Week 5

For the last week of class we are supposed to talk about the overall impact of the course; I can say just from learning about how much trouble you can get in, I started to become aware of everything that I was doing when I was working on the research project. We had a picture of a poll and I was not sure if we were allowed to use it, but we could, we just had to site it correctly. I’m not the type of person to do something like that on purpose, it would be an accident. After Bonnie told us about copyright laws I realized that a lot of things that I use and that people around me use are copyrighted, and that we have to be careful. I definitely think that this course was helpful because if I had not taken it I would always be wondering when I’m supposed to site things, or if I’m doing it correctly. I know now that you should always site no matter what, especially when you are unsure.  I understand more about citations and places that I can go in order to help me complete them; for example, I was very interested in the site Zotero, because it seemed like it would be a big help in the future. The other most helpful thing about this class was finding places to look for research materials; I never knew there were so many different databases imbedded into one site, such as the PSU Libraries site, that we can use to find the reliable information we need. I would always have to refer to Google or one site that I did know of when my teachers told us to do research, unless they specified where we should go. I think that the idea of using New Media is also great, because it can be a fun way of learning; I never even thought that I could go to Twitter and use that as a source! Also, using a video; just because it’s not text, does not mean it isn’t trustworthy or accurate. I will definitely keep all of the things that I have learned in this class in mind for future assignments! Thank you Bonnie and Amanda!

Week 4

Last week in class we learned how to use “New Media” in order to have some sources other than books and websites when we are doing research, or other kinds of projects. I thought that the use of Twitter was a good idea because it can be a direct source from a person or a company known nationwide that will be an appropriate source. I was happy that Amanda showed us the website that we can go to in order to search Twitter, because I don’t have one. The fact we could get information from the president or the Wall Street Journal was interesting and quite useful. I also thought it was good how we were taught to use different sites in order to check copyright laws, or just avoid it completely by using creative commons. Creative commons is a site that people have given others the ok to use pictures, articles, videos, or anything else that they posted. These sources are not copyrighted and are open for the public. I would be interested to know if there are any other sites like out that have information we can use without having to worry about copyright laws. Also, I never knew that printing off an article for someone to read was wrong because you’re not taking credit for it however, those are the rules and the only way you can use the article is if it is spur of the moment. That is defined under a process known as “fair use”; this means that you can use something that is copyrighted as long as you didn’t have time to ask for permission in advance. The main thing that Bonnie pushed was making sure that we cite things correctly and are aware of the copyright laws; I found myself worrying about this as I was making the PowerPoint for our group projects! Making use aware of the wrong things we have done in the past definitely has made me more cautious in the present, and hopefully in the future!

Week 3

This week during class Amanda talked about how we’re supposed to use resources that are scholarly and about the different type of topics we can research. One of the things that we talked about was the ability to tell difference between a book that is made for popularity and one that is made to give out information. One of the things to look at when deciding if a book is a good source or not is the title of the book; if the title is long and smart sounding it is probably a good source, however, if it is short and cute, then the book probably isn’t exactly what you’re looking for. Also, if the book isn’t published by a University or someone that is very recognizable, then it also probably is not the best source to use. On Thursday Bonnie taught us the difference between patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Patents are the reservation of a certain idea; she used the idea of a thermos as an example. Trademarks are a picture or logo that companies have deemed theirs that others are not allowed to use. Lastly copyrights are works of literature or writings that have been protected by a law that says no one can copy them or use them in any way without the consent of the author. These things are very serious and if violated can lead to severe consequences. As Bonnie said in class, one of her students put a picture of a Disney character on the website that she made, and was notified that she would be sued if she did not remove it within 24 hours. People can get themselves into a lot of trouble for taking credit for things that are not theirs. Another thing that was discussed was plagiarism and the trouble that people seem to get themselves in; if you take credit for someone else’s work, or you don’t cite something correctly, without bad intentions you can still get in trouble. All in all, make sure you are careful when writing things and using other people’s resources or you can have difficulty helping yourself later.

Week 2

This week in class we talked about being able to use different search engines depending on what type of topic we were trying to cover. There were several different places that we could go on CAT in order to find the correct source that we need. Bonnie stressed the importance of being able to pick the correct search engine; for example if your topic was health you would need to figure out what kind of health, or in what branch of health it is because there were several different databases that dealt with specific topics in the larger topic of health. Also, this would not just be health but many other subjects as well. She also talked about how we can use different sources in a paper i.e. she said she would love for a student to use a YouTube video in order to help back up their topic as long as it was reliable and scholarly. On that note, Amanda talked to us on Thursday about how to tell the difference between good sources and bad sources. The most that I took away from this is that the only sources that are actually good to use are academic journals, scholarly literature that can be proved is true, or websites that you, the researcher, must deem credible based on its attributes, such as the URL, the group who made the website, the author etc. The way that you can tell a website is reliable is if there is a recognizable name or association that is publishing it; for example any website by Mayo Clinic would be appropriate to use because it is known worldwide and is a reliable source. Another thing to specifically look at is the author, if there is no author, then that source shouldn’t be used (which I never knew!). When I was in high school they said if we could not find an author then use the publisher. Also something that I was taught previously is not to use material that is too old, especially in science, like Amanda said. This is great advice because the world is changing so much and old information might not be as useful. One question I do have though is if you can’t think of a search engine or database and you need one, is it okay to Google for them?

 

Week 1

Generally I have never been good at searching library catalogs for research; up until my freshman year of high school I used Google for everything that I needed to do research for. No one ever told me that I couldn’t use Google and that it wasn’t a very good use of my time. Ironically, I was told that Wikipedia was not a good source to use in a bibliography. I never knew, and never cared, what kind of sites I found—if it answered the question I was ultimately trying to find, then I used the information, whether it was a good source or not. The most that I got out of Thursday’s lecture was the spot on the Penn State Libraries site where it listed several search engines that are good for looking for research articles. I only know of one other good source that is appropriate to use for information. I was also surprised that there are so many different ways that you can find these search engines; there were several different spots on the website that takes you to several different sites and many of them were different types of sites or for specific things, which would be helpful when looking for a specific topic. Another thing I found useful was the discussion about indexes. I never knew that they were available and I see how they can be very useful when you are looking for a specific topic and the article seems like it is over a broad topic. I found it helpful to also think about using the words in the index to search if you aren’t finding the information you need with the original search. Also if you search for something and you don’t have any hits, making a broader subject search is a good idea, I usually don’t think of it like that. I change the words so it means the same thing; usually a very specific search. Overall the lesson was helpful and I learned a lot.