Topic Information

Gathering Process

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to: 1. Identify six reasons why you need information; 2. Describe the concept and three components of the TSDAS Digital Library; and 3. Explain the five steps of information-gathering process as shown in the Information Trail.

INTRODUCTION
In a traditional library where users use the card catalogue to retrieve library materials, information gathering is an easy process. With the advent of ICT and the installation of computer systems at libraries, information gathering has become complex because users will now have to learn how to use the system first before being able to retrieve the information. This is why user education programmes such as this module is important, because no matter how sophisticated the electronic library system is or how valuable the library collections are, the library will not be used effectively. Soon the library will be a white elephant if the users cannot use the system to retrieve information. In such a situation where the users are not able to optimise the use of the library, learning then becomes inefficient because of the learners inability to gather information for their various learning activities. Since the quality of the learning depends on how well learners gather and process information for knowledge, learning the steps involved in information gathering (retrieve, gather, evaluate, select, organise and consolidate information) is important.

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To help you understand and apply these steps, we present the Information Trail which represents steps in the information-gathering process. These steps can be effectively applied in OUMs library called Tan Sri Dr. Abdullah Sanusi Digital Library (TSDAS) as explained in the following pages of this topic.

7.1

WHY DO YOU NEED INFORMATION?

Identifying the reasons why you need information will help you be more focused in your coursework and assignments. It reflects a sense of purpose and planning on your part. As a learner at OUM, these reasons would probably be to: Supplement and complement your course module; Prepare for discussions in classroom and for online tutorials; Produce assignments in the form of project papers, case studies, reports, etc.; Prepare for oral and written examinations; Expand your subject knowledge, and general knowledge, thus adding value to your learning; and Satisfy your curiosity and full your need to discover knowledge. In order to become a successful learner, you not only need to perform well academically, but also need to be informed, creative, original and innovative in your thinking. Just imagine in a class of 20 students, if all of you read the same five books prescribed by the tutor, all your assignments will contain information only from these five books. How boring it would be for your tutor to assess 20 project papers that are similar, if not identical in fact and form! Your tutor would probably grade your assignments with identical marks. However, if five of you were to read five extra books or articles, your assignments would be more original and informative than the other 15. Better still, if you alone read another five more books, your assignment would be the most original and informative. The information you have gathered from all the reading materials, however, must be creatively and innovatively applied to the assignment in hand, be it a project paper, discussion or examination. This will not only make your learning more productive but also enable you to develop into a discerning learner able to apply and process information independently and not just passively accept what other people have written about. This must be kept in mind if you intend to be a better than average learner at OUM.

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7.2

WHERE TO GET INFORMATION?

Information can be found anywhere in formal ways, as in lectures, tutorials, books, newspapers, speeches, radio, TV, etc., as well as in informal ways as in conversations, gossip, personal notes and memos, hearsay, etc. This topic, however, will focus on the type of information that you can use for your learning basically related to your coursework and assignments. Information explosion has resulted in a vast amount of information available in the world and ICT has made it accessible such that via the computer you can get information on demand. Information can be found in a variety of media (e.g. print, electronic, CD-ROM, audio-video) and formats (e.g. books, journals, novels, research reports, company reports, theses, conference papers, microform, websites) and scripts (e.g. Roman, Arabic, Chinese, Tamil) ranging from the most uninformed of opinions to the most well-researched of facts. This tremendous output of information makes it difficult for you to trace and locate information that you read unless it is well organised into a system that makes retrieval easy and systematic. For this same reason, although information can be found in so many different places, the most convenient place for gathering information for the purpose of learning is the library. At OUM, we have a digital library that is equipped with some of the best information resources. The TSDAS Digital Library would be the best place to gather information because it not only provides linkages to other libraries within Malaysia and other parts of the world, it also provides a wide range of materials relevant to your courses. Last but not least, because it is a digital library, you can access the library collections and the systems without even setting foot in the library. Using the digital library therefore has advantages, especially for you as an OUM learner. In using the OUM Digital Library, you would be able to develop and enhance two basic skills: (a) Information Retrieval Skills (IRS) Locating and retrieving relevant information. Evaluating and selecting information. (b) ICT Skills for Information Retrieval To access the electronic collections of the TSDAS Digital Library as well as Internet, you would need to have some basic skills in ICT. Frequent use of the following databases will help develop these skills and equip you with lifelong learning to learn skills:

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Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC); Electronic databases (e-books and e-journals); and Internet websites. SELF-CHECK 7.1 Briefly explain six reasons why an OUM learner needs information.

