Week Five Blog: Wrapping Everythin Up

During this last week of Library Studies, we didn’t learn anything new due to the fact that we presented our group projects on Tuesday, and Bonnie and Amanda have already shown us so much about the library in the past five weeks. Although there is so much more that we are capable of learning because the library has an infinite amount of resources, I feel very well prepared for the next four years of college. We didn’t have a full class on the last day, but before we were dismissed, Amanda went over how to find a book in the library or online. I really liked that she did that because I caught a little more information on how to do it than I did the first time that she went over it. She also went over the link that is like a calendar and you can put all of you projects that are due in it. The link helps to keep you organized so you won’t forget about projects that you have to do. I think it’s really awesome that Amanda and Bonnie are willing to email us our grades early even though they aren’t actually due until December. Not many professors would be willing to do that for their students! In all, this class has been really beneficial in helping me adjust to all of the course work we will be getting in college. High School definitely doesn’t prepare you for what’s ahead of you once you graduate. Although this class has been interesting and I have learned so much from this class, I am happy that it is over because now I won’t have any classes on Tuesdays or Thursdays and I will have more time to relax and not be as stressed out!

Week Four Blog: Media vs. Text

On Tuesday Amanda brought up the really good question of whether media is better than print or is print better than media. The answer to that question is neither. It all depends on where the information comes from and whether the source is reliable or not. She told us that if you are looking for people’s opinion and that sort about breaking news, the best places to look are social networks. Most social networks such as twitter and tumblr have very easy research links so you are able to look up a certain topic fairly quickly. Along with social networks, Amanda also showed us the link to the website Opposing Views, which has people opinions controversial topics around the world. The website it really helpful because it publishes the information in certain ways such as pod casts, pictures, and articles. This website it super convenient because it even has citations for all the pictures that they use which can be hard to do yourself. On Thursday Bonnie went over the article that we had to discuss for our project. She asked a very meaningful topic of whether we should allow Google to be our brain? Personally I don’t think there is anything wrong with relying on technology so much because it is such a big part of our culture and it’s not going anywhere any time soon. But that’s just my opinion; others may feel differently. I think the information we learned this week, along with everything we have learned during the duration of this class has been really enlightening, and I think that I hadn’t taken this class I wouldn’t have been able to adjust to the course work that we get in college. I think my experience and my grades will be better because of everything this class has taught me.

Week Three Blog: Citations and Plagiarism

During the last past two classes, I have learned (and retained) a lot more than I have from any of the other previous classes. On Tuesday, Amanda went into great detail about scholarly journals which was very helpful. For example, one way to tell if the information is a scholarly journal is if it is published by University Press, as well as, if the text looks boring and if the title isn’t very appealing, odds are that it is a scholarly journal. Although it may be difficult to read, and hard to stay focused on the text while reading, scholarly journals are the best resources for information because they have a majority of facts about the topic or event, and the information is always accurate. On Thursday, Bonnie shared a great deal of information about plagiarism which may be the most important topic I should learn during my college career. Citing the information that you find is so critical because one, it gives credit to the person who worked so hard on the research in order for others like yourself to use, and two, if you use information that isn’t common knowledge to others, or that you didn’t personally find, without citations, you could fail the course or have to deal with more severe consequences. One thing that I didn’t know was that even if you are paraphrasing someone else’s work or ideas, you still have to cite them even if you aren’t using the information word for word. Although there are a lot of rules that come along with citations and plagiarism, it is something that is very important to research and you can’t forget to use it. However, most of the library’s website, along with the databases that you have to find your research on has premade citations next to the webpage, so ironically all you have to do it copy and paste it into your paper.

Week Two Blog: Wikipedia

                During Thursday’s class, I was relieved to know that I was not the only one who used the internet source Wikipedia for my research papers. Even though a number of my high school teachers had told me never to use it, I did it anyways. The reason why Wikipedia isn’t recommended is because trolls (people who go online and like to cause trouble) along with actual researchers and everyone in between have the ability to alter the information on the site, so you cannot be too sure about the information that you are getting from them. I was glad when Amanda told us that Wikipedia wasn’t all that bad, as long as it is used as a starting point, and not as the main source of all your information. She also showed us the correct way to use the system. One of the good things about it is that the site lists its references which in turn can actually lead you to legitimate websites that can give you more in-depth information. Another interesting fact that Amanda taught us is that no matter what type of information you are reading, everything is bias. Regardless of whether or not the information is talking bad about something, even if it is just lacking information about the opposite side of the argument; that counts as a bias. Although the internet as well has specific databases have so much useful information, the best sources to collect information from are scholarly journals because they pretty much contain all of the details about that topic due to the fact that it is written at least six months after the event happened. Not only is the information on databases and scholarly journals useful, but it is also very easy to use. I think the point that Amanda was trying to get across is that, although Wikipedia is very convenient and helpful most of the time, with all of the other legit and expert information we can find on databases, there is no need for us to use Wikipedia as our go to information guide.  

Week One Blog: Databases

Up until this point I thought I was pretty decent ant finding research online. Google was like my best friend when it came to finding information online. After attending Thursday’s class I was clearly mistaken. We learned so much information about the library’s website and all of the different tools that can be beneficial throughout our college careers. Some of the information I retained, however most of it has already slipped my mind. I will definitely have to explore the website more in-depth to try and remember all of the useful information Amanda has explained to us. One of my favorite things about the website is how many different databases it contains. There are databases particularly for one broad subject, and others that you can find almost anything on. These databases are definitely more effective to use than Google due to the fact that Google may display information that may not be accurate and it shows information that is totally irrelevant to your topic. Whereas you may get links that are irrelevant on these databases, you are more likely to receive information that is beneficial. Plus with these articles, most of the time they give you all the information you need in order to cite them. Another thing that I like about this website is that you can search the libraries catalog, also known as CAT and while searching if you find a book that you need, you can click the “I want it” link, and the library will have someone go and retrieve it for you. They will put the book on hold for you and alert you once the book is ready to be picked up. I have actually already used this link is it may possibly be one of the best tools ever invented. All I had to do was request the book, go in and swipe my card and they handed me my textbook right there. It took all of 3 minutes. The libraries website has so much information; everything you need is so convenient that the only work that you have to do is the actual reading. Don’t you just love technology? Life is good!