
discoveries, and your solutions to problems that
may eventually affect the well-being of society. To
be effective, any written communication such as an
assignment or a research report needs to meet with
certain requirements and conventions.
Figure 11.1 summarises the process of preparing
and writing an assignment. You will see that there
are a number of steps in this process:
n Analyse the topic.
n Do the required reading.
n Identify aspects to discuss.
16 8 navigating information literacy | 11 | writing assignments and research reports
n
n
Search the literature.
Take notes.
n Write the assignment.
n Submit the assignment.
You will discuss each step in this process in more
detail in the rest of this chapter.
2.1 Analyse the topic
When you write an assignment or a research
report, your reason for seeking information is
to respond to the topic. The topic is the subject
or theme with which the assignment deals. Your
assignment should be based on a literature search
and your understanding of the topic.
Analysing the assignment topic is one of the
most important steps in preparing to write an
assignment. You need to understand exactly what
the topic is about and what you are required to
write on. What do you know and what do you need
to know? If you analyse your topic incorrectly, you
may spend a lot of time on preparation but still
get a poor mark. Sometimes it may take a while to
realise your mistake, only to find that there is not
enough time to change your focus. You can also
refer to Chapter 4 on the identification of concepts.
The same principles of concept identification
discussed in Chapter 4 are valid for the analysis of
topics.
Lecturers normally formulate topics and usually
ensure that there is sufficient literature available
on the topic. The formulation of topics and the
requirements about what you need to discuss will
vary widely. As you progress with your studies,
lecturers may provide less detail because it is
assumed that you know how to analyse a topic, and
that you are familiar with common requirements.
Sometimes, for research reports and postgraduate
research, you may be expected to formulate your
own topic. This can be more interesting, but also
more difficult, since you will first have to ensure
that there is enough information available and that
the topic is not too broad or too narrow.
Figure 11.2 shows an example of a real
undergraduate assignment topic.
When you analyse an assignment topic, it is
essential to consider the meaning of each word, as
well as the context of the assignment. If necessary
you should use dictionaries and especially subject
dictionaries. In the example, you could look
up the meaning of the phrases ‘media violence’
and ‘aggressive behaviour’ or the word ‘impact’.
Encyclopaedias can also offer useful background
information.
When you analyse an assignment topic, you
need to consider every word. You can divide the
words into different categories to help you.
 Figure 11.1

Analyse the topic: key theme(s); actions verbs; context words; exclusions; and specifications.
The process of preparing
and writing an
assignment

Do the required reading: study guide and lecture notes; prescribed reading; and recommended reading.

Identify aspects to discuss: What do you know? What do you need to find out?

Search the literature (in addition to the required reading): select information resources; search strategies (adapt and repeat); get hold of the
information sources.

Take notes: read/scan; summarise; interpret (own opinion, reflect); cite.

Write the assignment: include all the components; keep to the requirements, note hints for writing process (proofread, edit).

Submit the assignment: Print and electronic versions; declaration form, keep backups.

Figure 11.2
Discuss the impact of media violence on young children in South Africa An example of an
Since 1955, about 1 000 studies, reports and commentaries concerning the assignment topic
impact of television violence have been published. The accumulated research
clearly demonstrates a correlation between viewing violence and aggressive
behaviour. Discuss both sides of the argument, namely: yes – media violence
promotes violent behaviour; and no – media violence does not promote violent
behaviour. Cultural differences should not be considered.
Both sides of the argument must be thoroughly discussed. Then formulate and
defend your own opinion on the research you have done. Make use of at least 5
sources in addition to the required (prescribed and recommended) reading.

navigating information literacy | 11 | writing assignments and research reports 169

 You will now look at how to identify these
different categories of words in more detail.
n Theme words
n Action words
n Context words
n Exclusion words
n Specification words
2.1.1 How to identify theme words
Theme words are the words or concepts that reflect
the key theme. They are also called key, topic or
subject words. These are the words or concepts
that indicate what the topic is about. To help
you identify them, ask yourself: which words or
concepts will best describe what this topic is about?
2.1.2 How to identify action words
Action words are the verbs in the topic that tell
you what to do. They are also called trigger or
doing words because they trigger what you will
do. You need to understand the meaning of the
most common action words to understand what
is expected from you. Table 11.1 is a list of action
words and explanations based on the work of
Anderson and Poole (2001: 9). The explanations tell
you what you should do if your topic contains that
action word.
2.1.3 How to identify context words
Context words are the words that indicate how the
topic is demarcated. They are also called limiting
or context-specific words because they limited
the topic to a specific context such as a specific
country, a specific group of people or specific
applications. These are the words that tell you
how to discuss the topic you have identified in a
specific context, such as in South Africa or another
country, or at school or playgroups.
2.1.4 How to identify exclusion words
Exclusion words are the words that indicate the
aspects not to include or discuss in your assign-
ment. These are words and phrases such as ‘do not
discuss’, ‘do not include’, ‘exclude’, or ‘it is not neces-
sary to discuss’.
2.1.5 How to identify specification words
Specification words are the words that indicate
the specifics of what you must include in your
assignment. These are words and phrases such as
‘Discuss negative as well as positive aspects’ and
‘Indicate your own opinion based on research’.
Table 11.2 shows you an analysis of the
assignment topic from Figure 11.2 using the
different categories of words. You should read
the whole assignment topic on page 169 again to
understand each aspect of the analysis.
Table 11.3 shows you an analysis of a slightly
different assignment topic. You can see how
170 navigating information literacy | 11 | writing assignments and research reports
the variation in the choice of words, especially
the context words, changes the focus of the
assignment. For example, for the assignment topic
in Table 11.3, your discussion is not limited to
South Africa but it is specific to teenagers.
Table 11.4 shows you an analysis of yet another
variation of the original assignment topic. You
can see how the variation in the choice of words,
especially the action words, changes the focus of
the assignment.
Writing an assignment is an iterative process.
This means that you will repeat parts of the process
as many times as necessary to get a good end
product. For example, you may adapt the table of
contents as you progress with your writing, you
may reformulate your definitions and you may add
new sources to your list of references.
Once you have analysed the topic, the next step
is to do the required reading. This will help you to
deepen your understanding of the topic and what
is required. Bear in mind that as you progress with
your literature survey and as you grow in your
understanding of the topic, your interpretation of
the assignment topic may change.
2.2 Do the required reading
You will be expected to base your assignment on
a study of relevant information sources. With an
assignment topic you may receive guidelines on
how to consult the literature. These guidelines
will list the required reading for the assignment.
Whether you receive a required reading list or not,
you should always consult your study guide and
lecture notes first to see if they cover the topic.
If you receive a required reading list, it will
usually be divided into two types of reading:
n Prescribed reading
n Recommended reading
2.2.1 What is prescribed reading?
Prescribed reading is sources you must use to
complete an assignment. It is essential to use
prescribed reading sources as a point of departure.
A prescribed reading list can include all kinds of
publications such as textbooks, journal articles
and web pages. Prescribed reading is selected with
care. It contains information that will help you to
understand the topic and to plan the structure of
the assignment.
2.2.2 What is recommended reading?
Recommended reading refers to additional
information sources. You should use these
information sources because they contain
information that will help you in writing the
assignment. Although they may not cover all
aspects in sufficient detail, recommended reading
sources should at least cover the core issues you
Table 11.1 Explanations of action words
Action word Explanation
Analyse Consider the various components of the whole and try to describe the inter-relationships between
them. Think carefully about the larger issue under discussion and how other aspects fit in with this.
Compare Examine characteristics to demonstrate similarities and differences.
Contrast Examine the characteristics to demonstrate differences.
Defend Argue in support of something that has been criticised.
Define Describe or give the meaning of the nature of something, or state the terms of reference. Explain
what your interpretation is based on.
Describe Give an account of something.
Discuss Present the different aspects of a question or problem.
Evaluate Examine various sides of something and try to reach a judgement.
Examine critically Investigate or appraise something critically and act as a judge or critic.
Formulate Systematically express your thoughts or opinions in words.
Illustrate Give an example, explain, draw a figure.
Prove Demonstrate or show by logical argument.
Summarise State the main points briefly.

Table 11.2 Analysis of the assignment topic: ‘Discuss the impact of media violence on young children in South Africa’
Word category Examples in topic
Theme words ‘media violence’
‘aggressive behaviour’
‘impact’
Action words ‘discuss’ (present the different aspects of a question or problem)
‘formulate’ (systematically express your thoughts or opinions in words)
‘defend’ (argue in support of something that has been criticised)
Context words ‘young children’
‘in South Africa’
Exclusion words ‘Cultural differences should not be considered’
Specification words ‘Discuss both sides of the argument’
‘Make use of at least 5 sources in addition to the required reading’

Table 11.3 Analysis of the assignment topic: ‘Discuss the impact of media violence on teenagers’
Word category Examples in topic
Theme words ‘media violence’
‘impact’
Action words ‘discuss’ (present the different aspects of a question or problem)
Context words ‘teenagers’

Table 11.4 Analysis of the assignment topic: ‘Illustrate the impact of television violence on teenagers in South Africa’
Word category Examples in topic
Theme words ‘television violence’
‘impact’
Action words ‘illustrate’ (give an example, explain, draw a figure)
Context words ‘teenagers’
‘in South Africa’

navigating information literacy | 11 | writing assignments and research reports 171

 Figure 11.3
An example of required Required reading guidelines
reading guidelines Consult the following information sources for your assignment:
Prescribed reading
Du Preez, T. 2004. Media violence and aggressive behaviour. College Press:
Cape Town. (Chapters 3, 4 and 8)
Recommended reading
(You can consult either one of these sources.)
Smith, J. 2005. Children, violence and the media. Journal of mass
communication, 34(1): 45-50.
Morris, D. & Smith, J. 2003. Aggressive behaviour and TV. Journal of the
South African Communication Circle, 22(9): 76-84.
Further reading
In addition to the prescribed and recommended reading you need to consult at
least five more information sources. These can include books and scholarly or
peer-reviewed journal articles.

need to address. Often there may be a choice
between the titles you need to consult on a
recommended reading list.
You can see an example of required reading
guidelines in Figure 11.3. It shows the instruc-
tions that apply to the topic in Figure 11.2 on
page 169: ‘Discuss the impact of media violence on
young children in South Africa’. Please note that
the publications in the example are fictional. They
do not exist and have been created for illustration
purposes only.
Once you have done the required reading, you
should have a better idea of how to plan the struc-
ture or outline of the assignment and how to plan
your literature search.
You will most often need to do your own
literature search. The information in the required
reading may not be sufficient to write a quality
assignment. Sometimes you will be given guidance
about your own literature search. In the example,
there is an instruction to find and use at least five
more information sources.
For a research report there is no required
reading as you have to do your own literature
search. The scope of your literature search for a
research report is much wider and more exhaustive
than when you do an assignment.
2.3 Identify aspects to discuss
The next step is to use your analysis of the topic
and your reading of the required information
sources to identify the aspects you need to discuss
in your assignment. You can use lists, mind maps,
flow charts or any other technique you find useful.
Brainstorming with other students might also
prove useful if everybody first analyses the topic to
the best of their abilities and does the prior reading.
2.3.1 How to use lists to identify aspects to discuss
You can see an example of a list of aspects to
discuss in Figure 11.4. It shows the aspects that
were identified for the topic in Figure 11.2 on
page 169: ‘Discuss the impact of media violence on
young children in South Africa’. The list of aspects
is based on the analysis of the topic as well as the
required reading.

Figure 11.4
An example of a list of n Background information on media violence – in general as well as with
aspects to discuss regard to young children
n Definitions/explanations of terms such as media violence, young children
n Arguments that media violence has an impact
n Arguments that media violence does not have an impact
n Examples of studies that can support the arguments – especially with regard
to South Africa
n My opinion

172 navigating information literacy | 11 | writing assignments and research reports

2.3.2 How to use mind maps to identify Figure 11.5
aspects to discuss Example of a mind map by Student A
You can also use mind maps to identify the aspects
to discuss about an assignment topic. You can draw
mind maps by hand or you can use Microsoft® Definitions
South Africa
Office PowerPoint or special mind mapping
software such as:
n Compendium (http://compendium.open.ac.uk/
Types
index.html) Young Media
n Freemind (http://freemind.sourceforge.net/ children violence
wiki/index.php/Main_Page) Background
n Mindomo (http://www.mindomo.com) in
general
Arguments
You can find more information and links to free on impact
and commercial mind mapping software at http:// Background
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mind_Mapping_ in
South Africa
software. Have No
In Figure 11.5 you can see an example of a mind impact impact
map for the topic: ‘Discuss the impact of media
violence on young children in South Africa’. Studies Studies
Different people may have slightly different (SA) (SA)
interpretations of the same topic so they may
have different mind maps of the same topic. In
Figure 11.6 you can see another example of a mind
map for the topic: ‘Discuss the impact of media Figure 11.6
violence on young children in South Africa’. Example of a mind map by Student B
A mind map can help you to decide how to
Types
continue your literature search. In the example,
it could help you to identify the five additional
sources you need to consult. A mind map can Definitions
Background in South Africa
also help you to plan the outline that you will use
for writing the assignment. You should adapt and
change your mind map as you progress with your
assignment. Media
violence
2.3.3 How to use the list or mind map of
aspects to discuss
You need to use your analysis of the topic and your Background in general Young children
list or mind map of aspects to discuss, to compare
what you already know to write the assignment
South Africa Arguments on impact
with what you need to know. This will give you
an indication of the information that you need to
find out by searching the literature. You need to No impact Have impact
use your list or mind map to answer the following Studies (USA) Studies (SA) Studies (USA) Studies (SA)
questions:
n What do I need to know to write the
assignment?
n What do I already know about the topic?
n What do I need to search for?

When you answer these questions, you may

realise you need to find support in the literature
to substantiate your arguments or statements.
You may identify knowledge or information that
you are lacking, or another gap that you need to
fill by searching the subject literature. Based on
the aspects you still need to explore, you need to
search for more literature using all the informa-

navigating information literacy | 11 | writing assignments and research reports 173

 tion seeking skills you learned in the preceding
chapters.
2.4 Search the literature
It is important that you do your literature search
well. The planning of your assignment and the
quality of your discussion will depend on the
quality and the relevance of the information
sources you find and consult.
Searching for literature is not a once-off event.
When you are writing the assignment, you may
find that there are some aspects you thought you
had covered well for which you might still need
to find more information. You may need to adapt,
refine and repeat your literature search a couple of
times.
2.4.1 How to plan the literature search
Here are the steps to follow when you plan your
literature search:
n Make a list of the aspects for which you require
further information.
n Identify your search terms (keywords) and
combinations of search terms. These will be
the basis of your search strategies for different
information resources. Search terms are based
on the topic, and you can also use dictionaries,
textbooks and other sources to help you to
identify additional search terms.
n Decide which types of information sources will
be most useful for the assignment. Will books,
articles, dictionaries, newspaper articles or
websites be more appropriate? This decision
will influence which information resources
you will use for searching. Sometimes it will be
best to start with a textbook or a chapter in an
encyclopaedia. Sometimes a review article or a
very recent journal article will be the best. Web
pages can also be very useful depending on how
authoritative they are.
n Identify the information resources to which you
have access. For example, you may have access
to information resources available through a
library or information service or through the
Web.
You need to allow sufficient time to search a variety
of information resources and to adapt the search if
the information sources are not readily available or
do not contain the information you require.
2.4.2 How to choose information resources
You need to choose your information sources care-
fully. Remember that lecturers are familiar with the
core of the academic subject literature, so they will
be able to recognise shortcomings in the literature
174 navigating information literacy | 11 | writing assignments and research reports
you consult. When choosing your information
resources, you should also consider what lecturers
are looking for when marking your assignment.
This may be specified in the assignment guidelines.
In the example, you are required to study five
additional sources to complete the assignment. If
there are no guidelines provided, you can ask and
answer the following important questions about
your information sources:
n Have I used a sufficient number of relevant
sources?
If the number of sources is specified, you need
to consult at least that many.
n Have I used relevant sources? To what extent do
the sources cover the topic? Are they suitable for
the discussion?
In the example, consulting five additional
sources is not enough. They need to be five
relevant sources. The relevance is even more
important than the number of sources.
n Have I used current sources?
Check the currency of your information
sources. For example, if there is more than one
edition of a book, you should try to use the
latest edition with the most up-to-date infor-
mation. Although older sources can be very
useful and even absolutely necessary in certain
circumstances, there are some topics where it is
essential to refer to the latest information. This
especially applies to topics concerning informa-
tion technology and the latest trends.
n Have I used quality sources?
Sources of dubious quality will cast doubt on
the quality of your work in general. Do not just
pad the list of sources you have consulted by
adding sources that make it seem as if you have
read widely on the topic when you actually only
use a few sources. Use what you learned about
evaluating the quality of sources in Chapter 10
to help you here.
Table 11.5 offers suggestions of information
resources you can use. The table provides scenarios
of information needs that require a literature
search. The table suggests where to start the
literature search for each scenario and an order for
consulting the information resources. The ratio-
nale for the choice of resources in the table and
the suggested order for consulting the resources, is
based on the following issues:
n The number of information sources you are
expected to use – For example, you are only
expected to use a few articles for Scenario 1:
writing an assignment.
n The time you have available – In a literature
search this includes search time as well as the
time required to find the full-text publications.
 Table 11.5 Scenarios of information needs and literature searches
Scenario Information need Where to start Suggested order for consulting information resources
1: Writing an A few highly Start with Required reading
assignment relevant, quality information
information sources resources where Reference works (such as subject dictionaries and
you can limit your encyclopaedias)
search results to
highly relevant Platforms (online journals)
records such as
searching in the Library catalogue (for books and digitised required
title field only. reading)
The documents
should be easily Databases
obtainable, for
example through Search engines, subject gateways, digital libraries,
online journals. portals and other Web resources as discussed in
Chapter 5 (to supplement other resources)
2: Writing a As much Search as many Reference works
dissertation, information information
thesis or as possible resources as Databases
research report, - a comprehensive possible, but start
or developing a search with the best so Platforms (online journals)
new product that you do not
waste time. Library catalogue

