When searching for scholarly documents, researchers often stick with the same familiar handful of databases. Yet, just beyond these limited horizons lie dozens of alternatives with which they could search more effectively, whether for quick lookups or thorough searches in systematic reviews or meta-analyses. Searchsmart.org is a free website that…

Courses: Research Methods, Public Speaking, Communication Theory, any other course that requires college students to engage in a formal research process. Can be conducted in traditional, online, or hybrid courses. Objectives: In this original single-class activity, students will be able to evaluate source credibility for resources that extend…

Chemistry majors at Goucher College are now required to take a 1-credit course in their sophomore year entitled Chemical Information Literacy. Students in the course learn the structure and organization of the chemical literature, and how to carry out searches of various databases for topic, author, chemical compound, or structure. They learn…

This special report is the latest installment in an ongoing series about how online education is changing teaching and learning and the development of curricula. It was produced with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. This paper contains the following articles: (1) Changing the Role of K-12…

To do solid academic research, college students need to look beyond the computer search engine. This short, practical book introduces students to the important components of the information-seeking process. "The Elements of Library Research" provides a foundation for success in any research assignment, from a freshman paper to a senior thesis.…

Over the past dozen years, the switch from paper to electronic sources of information has been all encompassing. How can technology support the efforts of scholars to find and evaluate information? General-purpose search engines use an obscure mix of advanced algorithms to index, search, match, and rank results. Metasearch software extends the…

Discusses Internet plagiarism and includes an outline for a presentation that library media specialists can use with teachers. Highlights include an overview of the problem; helping teachers recognize the signs; pinpointing the source, including the use of search engines and Web sites; and prevention, including more control over the research…