ACTIVITY 7.1 Think about the importance of information in your daily life. Select a day in your life and make a list of how you use information at home, at the ofce, etc. Write a reflection essay about it

7.3

USING THE TAN SRI DR ABDULLAH SANUSI (TSDAS) DIGITAL LIBRARY FOR INFORMATION GATHERING

OUMs Tan Sri Dr Abdullah Sanusi (TSDAS) digital library is meant to support teaching and learning via its collection of physical books and online databases that consist of e-books and e-journal. You will be further exposed to the components of TSDAS library in this subtopic.

7.3.1

What is a Digital Library?

A digital library provides a set of digital content and services which can be accessed via networked electronic systems. At this juncture, it is difficult to find libraries in Malaysia that are completely digital because most of them have print collections that are too valuable to discard or too expensive to digitise but the TSDAS Digital Library has a comprehensive selection of electronic books.

7.3.2
(a)

Components of a Digital Library

The TSDAS Digital Library comprises three main components as shown in Figure 7.1. Technical infrastructure consisting of the hardware and software;

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(b) (c)

Knowledge databases consisting of commercial and in-house databases; and User education.
TSDAS Digital Library

Technical Infrastructure
(i) Hardware HP server (ii) Software Software - VIRTUA

Knowledge Database
(i) In-house Database OPAC (ii) Commercial Databases E-Books Ebrary, Books24x7, InfoSecurityNetBase, ITKnowledgeBase, SpringerLink, InfoSci Books, Mosbys Nursing Consult, Credo Reference, Gale Virtual Reference Library E-Journals Ebsco, Emerald, ProQuest, ACM Digital Library, OBHE EdITLib, InfoTrace-OneFile, CINAHL, SpringerLink, Mosbys Nursing Consult E-Thesis ProQuest Digital Dissertation E-News NSTP E-Media, MediaBanc BLIS E-Legal LawNet

User Education
(i) Courses Learning Skills for Open and Distance Learners Basic Information Skills Advance Information Skills

Figure 7.1: Three components of TSDAS Digital Library

SELF-CHECK 7.2 Explain the three components of TSDAS Digital Library.

7.4

THE INFORMATION TRAIL

To start your assignment or research paper, we provide you with the following Information Trail as shown in Figure 7.2, which lists out the steps that you can take. Step 1. Step 2. Identify and analyse the topic. Identify the information resources and sources relevant to the topic.

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Step 3. Step 4. Step 5.

Apply appropriate search strategies to get maximum results, that is attaining most appropriate information material. Evaluate and select the information relevant to the topic. Present the relevant information as required by the topic in a written, PowerPoint or oral format.

IDENTIFY TOPIC OF ASSIGNMENT

Identifying main topic & subtopics

(i) Recognising information resources (books, journals, conference papers, theses, websites, etc.)

SEARCHING FOR INFORMATION (ii) Recognising information sources (bibliographic and knowledge databases) OPAC Electronic databases Internet

ICT SKILLS (i) Knowing your PC (ii) Understanding basic ICT concepts

SEARCH STRATEGIES Printed materials Electronic Books

OPAC
Ebrary, Books24x7, SpringerLink, InfoSecurityNetBase, InfoSci Books ITKnowledgeBase, Mosbys Nursing Consult, Mosbys Nursing Consult, Credo Reference, Gale Virtual Reference Library

Electronic Journals

Ebsco, Emerald, ProQuest, CINAHL, ACM Digital Library, SpringerLink, EdITLib, OBHE, InfoTrace-OneFile, Mosbys Nursing Consult

Websites Internet

EVALUATION & SELECTION

PRESENTATION

Figure 7.2: The OUM Information Trail

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ACTIVITY 7.2 Illustrate how will you use the Information Trail to search for information to complete your assignment. Your assignment topic is Lifelong Learning begins in school. Discuss.

7.4.1

Identifying and Analysing Topic of Assignment

In identifying the topic of assignment, ask yourself what the issues and subissues are. An assignment topic is given here. Use this topic to guide you systematically through the Information Trail. Topic: Online marketing will help to make the company more competitive than traditional marketing. Discuss the topic in the context of the globalisation of business. The following have been identified as the main topic and subtopics. Main Topic Subtopics Online Marketing Subtopic 1: Traditional Marketing Subtopic 2: Globalisation of Business Subtopic 3: Competition in Business

Once this is done, you can move on to the next step, that is, recognising information.

