If you are in too much of a hurry to utilize this WBT today, go back to the fishing map and scroll down to the shortcuts to engines, directories & guides to find your way to what you need right now. Otherwise sit back, get a beverage and make sure you have a little time to read, practice and investigate your way through the links associated with this tutorial.
What is this all about and what is it for?
Student are encouraged to participate is the building of a pathfinder as a means of gaining some insight and experience in looking for information at the college level. First we'll select a general subject area, narrow it to a manageable topic, determine what is needed to accomplish the information based task and then set out to find the source material needed to build the pathfinder.
The focus of this WBT tutorial is the general process of looking for information for a college level research project. The web file is titled " Fishing for Information " and includes a eight file tutorial for students, links for instructors interested in utilizing this online resource within the context of existing courses as a means of encouraging information literacy skill development, a survey for students new to the site, an information seeker profile tool, and an evaluation form for the site.
The WBT offering assumes that some online students may never have the opportunity visit the BHCC library in Charlestown, Mass so it stresses using online resources and encourages the WBT to include paper, people, site visits etc. in their research to avoid narrow dependency on electronic resources that can't possibly provide sufficient scope and range essential to any research project.
If you're willing to give the tutorial a try, let's warm up and settle in by considering what a fishing expedition and looking for information for college level research has in common. We'll call this analogy or metaphore a concept.
The Concept
To begin thinking about an idea, one place to check is a dictionary of terms. In this case it's not much help since fishing for information is a comparison between the activity of looking for acquatic animals in water and the activity of seeking information on the Internet and elsewhere.
Like fishing it's an art and a science. Technology is making the science of it easier to examine and analyze but the art of the search still rivals the scientic aspect of the activity. So what do you know about fishing? And what do you know about looking for information? The relationship between the two ideas is much greater than a dictionary definition can explain. Keep the differences and similarities in mind as we work our way through this tutorial.
For Example:
- From the stern of a boat a gill net might be cast across a wide span of ocean or individuals can toss drop lines over the side and one at a time feel for the bottom with a hook.
- Before heading out, size and area regulations from the Board of Fisheries can be consulted and considered or the fisherman can take her chances.
- A fisherman can throw a line over the side of a boat and set herself against an elusive target or she can walk into a fish market with a charge card and pickup a few pounds of fillet for dinner.
- Technologies can be employed and training on its features and tips could accompany practice and experience or while underway the fisherman can apply intuition and luck to the tools of her trade.
The Steps
- Formulate an idea by defining it as a subject area, narrowing it to a topic and focusing it within a clear thesis statement.
- Don't waste time re-inventing the wheel. Look for a scholarly work or two that will anchor your search for information.
- Set your search activity parameters according to a stated application, the goal of an assignment, or a focal point on which to set your project outcomes.
- Identify a range of sources. Don't settle for books, or people, or transcripts from an interview or trial. Recognize that variety adds to perspective and increases the potential for original ideas and conclusions to be drawn. Format, date, perspective, scope are a few among many aspects of information to consider when you're gathering materials to clarify, enhance and add new understanding and meaning to ideas related to your own.
- Identify key concepts and terms that describe your information need. Library of Congress Subject Headings usually prove to be invaluable even if you don't end up using books.
Click here to begin the
Heel Tapper Pathfinder Tutorial