Follow-up on citations and search individual online

journals and printed versions

Search engines, subject gateways, digital libraries,

portals and other Web resources
3: Looking A single fact or Search only one or Reference works
for factual piece of information two information
information such resources, so start Search engines, subject gateways, digital libraries,
as the address with the best so portals and other Web resources
of a company, a that you do not
date or the name waste time. Your choice will depend on what you are looking for
of a person and what is most convenient to access

Although you will often have to complete
assignments in a short time span, the end
product should still be of a high standard.
n The academic quality of work expected.
As you can see in Table 11.5, Scenario 1 deals
with writing an assignment. Scenario 2 deals
with comprehensive searches such as for a thesis,
dissertation or research report and Scenario 3 deals
with finding factual information. Undergraduate
students will mostly be expected to complete
assignments as well as to find factual information.
Scenario 2 is included to indicate what you can
expect for postgraduate studies and in the work-
place. In this chapter the focus is on Scenario 1:
Writing an assignment.
2.4.3 How to find literature sources
You have already learned how to find the informa-
tion resources mentioned in Table 11.5. Here is a
brief reminder of what you need to do.
n Consult the library catalogue to find all
prescribed and recommended material, as well
as reference works such as dictionaries and
encyclopaedias. Remember that copies of books
and journal titles may not always be available in
the library. Refer to Chapter 6 for guidelines on
what to do if this is the case.
n Consult the platforms of electronic journals
as well as the printed copies on the shelves for
journal articles. If you cannot find copies of
specific journal articles, you can also search the
open source repositories on the Web.
n Consult databases for bibliographic records
and full-text publications. Even when the titles
of publications seem relevant, you may find
that they are not quite suitable for writing
your assignment. Sometimes the content may
be too technical or too philosophical for your
purposes. It may also be written on such a high
level that you cannot follow the discussion. In
such cases it is better to search for alternative
information sources.
n Use Web search tools such as subject portals,
gateways and Google™ Scholar.

navigating information literacy | 11 | writing assignments and research reports 175

 Other methods of finding information include
browsing the library shelves, talking to experts and
lecturers and tracing the lists of references cited
in academic articles and books. Most often you
will use a combination of information resources
and search techniques. Remember you will have
to change and refine your strategies until you find
exactly what you need to write a good assignment.
During the process of searching for information
you may experience different feelings. When
receiving the assignment topic you may either be
positive and excited or you may feel very negative
and discouraged. It may look like a daunting task.
As you start to make sense of the topic and what is
required, your feelings may become more positive.
Sometimes there may be brief spells when you feel
very anxious and uncertain as you read through
the literature. Am I on the right track? What
information do I need to include? Such feelings
are quite normal and part of the learning process,
even if you select your own topic. If you do a
proper literature search and work with relevant
information sources, in other words, if you get the
best possible information sources, this should not
be so difficult.
It is essential that you allow yourself enough
time to find information. Don’t quit when your
searching is not quite done, but also do not go on
searching for ever. You still need time to read the
literature, write up your findings and reflect on
your work.
2.4.4 How to read the literature
Once you have found all the literature you need,
you have to read it. Here are some tips to help you
with this step of the process:
n Read the information sources in order of their
relevance to the topic. Start with the ones that
will give you the best overview. Depending on
the topic, it might be better to start with the
oldest or the latest publications.
n It is not always necessary to read a whole text,
especially not for undergraduate assignment
topics. It might be sufficient to scan certain
sections of a text such as a book or article with
care. However, you might need to study other
sections in more detail. If you scan a text, read
the introductory paragraphs, conclusions,
summaries and the first lines of paragraphs.
Scanning does not imply that you should merely
‘pick’ information from the text without noting
it in context. This often results in an incoherent
mixture of facts that show no evidence that you
actually understand the topic. Ensure that you
get the intended meaning and that you do not
misinterpret and misquote the authors.
176 navigating information literacy | 11 | writing assignments and research reports
n Read as much and as widely as you can. The
more you read, the more you will become
involved in your work and the topic, and it may
actually become very interesting.
2.4.5 How to use information from the literature
Information from the subject literature will play
an important part in the quality of your assign-
ment. You refine your own ideas by what you read
and hear. It is also essential to show how you have
learned from the subject literature and to use the
arguments of experts and authorities to support
your own. The following are a few examples of how
you can use the subject literature:
n Cite the literature to support the accuracy
of your discussion when you describe events
in the order or way they happened, such as
historical, sports and political events. You will
have to rely on reports by others such as reports
in textbooks, articles, newspaper reports or
archival documents.
n Cite the authorities in the field when you
describe a person, place, idea, thing or
phenomenon. This also applies to definitions
and background information.
n Cite the arguments of authorities in the
field when you discuss different points of
view. You can then offer your own opinion
and interpretation. Remember to always
substantiate your viewpoint. With whom do
you agree? With whom do you disagree? How
are you expanding or improving on somebody
else’s ideas? Take note of an author’s point of
view or focus and think of alternatives, gaps and
counter-arguments.
Be careful of relying too heavily on one or two
sources. Don’t just pretend to be using other
sources by making one or two references in your
assignment, actually use a variety of information
sources. Remember when you cite the literature to
use the correct referencing techniques as discussed
in Chapter 9.
2.5 Take notes
When you are using the literature, you will need
to take notes to use in your assignment. You can
take notes in a number of ways, depending on your
personal preferences. You will develop your own
style and technique over time.
2.5.1 What are the different ways to take notes?
There are different ways to collect and record the
information you will need for your assignment.
Here are some of the more common ways:
n Make detailed notes on a card system. On
the card include the main idea, the source of
the information, date of publication and
page numbers.
n Make photocopies and highlight passages and
keywords that seem useful for writing the
assignment. You can also write notes on the
photocopies.
n Type notes on your computer. This is a very
convenient method because it is easy to erase
and move text around. However, be careful
when using this method. Cutting and pasting
from electronic information sources such as
web pages, may very easily result in plagiarism.
n Make a draft of rough notes that can help shape
your ideas about the topic. This is also called
‘free writing’. These rough notes can help you to
develop the headings and subheadings for your
assignment.
n Expand the mind map that you used to identify
aspects to discuss to include more detail.
2.5.2 What are the guidelines for taking notes?
Whichever method of taking notes you choose,
there are some guidelines about taking notes that
you should follow.
n Report factual information accurately.
n Interpret the meaning of authors’ words accu-
rately and acknowledge their words in your own
text.
n Compare information from different sources
before you formulate your own point of view or
argument.
n Substantiate your arguments from the sources
that you consult.
n Criticise information from different sources and
point out gaps and shortcomings.
n Build your discussion by collecting information
from different sources and presenting these in a
fresh format reflecting your own insight.
n Acknowledge your sources of inspiration and
the sources that helped in shaping your ideas.
Do not plagiarise!
n Ensure that the information you include will
really add value to your assignment. If you
include unnecessary and irrelevant informa-
tion, it shows a lack of insight and an inability to
select information.
n Make sure that you cite information correctly by
taking careful notes of exact wording when you
quote.
n Take careful notes of all the necessary details
of the information sources you use such as the
author, publication date and page numbers so
that the reader can verify your arguments and
facts and follow up on them.
navigating information literacy | 11 | writing assignments and research reports
2.5.3 What is the process for taking notes?
When you sit down to take notes, you need to
follow a process. You need to:
n Scan the required reading again, including any
relevant class notes. Make notes about that
reading.
n Make sure that you are familiar with all the
key concepts and that you can offer explana-
tions and definitions. Make notes about the key
concepts.
n Do a draft assignment outline with a list of
headings or subheadings or an expanded mind
map of aspects you will discuss. Make notes
about each aspect of the topic.
n Study the information sources you found
through your literature search. Make notes
about the information sources.
n Reflect on your work. This means you need to
think about the topic and make notes about
your own ideas and opinions.
n Refine and adapt your outline and notes as
necessary.
2.6 Write the assignment
The preparation of an assignment consists
of several steps as shown in Figure 11.1 on
page 169. You have already learned how to analyse
the topic, do the required reading, identify the
aspects to discuss, search the literature and take
notes. Now you are ready to write the first draft of
your assignment.
2.6.1 What are the components of an assignment?
Every assignment has six basic components or
parts:
n Title or cover page
n Table of contents
n Introduction
n Body
n Conclusion
n Reference list/bibliography
The contents of these components of an assign-
ment are explained in more detail in Table 11.6 on
the next page.
Apart from these six basic components, there
are other optional components such as appen-
dices and declaration forms. Appendices include
additional material that will support your discus-
sion, for example questionnaires that you used in
surveys, interview schedules and letters of consent.
Declaration forms are forms that you may be
required to sign that declare that the assignment is
your own work. This is an indication of how seri-
ously plagiarism is viewed by academic institutions.
177
 Table 11.6 Components of an assignment
Component Explanation
Title or cover page The title or cover page should contain the following: the assignment title which should be a clear
but brief description of the topic, your name and student number, the module code, and the
name of the lecturer or supervisor.
Table of contents The table of contents is a list of headings and subheadings numbered appropriately with the
correct page numbers. The list should correlate with the headings and subheadings used in the
text.
Introduction The introduction will normally be one or more paragraphs. It should not be too long. It can
include background information, explain the setting of the topic, offer definitions of terms, or
refer to previous studies. The purpose of the introduction is to tell the reader what to expect
from the assignment.
Body The body of the assignment should include all information and arguments that are required to
solve the problem that was set in the assignment topic. The body includes appropriate headings
and subheadings to clearly demarcate the different issues you are addressing. Normally you will
not have more than four levels of headings. Figures, tables, graphics and diagrams can also help
to explain certain aspects of the assignment more clearly.
Conclusion The assignment will end with a conclusion in which you capture the essence of your findings
and opinion. You should show that you have solved the problem that was set in the assignment
topic. The conclusion should reflect your own insight and interpretation and should not be based
on a quotation from one of the information sources.
Reference list/ All the sources which you cited in the text must appear in an alphabetical list at the end of
bibliography the assignment. The list should not include any sources not cited in the text. Ensure that the
information such as the names of authors and dates is the same as the in-text references.

For some assignments, lecturers will have
specific requirements about the components
according to their preferences and the conventions
of the subject discipline.
In Figure 11.7 you can see an example of one of
the components of an assignment, namely a table
of contents. It is an example of a table of contents
for the topic you analysed previously: ‘Discuss the
impact of media violence on young children in
South Africa’. In Figure 11.7, Sections 2–4 form
the body of the assignment. Figure 11.7 is just an
example of one way of doing this table of contents.
You could add other entries such as the term
‘viewing violence’ as 2.3 and make that one of the
concepts you define. You could also use additional
subheadings for the arguments for and against the
impact of media violence.
2.6.2 What are the technical requirements or specifi-
cations of an assignment?
Although the content of your assignment is the
most important aspect, you will also be assessed on
technical aspects such as appropriate components,
numbering of headings and subheadings, and
appropriate and accurate referencing and citing of
information sources. Sometimes specifications are
included with a topic. Figure 11.8 shows you an
example of specifications and technical require-
ments for an assignment.
If the requirements are not specified, you should
use the following general guidelines:
n Type the assignment in an acceptable font, for
example Arial 11 point or Times New Roman 12
point.
n Allow margins that are wide enough for
lecturers to write comments, for example
2.5 cm.
n Use one and a half or double line spacing rather
than single spacing.
n Include all the required components such as
the introduction, body and conclusion. Each of
these will consist of subsections and paragraphs
that should be logically structured and correctly
numbered.
n Number figures, tables and diagrams and
provide captions (titles).
n Use Arabic numbering (for example, 1, 1.1, 1.2,
2) for headings and subheadings as indicated in
Figure 11.7, or you can use ‘Outline’ numbering
in Microsoft® Office Word.
2.6.3 What are guidelines to help with the writing
process?
Once you have analysed the topic, found and read
appropriate information sources, made notes and
familiarised yourself with the assignment require-
ments, you can move on to the actual process of
writing. There are some guidelines that may help
you with the writing process:
n Allow enough time to write the assignment.
n Write as concisely and logically as possible.
n Write as correctly as possible.
n Edit your writing.
n Use and develop your information literacy skills.
Allow enough time to write the assignment Never
attempt to write an assignment in one sitting. This
is a common mistake that often results in poor

178 navigating information literacy | 11 | writing assignments and research reports

marks. Allow yourself enough time to change your
search strategies and to reconsider the aspects you
intend to discuss. It is also essential that you allow
enough time for editing when you can reconsider
your formulation of sentences and reorder your
ideas. Even experienced writers put a great deal of
time and effort into writing their publications.
Your assignment must be structured into smaller
paragraphs that contain a single main idea.
Paragraphs should not be too long (a page) or too
short (a single line or two). Your paragraphs must
follow logically and coherently. Sentences must also
not be too long (over several lines) or so short that
they are actually incomplete.

