Find a Person

Library
Information Literacy Tutorial: F.I.R.S.T.

• Library Home

• Tutorial Home

• Chapter One: Preparing for Research

  • Introduction
  • Overheard...
  • Choosing the Topic
  • Background reading
  • Keywords
  • Synonyms
  • Review

• Chapter Two: Matching Information Needs with Information Tools

  • Introduction
  • Sitting...
  • Syllabus
  • Currency
  • Coverage
  • Authority
  • Matching Tools
  • Review

• Chapter Three: Searching for Information Using a Computer

  • Introduction
  • Grabbing an ice cream...
  • Computers in libraries
  • Communicating with the computer
  • Search Connectors
  • AND
  • OR
  • AND/OR Together
  • Words not to use
  • Practice
  • Reiview

• Chapter Four: Finding Books Using the Online Catalog

  • Introduction
  • Visiting...
  • Books
  • What is a Catalog?
  • What's in a Catalog
  • Accessing the Catalog
  • First Screen of the Catalog
  • Searching for an author...
  • Searching for an author...
  • Author exercise 1
  • Searching for a title...
  • Searching for a title...
  • Title exercise 1
  • Searching for a keyword...
  • Keyword exercise 1
  • Review

• Chapter Five: Finding Articles in Magazines and Journals

  • Introduction
  • Standing in line...
  • Journals
  • Journals v. Magazines
  • Periodical Databases
  • General and Subject indexes
  • EBSCO Academic Search Elite
  • Searching in EBSCO
  • Interpreting Search Results
  • Getting Fulltext
  • Printing
  • Not in Fulltext?
  • Review

• Chapter Six: Searching for and Evaluating Web Resources

  • Introduction
  • Late Night...
  • Websites
  • Challenges
  • Why search the Web?
  • Web is great
  • Directories
  • Search Engines
  • Evaluating Websites
  • Domains
  • Evaluation Criteria
  • Giudelines
  • Review

• Chapter 7: From Researching to Writing

  • Introduction
  • At a table...
  • From research to writing
  • Plagiarism defined
  • Wrap-up
  • Read
  • Taking notes
  • What is a paraphrasing
  • Paraphrasing to perfection
  • Good/Bad paraphrasing
  • Review

• Chapter Eight: Citing Your Sources

  • Introduction
  • In front of the library
  • Why cite sources?
  • When to cite sources
  • How to cite sources
  • Different citation styles
  • MLA Citation Style
  • MLA Works Cited
  • APA Citation Style
  • APA Reference List
  • Preparing to cite sources
  • Review

Coverage: How comprehensive is this information?

Books can offer an in-depth, even comprehensive view of a subject. Articles, on the other hand, will be more focused on a specific aspect of a subject.

For example, suppose you are writing a paper on a poem by Robert Frost. You can easily find a book on the poetry of Robert Frost in the library's collection, but that book might not discuss your particular poem in detail. However, you could probably find several articles that focus specifically on the poem. Articles are great sources for finding information on individual facets of a topic.

There are few websites that can boast of being comprehensive. For the most complete coverage of a subject, you will usually want to consult books, then periodical articles.