Reading & Activity #4

When I begin researching for a paper, my starting place usually depends on what kind of class I am writing the paper for.  Typically, if it is one of my math classes or a science based class, I will start with “JStor” through the library website.  They have a vast amount of scholarly articles on a wide variety of topics.  If the paper is for a philosophy or English paper, I typically start with “google” to get ideas, and then I progress from there.  Usually, the library resources I use are all online.

            In the article "The Infodiet," by Steven Bell was focused on the interface of the online library databases.  Bell talked about how easy google is to use, and how that draws the students to use it.  The term “infobesity” is used to compare the usage of google to search for information to eating fast food; while using the library search engine was like eating a salad.  Bell says that students are drawn to the fast food (e.g. google) when it would be more “healthy” for them to eat salad (e.g. library).  Then the suggestion is given to “googlize” the library card catalogs.  The overall goal would be to make the library card catalog’s interfaces more user-friendly, and as a result students would be more inclined to use them as opposed to using google to do research. 

            In the second article “How Students Evaluate and Use Information in the Digital Age,” by Alison Head and Michael Eisenberg, the authors speak on students abilities to evaluate and apply their research to their classes and assignments.  A few of the major findings included that students are more likely to ask their family or friends about the validity of information relative to asking instructors or librarians.  Also that 84% of students surveyed for Head and Eisenberg’s research said it was sometimes difficult getting started on a research paper.  They also found that students were more likely to use google than a scholarly database to find information for their research; which goes along with the point that Bell was making in his article "The Infodiet."

            Going a long with my statement about my research process; if I am researching something that does not require a heavy mathematical/scientific resource, then I am much more likely to begin my research with a search on google.  The interface is much easier to use, and you are more likely to get a larger range of resources.