Making an Informed Decision
We all have to make decisions in life and we often need to do research to make good decisions. Information literacy helps us make informed decisions.
Information literacy is understanding how to find, evaluate, and use information ethically.
In other words, information literacy includes:
- Where and how do you find information?
- How do you know if that information is credible and relevant?
- How do you ethically give credit for the information you find and share?
Spectrum of Sources
The Spectrum of Sources is a tool to help you evaluate the information you find and determine its usefulness for your situation or decision. Here is the Spectrum we looked at in class:
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Popular Sources |
Hobby Publications |
Trade Publications |
Scholarly |
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Examples |
People, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, New York Times, Buzz Feed |
Rock & Ice, Quilting Arts Magazine, Runner's World |
Chronicle of Higher Education, Aircraft Survivability, The American Biology Teacher |
The Journal of Water Sanitation, The Journal of Gender, Social Policy, and the Law, Journal for Research in Math Education |
|
Scope of Content |
General interest topics, news, entertainment |
Specific hobbies and interests |
Career-specific information |
Specific to a narrow area of research within a specific discipline |
|
Author Credentials |
Journalists, bloggers, freelance writers, paparazzi |
Hobbyists, people with lots of experience |
Professionals working in the field |
Experts with academic credentials |
|
Intended Audience |
General public |
People with similar interests/hobbies |
People who work in the same field |
Other scholars, professionals, and experts within the discipline |
|
Purpose |
To entertain, promote, or advertise & sell |
To inform |
To educate |
To move the profession forward; to gain a new understanding of the subject area |
| Cost to Access | free - $ | $$ | $$$ | $$$$$ |
Help Donovan Out by Researching!
We used ProQuest Central to do our initial search. You can also do some basic Google searches and search through some of the news sites listed below to find out what people are saying about the question of whether college is worth it. You might also want to see what people say about starting or running a small business, since that is one of Donovan's considerations.
CQ Researcher is an online news magazine we purchase for you and it might have more in-depth information on this question.
You can always ask a librarian for help!
