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Start Your Research Here!: Start Your Research Here!

First Steps

Welcome to the Start Your Research Here! website.

These lists of resources and instructional materials are designed to help you research effectively, efficiently, and successfully. You may want to select individual modules or go through all of them to get a better idea of all aspects of researching and writing a paper. Some parts of the modules may be repeated since they are applicable for more than one module.

Please ask your Librarian if you have any questions!
Madeline Copp - madeline.copp@carrington.edu

Information Literacy

INFORMATION LITERACY is a set of skills which allow a person to:

“Recognize when information is needed and to have the ability to locate, evaluate, and effectively use the needed information.”

American Library Association. Presidential Committee on Information Literacy. Final Report. (1989). Chicago: American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/whitepapers/presidential.cfm

The information literate student should…

  • KNOW what you want to know, what kind of information you need, and how much you need.
  • ACCESS information effectively and efficiently by using appropriate search terms, synonyms, keywords, and Boolean operators (AND/OR).
  • EVALUATE information and its sources critically (using the C.R.A.A.P method) and consider how it changes what you already know.
  • USE information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.
  • FOLLOW ETHICAL/LEGAL laws and rules. Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally. This includes copyright, censorship, plagiarism, and the need to provide correct citations.