CONTACT INFORMATION:
Professor Judy Chow
Email: prochowonline@wlac.edu
Mobile: 818-481-8368
Office Hours: Online by appointment
THE COURSE:
Welcome to Library Science 103, Information Literacy: Search Strategies, Tools, and Resources. This course offers advanced search strategies for INTERNET, DataBase searching. Each week students are required to participate in the class discussion forum.
GRADING POLICY:
Overall assessment for this course is based on:
Class participation 25% (100 points)
Assignments/Quizzes 25% (100 points)
Class Project 25% (100 points)
Final Exam 25% (100 points)
Extra Credit (max. 35 points) - Extra Credit will only apply when both Class Project and Final Exam are turned in.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Learn search strategies with the latest research tools that will enable the searcher to acess information from resources in print and electronic format in research library.
CONTENT KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:
Formulate a research question
Determine the information requirements needed to answer the research question.
Understand the eight basic concepts of online searching that can be applied to any online catalog, database, or search engine.
Become familiar with standard sources available in print and electronic format.
Identify the appropriate sources and search strategies needed to find information.
Evaluate the information found.
Format bibliographies and references according to selected bibliographic citation style.
COURSE CONTENT:
Research paper organization & development
Working bibliography and evaluating printed sources
Note-taking strategies - 3X5 or 5X8 cards or digital files
Outlining
Bibliographic citation styles for print sources
How to read the parts of a book
Documentation Styles: MLA, APA, Turabian & Chicago
Search strategy & Boolean logic
Subject searching: Controlled vocabulary lists – LCSH
Classification systems
Library catalogs: from print to online
West LA College SIRSI Online catalog - Search Strategies (Subject versus Keyword search;how to read an online catalog screen)
Bibliographic Sources, Bibliographies & Webliographies
Guides to research
Special collections
Periodical literature and indexes (e.g. ProQuest, LEXIS/NEXIS)
Abstracts & Citation indexes
Internet: brief history, browsers, directories, search engines & meta-search engines
Internet search strategies
Evaluation of internet resources
Citing electronic sources
Printed and Electronic format of the following resources: Encyclopedias: general & subject; Dictionaries: general & special, Biographical sources, Literature in collections, book reviews, and literary criticism, Geographical sources: maps, atlases, gazetteers, and travel guides, Government publications & information sources, Statistical sources, Almanacs, Chronologies, Yearbooks, Handbooks, and Directories
Library & Computer vocabulary.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Trimmer, Joseph. A Guide to MLA Documentation; with an Appendix on APA Style. 7th Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. (Paperback)
RECOMMENED TEXT:
Hodges, John C. Hodges' Harbrace Handbook. 14th Edition. San Diego: Harcourt
College Publishers, 2001 |