Write as concisely and logically as possible You
should aim for your writing to be as concise and
logical as possible. If you add unnecessary words
and explanations to reach the minimum length,
you will create the impression that you do not
understand the topic well enough to keep to the
point.
Write as correctly as possible When you write, your
language should be as correct as possible. Your
use of spelling and grammar should be accurate
and appropriate. This may be more difficult when
writing in your second or third language. At least
ensure that you use the word processor’s spell and
grammar checker, but remember that it will not

Figure 11.7
TABLE OF CONTENTS Example of a table of
Page contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Clarification of concepts 1
2.1 Media violence 2
2.2 Young children 2
3 Arguments that media violence does have an impact 3
3.1 Evidence of aggressive behaviour 3
3.2 Learning problems
4 Arguments that media violence does not have an impact 7
4.1 Children's ability to discriminate 8
4.2 Right to freedom of choice 8
5 Evaluation of arguments 9
6 Conclusion 10
7 List of references 11
Appendix A: Statistics on the impact of media violence 12

Figure 11.8
Length: minimum 10 typed pages (front-page, table of contents and list of Example of specifications
sources cited excluded) and technical
requirements for an
Font: Times New Roman assignment
Font size: 12pt
Line spacing: 1.5 lines
Margins: 2.5 cm or 1˝
Binding of assignment: only stapled in the top left hand corner – no flip files or
file pockets please.
Students who do not keep to the requirements will be penalised.
Due date: 17 October 2008 (No late assignments will be accepted)

navigating information literacy | 11 | writing assignments and research reports 179

 pick up all mistakes. For example, it won’t pick up
‘clam’ as incorrect if you really meant to write ‘calm’.
In South Africa, the British spelling is used, for
example ‘organisation’ and not ‘organization’. If you
use abbreviations or acronyms, the terms must be
written in full the first time you use them with the
abbreviation or acronym following in brackets.
The next time you use the term you can then just
use the abbreviation or acronym. For example:
‘The University of Pretoria (UP) is a leading South
African university … UP has a number of resi-
dences that are close to the main campus’. Do not
make up your own abbreviations to save typing
effort, for example LIB for library.
Make sure that you use vocabulary relevant
to the subject field correctly. For example, in
Computer Science terms like ‘viruses’, ‘spiders’
and ‘worms’ have particular meanings. In the
medical sciences and biology, the terms have totally
different meanings. If you are in doubt, consult
the prescribed literature and lecture notes for the
meaning of concepts within your subject field.
Subject dictionaries are also very useful.
Edit your writing You will go through different
stages in the writing process. You will first write
a draft that you will revise several times. Then
you will write the final version. This is when you
edit. When you edit your work you improve it by
correcting mistakes, moving text around and short-
ening explanations. The final stage is to proofread
your assignment carefully.
Although some students naturally have better
writing skills than others, it can make quite a
References
Anderson, J. & Poole, M. 2001. Assignment and
thesis writing. John Wiley & Sons: Brisbane.
Barrass, R. 1978. Scientists must write: a guide
to better writing for scientists, engineers and
students. E & FN Spon: London.
18 0 navigating information literacy | 11 | writing assignments and research reports
difference if you allow yourself enough time to edit
your work. It often helps to read the text aloud to
spot gaps in your thought processes or incomplete
sentences. If you add or delete text, remember to
revise the reference list/bibliography if necessary.
If you are writing in English and it is not your first
language, ask somebody with English as their first
language to check your work or spend extra time
when proofreading your assignment.
Use and develop your information literacy skills
Writing assignments or reports is a complex
process, requiring a lot of reflection and adapta-
tion. It involves many skills such as language and
writing skills, logical reasoning, analytical skills and
computer literacy. The quality of an assignment will
also be influenced by the quality of the literature
consulted, your ability to interpret the information
and your ability to put it to use, in other words
your information literacy skills. These skills are
also important in the workplace. You would be well
advised to work constantly on the improvement of
your information literacy skills. Take note of your
lecturer or supervisor’s advice and feedback on
your assignments. Try not to repeat your mistakes.
2.7 Submit the assignment
After carefully proofreading your assignment, you
need to ensure that it meets with all requirements.
Then you are ready to print your assignment
so that you can submit it. It is helpful to use a
checklist of the things you need to include in the
assignment. There is an example of a checklist in
Summary
In this chapter you explored the writing of
assignments and research reports. You looked
at how to analyse an assignment topic, do the
required reading, identify aspects to discuss,
search the literature, take notes and write the
assignment. You used appropriate references by
citing the literature and compiling a reference
list/bibliography. You learned how to meet the
technical requirements of assignments and how
to submit assignments.
 Figure 11.9
❏ Declaration form Example of a checklist of
the requirements of an
❏ Title page with the required information assignment
❏ Table of contents & correct page numbers
❏ Headings and subheadings
❏ Introduction
❏ Body with convincing evidence that the problem was solved
❏ Conclusion
❏ Problem set in the assignment topic solved
❏ All the sources cited appear in the reference list/bibliography
❏ Length meets the requirements
❏ At least the specified number of information sources consulted
❏ All prescribed and recommended reading consulted
❏ Free of spelling mistakes, grammatical or typographical errors

Figure 11.9. You will see that this checklist includes
a declaration form which you have to sign. This is
a statement that the assignment is your own work
and that you did not plagiarise. If a checklist is not
provided, write down a list of all the specifications
and use this list as a checklist.
You may be expected to submit an electronic
version of your assignment as well as a printed
version. This is to enable your lecturer or super-
visor to check for plagiarism. Always keep a backup
copy of your electronic version, as well as a copy
of the printed version. If the electronic or printed
version of your assignment gets lost, it will be your
responsibility to provide another copy.

Critical thinking questions

n How can assignment writing skills benefit you

in the workplace?
n Why does a literature search play such
an important role in writing a successful
assignment?
n How can you improve your skills in writing
assignments?
n Why is it worthwhile to spend time on writing
an assignment?
n How can you ensure that you interpret an
assignment topic correctly?

navigating information literacy | 11 | writing assignments and research reports 181

Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
answer the following questions:
n What is Web 2.0 and what are the main
characteristics of the Web 2.0 communication
environment?
n What are the latest trends in the use of social
media?
n How can these services and tools be used to
enhance my studies?
n How can I make sure of the quality and profes-
sionalism of information found on social
networking sites?
Have you ever thought about the impact of technology
on every area of your life? You might be experiencing
how technology increases the availability of information
tremendously and changes the way people communicate.
You might feel overwhelmed by trying to keep up with
all the developing trends in technology products and
services. In this chapter you will learn about some of the
most recent and exciting developments, especially in the
area of communication. You will look at Web 2.0 and the
different types of social media tools and services such as
social networking, blogs, wikis, microblogging and social
bookmarking.

Chapter 12 21 Century st

Key terms

n Collaboration
n Social bookmarking
n Social libraries
n Social media
n Social networking
n Social software
n Web 2.0

