Maths 3rd year session 2 Oct 2016
- 1. Maths 3rd year Oct 2016 Session 2 Developing critical searching skills
- 2. In this workshop we will : • Consider what critical searching means? • Start to develop critical searching skills • Learn how to evaluate information • Use these skills to find quality information • Plus - Referencing
- 3. What does ‘critical’ mean? Finding fault: negative comment e.g. ‘Not good enough’. Key, decisive, crucial: ‘a critical moment’, ‘critically ill’, ‘a critical decision’. In your University work being ‘critical’ means: being thoughtful, asking questions, not taking things you read and hear at face value. When searching for information ‘critical’ means: thinking carefully about the information you find, evaluating it, asking questions, considering its authority, reflecting on it etc. Williams, K. 2014 Getting critical. 2 edn. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
- 4. “We can describe a book or a journal article as an artefact, a published and describable entity: you look for it, you find it, you’re done. Or we can describe information in terms of its contribution to knowledge…….you find it, you read it, you start answering back to it.” Emma Coonan, 2014
- 5. Trustworthy and reliable sources
- 9. Critical searcher: questions to ask • Who • What • Where • When • Why
- 10. Try it out • Who • What • Where • When • Why
- 11. Broaden: USA OR America or comput* Exclude: Apple NOT fruit or -Amazon Narrow: network AND security Phrase/exact match: “human computer interaction” or +Ideo or “IDEO” Academic sources: “project management” +ac or +edu Get answers: Define: “paper prototyping” or Alan Turing developed* Streamlining your search http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/Computing/SearchTips
- 12. A critical look at URLs https://www.lms.ac.uk/ http://www.mathsdoctor.co.uk/ In the URL What it means .com (US or anywhere) .co.uk (UK) Commercial organisation or company big or small .fr .au .uk .sa The country where the organisation/company is located .org A non profit organisation .edu (US) .ac.uk (UK) Academic institutions .gov A government agency Williams, K. 2014 Getting critical. 2 edn. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
- 13. MyUniHub > MyStudy > MyLibrary > Databases > C
- 15. Avoiding Plagiarism: find out more My Library > MySubject > Science & Technology > Maths & Stats > Skills http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/MathsStats/Skills
- 16. Need further help? Your Librarian is: Vanessa Hill v.hill@mdx.ac.uk http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/MathsStats/Help
Editor's Notes
- #2: Welcome and intros.
- #4: The word ‘critical’ has several meanings in everyday life, most commonly: finding fault and key. However ‘critical’ has a slightly different meaning in the context of University work: being thoughtful, asking questions, not taking things at face value. Being a critical searcher means that you ask questions of the information you find.
- #6: Hand out Authority game. 10 mins. Feedback. Discuss: Which resources you think are most reliable and trustworthy. What effects the reliability and trustworthiness of each source? Are there times when the same type of source might differ in reliability and trustworthyness? What factors should you take in to account?
- #7: How might the following change the order you have placed the resources in? Discuss.
- #10: Give each group paper with and ask them to think of the questions they might ask of information that they find based on the exercise just carried out using the headings on the screen i.e. who, what, where, when and why? 10 mins. Followed by feedback. Who Who is the author….individual, organisation? Can you contact them? Who has produced this information? Are they a reliable authority, expert, qualified to produce this material etc? Has it been checked, reviewed by another expert? What: What type of source is it? Is it a source that can be trusted on this topic? What is being said? How do you know if it is correct? Where did they get their information? Is it someone’s opinion? Based on what evidence? Do you need to check it against different source? Where: Where was it published? Where is the organisation/person located? Is this context relevant to you? Are there contact details (websites)? When: When was it published? Is it current? Does the material/data and its sources have dates? When was it last updated (websites)? Is it kept maintained (websites)? Do the links work (websites)? Does the view still hold value/weight? Why: Why was this written? What is the purpose of it? Political or financial game, bias, opinion, promote debate, explain, persuade, sell etc
- #11: In your groups have a look at this journal article and ask the same questions. Feedback. This is what you need to do with all information that you find.
- #12: The Internet gives us access to huge amounts of information. Need to be able to streamline our search. Introduce ways that we can streamline searches on the Internet. Give it a go on the Internet with your topic.
- #13: It is easy to move from good quality information to a random website without being aware. London Mathematical Society and Maths Tutors Company. The URL for a website gives an indication about the nature of the site. What other questions might you consider when looking at websites? Last updated Do links work Contact details/maintained by etc About us
- #15: Go to website and click on the links. Use Cite them right to correctly reference the 4 items. Feedback.
- #16: Referencing and Plagiarism libguide includes information on how to reference material correctly. Also information about Plato, LDU support and links to helpsheets. Don’t forget: Computing LibGuide bring together all the resources for your subject area.