7.4.2
(a)

Recognising Information

There are two things that you will be concerned with here: Recognising Information Resources; and Recognising Information Sources. Recognising Information Resources In this section, you will be taught the different types of resources and how to recognise them. (i) Types of Information Resources There are different types of information resources that you need to read in order to gather information for your assignment. They are:

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Books; Journal articles; Chapters in a book; Conference papers; and Websites.

Basically, these information resources can be found in both printed and digital format. However, do you know one from the other? Look very carefully at Table 7.1 and identify the differences and similarities in Information Resources found in printed and electronic format. We suggest you to do Activity 7.3 and write your answers in the blank spaces provided. (b) Recognising Information Sources (i) Commercial Electronic Databases The following are commercial electronic databases. They are divided into e-books and e-journals. These databases are frequently updated.

ACTIVITY 7.3 List how you would differentiate between a printed book and an electronic book. Refer to Table 7.1.
Table 7.1: Example of a Well-Cited Reading List Book (electronic format) Book (printed format) Article in journal (electronic format) 3. 2. 1. Allen, C., Kania, D., & Yaeckel, B. (Eds.). (2001). One-to-one

web-marketing: Build a relationship marketing strategy one customer at a time (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley. In Ebrary
(OUM Digital Collection). Haig, M. (2001). The B2B e-commerce handbook: How to transform your business-to-business global marketing strategy. London: Kogan Page. Kargoankar, P., & Wolin, L. D. (2002). Web usage, advertising and shopping: Relationship patterns. Internet Research: Electronic Networking and Policy, 12(2), 191-204. In Emerald (OUM Digital Collection).

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Chapter in a book (electronic format) Chapter in a book (printed format) Conference paper (electronic format)

4.

Kuegler, T. J., Jr. (2002). Web advertising: Banners and beyond; Chapter 12 in T. J. Kuegler, Jr. (Ed.), Web advertising and marketing (3rd ed.). Boston, Mass.: Premier Press. In Books24x7 (OUM Digital Collection) Cruise, J. T., & Shaharuddin Salleh. (1999). Video: Effective use in creating learning material. In J. L. Hunters & M. K. Brown (Eds.), Multimedia: Applications and implications (2nd ed., pp. 98-104). Kuala Lumpur: Pelangi Press. Wedde, H., & Lisehka, M. (2001, May). Modular authorization. Paper presented at the 6th ACM Symposium on Access Control Models and Technologies; proceedings. In ACM (OUM Digital Collection).

5.

6.

(c)

Recognising Information Sources At the TSDAS Digital Library, the information sources are actually databases that contain bibliographic citations of information resources or full-text books or articles of journals. The databases can either be locally developed as in OPAC or commercially subscribed. At the TSDAS Digital Library, the databases are as specified below: (i) Local Databases The following is a locally developed database: OPAC (ii) Commercial Electronic Databases The following are commercial electronic databases. They are divided into e-books and e-journals. These databases are frequently updated. Example of e-books databases are Ebrary, Books24x7 and X referplus (refer to Table 7.2.). The databases are frequently updated.
Table 7.2: Commercial Electronic Databases for Books DATABASES COVERAGE Business, Finance as well as IT and Technical Reference material such as general dictionaries, encyclopaedia, etc. Multidiscipline (Business, Economics, Computer Science, History, Science and Technology, Language and Literature, Education, Medicine, Philosophy, etc.) Encyclopaedias and specialised reference sources on topics such as small business, fashion, cultures, medicine, science, poets and more.

Books24x7 Credo Reference Ebrary

Gale Virtual Reference Library

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InfoSci-Books InfoSecurityNetBase ITKnowledgeBase Mosbys Nursing Consults

Multidiscipline (Business Management, Electronic Commerce, Computer Science, Education, Social Science and Technology, Environment, etc.) Information Security Information System Management, Information System Security, Data Management, E-Commerce, Computer, Applications, etc. Drug information, patient education, nursing news, clinical practice guidelines and evidence-based practice. Multidiscipline (Business, Economics, Computer Science, History, Science, Technology, Language and Literature, Education, Medicine, Philosophy, etc.) Table 7.3: Commercial Electronic Databases for Journals

SpringerLink

DATABASES ACM Digital Library CINAHL Database Ebsco Academic Source Premier Business Source Premier Business Source Complete Regional Business News Communication and Mass Media ERIC

COVERAGE Computer Science, Mathematics and Engineering Nursing and Allied Health

Business, Management, Finance, Accounting, International Economics, etc.

