Skills in Accessing, Finding & Reviewing Information - Safari

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1 . Understanding information 1. Introduction 2. What is information? 3. The information age 4. Everyday uses 5. Types of information 6. Information universe 7. Mapping sources 8. Identifying needs 9. Summary

2 . Unpacking information 1. Introduction 2. Information journeys 3. Supply chain 4. Research supply chain 5. Categorising information 6. Shape of the literature 7. Finding information 8. Summary

3 . Planning a search 1. Introduction 2. Describing information 3. Databases 4. Library catalogues 5. World Wide Web 6. Which to use? 7. Planning a search 8. Choosing resources 9. Summary

4 . Searching for information 1. Introduction 2. Basic principles 3. Databases 4. Library catalogues 5. World Wide Web 6. Tracking progress 7. Your subject 8. Summary

5 . Evaluating information 1. Introduction 2. Information quality 3. Presentation 4. Relevance 5. Objectivity 6. Method 7. Provenance 8. Timeliness 9. Summary

6 . Organising information 1. Introduction 2. Why organise? 3. Ways to organise 4. Social bookmarks 5. Citing references 6. Bibliographies 7. Summary

7 . Where do I go from here 1. Introduction 2. Sharing information 3. Electronic communication 4. Keeping up-to-date 5. Summary

Topic 4 Everyday uses of information

Let us look now at the types of information we all use in our personal lives, our work and our studies.

First, what about the information involved in living through a typical day? Take last Saturday, for instance, what were the decisions you made that day – large and small?

Think about a few of these decisions carefully. What information did you need to access in order to tackle each of them?

In some cases the information required may have been instantly available to you from your existing knowledge. For example, if your first decision of the day was what to have for breakfast, you may or may not have had a detailed knowledge of the contents of your kitchen cupboards.

In other cases you may have had to go elsewhere for information. What sources did you use for finding out the things you did not already have information?

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