Information Literacy

1. Information Literacy Chapter 1: Topic & Bibliography

2. Analyze the Assignment • Find a Topic • Produce a Bibliography • Use One of the Approved Styles

3. Find a Topic • I’m serious. Find a topic. In fact, find as many topics (national policy issues) you can in five minutes. • I’m not interested in how many you can recall or how many you can imagine, but how many can you find on line.

4. Are there better strategies? • CQ Weekly Report • Lexis Congressional Hot Topics • Public Policy Research: Getting Started

5. What’s a Good Topic? • Consistent with assignment • “Your paper must deal with a matter of public policy within the Constitutional power of some officer, agency or institution of the United States federal government.” • Narrow enough to allow relatively thorough research

6. Bad Endangered species Environmental protection National Park Policy Yellowstone National Park Federal wolf management Ranchers’ rights Threats to livestock Good Whether the Yellowstone wolves should be protected when they leave the park What’s Narrow Enough?

7. Produce a Bibliography • Preface • Primary v. Secondary Sources • Scholarly v. Popular Sources • Getting an Overview • Digging Down Deep • Use One of the Approved Styles

8. Primary v. Secondary Sources • Primary: An original, first-hand document; it has not been previously published, interpreted or translated. • Secondary: Interprets and analyzes primary sources; information is “once removed.” Secondary sources are often based on primary sources.

9. Primary or Secondary? • Historical records like birth certificates or deeds • Autobiographies • Reviews of plays, films, books, etc. • Original published research reporting a lab experiment • Works of art and literature (paintings, poems, etc.) • Editorials in newspapers & magazines • Correspondence, diaries and other personal papers • Textbooks, encyclopedias, etc. • Transcripts or recordings of interviews or proceedings • Government documents like bills, laws, or court decisions • Published research reviewing the literature of a certain field

10. Written by scholars for scholars Typically detailed and lengthy Always formally documented Example: American Political Science Review Written by journalists for a general audience Typically general and short Documentation informal or absent Example: CQ Weekly Report Scholarly v. Popular Sources

11. Scholarly or Popular?

12. Getting an Overview • Secondary or Primary? • Scholarly or Popular? • The Yellowstone Wolves

13. Digging Down Deep • Secondary or Primary? • Scholarly or Popular? • The Yellowstone Wolves

14. Primary Sources • Laws & Bills • Lexis-Nexis • Court Cases • Lexis-Nexis • Organization Opinions • PoliticalInformation.com • Government Documents • First Search: GPO • GPO Access

15. Scholarly Sources • Lexis-Nexis • Law Reviews • EBSCO Host • Academic Search Premier • Social Science Abstracts • Military & Government Collection • First Search • GPO • PAIS

16. Primary & Scholarly Source Portals • Cole Library: Research by Topic • Social Sciences • Politics • Department of Politics • Internet Sources for Government, Politics & Law

17. Use One of the Approved Styles • APSA • Chicago/Turabian • APA • MLA • Links to the Approved Styles • Guidance on Documentation in Your On-Line Syllabus • Cole Library: Politics

18. Summary • Find a Topic • Produce a Bibliography • Preface • Primary v. Secondary Sources • Scholarly v. Popular Sources • Getting an Overview • Secondary & Popular Sources • Digging Down Deep • Primary and Scholarly Sources • Use One of the Approved Styles