182
This chapter discusses an important topic that
impacts on everything that you do, whether it is
in your everyday life, your studies, or your future
work and business environment. However, it is
important to realise that technology products,
services and trends change practically overnight.
What you are reading here was relevant at the time
of writing. However, by the time you read this,
some of the services and products may not be used
or ‘in’ anymore and other newer products may be
available. This chapter does not provide a compre-
hensive coverage of everything that is available.
Rather it gives you an idea of the direction that the
world of communication is taking. It should make
you aware of the infinite possibilities that the future
of technology holds.
communication
1 What is social software?
Easy Internet connections and cheaper products
have brought about a culture of participation
through increased online interaction and sharing
amongst Internet users. This has lead to the
creation of so-called ‘online communities’ that are
characterised by a sense of immediacy and are
based on user-generated content. Social software
systems enable this connection and collaboration
amongst people by creating links between users.
The tools used in social software applications
include communication tools and interaction
tools. Communication tools typically handle the
capturing, storing and presentation of information.
These tools are often asynchronous which means
that they do not occur at the same time. They make
183
 accessing and searching text simple and powerful.
Interaction tools handle mediated interactions
between groups of users and are synchronous
which means they occur at the same time, or near-
synchronous. Examples of synchronous interaction
tools include phone and video chat. Examples of
near-synchronous interaction tools include IM
(Instant Messaging), text chat, Internet forums,
blogs and wikis. Interaction tools want to present
as much of a user’s expression, performance and
presence as possible.
2 Web 2.0 and social media
Web 2.0 is a phrase coined by O’Reilly Media in
2004. It refers to a perceived or proposed second
generation of Internet-based services that empha-
sise online collaboration and sharing amongst users.
Web 2.0 marked a change in society and a change in
the Internet as a technology. In the early days of the
Web, we used it merely as a tool. Today we are not
just using the Internet as a tool; we have become
a part of it. Web 2.0 is the move towards a social,
collaborative, interactive and responsive Web.
A practical way to define social media is to
break it down. Media is an instrument of commu-
nication, like a journal or a newspaper or television;
so social media would be a social instrument of
communication. In terms of Web 2.0 this would
mean that social media, or a social media site, is
any website that does not only give you informa-
tion, but also interacts with you and with other
visitors while giving you that information. When
it comes to social media, the industry is changing
faster than people can keep up with. In the
following section we will give you an overview of a
number of the more well-known different catego-
ries of social media that were available at the time
of writing this book.
3 Social networking
Social network services allow people to come
together online around shared interests or causes.
Social networking is the process of establishing and
building online relationships with others for social,
professional and educational purposes. The first
social networking site, which was initiated in 1995,
was called Classmates.com. Many similar networks
have been developed since then. Social networks
are popular because they are user controlled rather
than computer controlled. Most of the social
networks are public, allowing anyone to join. Users
often try to ‘collect friends’, or try to be linked to as
many individuals as possible. Social networks are,
however, not only used for socialising. There are
many examples of social networks on the Internet
that cover a wide area of online connections and
operate on many levels. We will look at only a few.
184 navigating information literacy | 12 | 21 st century communication
3.1 MySpace
MySpace (http://www.myspace.com) is a well-
known and very active social networking site that
was founded in 2003. It is a free service that uses
the Internet for online communication through
an interactive network of photos, weblogs, user
profiles, e-mails, web forums and groups, as well as
other media formats.
The exposure on MySpace has created quite a
number of MySpace ‘celebrities’ leading to them
being featured on television, in magazines and
on the radio. Due to publicity, MySpace’s music
section has also helped many amateur bands
become very popular.
3.2 Facebook
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) is a social
networking site that was originally developed for
Harvard University students and staff in 2004. It
has since expanded to include anyone from high
school to corporate and geographic communities.
In 2009 Facebook surged past MySpace to become
the most popular social network. The site is free
to users and has settings that allow users to make
their profiles private which means that only people
the user approves may see the profile.
3.3 Ning
Ning (http://www.ning.com) is a hosted social
networking platform through which private social
networks are created. Anyone can join Ning and
set up a network. These networks can be either
open or closed. Members can be approved first by
the network creator. As a user/member you create
one profile per network; so if you belong to more
than one network, it means you need to create
multiple profile pages. Social networking occurs
within networks but you can have visibility of
contacts across networks. The tool allows personal
blogging on profile pages. Site feeds can be set up
by the network creator (see more about RSS feeds
later in the chapter), and members can set up feeds
in widgets on their profile page.
3.4 Plaxo
Plaxo (http://www.plaxo.com) is an online address
book and social networking service which was
launched in 2002. Plaxo provides automatic
updating of contact information. Users and their
contacts store their information on Plaxo’s servers.
When this information is edited by the user, the
changes appear in the address books of all those
who listed the account changer in their own books.
Once contacts are stored in the central location, it
is possible to list connections between contacts and
access the address book from anywhere.
3.5 LinkedIn
LinkedIn (http://www. linkedin.com) is a business-
oriented social network. One of the areas of social
networking that expanded fairly rapidly is the
use of social software for enterprise (business
ventures), sometimes referred to as ‘Enterprise 2.0’
a term derived from Web 2.0. LinkedIn is a good
example of such a network. The main purpose is to
allow registered users to maintain a list of contact
details of people they know and trust in business.
These people on the list are called ‘connections’.
Users can invite anyone to become a connection
whether that person is a LinkedIn user or not.
3.6 Academia.edu
Academia.edu (http://www.academia.edu) helps
academics to follow the latest research in their
field. You can follow what academics in your
field are working on, the latest papers they are
publishing, talks they are giving, blog posts and
status updates they are writing. You can create a
web page on Academia.edu, and share your own
research, list your research interests, and upload
papers and talks. Academics can also create
multiple affiliations on Academia.edu. You can
add affiliations to multiple universities and also to
multiple departments within the same university.
4 Blogs and Wikis
4.1 Blogs
The term ‘blog’ derives from web log and is simply
another word for online journal. Blogs or weblogs
started as a Web 1.0 phenomenon. The original term
‘weblog’ was coined in 1997 by Jorn Barger. The idea
caught on fast and has since grown tremendously.
Personal blogs are like online journals for a specific
person. The owner can post messages periodically
allowing others to comment. This creates a discus-
sion forum or virtual community around a person
or interest. In the academic world, blogs are created
by groups of researchers to exchange information,
Figure 12.1
Joomla!® Web page. Used
with permission of Open
Source Matters, Inc. (OSM)
navigating information literacy | 12 | 21 st century communication
with the added advantage that much of this infor-
mation is automatically archived. Corporate blogs
have become popular communication tools in busi-
ness. Internal corporate blogs have the advantage
that they can be used on every level of the busi-
ness and facilitate the flow of ideas and knowledge
within the organisation. As a corporate activity that
engages the clients, external blogs serve as impor-
tant networking and marketing tools.
Examples of the more well-known blogging soft-
ware are WordPress, Blogger, Joomla!® and Xanga®.
4.1.1 WordPress
WordPress (http://wordpress.org) is an open source
product. It has many features including a plugin
architecture and a templating system. Used by over
300 of the 10 000 biggest websites, WordPress is
the most popular blog software in use today.
4.1.2 Blogger
Blogger (http://www.blogger.com) is a blog storage
service that allows private or multi-user blogs with
time-stamped entries. It was created by Pyra Labs,
which was bought by Google™ in 2003. Generally,
the blogs are hosted by Google™ at sub-domains
of blogspot.com. Up until 1 May 2010 Blogger
allowed users to publish blogs on other hosts, via
ftp. All such blogs had to be moved to Google’s
own servers, with domains other than
blogspot.com allowed via custom URLs.
4.1.3 Joomla!®
Joomla!® (http://www.joomla.org) is the English
spelling of the Swahili word ‘jumla’ meaning ‘all
together’ or ‘as a whole’. The Joomla!® develop-
ment team originally created a website called
OpenSourceMatters to distribute information to
users, developers, web designers and the commu-
nity in general. A little more than one thousand
people joined the opensourcematters.org website
within a day, most posting words of encourage-
ment and support. Controversy surrounding the
use of the term ‘open source’ in the name resulted
in the announcement of a new name, ‘Joomla!’ on
1 September 2005.
185
 4.1.4 Xanga®
Xanga® (http://www.xanga.com) is a social blogging
site that combines social networking elements with
blogging. It was first released in May 2003 by Matt
Mullenweg. Members earn credits for partici-
pating in the site and can spend credits on various
things such as buying mini-pictures to post in the
comments of a friend’s blog.
4.2 Wikis
Wiki comes from the Hawaiian word for ‘fast’ or
‘quick’. Wikis are mediated public spaces open to
participation. Anyone can edit, change or delete
text on a wiki. Wikis are based on the collaborative
sharing of knowledge which is a typical Web 2.0
characteristic and they truly represent the social
media foundation of user-generated content and
the wisdom of crowds.
A well-known wiki is Wikipedia
(http://www.wikipedia.org), the web-based
multilingual encyclopaedia which is written
collaboratively by contributors around the world.
In the corporate environment, wikis allow clients
and users of a company’s products and services
not only to comment, but to write or rewrite
documentation. The result is often better and
more comprehensive than the original. Wikis
are excellent tools if you want information to be
touched and enhanced by as many different people
as possible.
5 Microblogging
Microblogging is a combination of blogging and
text messaging that allows users to create a short
message that is posted on their profile. It all started
with blogging. People began to post shorter,
condensed versions of their blogs hence microblog-
ging. Microblogging includes the ability to send
messages, audio, video and even attached files. It
lets participants create small, intimate communi-
ties that are centred on various topics. Currently
the most well known of such microblogging
websites is Twitter.
5.1 Twitter
Twitter (http://twitter.com) was one of the first
providers of microblogging. Twitter originated
in 2006 when employees of a company in San
Fransisco, USA, used the facility to communicate
internally. It was launched to the public later in
October 2006 and its official debut took place on
10 March 2007.
Twitter started out as a microblogging site
but has quickly grown into a social messaging
platform and one of the top social networks in
18 6 navigating information literacy | 12 | 21 st century communication
the world. The service allows users to send and
receive brief messages of up to 140 characters.
These are referred to as tweets. A retweet is a
reply to a tweet that includes the original message
or a tweet that includes a link to a news article or
blog post that you find particularly interesting.
A hashtag is a word or acronym used to describe
a tweet in order for people to easily follow the
conversation. A twitterer is a person using Twitter
to send posts or tweets. The tweeting community
is called the Twitosphere. Google™ Maps has a
Mashup called Twittervision, which shows users
the geographic location of twitterers. Twitter also
allows messages to be delivered on cell phones,
which allows microblogging to provide a quick way
to communicate with a group of people.
5.2 Twitxr
A number of Twitter-type ‘copies’ have been
released. One of these was Twitxr (http://twitxr.
com). It was basically a photo microblogging site
which allowed picture uploads when sending a
message which made it very useful for camera
phones. With Twitxr you were able to share
pictures from your mobile phone, automatically
publish them on social networks and photo sharing
sites (such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Picasa),
tell your friends where you were and what you were
doing, and automatically add your location to your
pictures and status updates.
6 Photo sharing
Photo sharing is the publishing or transferring
of your digital photos online, thus enabling you
to share them with others whether publicly or
privately. Photographs can be organised into
groups, sets, categories, events and albums online
where you can look at them anytime you wish.
This functionality is provided through websites and
applications that facilitate the upload and display of
images. Two of the best-known photo sharing sites
are Flickr and Picasa.
6.1 Flickr
Flickr (http://www.flickr.com) is a photo sharing
website that was launched in 2004. It is generally
regarded as an early example of a Web 2.0 applica-
tion. Flickr allows people who submit photos to
categorise their images by using tags. This allows
searchers to find images about a certain topic such
as a place name or a particular subject easily. Flickr
provides fast access to images tagged with the most
popular keywords. It also allows users to categorise
their photos into ‘sets’ or groups of photos that fall
under the same heading.
6.2 Picasa
Picasa (http://www.picasa.google.com) is a soft-
ware application for organising and editing digital
photos, and was originally created by Idealab. In
July 2004, Google™ acquired Picasa and began
offering it as a free download. ‘Picasa’ is a blend of
the name of the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, the
Spanish phrase ‘mi casa’ meaning ‘my house’, and
‘pic’ for pictures (personalised art).
7 Video sharing
Video sharing refers to websites or software where
users can distribute their video clips. Some services
may charge, but the large majority of them offer
free services. Many services have options for private
sharing and other publication options. Video
sharing services can be classified into several cate-
gories, among them: user-generated video sharing
websites, video sharing platform or white label
providers and web-based video editing. YouTube is
still one of the most popular sites, although there
are many other sites available on the Web.
7.1 YouTube
YouTube (http://www.youtube.com) was started by
Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jared Karim in 2005.
In November 2006, within a year of its launch,
YouTube was purchased by Google™ Inc. It is a free
video sharing website which allows users to upload,
view and share video clips. YouTube has struck
numerous partnership deals with content providers
such as CBS, BBC, Universal Music Group, Sony
Music Group, Warner Music Group, NBA, The
Sundance Channel and many more. YouTube has
had quite a big social impact. Its popularity has
created a number of ‘Internet celebrities’. These are
individuals who have attracted publicity through
YouTube. The widespread popularity of the site and
the subsequent exposure on YouTube is also used
by bands to promote their music.
7.2 Yahoo! Video
®
Yahoo!® Video (http://video.yahoo.com) is another
video sharing website on which you can upload
and share videos. The service is owned and created
by Yahoo!®. Yahoo!® Video originally began as an
Internet-wide video search engine and added the
ability to upload and share video clips in June 2006.
A re-designed site was launched in February 2008
that changed the focus to Yahoo!®-hosted video
only. The site now consolidates all premium video
from across Yahoo!® properties with user-uploaded
video. It is a free service which provides users with
a means to search and play videos, save videos to
their ‘favourites’, subscribe to channels, create play-
lists, and embed videos in web pages and blog posts.
navigating information literacy | 12 | 21 st century communication
8 Movie and music networks
There are not many social networks aimed directly
at the large movie and music industries. Instead the
recent trend has been for individual musicians to
start their own social networks in order to better
organise their fan base.
8.1 FilmCrave
FilmCrave (http://www.filmcrave.com) is an online
movie social network that lets you connect with
other people who share your interest in movies. It
was founded by three college friends in February
2007 and the site was launched in August 2007.
FilmCrave is currently privately owned and funded
by ImaJAN Media LLC, Missouri. The site allows
users to write movie reviews, share movie lists,
watch trailers and generally interact with other
members. Their unique way of allowing users
to create and share movie lists and reviews has
allowed FilmCrave to carve out a niche amongst
other movie websites.
8.2 Flixster
Flixster (http://www.flixster.com) is another social
network for movie lovers. With a tagline of ‘stop
watching bad movies’, Flixster combines social
networking with movie reviews.
8.3 iLike
iLike (www.ilikemusic.com) is a music social
network that lets you build your own profile, share
playlists with other users, learn about new music
and find out about recent concerts. One of the best
features of iLike is that the music player streams
music through YouTube and lets you see the most
shared songs on the network.
9 Podcasts
The term ‘podcast’ actually applies to both audio
and video recordings but most of the time refers
only to audio broadcasting. Podcasts allow
anyone to create their own talk show, interview,
educational or training seminar, sermon, speech,
presentation, or music file that can be distributed
worldwide where people can download it and listen
to what you have to say for free. Podcasting was
inspired by the Apple iPod digital musical player.
However, podcasts are not limited to the iPod or
iTunes store. They are ordinary audio files. You can
listen to a podcast on any MP3 player or from your
browser from any website that offers podcasts.
Some of the best-known are iTunes, PodBean and
MediaMonkey.
187
 9.1 iTunes
iTunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes) is the largest
site for buying music and downloading audio
podcasts. It is a free application which allows you
to enjoy all your music, movies, video, and TV
shows on your Mac or PC. It synchronises all your
media with your iPod, iPhone and Apple TV.
9.2 PodBean
PodBean (http://www.podbean.com) is a podcast
hosting service. It is a social subscribing site where
you can collect all your favourite podcasts in one
place, discover what other people are subscribing
to and play anywhere anytime, even when you
are on the go. This Web 2.0-based podcast player
can be embedded into websites, blogs and social
networks. User accounts range from free service to
about US$69.95 per month (in 2010). Free accounts
have limited monthly bandwidth and a limited file
upload. PodBean accounts come with a person-
alised podcast site and can integrate site and feeds
to a user’s own domain for a fee. More expen-
sive subscriptions offer a reporting and statistics
system, which allows publishers to measure the
success of their podcasts.
9.3 MediaMonkey
MediaMonkey (http://www.mediamonkey.com) is
a digital media player and media library application
developed by Ventis Media Inc. for organising and
playing audio on Microsoft® Windows operating
Figure 12.2
PodBean website. Used
with permission.
http://www.podbean.com
Figure 12.3
MediaMonkey website.
Used with permission.
http://www.mediamonkey.com
18 8 navigating information literacy | 12 | 21 st century communication
systems. By using plug-ins, it can be extended to
handle video and other media formats as well.
MediaMonkey is available in a free version as well
as a paid version (‘Gold’ licence).
10 Social bookmarking
Social bookmarking is a web-based service where
people share Internet bookmarks. The concept
of sharing bookmarks started in 1996, with the
launch of itList.com, and within three years
became very popular and competitive. With social
bookmarking, users store lists of Internet sources
that they find useful on a public website and tag
them with their own keywords thus creating
folksonomies. Someone with a similar interest can
view the links by tags or category, or randomly.
Individual bookmarks can also be designated as
public or private. Most of the social bookmarks are
a one-click addition, but in some cases you may be
required to copy and paste the URL into an ‘Add
Subscription’ text box.
In comparison with other web page bookmarks,
social bookmarking services are specialised for a
specific subject or format such as books, videos,
shopping items or map locations. Some sites peri-
odically verify that the bookmarks still work and
notify users if a URL no longer functions. Social
bookmarking offers services such as: reviews,
e-mail links, the creation of groups and social
networks, rating, commenting, adding notes, and
importing and exporting. Bookmarking is useful
when collecting sources that are to be shared with
others. It opens new ways of organising and cate-
gorising resources. The technology is not complex.
It is easy to use and participate in.
10.1 Delicious
Delicious (http://delicious.com) is a social book-
marking service where you can save all your
bookmarks online, share them with other people
and see what other people are bookmarking. You
can also see the most popular bookmarks being
saved across many areas of interest. In addition, the
search and tagging tools help you keep track of your
entire bookmark collection and find new book-
marks from people who share similar interests.
10.2 StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon (http://www.stumbleupon.com) is a
bookmarking service that helps you discover and
share great websites. It is a personalised browsing
tool that offers nearly five hundred topics which
users may choose to indicate their interests and
preferences, so each stumble produces only the
most relevant content. StumbleUpon uses /
ratings to form collaborative opinions on website
quality. When you stumble, you will only see pages
that friends and like-minded stumblers ( ) have
recommended. This helps you to discover content
you probably would not find using a search engine.
11 Interpersonal communication
There are many applications and websites in
the social media environment that allow us to
communicate live, real time on a one-to-one or one-
http://www.skype.com
navigating information literacy | 12 | 21 st century communication
to-many, many-to-one and many-to-many basis.
Examples of these are Skype™, Yahoo!® Messenger,
Google™ Talk, Meebo and GoToMeeting.
11.1 Skype™
Skype™ (http://www.skype.com), with more than
350 million current users, is the most popular voice
communication service in the world. Skype™ has
broken many barriers to communication. While in
the past you needed to take particular care of the
minutes and seconds you spent speaking on inter-
national calls, you no longer need to bother about
that. If you use Skype™ for PC-to-PC communi-
cation, you pay nothing more than the monthly
Internet service, which you would have paid
anyway without Skype™. Skype™ is used in nearly all
countries of the world, as it has been developed to
deliver clear and consistent calls over the Internet.
11.2 Yahoo!® Messenger
Yahoo!® Messenger (http://messenger.yahoo.com)
was originally launched under the name Yahoo!®
Pager on 9 March 1998. It is an advertisement-
supported instant messaging client and associated
protocol provided by Yahoo!®. Yahoo!® Messenger
is provided free of charge and can be downloaded
and used with a generic Yahoo!® ID which also
allows access to other Yahoo!® services, such as
Yahoo!® Mail, where users can be automatically
notified when they receive new e-mail. Yahoo!®
also offers PC-PC, PC-Phone and Phone-to-PC
services, file transfers, webcam hosting, text
messaging service, and chat rooms in various
categories.
Figure 12.4
Skype™ website. Used
with permission from
Microsoft®.
189
 Figure 12.5
Yahoo!® Messenger logo. Reproduced with permission of
Yahoo! Inc. ©2010 Yahoo! Inc. YAHOO! and the YAHOO!
logo are registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc.
http://messenger.yahoo.com
11.3 Google Talk
Google™ Talk (http://www.google.com/talk) is
a downloadable chat application by Google™.
Google Talk offers text chat (instant messages,
status updates, file transfer), voice chat (free long
distance PC-to-PC calls to people anywhere in the
world), audio conferencing (talk to multiple people
at once), and gmail integration (chat with your
friends on gmail). You can also get the video chat
plug-in to make voice and video calls within gmail,
iGoogle™ and orkut.
11.4 Meebo
Meebo (http://www.meebo.com) was founded in
September 2005 by Sandy Jen, Seth Sternberg and
Elaine Wherry. It is an instant messaging program
which supports multiple instant messaging
services, including Yahoo!® Messenger, Windows
Live Messenger, AIM, ICQ, MySpaceIM, Facebook
Chat, Jabber, Google™ Talk, and Myyearbook IM.
Meebo integrates all social network and commu-
nication channels into a single, simple-to-use
interface which can be accessed all at once with a
single Meebo ID. Meebo is based on the free open
source library, libpurple.
11.5 GoToMeeting®
GoToMeeting® (http://www.gotomeeting.com) is a
Web conferencing tool through which you can host
and attend an unlimited number of online meet-
ings from either a Mac or a PC for one flat fee.
12 RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
Really Simple Syndication is a way to feed your
web pages, blogs, audio, video and photographs
automatically to people who subscribe to your feed.
Every time that you create something new on the
Internet and hit ‘Publish’, a feed goes to everyone
who has asked for an update. These people will
automatically be notified through e-mail, mobile
texting or tweets.
A reader or aggregator is a program or website
that will check and continuously search all of the
blogs, news sites, or other websites to which you
have subscribed for new content. If fresh material
is found, the reader page will show a summary of
19 0 navigating information literacy | 12 | 21 st century communication
that information with a link to the page. iGoogle™ is
an example of a reader.
13 Virtual worlds
A virtual world is an online community that takes
the form of a computer-based simulated environ-
ment. In addition to being a fun and entertaining
way to pass the time, virtual worlds give you
the opportunity to browse new and unexplored
domains, and visualise and participate in imaginary
communities and do business in a virtual market-
place with real customers and colleagues. Second
Life is a good example of such a virtual world.
Second Life (SL) (http://secondlife.com) was
developed by Linden Lab and launched on 23 June
2003. A free client program called the Viewer
enables its users, called Residents, to interact with
each other through avatars. Residents can explore,
meet other residents, socialise, participate in indi-
vidual and group activities, and create and trade
virtual property and services with one another, or
travel throughout the world (which Residents refer
to as ‘the grid’). Second Life is for people aged 18
and over, while Teen Second Life is for people aged
13 to 17.
14 Gaming
Online gaming is an Internet phenomenon
that consistently gains in popularity. Massively
Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
(MMORPG) is a genre of computer role-playing
games in which a very large number of players
interact with one another within a virtual game
world. MMORPGs are played throughout the
world and have millions of communities. They run
on the publisher’s server 24/7 which means you
can access and play any time of the day or night.
All that is needed to play is to download software
that is able to run on your PC. You then connect
to the game’s world by using the software and the
Internet. This software can be free or for purchase.
The majority of popular MMORPGs are based on
traditional fantasy themes. Some employ hybrid
themes that either merge or substitute fantasy
elements with those of science fiction, sword and
sorcery, or crime fiction. Still others draw thematic
material from American comic books, the occult,
and other genres. Often these elements are devel-
oped using similar tasks and scenarios involving
quests, monsters and loot.
15 Mobile communication
One of the areas in the world of information tech-
nology that is fast expanding and becoming a force
for change is that of mobile computing. Mobile