Ebsco Humanities, Social sciences

Ebsco

Education Educational Technology and E-Learning. Marketing, HR and Organisational Development, Library and Information Management, Quality and Operations Management, etc. Open and Distance Learning Multidiscipline

EdITLib Emerald InformaWorld InfoTrac OneFile

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OBHE (The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education) ProQuest Education Journals ERIC

Higher Education

Education Drug information, patient education, nursing news, clinical practice guidelines, and evidencebased practice. Multidiscipline

Mosbys Nursing Consults SpringerLink

Table 7.4: Commercial Electronic Databases for Other Materials Databases ProQuest Digital Dissertation NSTP E-Media MediaBanc BLIS Coverage Theses and dissertations on all subjects News archive from New Straits Times Press newspaper publications Local selected newspapers and magazines A database from Bernama providing news articles on Malaysias markets, economies, industries and personalities Authoritative text of the Malaysian laws

LawNet

7.4.3

Search Strategies for Information Retrieval

Now that you have identified the resource and the source of your information, how would you search for that particular resource from your source? The first step in any search for information is to determine whether it is to search the OPAC or any of the e-book or e-journal databases. To do that, you need to know about search strategies. (a) What is a Search Strategy? A search strategy is the 'action plan' for retrieving information. A proper search strategy will save time and allow relevant information from various resources to be retrieved from its sources.

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A search strategy is critical to information retrieval because it: Requires you to analyse your topic; Helps you to identify what information is needed and how to find it; and Helps you to find the most relevant information. (b) Types of Search Strategies There are basically four types of search strategies (see also Figure 7.3): Author Search; Title Search; Subject Search; and Keyword Search.

You will use the four types of search strategies to search for information in the databases i.e. OPAC, e-books or e-journals databases.

Figure 7.3: Four types of search strategies

(i)

Author Search If you know the name of the author, search under the name of author using the guide below for personal or corporate authors. Guide 1: Personal Authors Search For Western name Roland S. Barth Chinese name Khoo Boo Teik Francis Loh Kok Wah BARTH, Roland S. KHOO, Boo Teik LOH, Kok Wah Francis

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Malay name

Ahmad Ibrahim Nik Rahimah Nik Yaacob Tan Sri Abdullah Sanusi Ahmad Ramon V. Navaratnam P. Sellapan Abtar Kaur Harjeet Singh Devindar Kaur Chall

AHMAD Ibrahim NIK Rahimah Nik Yaacob ABDULLAH Sanusi Ahmad Tan Sri NAVARATNAM, Ramon SELLAPAN, P.

Indian name

Sikh name

ABTAR Kaur HARJEET Singh CHALL, Devindar Kaur

Guide 2: Corporate Authors Dept. of Statistics, Malaysia University of Malaya Bank Negara Malaysia Malaysian Institute of Management Malaysian Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ii) Search For MALAYSIA. Department of Statistics UNIVERSITI Malaya BANK Negara Malaysia MALAYSIAN Institute of Management INSTITUTE of Strategic and International Studies (Malaysia)

Title Search Title search is mainly used when you know the title of the book or journal.

(iii) Subject Search Subject search is conducted when you do not have information on author or title but you only know the subject. (iv) Keyword Search Keyword search is the most efficient search strategy when you are not searching for specific items. This strategy is particularly useful for searching electronic databases and the Internet i.e. searching information for your assignment. Please refer to Example 7.1 for details on how to use keyword in searching for information.

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Example 7.1: Steps in Formulating the Keyword Search Strategy 1. Understand Assignment Topic Understand your assignment topic and the focus of the topic. Identify the difficult words and phrases used. Use dictionaries and encyclopaedias to explain and understand the topic. Formulate/Construct a Research Statement Summaries the topic into a short statement of problem with a focus on the main concepts only. Assignment Topic Online marketing will help to make the company more competitive than traditional marketing. Discuss the topic in the context of globalisation of business. Statement of problem: The competitiveness of online marketing 3. Analyse to Identify the Main Ideas that Make Up the Topic (a) Break up the question into key concepts. The main topic can be further divided into several subtopics. For instance, the statement of problem can be divided into two subtopics as underlined below: The competitiveness of online marketing (b) Identify keywords for each concept/subtopic: (i) (ii) (iii) Develop a list of search terms and words related to each subtopic. Use encyclopaedias or thesaurus to get the related terms and synonyms to use in the search. Use broader or narrower terms or scientific terms to achieve better results. Internet Marketing Online marketing Web marketing e-marketing e-commerce-advertising e-business Mail delivery Competitiveness Advantages Competitiveness Edge Business strategy Benefits Profits

2.

