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This lesson directs you back to important content in the Information Literacy Basics Tutorial, in case you missed it, or in case you need to review it!
Evaluate source quality
Evaluate source quality
In your career as a scientist or applied scientist, you are going to need to know what it means for a source to be scholarly, or else you are going to appear uneducated to your boss and co-workers, and that could be extremely embarrassing! Assuming you don't want that to happen, you need to review this material on scholarly sources and make sure you understand it.
Note that peer-reviewed sources are an important type of scholarly source, and they are often the most heavily used sources by scientists and applied scientists. So, if you don't understand what peer-review is, and which types of sources are peer-reviewed, then review that material from the Information Literacy Basics Tutorial.
Scientists and applied scientists consistently work with credible sources. If you don't know what it means for a source to be credible, this could be another source of embarrassment when you land a job after college. To avoid that, review this material on credible sources. You also need to know how to evaluate the quality/credibility of a source. Again, you don't want to be the only person in your place of employment who doesn't have these skills.
Get full text
Get full text
Once you've found sources that look promising, you'll want to track down the full-text. This is explained in Lesson 6 of the Information Literacy Basics Tutorial in the section: Get the sources you've chosen.
We'll run through the basics again here, and add a few more strategies!
Whenever you find a record for a promising source when searching a database (like PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, etc.), look for links that might lead you to full-text and try all you find. If you still can't seem to get to full-text, then try these steps:
Look up the title of the source in Google (not Google Scholar) to see if you can find a free copy somewhere on the internet.
Request the source using Cline Library's Document Delivery Service.
Ask for help using the chat service in the blue box on Cline Library's home page.
But let's say you have a reference for a source that you came across elsewhere than a database search; perhaps it's a reference from a bibliography, or you got it somewhere else. In that case, follow these steps:
Look up the title of the source in Quick Search which is the search box on Cline Library's home page. If you find it, follow any links you can find to get full-text.
If that isn't fruitful, then look up the title of the source in Google (not Google Scholar) to see if you can find a free copy somewhere on the web.
Still can't find an accessible copy of the source? Then eequest the source using Cline Library's Document Delivery Service.
If all else fails, ask for help using the chat service in the blue box on Cline Library's home page.
Cite properly
Cite properly
You may or may not end up in a job where you need to regularly write, refer to sources, and cite those sources, but if you do, you'll need to know how and why to cite. If you don't know how to cite properly, your boss is going to wonder how you graduated from college without this skill! Plus you'll look inept compared to your co-workers. So, review Lesson 7 on Using and citing information sources from the Information Literacy Basics Tutorial.
You are finished with Lesson 7. What's next?
You are finished with Lesson 7. What's next?
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