http://www.mmorpg.com
phones have probably done more to advance social
media than any other single digital device. The first
mobile phone content to be sold were ringtones
that were sold in Finland in 1998. In 1999, the first
mobile telephone designed to give wireless access
to Internet e-mail was the Nokia Communicator.
In 2010, more that 800 million people are accessing
the Internet with their mobile phones. Mobile
social networking has become common. More
than 60% of the world’s population use cell phones
(in 2010), making it the most common electronic
device and most widely used technology in the
world.
16 Social libraries
Social libraries are sites that allow users to keep
track of their collectibles such as books, records
and DVDs. Users can share their collections.
Recommendations are based on ratings using
statistical computation and network theory. Some
sites offer a buddy system as well as a virtual
checking out of items for borrowing among friends.
Folksonomies are implemented on most sites.
16.1 LibraryThing
LibraryThing (http://librarything.com) is a social
network service developed in 2005. Users sign up
for free but they can upgrade to a paid account. It is
a website where you can link up with other readers,
review books, display what you are currently
reading and you can display your library shelves to
all who are interested. Users may register up to 200
books. They can catalogue personal collections,
keep reading lists and wish lists, and meet other
users who have the same taste in books.
16.2 Shelfari®
Shelfari® (http://www.shelfari.com) is another free
social network for people who love books. Shelfari®
lets you build a shelf to display the books you have
read, want to read, or are currently reading. Then
you get to be a critic by rating and reviewing your
books so your friends can see what you think. In
this way you connect to other people to see which
navigating information literacy | 12 | 21 st century communication
Figure 12.6
An MMORPG page. Used
with permission.
books you have in common, ask for book recom-
mendations or create a group where you can talk
about your books.
17 Library 2.0
Library 2.0 is influenced by the Web 2.0 tech-
nology-driven social interactions between people.
In a Library 2.0 environment you experience the
following:
n Library users have a participatory role in the
library. They are able to tailor library services to
meet their own needs, for example by personal-
ising library web pages.
n Library users are also provided with the oppor-
tunity to tag, comment on and rate library
services and resources on the websites.
n Library users have their favourite authors and
titles. In a Library 2.0 library, they are able to
comment, write reviews, create their own tags
and share them with other users through a more
versatile online catalogue.
n Interlending systems can be speeded up. This
means that information in books and other
resources will be available to borrow in online
bookstores as an alternative to buying.
n Library resources are available to the wider Web,
visible to search engines such as Google™, and
harvestable into new applications and services.
18 Using social media to enhance
your studies
The previous section provided you with an over-
view of some of the categories of social media tools
that are currently available. You may already be
using many of these applications, such as Facebook
for example, for your own private use. The ques-
tion, however, is whether you can use social media
effectively in your studies or research. Generally
speaking the answer is ‘Yes’. Teachers and lecturers
are increasingly starting to use social media in
schools and universities. Some people even go so
far as to say that the use of such media is an inte-
gral part of a 21st century education.
191
 We are all currently living and working in the
‘real world’ of social media where connectivity,
networking and sharing are the norm. Under-
lying the concept of this social world for study
purposes are the opportunities to network with
other students, creating classroom communities,
exploring collaborative writing, relaying informa-
tion from lecturer to students in a timely manner,
course related updates provided by lecturers,
questions that are answered by lecturers and/or
students easily and quickly where everyone can
access the answers and students reflecting on the
work, making notes of the reflections and so forth.
Partnerships and communication between
students and lecturers are ideals to be aimed
for. The focus will increasingly be on students
experiencing a change in the ‘ownership’ of their
education. Students will be moving from ‘being
taught’ to ‘constructing knowledge’ in partnership
with their lecturers and fellow-students.
Let us look at some specific areas in which the
above goals can be achieved.
18.1 Social networking
The social networking environment can be used
by lecturers to set up a ‘class social network’ or
‘learning community’ in which students can meet
and communicate with one another before, during
and after a course. It is a very good way to interact,
ask questions, start discussions and network.
Announcements can easily be made through this
medium and the lecturer also builds connections
with the students putting a face with a name and
any personal information that the students are
willing to share. Students can also communicate
easily with each other, and set up groups for proj-
ects and other team work.
18.2 Blogging
Reading and writing blogs can be a productive
learning and research experience. Students can
reflect on what they have read or heard in order
to make sense of the work. It is also a way that you
can keep fellow students up to date with what is
happening in group or team projects, and links
can be added to other tools or resources. Lecturers
can write blogs to host a whole course with the
‘community of students’ following teaching and
learning events.
18.3 Wikis
The use of interactive wikis is another area in
which students can collaborate in investigating a
specific problem or in conducting and completing
a class project.
192 navigating information literacy | 12 | 21 st century communication
18.4 Microblogging
Micro-blogging has the advantages of a wide
network and immediacy. In many cases you can
select a network of knowledgeable people to follow
who provide wonderful responses when you ask
a question. You can also share information on
relevant course-related resources and tools with
fellow students.
18.5 Social bookmarking
Social bookmarking also presents many opportuni-
ties for networking with other persons or scholars
with similar interests. On a personal level you can
browse social bookmarking sites to find links to
resources that can help you in your studies. Using
a course tag, lecturers and students can work
together to build a course ‘library’ of relevant links
to research and resources.
18.6 RSS feeds
Using RSS feeds and readers, students can be kept
up to date on activities within the course itself or
to access any other course-related information.
You can also use an RSS facility for your personal
information management and a learning portal
that you can access every day. This means that you
can keep up to date without having to go to many
different websites to see if they have anything new
that you may need.
18.7 Video sharing, photo sharing and
podcasts
Students or groups of students can create their
own videos either for use in the group or to share
them in the class. You must also remember that
photos acquired from public domain or Creative
Commons licensed sites can be used for assign-
ments or in class presentations. In the same
manner, students can create their own course or
classroom podcasts. Lecturers can also create
course podcasts for use in the classroom.
18.8 Mobile phones
The use of mobile social media applications can
contribute positively to your studies and research.
For example, they can give you the opportunity to
share online information-seeking strategies, find
useful websites and other information resources,
and create an environment in which you can
work together with others on projects. In addi-
tion, different mobile devices can be synchronised.
They can also be integrated for use with traditional
computers which broadens the scope of application
considerably.
19 Issues in the world of
social media
There are some issues in the world of social media
that you need to be aware of. These issues include
privacy, copyright and identity theft.
19.1 Privacy
In the social media environment the state of
privacy has become a big concern. One of the
reasons for this is that the porous nature of the
Internet has made us all so much more accustomed
to the idea of openness and sharing. Social sites are
being used as a public place for personal informa-
tion. People get up in the morning and sign onto
Facebook, for example, before even brushing their
teeth, to let everyone know that they are awake.
Because all your personal information is there for
everyone to see, this information can be used or
even misused by others. For example:
n If you have applied for a job and your prospec-
tive employer goes to your Facebook page, he
might find compromising pictures and remarks
that can be damaging to your future career.
n If you are already have a job, you also need to be
careful. Think about posting a group photo of a
(wild) party on Flickr or Facebook and tagging
it with all the names of the people in the photo.
Normally you would show the photo to all your
friends who were at the party, but you would
not want your parents to see it, or colleagues at
work, and definitely not your boss, or the bosses
of others who were at the party.
n Social media sites can also be exploited by
sexual predators, stalkers, child molesters and
pornographers to approach minors. The infor-
mation shared on the sites allows predators to
track the children down.
n Cyber bullying can occur. Users of social
networking sites may receive unsolicited
messages that are obscene, inappropriate or
even threatening.
You need to be very careful of the type of personal
information that you put on the Web. One positive
thing that has emerged from the privacy problems
experienced on the Internet is that many social sites,
such as Facebook, are on the alert and are constantly
increasing and enhancing their privacy controls.
19.2 Copyright
When you use social media sites, the problem
may arise as to how to deal with copyright. As we
explained in Chapter 8, Creative Commons is a
good alternative to the ‘all rights reserved’ copy-
right licence. However, while Creative Commons is
navigating information literacy | 12 | 21 st century communication
a great solution, it does not solve all of the Web 2.0
copyright issues.
Web 2.0 is all about sharing information, so how
do we share information if not everyone is using
Creative Commons? Here are some basic guide-
lines to follow:
n For articles, only use a small part of the text and
then link to the rest of the article. In this way,
it falls under ‘fair dealing’, and most writers are
happy to have the linkback.
n Using a tool like Clipmarks is also usually okay
since it provides a link back to the original article.
n When possible, use a trackback. Not only does
this notify them that you are using something
from their entry, but it is also good for you if
you have a blog as it may drive a little traffic
your way.
n For images, always check to see what sort of
copyright restrictions or Creative Commons
licence is being used for the image. When you
are in any way unsure, acknowledge the image
with a link back to the original and let the
copyright owner know that you have linked the
work so that they can speak up if they have any
objections.
n If you are contacted by the copyright owner of
an article, quote, or image and they ask for it to
be taken down, do so immediately.
19.3 Identity theft
Identity theft is a crime in which a criminal obtains
key pieces of personal information, such as your ID
number or your driver’s licence number, in order
to pose as someone else (i.e. you). The informa-
tion can be used to obtain credit or buy goods and
services using your name. Identity theft can also
provide a thief with false credentials for immi-
gration or other applications. One of the biggest
problems with identity theft is that very often the
crimes committed by the identity theft expert are
attributed to the victim.
It is important that you are aware of this when
you use an ATM, or when you do Internet banking,
for example. Follow the guidelines provided by
your banking institution and never provide any
unaccredited or unknown person or institution
with private information via e-mail or other elec-
tronic medium.
20 How to evaluate informal
information and information
sources
The use of social media has brought about ‘power-
to-the-people’. For example, some wikipedians can
do things better than their professional equivalents.
193
 However, even though the information on social
media sites is freely and easily available, and you
may feel comfortable using it as it comes directly
from your peers, be careful as the information may
not always be correct or of an acceptable academic
standard. Sometimes the decision to use or not
use information is merely a matter of using your
common sense. For example:
n Information found in an assignment done by
another student from another university does
not necessarily mean that it is on an academic
level suitable for use in your own assignment.
n Personal opinions found on social networking
sites are not always informed and knowledge-
able opinions. Accuracy of information and
reliability of the information source are impera-
tive for academic research.
n Blogs are often seen as reliable and accurate
sources for information. This could be ascribed
to the fact that biographical information is
provided and one can therefore ‘check’ on the
author. But an informal discussion on a blog
about a topic, no matter how interesting it may
be, will probably not be good enough to use in
an assignment. Very often blogs have a small
number of staff or participants and this makes
bias more likely as they may reinforce each
other’s points of view and stifle other ideas.
n Wikipedia is another source used by many
people and is generally regarded as fairly reli-
able. They too, however, have had problems
with ‘vandalism’ where false information is
deliberately inserted especially connected to
living people. Wikipedia was unique in that
it relied on its users to monitor and clean up
its articles as there were no official authors
or editors who accepted responsibility for
the accuracy and quality of the information.
However, in 2009, in order to combat the
falsification of information, they started on an
editorial approval process where a new ‘editor’s’
changes are held on the Wikipedia servers to be
first approved by more experienced people.

Summary

In this chapter you explored the latest trends in

online communication with an emphasis on
Web 2.0 and its associated services and products.
You learned that constantly changing technolo-
gies and resources have a profound effect on social
structures, how individuals interact with each other
and on the way that information is shared and
used. You looked at how to be aware of and stay up
to date with these new trends and developments.
You also looked at how to use the information you
find by accessing these products and services in a
responsible manner.

194 navigating information literacy | 12 | 21 st century communication

You can see that the way in which you use the
information so freely available in the social media
environment depends on the situation for which
the information is needed. You need to think criti-
cally about when and how to use it. There are ways
in which you can trace inaccurate information.
There are websites to help you, for example:
n You can go to Snopes.com (http://www.snopes.
com). It is a website developed by Barbara and
David Mikkelson that discusses urban legends,
Internet rumours, e-mail forwards, and other
stories of uncertain or questionable origin.
n Truthorfiction (http://www.truthorfiction.
com) was founded by Rick Butler in 1999 and
is the place to check out forwarded emails to
see whether they are hoaxes, urban legends,
scams, or the truth. This author and broadcast
journalist also publishes ‘The eRumor Report’,
an e-mail update on Internet rumours and virus
alerts.
Critical thinking questions
n How do you think the Web 2.0 environment
impacts on you as a student and a researcher?
n How can you use the various Web 2.0 tools in
your everyday studies, writing of assignments
and research report writing?
n What are the potential problems and issues
that you need to be aware of in the social media
environment?
n Which criteria would you apply to critically
evaluate the information found on the informal
social networking sites that you use?
navigating information literacy | 12 | 21 st century communication
In Chapter 10, you looked at guidelines for evalu-
ating information found on the Internet and on
online databases. It is important that you keep
these principles and guidelines in mind if and when
you are exposed to information found by means of
the latest services and products discussed in this
chapter.
You need to evaluate any information that you
may wish to use when writing assignments or
research reports critically. An information literate
person is an individual who knows where and how
to find information, and also how to evaluate and
select relevant sources and use them effectively for
a specific purpose. Make sure that the information
you intend to use is of a high quality. You also need
to make sure that the information is appropriate
for what you need and what is expected for your
academic assignments and research. Do not disre-
gard the value of informal information sources but
do not forget to apply basic evaluation criteria to all
information found on the Web.
195
 Index Entries are listed in letter-by-letter alphabetical order.
Acronyms appear in alphabetical sequence within the index.

A News 72, 73
abstract 22, 27, 35,78, 86, 87, 92–93, 100, 102, 103 search engine 71, 72
Academia.edu 185 Blogdigger™ 76
academic journals 22, 23 Blogger 185
access to information and material 40, 42, 47, 120, 174 blogs and blogging 28, 76, 149, 184, 185, 186, 188, 190, 192,
accuracy of information source 14, 30, 155, 160, 163, 164, 194 see also microblogging
165, 176, 193, 194 blog search engines 28, 76
acknowledging sources 14, 24, 89, 127, 128–129, 130, blogspot.com 185
132–133, 134, 168, 177 see also referencing bookmarking, social 188–189, 191, 192
ACM digital library 27, 29 books
action words 170, 171 as information source 20, 21
Adobe Acrobat Reader 72, 114, 162 copyright for 20, 24, 89, 121, 123
advanced search forms 48, 49, 78–79, 80, 83, 93, 95, 98, 102 social libraries for 191
African Digital Library 20 see also bibliographies; books under electronic (e-);
aggregator 190 intellectual property rights; catalogues under
alerting service 105 library;
AltaVista search engine 64, 71, 72 referencing; types of books, e.g. atlases
Amazon.com website 29, 125, 159 Boole, George 60
American Psychological Association style of referencing Boolean queries 63–64, 72
104, 151, 153 brief search 107
AND operator 61, 62, 63, 64, 76, 79 browser 25, 69, 112, 126
AOL video search 75 browsing
APA style of referencing 104, 151, 153 aids (directories) 24, 34, 69–71, 72
appendices 177 folders 14, 117
Apple computers and electronic equipment 110, 115, 124, library shelves 176
187, 188 online 189
archival information sources 159, 176 see also pre-print building block approach 107
arguments of authorities, citing 176 bulletin boards 29
arpanet 24, 25 Butler, Rick 194
articles 20, 22, 23–24, 30, 32, 39, 41, 50, 73, 78
Ask C
Images 75 Cambridge
search engine 64, 65 Dictionaries Online 31
Ask a Librarian 55 Scientific Abstracts database 97, 98, 100, 104, 158
assignments 13, 15, 23, 30, 90, 127–128, 129, 130, 136, cell phones 20, 39, 59–63, 72, 78, 109, 110, 163, 186, 191
166–182 censorship 120
Association for Computing Machinery (acm) digital Chemical Physics Preprint Database 92
library 27, 29 Chemistry, Math and Computer Science Preprint
Association of College and Research Libraries (acrl) Archives 92
Framework 16 Chen, Steve 187
atlases 32 cia World Factbook 35
audience 37, 42, 157, 158, 159 citation pearl growing search strategy 107
Australian and New Zealand Information Literacy citing see referencing
Framework 16, 17 Classmates.com 184
author field 100, 101 Clipmarks 193
cnn 74
B command interfaces 98
background information 66, 127, 159, 168, 176, 178 common knowledge 128
Beagle 115 communication
Beaucoup! 77, 78 between students and lecturers 13, 26, 28, 129–130, 159,
Berne Convention about copyright 120, 123, 125 160, 180, 191, 192
best match retrieval system 60–61 features 44, 47
bias 14, 15, 25, 28, 157, 160, 164, 165, 194 interpersonal 189–190
bibliographic mobile 191
databases 32, 87, 98, 99, 103 services 25, 28,189
record 32, 103, 156, 158, 175 technical 91–92
representation 32, 57, 58, 87 technologies 69
bibliographies 22, 32, 34 see also lists under reference; tools 183, 185
referencing written 168
Big6™ information literacy model 15 see also different forms of communication, e.g. mail
Bing™ under electronic (e-)
Images 75 Compendium 173
competencies for information literacy 12–15, 16, 17

