3. The Information Landscape: Thinking About Traditionally Published Information

This video series focuses on the "information landscape" as it pertains to college research. It is a work-in-progress. Your feedback is welcome.

Why should I care about traditionally published information?

Once upon a time...

Students determined to be successful in college,

and ultimately in life,

didn't have to worry as much about finding reliable information.

Once upon a time...

They were generally directed toward sources

that had gone through a rigorous review process.

In the old days,

students found themselves sitting before multi-volume indexes

that would ultimately point them toward articles

edited by experts in their chosen field.

Or they would be found fingering through a card catalog

that served as a beginning place in their quest to find just the right books.

Once upon a time...

The information students relied on to write their research papers

was usually given a stamp of approval before it was made available to them.

In other words,

it was published by companies and other organizations that hired experts

to make sure it was accurate before it was made available to the public.

But now..

Students are facing a lot more information

and a lot of new temptations.

We all know anyone can put up a website.

Some of these sites can be pretty useful.

Most sites have not been subjected to a rigorous review process.

In other words...

the experts did not sign off on them.

I thought I could find everything through Google, but...

my sources weren't good enough?

The World Wide Web has made it very easy for students to ignore

the information produced by the experts--

the sources that may well have helped their parents

get into schools like UCSD.

This information is often published in articles and books,

and these sources are usually not made available through Google or similar search engines.

But I do find articles and book through Google.

Google may point toward some useful information

if you are willing to weed through all the junky stuff

and carefully evaluate the sources you do choose.

Even so,

other students understand where traditionally published information can be found--

whether it is on the library shelves

or in a virtual library.

So if you are in the habit

of just grabbing a site or two that seems to cover it

before clicking on Microsoft Word,

you are bound to come up short next to the student

who has also surveyed the range of traditionally published sources available.

I'm sorry,

but if it takes more than three minutes,

I'm done.

It's up to you!

If you really want to find the sources that will help you learn about a topic

or defend your argument,

a little patience is required.

Any skill that truly matters takes time to perfect,

including research.

I already know how to search the Internet.

Again, students who don't understand the limitations

of a quick and dirty web search,

will ultimately lose out to those who do.

Here's the good news!

A lot of the information students once relied on

to write award-winning papers

can be found on the Internet.

OK. What's the catch?

Traditionally published information,

which includes journals, magazines, newspapers, and books,

is often available through research databases,

such as Academic Search Premier

or Academic Onefile.

In other words,

you might not be able to find comprehensive collections of traditionally published information

on the Internet through Google,

but you may be able to find some of this content through your library.

Did you know your college library buys collections of published books and articles

that have been produced in electronic formats

and added to research databases.

These are the same academic sources college students have always used,

the sources written by the experts.

But now we have some sophisticated search tools available to help students

sift through articles and books to find just the right information.

Here's the bad news...

It takes time to learn how to use these tools well.

However, once you become

a more efficient researcher,

you can potentially find a lot more relevant information.

You can even discover ways to do this quickly--

once you learn how to truly take advantage of all the useful search features

databases have to offer.

The problem, again,

Google won't get you there.

Libraries pay for their research databases.

Because of this,

they only make these sources available to their own users.

So Google might get you to your library's website,

but it won't take you into your library's databases.

And that's where you'll find information written by experts.

Here's the solution...

Start the research process on your library's website.

This point is tough for today's student to remember,

because many of us turn to Google

every single day.