1. LIBRARY
INSTRUCTION
Erin L. Nagel, Spring 2013

2. Information Literacy Outcomes
Recognize an information need and
formulate research questions
 Define an information need and develop a strategy
Efficiently access information relevant to the
identified need
 Know where to look
 Implement and refine search strategy
Critically evaluate information using
applicable criteria
 Evaluate information before you use it

3. Library research
What do I want to know?
How do I find it?
How do I know if it’s right for
me?

4. Define an information need
Review your assignment
 How many sources? What type(s)? What is
the audience? What is the intended purpose?
Brainstorm for ideas
 Talk to friends; browse web; read newspaper
Identify main topic and related concepts
 Use a thesaurus; break down by subtopic
Put it all together
 Develop a search strategy

5. Search strategy
Use “ “ or ( ) to keep words together & in
order, i.e., “senior citizens” or (senior
citizens)
Connect with Boolean operators
AND is
AND = narrow automatically
used by Google
and other search
engines to
combine terms.
OR = expand
Sometimes a
program will use a
+ or – to
NOT = exclude substitute for
AND or NOT

6. Search terms
Use these anywhere
CONCEPT 1 CONCEPT 2 CONCEPT 3
Main topic Related concept Subtopic
OR OR OR
AND AND
synonym synonym synonym
OR OR OR
synonym synonym synonym
• (Concept1 OR Synonym1A) AND Concept 2
• Concept 1 AND (Concept2 OR Synonym2B) AND Concept3
• (Concept1 OR Synonym1A OR Synonym1B) AND Synonym3A

7. Search methods
Keyword
 Everyday language
 Searches everywhere in an item’s record
 MORE results, but may be LESS accurate
Subject
 Formal language
 Specific, predetermined terms
 FEWER results, but may be MORE accurate
Other fields
 Search in specific fields like Title or Author
 Options vary by database

8. Search Methods

9. What if I still can’t find what I’m
looking for?
Give up
Switch topics
Drop out of school
Look in a LibGuide for tips and
suggested resources
Ask a librarian for help

10. Next steps
 Efficiently access information relevant to the
identified need
 See presentation
 Critically evaluate information using
applicable criteria
 See presentation
 Appropriately use information to fulfill the
identified need
 Go to: http://clayton.libguides.com/ENGL1102
and http://clayton.libguides.com/Research for
tips on citing sources and avoiding plagiarism