19 6 navigating information literacy | index

concept identification 57–60, 65–67, 168 see also theme diaries 28, 35–36 see also blogs under personal
words dictionaries 30–31, 66, 127, 144, 145, 168, 174, 180
conceptualising 16 digital
conferences and conferencing 35, 47, 86, 92, 104, 126, 159, libraries 20, 24, 27–28, 29, 35, 90, 91–92, 104, 164, 175
168, 190 media players 188
Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (ccsc) 168 photographs 112, 186, 187
context words 169, 170, 171 Digital Book Index 20
controlled digitisation 20, 120, 124
access databases and online journals 90, 95, 96, 98, 100 direct copyright infringement 124
vocabulary 57–58, 64, 86, 93, 100, 102–103 directories 24, 34, 69–71, 72
Copernic Desktop Search 115, 116, 117 Directory of Open Access Journals 90
Copycatch 129 disa (Digital Innovation South Africa) 90
copying 121–122, 124, 125, 126–127, 128 see also copyright; disabled users 157, 162, 164
photocopies and photocopying discussion
Copyleft 123 in assignments, aspects for 156, 158, 159, 170, 171, 174,
copyright 175, 176, 177
elements of 123 groups 25, 29
expiry of 20 dissertations 39, 45, 102, 175
holders, rights of 89, 128 dmoz Open Directory Project 70, 71
images and 75 documents
infringement 14, 50, 124, 126, 135 bibliographic details of 47
in the electronic environment 125 copying of 124, 127, 128, 129, 132
law 121 definition of 20
practical issues 24, 120, 193 field 86
see also Berne Convention about copyright format, portable 72, 75, 146, 162
Corbis® Image search engine 74, 75 full-text 87
corporate communication 25, 41, 44, 45, 122, 185, 186 organising on computer 110–114, 117
cosmetic changes to source material 130, 131 peer-reviewed 28, 163
country codes 162 representing and retrieving 31–32, 39, 43, 45, 58, 59, 61,
cover page 163, 177, 178 64, 66, 98–101
crawler program 71 searching for 27, 48, 57, 60, 63, 107, 175
Creative Commons 123, 124, 192, 193 types of 36, 93
crosslinking 104 using as queries 65
CrossRef 105 word processing 72, 104
csa see also pre-print; referencing
Illumina 94, 95 DogPile meta search engine 77
Sociological Abstracts 98 doing words see action words
csnet 24 downloads and downloading 20, 21, 25, 75, 110, 111, 112, 115,
Cuil search engine 71, 72 117, 124
currency of information source 73, 157, 174
cyber bullying 193 E
ebscohost 88, 158
D EconLit 87, 92
Daily Earth 74 electronic (e-)
database books 20, 21, 27, 54, 126, 146, 147
accessing 47, 73, 90–92, 160, 183–184, 194 documents 146, 160, 164, 165
as information source 51–53, 86, 156, 157, 160, 175 environment, copyright and fair dealing in 124, 125,
availability of 13, 27 126–127
criteria for choosing 92–93 games, copyright of 124
definition of 86–87 journals 41, 50–51, 90–91, 146, 175
full-text 87 libraries see libraries under digital
generation 29 mail 24–25, 28–29, 37, 39, 104, 105, 112, 127, 148,
image 75 149, 194
on invisible web 28 prints see pre-print
records 86, 87, 103–105 proceedings 35
referencing from 146–147 reference service see Ask a Librarian
searching 60, 61, 66, 72, 76, 93–107, 158 sources, referencing 145–150
see also catalogues under library; databases under Emerald 88, 93, 146
bibliographic; directories; portals encyclopaedias 30, 31, 66, 87, 144, 145, 156, 158, 168, 174
date field 102 enterprise portals 44–47
declaration form 169, 177, 181 Enterprise 2.0 185
deep web see invisible web E-print Network 92
default Boolean operator 71 eric 86, 92, 158
DejaNews 29 eRumor Report 194
Delicious 189 ethics 119–121
descriptor field 98, 100, 103 eunet 24
descriptors 86, 87, 92, 93, 98, 100, 102, 103, 156 see also Europa World of Learning 34
keywords evaluation of information and information sources 14, 15
desktop search engine 14, 114–116, 117 Eve2 129
Dialog 87 exact match systems 60

navigating information literacy | index 197

 examination papers 54 H
exclusion handbooks 20
operator see NOT operator hardware requirements for information source 157, 162
words 170, 171 Harvard system of referencing 104, 136–138, 143, 150, 153
exclusive rights 121, 123 harvesting 71, 78
expert interfaces 98 hashtag 186
help function 72, 83
F Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (hmso) 36
Facebook 184, 186,190, 191, 192–193 hidden web see invisible web
factual information 12, 29, 157, 165, 175, 177 HighWire Press 90
faculty websites 53, 54 html (Hypertext Mark-up Language) 25, 71–72, 75, 162
fair dealing and use 125, 126–127, 193 Human Genome Project 128
Fair Use Doctrine 125 human indexing 58
Favorites 112 Hurley, Chad 187
federated search function 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48 hybrid systems 60
fields 50, 51, 86, 87, 92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98 hyperlinking 25, 32, 71, 157, 160
file sharing 124, 125 hypertext 25, 71, 161
FilmCrave 187
Findsounds 75 I
Fixster 187 IBM website 26
Flickr 186 IceRocket 76
flow charts 172 Idealab 187
folders 14, 110, 111, 112, 114, 115, 117, 162 identifiers 86, 87, 92, 93, 98, 100, 103
footnotes 22, 136, 152, 153 identity theft 192, 193
formats 12, 20, 39, 60, 72, 97 ieee (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)
frameworks for assessing information literacy 16, 17 Xplore 27, 105
Freemind 173 iGoogle™ 190
ftp (File Transfer Protocol) 161, 185 iLike 187
full-text sources and providers 27, 28, 30, 32, 39, 41, 87, 88, IM (Instant Messaging) 184, 189, 190
93, 101 see also platforms image databases 75, 87
images
G Ask 75
Galaxy 71 Bing™ 36, 37, 71, 75
Gale Group Health & Wellness database 92 copyright and 75, 193
gaming 190–191 databases 87
gateways 26, 27, 41, 42, 43, 45, 47, 48, 90, 91, 175 editing programs 114
general web search engines 72 extensions 162
generic code 161, 162 fair dealing 127
Gigablast 71, 72, 77 Google™ Earth 37
GIS (Geographic Information System) 36 high resolution aerial 36
gmail integration 190 in multimedia files 114
gnu General Public License 123, 129 properties 114
golden road 24 referencing 148, 149–150
‘Gold’ licence 188 satellite 36
Google™ 29, 64, 65, 69, 185 search engines for 74, 75, 115
advanced search interface 79, 80, 81, 82, 83 uploading and display of 186
Chrome 25 Yahoo!® 75
Desktop Search 115–117 ImaJAN Media LLC 187
directory 71 imprint page 123, 138
Earth 36, 37 indexing
Groups 29 automatic 58
Images 75 manual/human 58
Maps 186 Infopeople Project website 72
News 72 information
Scholar 78, 79, 85, 104, 175 access to 15, 42, 47, 104, 120, 174
search 65, 71 ethical and fair use of 24, 55, 119–133
search engine 72, 73, 76, 78, 79, 83, 90 evaluating 11, 12, 14, 15, 26, 41, 155–165
simple search interface 79, 80, 81, 82, 83 informal 193–194
Scholar 78, 85 literacy 11–17, 37, 178, 180
Talk 189, 190 needs 12–15, 92, 107, 156–157, 160, 162, 164, 174–175
see also Blogger; Picasa; YouTube organising on personal computer 15, 109–117
GoToMeeting® 189, 190 private 120, 193
government retrieval systems 60–64
portals and gateways 43 retrieving on personal computer 114–116, 117
publications 19, 36, 128 services 24, 25, 61, 87, 160, 162, 174
‘green road’ 24 using 12, 14, 15, 20, 26, 41, 103–105, 141, 150, 184
Greg Notes’ Search Engine Showdown website 72 information sources/resources
grey literature 19, 36, 39 acknowledging 14
groups 25, 26, 28, 29, 184, 185, 186, 188, 192 assessment of 156, 158
choosing 13, 92–93, 174–175

198 navigating information literacy | index

 copying of see plagiarism keywords 31, 32, 48, 58, 59, 60, 63, 65, 79, 92 see also
currency of 102, 160 descriptors; theme words
description of intellectual content of 92–93
evaluation of 12, 14, 86, 89, 155–164, 165, 193–194 L
using 12, 29, 176, 177, 178, 181 language
intellectual property rights 120–121, 123, 124, 128 see also field 24, 86, 98, 102, 103
copyright; plagiarism limiting 106
interaction tools 183, 184 natural 57, 58, 59, 64–65, 72, 86, 93, 99, 100
interface 26, 28 of information source 158
command 98 law 14, 36, 53, 54, 119, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125
customisable 42, 43, 44, 45, 47 level of presentation 157, 158
platform 98 libpurple 190
search 49, 50, 51, 65, 71, 72, 78–83, 116–117, 186 Librarians Internet Index 71
user 41, 47 library
see also portals academic 28, 30, 32, 87, 89, 91–92, 125–126, 162,
interlending 41, 55, 191 174, 176
International Joint Conferences on Artificial catalogues 32, 48–50, 87, 103–104, 175
Intelligence 35 digital 20, 24, 27–28, 29, 35, 39, 77, 91–92, 104
Internet 24–29 portals 47–48
access to databases 13, 30, 32, 39, 120 public 24, 38, 39, 71, 74, 77, 90
Acronym Server 28, 29 social 191
bookmarking 188–189, 192 websites 13, 41, 48–54, 55
browsers 112 see also interlending
celebrities 187 LibraryThing 191
copyright 125, 130–131 Library 2.0 191
downloads 20, 21, 25, 75, 110, 111, 112, 115, 117, 124 lifelong learning 12
evaluating information on 193–194 LimeWire 125
Explorer 25 limiting words see context words
products 125, 183 Linden Lab 190
referencing from 145–150 LinkedIn 185
Relay Chat (irc) 25 link resolution 41
repositories 24, 29, 89–90, 91, 175 links 20, 25, 30, 31, 39, 43, 45, 47, 54, 71
Resources Newsletter 37 Linux 110, 115, 129
searching 37, 57, 63, 69–83, 90, 115–116, 117, 186 Listserv® 28
services 29, 184, 189
sources 14, 85 M
Speculative Fiction Database 34 magazines and magazine articles 20, 22, 23, 184
see also electronic (e-); gaming; identity theft; Mail & Guardian online 38, 39
networking under social; open access (OA); World Mamma meta search engine 77
Wide Web (www) manual concept identification 58
Internet Public Library 38, 39, 71, 74, 77 manuals 20
interpersonal communication 189–190 MapQuest® 32, 33
in-text references 136–137, 138, 145, 153, 178 maps 20, 32–33, 36, 37, 41, 48, 186
Intute: Science, Engineering and Technology website 46, Mashup 186
47, 48 Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
invisible web 28, 32 (MMORPG) 190
iPhone 188 MediaMonkey 187, 188
ipl2 see Internet Public Library Meebo 189, 190
iPod 124, 125, 187, 188 Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary 31
irc (Internet Relay Chat) 25 Metacrawler meta search engine 77
iterative process 105–106, 170 metadata 110, 113–114, 115, 117
itList.com 188 MetaGopher meta search engine 77
iTunes music store 124, 187, 188 meta search engines and sites 76–77
Ixquick meta search engine 77 Mickey Mouse Copyright Act 121
microblogging 186, 192
J Microsoft®
Joint Information Systems Committee 127 Bing™ 36, 37, 71, 72, 73, 75
Joomla!® 185 Office applications 113, 114, 129, 173, 178
journal articles 20, 22–23, 92, 159, 174 operating systems 45, 83, 115, 124, 188
accessing 24, 86, 87, 91, 93, 104, 162, 170, 172, 175 trademark 122
referencing of 143–144, 145, 150 website 44, 48, 83
journals Mikkelson, Barbara and David 194
magazines and 20, 23 Million Book Project 20
online 24, 50–51, 86, 88–92, 93, 98, 104, 105, 146, 164 mind maps 172, 173, 177
searches 32, 87, 175 Mindomo 173
subject-specific 22 mobile communication 191
Modern Language Association (mla) style of
K referencing 150
Karim, Jared 187 moral values see ethical and fair use of under information
most unique concept first 106, 107

navigating information literacy | index 19 9

 movie and music networks 187 websites 25, 26
Mozilla Firefox 25 photocopies and photocopying 14, 32, 50, 110, 124, 126, 177
mp3 111, 114, 124, 125, 162,187 photo sharing 29, 186–187, 192
Mullenweg, Matt 186 Picasa 186, 187
multimedia 59, 60, 63, 64, 71, 72, 75–76, 110, 113, 114 Picsearch™ 75
music 35, 110, 121, 123, 124–125, 126, 127, 136, 184, 187 pictures 30, 36, 60, 75, 112, 186, 187, 193
Music Jukebox 125 Pinakes 26–27
MyDropBox 129 plagiarism 14, 24, 55, 127–132, 133, 135, 163, 177, 181
MyIntute 47 platforms 29, 41–42, 45, 48, 87, 88, 92, 93, 95, 96
MySpace 184 Plaxo 184
MySpaceIM 190 plug-ins 185, 188, 190
mysql 28 PodBean 187, 188
Podcasts 187–188, 192
N portals 41–48, 90, 91–92, 175, 192
Napster 124 portlets 47
natural language 57, 58–59, 64–65, 72, 86, 93, 99, 100, post-print 24
102–103 pre-print 24, 90, 91–92, 104
nested searching 63, 71, 97 prescribed reading 26, 87, 130, 160, 169, 170, 175, 180, 181
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations privacy 120, 149, 192–193
(ndltd) 39 production of information 120, 121
news professional websites 26, 92, 164
search engines 39, 72–75 profiles 42, 105, 184, 186, 187
websites 73 proper nouns 60
newsgroups 25, 29 Project Gutenberg 20, 21, 27
newsletters 19, 37, 39, 156, 162 ProQuest 94, 95, 96, 99, 101, 102, 103, 104
NewsLookup 74 Proteus Image Search 75
newspapers and newspaper reports 19, 20, 37–39, 74–75, protocols 24, 25, 28, 161, 189
87, 123, 126, 136, 146, 148, 149 proximity operators 96, 97, 98, 105
Newstrawler 74 public domain 123, 124, 125, 128, 192
Ning 184 Public Library of Science 24, 90
Nokia Communicator 191 Publishers Association 127
non-print sources, referencing 145, 149, 150 PubMed 24
note taking 149, 169, 170, 176–177, 178, 191 Central 90
NOT operator 62 Pyra Labs 185
novice search forms 94–95, 97
nsfnet 24 Q
queries 13, 14, 28, 41, 57, 58, 59–62
O query manager 71, 72
objectivity 157 Questia 20, 27
Office applications 113, 114 quick search see novice search forms
online newspapers 39 quotations and quoting 31, 130–131, 136, 138, 178
Online Newspapers 75
open access (oa) 24, 88, 89–90, 91, 104 R
Opendoar 24 reading
OpenOffice 129 and writing 157, 168, 178, 180, 192
OpenSourceMatters 185 citing 127–128, 132, 135–136, 141, 145, 146, 150, 158,
open source software 123, 129 165, 174
Oracle 28 displaying 191
OR operator 61–62, 63 pdf documents 72, 162
orthophoto 32 prescribed and recommended 26, 160, 169, 170, 181
Oxford required 168, 169, 170–172, 175, 177
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 31 skills 12, 15, 20, 159, 160, 176
English Dictionary (oed) 31 reference
system of referencing 152, 153 lists 136, 137, 138–153, 157, 160, 177, 178, 180, 181 see also
bibliographies
P works 20, 29–35, 47, 159, 162, 175
paper 20, 30, 50, 124, 126, 127 referencing
paraphrasing 130, 131, 132, 133 electronic sources 30, 36, 75, 97, 100, 103–105, 121, 127,
patents and trademarks 36, 120, 121–122, 128 145–150
PC-to-PC communication 189, 190 guidelines for 55, 133, 135–136, 151–153, 176, 178
pda (personal digital assistant) 109 non-print sources 149, 150
pdf (Portable Document Format) 72, 75, 146, 162 printed sources 22, 137–145
peer-reviewed publications 28, 78, 89, 106, 157, 159, 160, terminology 136
163, 172 regional portals and gateways 42–43
peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing 124 relevance 41, 45, 47, 66, 72, 76, 174, 176
periodicals 20–23, 185 reliability 14, 155, 157, 160, 165, 193
personal reports 13, 14, 15, 36, 39, 126, 176, 177, 180, 188
blogs 28, 149, 184, 185 see also diaries research reports see assignments
information management (pim) 13, 109–110, 117, Residents 190
192, 193 Resource Discovery Network 47

