Information Literacy Survey

Please complete this survey to help the librarians tailor your instruction session to best meet your research needs.


1. What is difficult for you about using the library?

2. The best place to look for background or introductory information on a topic (such as “democracy”) is:

Web Site
Reference Book
Scholarly Journal

3. You need to find information about the recent conflict between Israel and Syria. Which of the following kinds of resources are you likely to find about this topic? Check all that apply.

Newspaper articles
Encyclopedia articles
Web sites
Books
Magazine Articles

4. To find the most current information on a topic, it is best to consult:

Books
Magazine Articles
Encyclopedias

5. You are assigned to a research a topic with which you are not familiar. Your strategy is to begin with general research sources, then proceed to more specific sources. Which of the following sequences best illustrates this progression?

books > journal articles > encyclopedias
journal articles > encyclopedias> books
encyclopedias > books > journal articles

6. Which of the following is a characteristic of scholarly journals?

Contains glossy pictures and advertisements
Undergoes a peer review process before publication
Reports news events in a timely manner
Provides information in a general manner to a broad audience

7. Information found on the Web may not be appropriate for scholarly research because:

Scholars do not put information on the Web
Most information on the Web is free for anyone to use
Not all information on the Web is authoritative or accurate

8. A professor requires you to read three scholarly articles from three different sources about the presidential election of 2000. It is best to start looking for these articles using:

A search engine (Google, Alta Vista, etc.)
The library catalog
An online subscription database

9. The following citation:

Levin, Yuval. "Politics after the Internet." Public Interest. v.149 (Fall 2002): 80-95.

is a bibliographic citation for a:

Book
Journal article
Subject encyclopedia
World Wide Web site

10. If you are writing a paper on animal rights and you use information from a Web site produced by PETA – the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which Web site evaluation criteria should you apply in your assessment?

Currency
Authority
Bias
All of the above


Please tell us about yourself:

1. During your most recent educational experience (high school, previous college courses, etc.) how often did you use online subscription databases to find information on a topic?

never once 2-5 times more than 5 times
3. During your most recent educational experience (high school, previous college courses, etc.) how often did you write a research paper that required you to use sources beyond those used in your class?
never once 2-5 times more than 5 times
4. To help us better meet your needs, tell us what you would like to know about the library or the research process. 

Your Name:

Your E-Mail Address:
Your Professor's Name
Course Name or Number
Class Time

Thank you!