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Short Learning Progamme: Part 1 - Building Blocks of Information Literacy: Unit 2: Idenitfying an information need

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(The information literacy user's guide: an open online textbook, 2014)

At the end of this unit, the student should be able to identify and articulate the need for information.

Task definition
This is the planning stage. When you receive an assignment, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Think about what you already know
  • Where are the gaps in your knowledge?
  • What do you need to find out?
  • What information do you need?
  • What sort of information do you need?
  • Where would you find this information?

How do I know that I need information before starting with the task?

  • If you cannot answer a question or solve a problem with the current knowledge you have, you need information;
  • The first step in being information literate is to acknowledge that you do not know enough to accomplish a specific task or carry out a task like an assignment successfully. You, therefore, need to look for information to bridge that knowledge gap. It is called recognising an information need.

How do I know what information I need for my task?
Always ask questions:
•    Why is the information needed? For a research paper, for a presentation, speech, or report?
•    Who is the intended audience? A lecturer, or fellow students?
•    What type of information will answer the question? Factual, analytical, objective, subjective, current, historical?
•    What type of information source? An encyclopaedia? A book? A journal article?
•    How much information do I need? How long is the assignment? How far back do I need to do research?
•    Do I know anything about the topic?
•    Where do I need to look for the information I need? Library? Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC), Electronic databases?
•    How do I know the information I find is the right information for my task?

By asking these questions will help you to:
•    Gain an understanding of your topic and what is expected of you to do;
•    Identify key concepts of your research topic;
•    Refine your research topic;
•    Select the sources of information you need to use to answer the questions;
•    Evaluate information according to specific criteria;
•    Assess whether the information is useful or do you need to change or modify your initial query if more information is needed.

What do the questions involve? It involves reading, viewing, telling, making a picture of your specific information needs.
DO

  • What do I need to do to locate and access the needed information?
  • Can you I use the information?

REVIEW

  • Did I do what I was supposed to do?
  • Are there any other resources I can consult to get better information?
  • Am I happy with the information I have?

Thinking about information needs also requires you to think about how you are going to go about satisfying your information needs. This involves coming up with a plan to locate and access the needed information.

What does a strategy mean? A strategy means a ‘plan of action’. In other words, you begin to think about and identify all of the possible sources where you can find your information, including sources that are specific to the types of information you will need, which you identified in the ‘task definition’ step.

What does this involve?

  • Determine all possible sources, e.g. select the information that provides relevant evidence for a topic.
  • Select the best sources, e.g. find and use scholarly and discipline-specific professional information; Differentiate between source types (differences include primary vs. secondary vs. tertiary sources; scholarly vs. popular sources; professional vs. academic) recognising how their use and importance vary with each discipline.

Think about:

Locate and access

•    Where do I need to look for the needed information? (library catalogue, databases etc.)
•    What do I need to access the information (library pin, technology etc.)?
•    Does the resource cover what I need from the information?

Use information:

•    What type of information is the source is (book, article, etc.)?
•    What need does the source fills in my paper/argument?
•    How reliable, current, and authoritative is the source in the context of my assignment?
•    How do I intend to use the source?

•    How am I going to organise the information from multiple sources?
•    How am I going to present the information?