20 0 navigating information literacy | index

resource name 161, 162 gateways and portals 26–27, 46, 47, 90, 91–92
retweet 186 material 35, 90, 121, 167, 168, 173, 174, 176, 188
reviewing 23, 163, 191 search by 24, 97
rights 24, 120–121, 123–124, 125–126, 193 see also copyright specific sources 22, 30, 35, 54, 168, 175
Roget’s Thesaurus 31 terms 87, 100, 170 see also theme words
rss (rdf Summary/Rich Site Summary/Really Simple subscription
Syndication) 105, 184, 190, 192 fees 24, 125, 162
journals 88, 89, 91
S synonyms 30, 31, 59, 67, 107
Sage Publications 160
Science Citation database 160 T
ScienceDirect 88, 92, 94, 95, 146 table of contents 105, 156, 170, 177, 178, 179, 181
Scirus 104 tag 105, 186, 188, 189, 191, 192, 193
search tangible ideas 121
forms 92, 93–95, 97, 98, 100, 106 task definition 15
queries, constructing 65,78–83, 98–102 taxonomies, using to organise folders 111–112
terms 58–63, 65, 66, 71, 72, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98 tcp/ip (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
Search.com meta search engine 77 24, 25
SearchDay 37 Technorati™ 76
search engine mathematics 64 Teen Second Life 190
Search Engine Watch website 72 textbooks 20, 158, 159, 170, 174, 176
search engines 71–78 text chat 184, 190
desktop 14, 42, 114–117 Theatrum Orbis Terrarum 32, 33
features of 37, 63–65, 69, 72, 83 theme words 170, 171
web 28, 59–61, 79, 95, 104, 105, 164–165, 175, 187, thesaurus (thesauri) 31, 58, 66, 86, 100, 102, 103, 105, 106
189, 191 thesis (theses) 39, 41, 45, 78
searches and searching, complex 78–79, 80, 95, 97 title
search strategies 13, 14, 92, 93–94, 95, 98, 102, 103–107, field 86, 98, 99, 100, 102, 103, 105, 107, 175
156, 159 page 137, 138, 142, 181
secondary sources 141, 143 topic
Second Life (SL) 190 analysing 13, 168–170, 171, 172
self-archiving 24 arrangement by 26, 76, 111
server domain 161, 162, 163 coverage of 25, 27, 30, 35, 89, 92, 93, 98, 128, 159
service provider 88, 93 disseminating information on 28
Shelfari 191 fields 95, 100
singular and plural forms 66, 97, 106, 107 identifying 58, 59–60
Skynews 74 of tasks 14, 130, 133, 135, 156, 157, 158, 167, 173
Skype™ 25, 189 see also bibliographies; theme words
Snopes.com 194 trackback 193
snowballing search strategy 106, 107 trademark 28, 33, 120, 121–122, 123, 190
social training tutorials 55
bookmarking 188–189, 192 trigger words see action words
libraries 191 trips (Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property
media 184, 186, 189, 191–193, 194 Rights), agreement on 120
networking 15, 184–186, 187–188, 190, 191, 192, 193 truncation 66, 96, 97, 101, 106, 107
software 183–184, 185 Truthorfiction 194
Sociological truth tables 62, 63
Abstracts 98, 100 Turnitin 129, 130, 132
Thesaurus 100, 102–103 tweets 186, 190
software Twitosphere 186
copyright 124 Twitter 186
mind mapping 173 twitterer 186
piracy 124 Twittervision 186
requirements for information source 157, 162 Twitxr 186
social 183, 185
sound clips 60, 75–76 U
specification words 170, 171 unesco Libraries portal 47, 48
spellings, variant 62 United Nations 20, 25, 26
spider programs 72 Universal Copyright Convention 120
Spotlight 115 unix 129
Squidoo 125 url (Uniform Resource Locator) 69, 71, 83, 127, 145, 146,
Stallman, Richard 123 155, 156, 157, 158, 160–163, 185
stopwords 59 user 20, 25–26, 28, 29, 30, 41–42, 45, 47, 48, 50
stumblers 189
StumbleUpon 189 V
subject Vancouver style of referencing 150, 151
academic 110–111, 127, 128, 130, 136, 168, 174 vanity sites see websites under personal
bookmarking services 188, 189 Venn diagram 61–62
experts 71, 102, 158, 159 Ventis Media Inc. 188
field 102, 105–106, 180 videos 20, 41, 48, 60, 75, 87, 104, 110, 114, 149, 162, 187–188

navigating information literacy | index 201

 Viewer 190 WordPress 185
virtual libraries see libraries under digital words
Virtual Library 28, 71, 77 alternative forms of 62, 67 see also spellings, variant
virtual worlds 190 singular and plural forms of 66, 97, 106, 107
voice chat 190 World News Network 74
voip (Voice Over Internet Protocol) 25 World Wide Web (www) 25, 69, 128
WWW Virtual Library 28, 71
W
web X
browser 25, 127 Xanga® 185, 186
documents and web pages, referencing of 146, 147 xml (eXtensible Markup language) 105
logs see blogs
pages 25–26, 28, 54–55, 156, 161, 162, 174, 185, 187, 188 Y
searching, advanced 78–83 Yahoo!®
Web 1.0 185 Desktop Search 117
Web 2.0 15, 29, 184, 185, 186, 188, 191, 193 directory 71
weblogs see blogs and blogging Images 75
Weedshare 125 Messenger 189–190
widgets 184 News 72
Wikipedia 25, 29, 30, 31, 85, 127, 186, 193, 194 Pager 189
wikis 29, 184, 185, 186, 192 search engine 72, 76
Wiktionary 31 Video 187
wildcards 96, 97 yearbooks 35, 160, 190
Wiley InterScience 96 year of publication 97, 98, 102, 104, 106, 137, 138, 143
Windows Yippy!™ meta search engine 77
Live Messenger 190 YouTube 187
operating systems 110, 115, 188
Search 115
7 operating system 45, 82, 83, 111, 114

