1. Polish your literary research problem-solving skills to meet college entry-level standards.

2. Learn to use selected examples of the kinds of information access tools and reference sources you will need to do research in college.

Remember the 5 Keep-It-Simple Steps to
Successful
Information Problem-Solving

1. DEFINE. In this case, the assignment/information problem is to create an Annotated Bibliography of your book and its author.
   
   
2. LOCATE your information. Here are some recommended Information Access Tools:

   Internet/World Wide Web

   • GOOGLE using operators such as "phrase searching", site:edu and site:gov
   • Google Scholar, including site:.edu in the search box

   
   
   

   Catalogs

   Internet Access to our Castle Library collection

   iPac2.0 at the Hawaii State Public Library

   University (listed as examples only)

   MCC - an on-island example

   The Claremont Colleges

   University of California

   Harvard Libraries

   Magazine and Newspaper Indexes

   EBSCO Host. Search (1) NovelList and (2) All Databases

   Infotrac. Search the Professional Collection and Expanded Academic ASAP. (Thanks, B!)

   FindArticles.com

   Alta Vista News

3. PROCESS and EVALUATE the information as it relates to your topic.
   
   

   Here are some recommended Literature Sources for this project: Authors and Artists for Young Adults* 46 volumes, Gale Group, in the library Literary Resources on the Net http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit Do a one-keyword search in the box. Author Webliography http://www.lib.lsu.edu/hum/lit/authors.html Use Command F/G (Mac) or Control F/G (pc). Contains sites not easily found on YAHOO or Google. Internet Public Library Criticism Collection http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/ Browse by Last name of Author (don't use search box). Yahoo's Literary Authors Listing http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Authors/Literary_Fiction Contemporary Literary Criticism, vols. 1-54, or Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism*, vols. 1-33, or Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism*, vols. 1-22 (all of these up -1989) all in the library

   
   Evaluate sources.

   See How to Evaluate Web Sites.

   Skim, read, organize, take notes, scan, download,
      highlight, synthesize, draw conclusions.
   
   

4. COMMUNICATE the results of your research.Create written projects, multimedia projects, visual projects, oral projects. e.g., an annotated bibliography. See Mr. Hodara's Sample Commentary and Annotated Bibliography # 1 and Sample #2. Observe copyright laws. Cite sources using MLA formatting or the library's Samples for Works Cited.
   
   
5. ASSESS both process and product.

   Determine:

   • whether the information problem was solved
   • whether the process was efficient and effective
   • what you will do differently next time