Course Review

Before you take the Final Exam, make sure you can answer all of the lesson review questions below. Information on the Exam itself is at the bottom of the page.

Lesson 1: Research Strategies

• What are the seven steps of research?
• What's the difference between a subject and a topic?
• Can you identify a topic as too broad, too narrow, or just right?
• What is background information and why is it important?
• What is a controlled vocabulary? How is it different from keyword searching?
• What are some things to consider when thinking about search terms?

Lesson 2: Searching the Online Catalog

• What are three methods to finding things in a library?
• What is a library catalog and what can it do? What is the name of Lake Land's catalog?
• What is a call number? What are the two main systems of assigning call numbers, and which one does Lake Land use? Could you pick an LC call number out of a lineup?
• What is a search field? Why is it important which one I choose?
• What is the difference between an alphabetical search and a keyword search? Which one will give you a larger number of results?
• What information do you need from the catalog to find a book on the shelf?

Lesson 3: Searching Databases

• What is a library database?
• Why is a library database not an "internet" source ?
• What are some Lake Land databases you would use to:
  • find general academic journal articles?
  • find current newspaper articles?
  • find biographical information?
  • find background information on an artist's work?
• What is the advantage of using a (controlled vocabulary) subject search?
• In what cases would you use a keyword search?
• What is pearl growing?
• What do AND, OR, and NOT do to your search results? (Limit, expand, etc.)
• What do Full-text, abstract, and citation mean in terms of library databases?
• What is a PDF file?
• What do you use our Periodical Holdings web page for?

Lesson 4: Searching the World Wide Web

• What is the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web?
• What is a URL?
• Can you identify the different parts of a URL?
• What are the most common Domain & Country Codes?
• What is the difference between a web directory and a search engine?
• What are three characteristics of search engines?
• What do keywords, Boolean searches, quotations, and wedge words have to do with searching the web?

Lesson 5: Evaluating Sources

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of each format of materials (reference, books, periodicals, and web pages)? Can you identify which format would be best for a particular research question?
• Can you list three differences between popular magazines and scholarly journals?
• What does "peer review" mean?
• What's the difference between a primary source and a secondary one? Can you identify examples?
• What are the six evaluation criteria? Do you know how to apply them to a book, article, or web site?

Lesson 6: Citing Sources

• Why do we cite sources?
• What are the three main documentation styles used by college students, and which subjects do they represent?
• What are footnotes & endnotes, and how are they different from parenthetical references? Which style uses footnotes/endnotes? Which style emphasizes dates in their parenthetical references? Which styles emphasizes page numbers? Why?
• Can you identify the different parts of a citation?

Lesson 7: Academic Integrity

• What is plagiarism?
• What is Lake Land's policy on plagiarism?
• What must be cited in order to avoid plagiarism?
• What don't you have to cite?
• True or false: Plagiarism is the intentional theft of someone's ideas.
• What is paraphrasing and how is it involved in plagiarism?
• What are copyright, fair use, and public domain? What do they have to do with plagiarism?

Final Exam

The final exam for this course will consist of 50 multiple-choice questions in the same format as the quizzes. It is cumulative, which means you will be responsible for the material in all 7 lessons. It will be closed-book, closed-notes and must be proctored. The types of questions on the exam will be based on the questions from the quizzes, so if you study your quizzes and understand each answer, you should do fine.

The exam must be proctored and will not be accepted late. This means that you have to go to the proctoring lab in Mattoon or Kluthe to take it. You must make an appointment to use the proctoring lab. For details on how to set up an appointment for proctoring go to: http://www.lakeland.cc.il.us/online/proctor/index.htm