202 navigating information literacy | index

Glossary
Abstract: a short, concise and accurate representation of
the intellectual or subject content of an item, object or
entity
Acknowledge: to indicate recognition of a person; or
to express gratitude for a favour or a compliment;
acknowledging the use of another person’s work then
need to show recognition of that person and express
gratitude for being able to use that person’s work
Action words: the verbs in a topic that tell what should be
done; also called trigger or doing words because they
trigger what should be done
Advanced search forms: allow searchers to be very
specific, for example specifying that they want to search
in only the title or in a specific data range; meant for
experienced searchers
Aggregator: a collector, a person who collects things;
an online feed reader, generally used for RSS feeds to
keep track of (collect) updates to blogs, news sources,
and other websites all on one page; users can subscribe
to the aggregator to receive feeds via email; a website
where headlines are collected
Alerts: (also called alerting services) a means to stay
abreast of new information and developments for
example, receiving the table of contents of every new
edition of a journal through an e-mail alert or RSS feed,
or an e-mail alert or RSS feeds of new database records
applying to a search strategy
Analyse: to examine the nature of a topic and its various
parts
Article: see Journal article and Magazine articles
Assignment: a task or job that has to be done as part of a
course of study such as writing an essay on a topic
Atlas: a bound collection of maps
Audience: the group of people for whom the information
is intended
Author: the writer of a book, a chapter in a book, an
article, a play, and so forth; the creator of the work
Authoritative information: Information that can be
trusted and respected as true and accurate
Automatic indexing: the indexing of a document by
machine through computer algorithms; ranges from
a simple identification of words in a document,
to complex analyses and identification of names,
topics and phrases, to the automated classification of
documents into categories
Avatar: a computer user’s representation of himself/herself
or alter ego whether in the form of a three-dimensional
model used in computer games or a two-dimensional
icon (picture), or a one-dimensional username used in
online communities.
Bibliographic database: a database that does not contain
full text documents, but rather representations of
documents in terms of the title, abstract and keywords
of a document; it will state who the author of a
document is and when and where the document was
published
Bibliographic record: a description of an item of
recorded information such as an article, book or
conference paper, which includes all the necessary data
to uniquely identify it such as the author, title, journal
title or ISBN number of a book
navigating information literacy | glossary
Bibliography: (also called a reference list) an alphabetical
list of publications such as a list of all the works
of a single author, or all the books and articles on
a particular topic, or all the books published in a
certain country, or within a particular time span, or
all the sources which are cited in a text according to a
standardised reference technique such as the Harvard
system
Blog: (short for web log) a personal or non-commercial
periodic publication on the web, usually in reverse
chronological order, meaning the latest postings are
displayed first; an online journal; keeping a blog is called
‘blogging’, and a person who keeps a blog is a ‘blogger’
Blog search engine: a search engine that specialises in
blog sites
Bookmarking: making a link to an Internet site so that it
can be returned to later, also called ‘Favourites’
Boolean logic: a method for combining search terms
(keywords) using logical operators to limit or expand
the numbers of results; system was originally developed
by the mathematician George Boole in the 1800s; three
logical operators are used in information retrieval: AND,
OR, NOT
Boolean operators: the use of the logical operators AND,
OR, NOT to indicate a relationship between search
terms; they allow the searcher to broaden or narrow the
search results; an ‘AND’ operator between two words
(for example, ‘skirt AND trousers ) tells the search
engine to find documents that contain both of these
words; an ‘OR’ operator (for example, ‘cats OR dogs )
tells the search engine to find documents that contain
either of the words; a ‘NOT’ operator (for example,
‘pigs’ NOT ‘guinea’) tells the search engine to find
documents containing only one of the words
Browse: usually used in connection with the Web, it refers
to exploring the Web by following one link to another;
difference is sometimes made between ‘browsing’
and ‘surfing’, where browsing would indicate that
the user has a definite objective (looking for specific
information), while surfing refers to exploring the web
without a definite objective
Browser: a software application that allows you to view
and navigate the content of the WWW
Building block approach: when each concept and its
search terms are searched for separately and then the
results of the different search strategies are combined
Bulletin board: (also called a Group) is similar to e-mail
and a mailing list because they are communications
between people, but whereas e-mail and mailing lists
are ‘pushed’ to the user’s computer, bulletin boards and
groups have to be ‘pulled’
Chatroom: a site on the Internet where a number of users
can communicate in real time
Citation pearl growing search strategy: see Snowballing
search strategy
Citing: (see also Referencing) to quote or refer to the
person or information source that was used in a report
or assignment
Collaboration: to work together with others on a joint
project
203
 Command interface: specific commands need to be typed
and used correctly according to the requirements of the
database or system in order to retrieve information, for
example SELECT, PRINT and LOGOFF
Concept: a general or abstract idea; in information
retrieval, a concept must eventually be expressed as a
keyword to use in a query
Concept identification: identifying the main ideas
contained in a problem/information need; once the
main ideas are identified, they must be represented as
keywords for the query construction
Conference proceedings: published records of
conferences
Context words: words that indicate how a topic is
demarcated; also called limiting or context-specific
words because they limit a topic to a specific context
such as a specific country or a specific group of people
Controlled access: some databases and journal platforms
can only be accessed by searching at the institution or
with the necessary username and password
Controlled vocabulary: a way of using standardised
terminology to represent a document, typically as broad
categories of topics
Copyright: the exclusive legal right, held for a certain
number of years, to reproduce and control (print,
publish, film, perform, record, broadcast, sell) an
original literary, musical, artistic or other similar
original work, or part of it
Corporate author: a body of persons regarded as the
author of a work (see Author)
Crawler: see Spider
Criteria: standards or principles against which something
is judged or which are used to help in making a
decision, for example deciding which database or
platform to use
Currency: refers to how up to date an information source
is and when (the date) it was created or last updated
Customisable interface: an interface that can be changed
to suit personal requirements
Databases: a collection of logically organised records
Default: the option that will apply if a choice is not made,
for example the fields that will be searched if a specific
field is not selected such as searching in the title field
only
Default operator: the operator that is used automatically
by search engines to combine keywords; if the Boolean
operator is not specified, AND is usually the default
operator
Descriptor: a word, concept or phrase (also called a
subject heading, keyword or indexing term) that
was chosen by a human indexer from a controlled
vocabulary such as a thesaurus or list of subject
headings to describe the intellectual or subject content
of an item, object or entity such as a journal article
Desktop search engine: a search engine on a personal
computer that helps to search for information on a
personal computer; can form part of the operating
system of the personal computer or can be installed on
the personal computer
Diary: a personal account of events usually handwritten;
sometimes used by scientists to record progress
of experiments providing a very useful source of
information for other scientists who want to replicate
the experiments
Dictionary: a list of words with their definitions, or a
list of words with their translations in one or more
languages
Digital Book: see E-Book
204 navigating information literacy | glossary
Digital library: (also called virtual libraries, electronic
libraries or e-libraries) a library where the collection of
documents is not printed, but is in electronic format so
that it can be accessed by computer
Directory: list of names of people living in a particular
area, organisations operating in a particular field,
individuals in a particular profession, useful and
informative sites on the Web, etc.
Display formats: formats that apply to show information
on the computer screen, for example only a list of titles,
the bibliographic information, or the bibliographic
information with the abstract
Dissertation: (also called a thesis) a report or a treatise
as part of an academic course for a higher degree
or diploma; conventions vary from institution to
institution regarding the use of the terms ‘dissertation’
and ‘thesis’
Document: a written account that provides information
E-Book: (short for electronic book) a book published in
electronic form
Edit: to prepare a piece of writing for publication by
checking the accuracy and clarity; or to be in charge
of the planning and preparation of a publication; or to
prepare a film, television programme and so forth
Editor: the person responsible for the planning and
publication of a book (or newspaper, etc.); the person
who sees to it that the content (of the publication) is up
to the expected standard; the person who edits a piece
of writing or a publication
E-Journal: (short for electronic journal) a scholarly
journal published in electric form
Electronic book: see E-Book
Electronic journal: see E-Journal
Electronic library: see Digital library
Electronic mailing list: a special use of e-mail that allows
the distribution of information to many users on the
Internet; usually limited to a particular topic or used
by a particular group or organisation to disseminate
information to its members
Electronic serial: see E-Journal
E-library: see Digital library
E-mail: (short for electronic mail) a way of composing,
sending and receiving electronic messages using
Internet protocols
Embargo: an official decision to prevent access to
something for a specified period, for example prevent
access to journals for three months or a year
Encyclopaedia: collection of knowledge in written format,
but not necessarily paper-based; general encyclopaedias
deal with many different topics, and subject-specific
encyclopaedias deal with specific topics such as medical
encyclopaedias
Enterprise portal: a portal limited to an organisation;
usually closed and only providing access to employees
of the organisation
Ethics: moral principles that govern or influence a person’s
behaviour; a code of behaviour of a particular group, or
profession, or individual (see also Information ethics)
Evaluation: (also called assessment) forming an opinion
on the value or quality of something
Exclusion words: words that indicate the aspects not to
include or discuss in an assignment
Fair: treating something or someone equally according to
the rules or the law
Fair dealing: the ‘fair’ right, granted by copyright laws,
to reproduce certain portions of copyrighted works
without infringing on these rights
Fair use: the American term for Fair dealing
Federated searching: the simultaneous search of multiple
online databases
Fields: (also called record fields) a database consists
of records that consist of fields that are required to
describe the item, object or entity that is represented
by the record, for example fields for the title, author,
publisher, descriptors, abstract, etc.
Folksonomy: (see also Tags) a vocabulary that is
originated by and familiar to its primary users; arise in
web-based communities where special provisions are
made at the site level for creating user tags
Full-text database: a database that contains the complete
text of journal articles, book chapters, encyclopaedia
chapters, financial reports, or newspaper clippings;
when searching a full-text database it is not necessary to
trace the full-text
Gateway: a single point of entry to many information
resources
Geographic Information System (GIS): a system
used for creating and managing spatial data, using a
computer system; geographic information is referenced
and stored so people can use it interactively by
analysing and integrating the information provided
Google™ Scholar: a search engine that specialises in
scholarly literature
Government portals: a portal limited to government
information
Government publication: official publication issued by
the government’s printing facility
Grey literature: information that is not available through
the normal bookselling channels such as interim
reports, manuscripts, patents, brochures and pamphlets
Group: see Bulletin Board
Handbook: similar to a text book, but is usually aimed at a
specialist in the field
Harvard system: international reference system;
technique used for referencing purposes
Human indexing: (also called manual indexing) when
human indexers (as opposed to computer algorithms)
create representations of documents by allocating key
words to describe the content
Identifier: a word, concept or phrase that, like a
descriptor, is assigned by a human indexer to indicate
the intellectual or subject content of a record; unlike a
descriptor, it is selected from a controlled vocabulary,
such as a thesaurus; selected from the natural language
of the document or the potential user group since
the term, word or phrase does not appear in the
controlled vocabulary; only assigned if there is sufficient
information on the word, concept or phrase
Identity theft: the deliberate assumption of another
person’s identity, usually to gain access to that person’s
finances or to frame a person for a crime
IM (Instant Messaging): a text form of communication
that happens in real-time like a conversation between
people over the Internet; unlike e-mail, when the
message is typed and sent the recipient receives it
instantly
Incorporeal: without a body, substance or material form
Index: (noun) a list of words and pointers to where these
words occur; (verb) to represent an information source
in terms of keywords
Information ethics: moral values in the information field;
the way in which information is used (see also Ethics)
Information literacy: the ability to know when
information is needed, where to find the information
and how to evaluate and use the information once it has
been found
Information need: a gap between what is known and what
is needed to be known, for example to use information
to make a decision or complete something successfully
Information source: a source or document (an article or
book) with information that may be potentially useful
navigating information literacy | glossary
Infringe: to violate or break a rule, a law, or an agreement
(for example: copyright infringement)
Intangible: cannot be touched or felt (see also
Incorporeal)
Integrity: being honest and having strong moral principles
(for example, academic integrity)
Intellectual property rights: intangible (immaterial)
property rights which are the results of intellectual
effort; patents, trademarks, designs and copyright; the
ownership of ideas
Interface: the point of contact between the human and the
computer; what the user sees on the computer screen
Interlending: the lending of library material by one library
to another
Internet: a network of computer networks which operates
worldwide using a common set of communications
protocols, known as TCP/IP (Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol); the broad name given
to several communication technologies used on the
worldwide network, for example e-mail, chat rooms, the
WWW
In-text references: acknowledgements of the sources of
information in the text of an assignment or paper or
book (see also Citing and Referencing)
Invisible web: (also called deep web or hidden web) is that
part of the web which is not accessible to general search
engines; consists of pages that are not linked to by any
external pages
Iterative: something (such as a search strategy) that is
repeated more than once until the desired result is
achieved
Iterative information search: repeating a search for
information more than once to allow for different angles
and a change in approach to ensure that the exact
information that is needed is found
Journal article: article that reports original research that
has been undertaken to increase the body of knowledge
within a specific discipline
Keyword: an individual word searchable in any field of
a record, for example in a bibliographic record in a
bibliographic database; sometimes used interchangeably
with terms such as ‘descriptor’ or ‘indexing term’
Library .: a concept of interactive library service in the
digital age that is loosely tied to Web 2.0
Library catalogue: the main database for searching for
information resources held by a particular library
Library portal: a portal that allows users to search
across several databases and platforms to information
resources simultaneously
Limiting results: similar to refining, refers to changing
the search strategy to retrieve more or less information
and to ensure that the information is really relevant,
for example changing to search only in the title field,
or only for a specified period, for example documents
published between 2008 and 2010
Listserv®: often used incorrectly as a generic term
equivalent to mailing list, but it is actually a specific
trademarked mailing list software application
Literature search: using a variety of resources to find
relevant information to complete an assignment or
research project
Magazine articles: articles mostly aimed at the general
public that cater for popular opinions and interests;
not necessarily written by experts, and also not peer
reviewed
Manual: contains rules and procedures relating to a
specific field, for example a manual on how to use
specific software
Manual indexing: see Human indexing
Map: flat, abstract representation of the surface (or parts
of the surface) of the earth
205
 Mashup: digital media content containing text, graphics,
audio, or video and animation drawn from pre-existing
sources to create a new derivative work; a website that
contains information from multiple sources (although
this is usually quite seamless to the user); a web
application that combines data from multiple sources
into a single integrated tool
Metadata: data about data, describing the properties of a
document or multimedia (information) object such as a
photograph, music file or video
Meta site: site about sites; meta sites build databases of
search engines and databases of databases
Meta search engine: a search engine that interprets
a query and sends it to several search engines
simultaneously and then manages the results from the
various search engines and displays them as a single set
Microblogging: a form of blogging that differs from a
traditional blog in that its content is typically much
smaller
Mind map: a diagrammatic and visual way to represent
ideas; words, ideas, tasks, etc. are organised around a
main or central idea or concept and each of these can
again branch into other words, ideas, tasks, etc.; can be
used to plan assignments, summarise texts and generate
ideas
MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing
Game): a genre of computer role-playing games in
which a very large number of players interact with one
another within a virtual game world
Multimedia search engine: a search engine that
specialises in non-text information, for example
graphics (pictures) and sound clips
Natural language: language in active use by a community
of people, including the authors of books, journal
articles and the users of databases such as students,
academics, professionals and researchers; the words
used by the authors of a publication in the title, text
and abstract fields; the words experienced users of
databases and subject experts will use based on their
own experience and subject knowledge
Natural language indexing: the same words that the
author used in the document are used to represent the
document
Natural language query: a query that uses the same
words that the author used in the document to
represent the document in a search query
Network: an interconnected group of people or systems
Newsletter: a short publication produced at regular
intervals containing news about a specific organisation
or activity
Newspaper: a publication issued at regular intervals
(daily, weekly, monthly), containing news, opinions,
advertisements and other topical material; newspaper
articles are regarded as primary sources of information
News search engine: a search engine with a fast rate of
updating, specifically suited to news items
Novice search forms: basic, quick or elementary search
forms that are easy and straightforward to use with
fewer options to refine a search strategy; often only
require a single word; aimed at people with no or very
limited experience in seeking information
Objectivity: ability to consider only facts and not be
influenced by personal feelings or opinions
Online journal: a journal available in electronic format
mostly via the WWW; may require subscription or it
may be available for free
Open access journal: a journal where an author of a research
article would like to make the content freely available, in
addition to having the article published, he or she can
do so on the Internet before it is published in the journal
(pre-print) or after it has been published (post-print)
20 6 navigating information literacy | glossary
Owner: someone who owns something; to own
something: something belongs to you
Ownership: the state of being an owner
Paraphrasing: to put something that has been written into
other or different words
Password: a secret word or phrase used to be allowed to
access something, for example searching the databases
or journals to which the academic library subscribes
Patent: an official document that grants the inventor
or the company the sole right to make, use or sell the
invention for a limited period of time, and preventing
others from copying it
Path: in the Internet environment the path in the Uniform
Resource Locator (URL) specifies the location of
a document or page on the server; can include the
names of subfolders; sometimes also referred to as the
directory or subdirectory
Peer-reviewed journals: journals that involve qualified
individuals in the field / profession to judge if submitted
articles meet with the requirements and standards of
the field / profession; part of self-regulation to ensure
the quality, accuracy and reliability of published journal
articles
Peer-reviewed publication: a publication that is read and
evaluated by experts in a field of study or profession
Peer reviewing: the review of an article by experts in the
field; the process usually employed to decide whether an
article will be accepted for publication in an academic
journal
Periodical: a publication published at regular intervals
(weekly or monthly) that keeps the same title; issues
are numbered consecutively, and usually several people
contribute to a single issue
Personal information management (PIM): activities
performed in order to manage own information (paper-
based or digital), including documents, e-mail and
multimedia information objects; includes organising,
maintaining and retrieving such objects, as well as the
acquisition, maintenance and use of such items, for a
work or study task or for everyday use
Phrase: keyword consisting of more than one word, for
example ‘outcomes-based education’ and ‘gone with the
wind’
Plagiarism: to plagiarise means to steal ideas from another
author or from the author’s work; taking someone else’s
ideas or work and using them as if they are your own
Platform: service providers or full-text publishers and
providers that can provide access to the full-text of
journal articles in a search
Podcast: an audio or video file that is made available
on the Internet for download and playback using a
computer or a mobile device such as an Ipod; a music
or talk programme made available in digital format for
automatic download over the Internet to a personal
MP3 or digital device
Portal: a website that has a federated search function,
which means that users can use a single log-on to
access a variety of platforms, and search all of these
simultaneously instead of having to log onto and search
each database separately
Pre-print archives: (also called e-prints) archives of
scientific or technical documents that are circulated
electronically for comments by peers such as fellow
researchers; can include pre-publication drafts
of journal articles, scholarly papers, technical
communications or similar documents in which
research results are shared
Prescribed reading: sources that are required to be read
and used to complete an assignment
Privacy: the condition of being left alone, out of public
view, and in control of information that is known
Protocol: in the Internet environment there are different
types of protocol such as hyptertext transfer protocol
(http) or file transfer protocol (ftp)
Proximity searching: search based on the use of
proximity operators that allow the searcher to specify
the position of the words as well as the word order, for
example the words must be next to each other with no
intervening words, there may be up to one word (or
character such as a hyphen), or even ten words between
two words; can also specify that the words must be in
the same order or that it does not matter which word
comes first
Publication: a copy of a printed work for distribution
Query: a user’s question or information need has to be
formulated as a query so that the computer system
can process it; consists of search terms (or keywords)
combined by Boolean operators
Query construction: combining search terms (keywords)
with Boolean operators in a single statement
Query manager: a computer program that matches the
user’s query with the index of the database in order to
retrieve relevant documents
Question: the expression of an information need in
human language, for example ‘Why is the sky blue?’ (In
order for a search engine to understand the question, it
has to be expressed as a query.)
Quick search: the most common and straightforward
search where a search is done in the title or keyword
field for the key concept or combination of key concepts
to get an idea of what is available on the topic; also
referred to as a brief search
Recommended reading: additional information sources
that contain information that may help in completing
an assignment
Records: (also called database records) consist of fields
with information on the author, title, publisher, journal
title, etc. that is required to describe the item, object or
entity; used in databases to represent items, objects or
entities such as journal articles, books, etc.
Record structure: includes the fields of a record that are
necessary to describe an item, object or entity such
as a journal article, book, etc., as well as the indexes
that are created to ensure that it is easy to search for
information in a field such as the author field, title field
or descriptor field
Refer: to mention or speak of someone or something;
using another person’s work in a report or assignment
Reference list: (see also Bibliography) an alphabetical
list at the end of a document which contains detailed
information on the documents used and cited (referred
to) in the work
Reference work: a source such as a journal article or a
book that provides factual information; the information
can be general or subject-specific
Referencing: (see also Citing) noting the source
of information used in a report or assignment;
acknowledging that a specific information source was
used
Refining results: similar to limiting results; changing the
search strategy to retrieve more or less information
and to ensure that the information is really relevant,
for example changing to search only in the title field,
or only for a specified period, for example documents
published between 2008 and 2010
Regional portal: a portal where sources of information are
limited to a particular geographic region
Report: a written description of a completed research
project or an interim description of progress made
towards the completion of a research project
Represent: in information retrieval to express the idea
contained in either the document or the question/
navigating information literacy | glossary
information need in terms of keywords; to allocate
keywords that express the general ideas contained in
a document; to allocate search terms that express the
general ideas contained in a question
Reputation: the opinion that people have about someone
or something; a reliable information source or author
should have a good reputation
Research report: a written document reporting on a
research project, for example on the results, research
methods, conclusion and recommendations
Resource name: in the Internet environment the Uniform
Resource Locator (URL) resource name is a file name
with an extension to indicate the type of file such as
.html, .pdf or .doc.; can also be a sound file or graphics
file
RSS (Really Simple Syndication): web-feed formats
used to publish frequently updated works such as
blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video in a
standardised format; allows the distribution of contents
without the need of a navigator by means of software
designed to read RSS (aggregator) contents
Scope: the range of things included, for example the
topics included in a database, or the type of documents
included
Search engine: a computer program that gathers and
indexes documents, and then searches the database and
retrieves documents based on a match with the query
Search engine mathematics: mathematical symbols, such
as + as the equivalent of the Boolean AND operator and
– as the equivalent of the Boolean operator NOT; these
symbols are sometimes used as not all search engines
use AND, OR and NOT
Search form: a form that appears on the screen and needs
to be completed to search for information; can be a
box where a single word or a combination of words or
phrases is typed or can allow for more specific detail
such as specifying the field (for example title field) or
a combination of fields (for example title and author
field) to be searched or indicating how fields should be
combined with Boolean operators
Search results: list of references (also called hits) that is
the result of a search using a database, platform, search
engine or other search tool
Search terms: words, concepts or phrases that are used to
search for information; also called query terms
Server domain: specifies the name of the web server
on which a web page is located; often starts with
WWW; includes the name of the company, institute or
organisation, a generic code (for example, for academic
institutions .ac or .edu is used) and the country code
Snowballing search strategy: (also called the citation
pearl growing search strategy) when a relevant or useful
document is found in a search, the list of references at
the end of the document can be used to identify useful
documents, search terms, authors, journal titles, etc. as
an easy way to expand the search
Social bookmarking: see Bookmarking
Social media: any website or web service that utilises a
‘social’ or ‘Web 2.0’ philosophy; blogs, social networks,
social news, wikis, etc.; Internet- and mobile-based
tools for sharing and discussing information among
people
Social network: see Network
Social software: a software system that enables users to
collaborate and share information; a type of software
or Web service that allows people to communicate and
collaborate while using the application
Specification words: words that specify what must be
included in an assignment
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 Spider: (also called a crawler) a computer program that
trawls the Web looking for documents to add to the
search engine database
Sponsored link: a text-link on a web page that serves as an
advertisement that the advertiser has to pay for to have
the link displayed
Stop words: words that occur very frequently in a
particular language and are therefore not indexed and
should be excluded from a query (for example, ’the’, ‘in’
and ‘of’)
Subject gateway: a single point of entry to available
electronic resources that often has a hierarchical
arrangement by subject (topic) of the resources made
available through the site
Subject portal: a gateway to sources of information
limited to a particular field of study
Subscription: an amount of money required, usually once
a year to receive regular copies of a journal or to have
regular access to a database
Subscription journal: journal that requires a subscription
to have access to it; institutions such as academic
libraries subscribe to journals so that their users can
have regular access to them
Table of contents: a list of headings and subheadings
numbered appropriately with the correct page numbers
which correlates with the headings and subheadings in
the text
Tag: a one-word description (keyword) used to describe a
bookmark chosen by the user
Tangible: something that can be touched or felt; that has a
physical existence
Taxonomy: the science of classifying objects; very often
organised in a hierarchical structure where broader
terms are at the higher level and narrower terms at the
lower level
Text book: book used in schools or universities; generally
contains an introduction to a particular aspect of a
field of study; does not contain any original research;
generally factual books which aim to teach students the
basics of a particular discipline
Theme words: words that reflect the key theme; also called
key, topic or subject words; indicate what an assignment
topic is about
Thesaurus: (singular form of thesauri) is a list of words
with similar, related or opposite meanings attached to
each entry; does not supply meanings of words like a
dictionary; it simply shows relationships between an
entry and its synonyms (words with similar meaning),
antonyms (words with opposite meaning) and related
words
Thesis: see Dissertation
Title page: (also called the cover page) includes
information on the student name, student number,
module code, name of the lecturer and topic of the
assignment (the title of the assignment)
20 8 navigating information literacy | glossary
Trademark: a design, name or symbol used by a company
or a manufacturer to distinguish its products from those
of competitors; a registered trademark is a trademark
that is officially registered and legally protected
Truncation: expands a search to include all forms of
the root or stem of a word, for example manage* will
retrieve manage, manager, managers and management
Truth tables: mathematical tools used to establish
whether a statement that combines various other
statements is true or valid
Uniform Resource Locator (URL): the address of a
website, web page, document, etc.; reveals information
about the electronic document such as the owner, the
nature of the organisation and the document or web
page
Video sharing: a video hosting service that allows
individuals to upload video clips to an Internet website;
the video host stores the video on its server, and shows
the individual different types of code to allow others to
view the video
Virtual library: see Digital library
Web: see World Wide Web
Web .: term coined in 2004 that refers to a second
generation of Internet-based services that focus on
web applications that facilitate online collaboration,
interoperability, user-centred design and interactive
information sharing such as wikis, folksonomies,
community database generation and photo sharing
Webcam: a digital camera designed to take digital
photographs and transmit them over the Internet
Web page: a document on the World Wide Web that can
be accessed through a web browser
Website: (or web site) is a collection of related web pages
that share a common address (URL)
Widgets: devices or controls that are very useful for a
particular job; visual objects, icons or graphical interface
elements that can be manipulated by the computer
user to perform a desired function online or on their
computer
Wild cards: replace a single character or multiple
characters in the middle of a word, and are especially
useful when searching for different American and
British spelling such as when using ‘s’ or ‘z’ (for example,
organisation or organization), or for single and plural
forms such as when searching for women or woman
World Wide Web (WWW): the part of the Internet that
is accessible though a browser
WWW: see World Wide Web
Yearbook: (also called an annual) a publication that
contains current information for a particular year;
subject material may be general or specific and is
provided in brief descriptive or statistical form