2. Pros of Internet
Free of charge (NLB - 3 cents per minute)
24 / 7 available (unlike library closes at 9 pm)
Lots of information
Easy to use
Good for current info (news) & general info
“Good Enough” e.g. find food, maps, etc
WWW - World Wide Web
3. Cons of Internet (80/20 rule)
Reliability? Who does quality control?
Con-man (evaluate internet scams)
Authority?
Not so good for Scholarly, Specialized info
(Good stuff is there but must dig deeper)
WWW - Wild, Wild West
Cat joke
11. Over-reliance on Net has students floundering in media literacy test
A CERTAIN species of octopus in the Pacific north-west lives in a tree.
Sounds ridiculous?
Well, 34 out of 35 Singapore students who read the bogus website http://
zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ believed such a creature actually exists.
The students, aged 13 to 19, were unable to distinguish fact from fiction in a Straits
Times test of media literacy among youth.
The spoof site, set up as an online hoax in 1998 but now used by institutions to test
Internet literacy, fooled nearly all the 35 local students into thinking the tree
octopus story was 'well-supported by scientific research' and 'factual'.
From Factiva Database
12. Evaluating Resources
Criteria Questions to ask
Authority • Who published the material?
• Are the author’s and publisher’s qualification documented?
• Can they be contacted (via email or other method?)
• Where does the document originate – is it from an
educational institution, a government or a company?
• Is there a bibliography?
Accuracy • Are there any factual errors, or outdated facts?
• Is the information cited correctly?
• Are there any errors, inconsistencies or slip-ups in the
references?
• Are there any language errors?
Importance of citation – language of academia
– international standard – common language
13. Currency • When was the information published?
• When was the material last updated?
• Were the links still current?
Objectivity • What is the purpose of the document – was it created
for commercial, educational or other reasons?
• How much of the content is opinion based?
• What are objectives of the author?
Coverage • If there are links, are they evaluated in any way (i.e.
short write-up) and are they complementary to the
information on the site?
• What is the balance between textual and graphical
information?
• Is there any historical/geographical bias in the sources
used, and the treatment of the subject?
14. Wikipedia®
Should not be quoted in academic
research, DO NOT CITE IT!
But useful starting point to
authoritative sources/references
22. How to score A? Story
Use a varied and wide range of reliable sources:
-Books (available at all libraries)
-Newspapers (Factiva, NewspaperSG)
-Encyclopedia (Britannica)
-Historical Info (History Database Centre)
-Geographic Info (World Atlas)
-Journals (Ebsco, Proquest, JSTOR)
-Websites (credible sites)
30. Factiva
Global newspapers
e.g. The New York Times,
The Australian
Local content
e.g. The Straits Times, Today, The Edge, Lianhe Zaobao, Shin Min
Full access only from the library
Has Straits Times from 1989 to present Day (at libraries only)
Limited access from home due to copyright (Factiva $$$)
Internet usage at libraries is 3 cents per minute ($1.80 per hour)
32. search operators
“ ”: to search for phrases, use quotation marks
Eg “dog ate my homework” – Decrease hits
AND: results will contain all the words or phrases
Decrease hits
OR: results will contain one or more of the
words or phrases
Increase hits
NOT: results will not contain the word or phrase
after: Decrease hits
* Wildcard - Toilet*
56. Encyclopedia Britannica
a general English language encyclopedia
widely regarded as the most scholarly of encyclopedias
good source to check for facts and information
67. EBSCOHost
Provides full-text for over 4,500 publications, including
full-text for more than 3,600 peer-reviewed journals in
subject areas such as biology, chemistry, engineering,
physics, religion, arts and sociology.
80. Advisory Service:
Some questions asked by users
When and why was chewing gum banned in
Singapore? Will I be arrested if I consume
chewing gum??
• Why doesn't superglue stick to it's tube?
I am looking for newspaper articles on
MOE’s “Teach Less, Learn More.”
• What is does JK in the author’s name J
K Rowling stand for?
Quote Expert
