Module 1.
How to Solve an Information Problem
1. Define Problem
2. Strategize
3. Seek & Evaluate
4. Use & Evaluate
5. Synthesize
Where to Start Research

Contents:
Introduction
Module 2: Search Techniques
Module 3: SD Library Network
Module 4: Proquest
Module 5: Infotrac
Module 6: Lexis-Nexis
Module 7: OCLC Firstsearch
Module 8: 
Module 9: 
Module 10: 
Module 11: Internet Searching
Module 12: Evaluating Internet sources
Module 13: Scholarly vs. Popular
Module 14: Citing sources
Module 15: How to Get Material Not Available Online

Module 1 Step 2: Strategize

Previous Next

How to Solve an Information Problem...

Step 2. Strategize = Develop a strategy for solving the problem.

• Consider: What types of sources are likely to provide the answer(s)?

Do you need an overview of a topic from an encyclopedia or textbook?

Do you need current information from magazine, journal, and newspaper articles or from radio/tv broadcasts?

Do you need a more comprehensive or in-depth approach in the form of a book?

Do you need facts and statistics from handbooks, almanacs, and statistical compilations?

Do you need definitions from dictionaries and encyclopedias?

Do you need addresses and additional information about people and organizations from directories?

Do you need non-textual material from audiocassettes, videocassettes, and multimedia?

• Consider: What quality of information is needed?

Does the material need to have gone through an editing or peer-review process?

Does the material need to be written by scholars (specialists in the field)? or by general, staff authors?

• Select appropriate tools to find the sources you need.  For example, your general strategy could be:

1. Ask a librarian how to find what you need.

2. Use the library catalog to find out what material the library owns or subscribes to, including encyclopedias, textbooks, magazines & journals, books, handbooks, almanacs, statistical compilations, dictionaries, directories, audiovisual, and multimedia sources.

3. Use periodical indexes to find articles published in magazines, journals, and newspapers.

4. Use Internet subject directories and search engines to find material on the Internet.

Note:  Later in this module, you will be given specific suggestions about where to start your research.

[The five steps are based on the "big six skills" for solving information problems described by Michael B.Eisenberg and Robert E. Berkowitz in Information Problem-Solving: the Big Six Skills Approach to Library & Information Skills Instruction (Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing, 1990)].

Previous

Next