The main concepts are usually nouns rather than adverbs or adjectives.

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4.

Select and Combine the keywords with Boolean connectors A Boolean connector helps to narrow down or broaden your search and give a more accurate search by combining keywords, phrases or terms. The most common Boolean connectors are AND, OR and NOT. Use the Boolean connectors AND, OR and NOT to combine search terms for better results. It may not be necessary to use all the Boolean connectors in one search statement. Only use the best connectors for each search. (a) Boolean Connector AND Boolean Connector AND is used to combine more than one keyword. For example, if you want information on marketing and the Internet, you will use AND. Using the Boolean AND will eliminate all the general information on marketing and will narrow down your search to select only information on Internet marketing. Figure 7.4 gives you a clearer picture of the use of this Boolean connector.

Figure 7.4: The use of Boolean connector AND

(b)

Boolean Connector OR When your search result is too little or you want to find additional articles or books, use the Boolean connector OR to connect the synonyms of the keywords. This will broaden your search and increase the amount of information you find. The Boolean connector OR allows for search within the same concept but with different words. Use brackets when using the Boolean connector OR in the search statement. For example, you want to search e-business and also e-commerce. Use OR to increase your search result (refer to Figure 7.5).

Figure 7.5: The use of Boolean connector OR

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(c)

Boolean Connector NOT The Boolean connector NOT also narrows the search. It is used to exclude certain aspects from the search result, that is when a particular keyword is not required. Use brackets to group words under the same concept. The Boolean connector NOT finds records with the first keyword and eliminates records containing the second keyword. For example, you are only interested in searches related to marketing. This will retrieve information on marketing on the web excluding details about retailing aspects (see the end result of the search in Figure 7.6).

Figure 7.6: The use of Boolean connector NOT

In summary, the Boolean connectors perform the following functions (please refer to Table 7.5): Table 7.5 : Functions of Boolean Connectors Search marketing AND internet e-business OR e-commerce marketing NOT retailing Results Requires ALL the words to be present in the results. Use AND for different concepts. ANY of these words can be present in the results. Use OR for synonyms. EXCLUDES the documents retailing from the results. with word

Below is an example of a search statement combining different Boolean connectors:

(i) (ii)
5.

marketing AND (e-business OR e-commerce); and internet AND (marketing NOT retailing).

Use Mathematical Operator Some databases allow the use of Boolean operator words or mathematical operator symbols plus (+) and the minus symbol ( ). marketing + internet marketing retailing Similar to AND in Boolean. It requires all the words to be found in the results. As in the function NOT in Boolean operator. It excludes retailing from the results on marketing.

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Topic 8 will further take you through on how you can apply the search strategies discussed here, for the in-house (i.e. OPAC) and commercial databases (i.e. ebooks and e-journals) at the TSDAS Digital Library as well as on the Internet to retrieve information. How would you know that the information you have retrieved is relevant to you? Learn more in Topic 9. Finally, the ways to present relevant information, was discussed in Topic 5. Refer to the topic to refresh your memory on presenting information. If you want a demonstration of how Boolean connectors are useful in searching for information, visit: http://www.waikato.ac.nz/library/learning/wise/ Module2/index10.shtml

You need information in learning and doing your assignments. At OUM, you have the TSDAS Digital Library with the best resources available to help you gather and search for information using the various search strategies. Steps 3, 4 and 5 of the Information Trail are discussed in detail in topics 8, 9 and 5. The Information Trail helps you to get accurate information on the assignment topic. Information resources include books, journals, conference papers and websites. Information sources are databases with bibliographic citations. The TSDAS Digital Library in OUM provides students with electronic databases which contain e-books, online journals, theses and etc. There are four types of search strategies keyword. by author, title, subject and

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Boolean Connector Digital Library E-book E-journal Electronic databases

Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) Resources Search strategy Source