GEN: 103 Infrmation Literacy

Hi everyone,

I have started a new class and this is my first post for this class its all about information literacy and I am learning alot from just the first week.

From the Assigned reading and the TAIL Report I have learned a lot about myself, I learned that I need to check my sources when I am doing my research instead of running off with the first thing that I see that looks legitimate.  The part from the text that stood out to me is “The research process and the KWHL chart”  (Howard, 2015).

So when I am doing research this is my process

1. Define the need and the audience- Who am I speaking too, now that this has been brought to my attention the way I research depends on who I am doing the research for. (if that Makes Sense)
2. Locate and access information- most of the time it is a simple google search or YouTube video.
3. Evaluate information- Then for me I always look up a second or third source to see if there are different ways of going about the problem or situation.
4. Organize information- depending on who it is for I realize that if it is for my wife or a friend that I am not that Organized when I get the info it is more like here is what I found yes or no we can do that lol.
5. Communicate information – I think this is a weakness for me as far as communicating effectively. If the information that I am giving to people is spoken I will be just fine. When I have to write the findings that I found and present it in a Paper I struggle a lot with getting my thoughts down on paper. It’s like the information gets lost from my brain to my hands.

Also using the “KWHL Chart” which is:

• What do I know?
• What do I want to Know?
• How do I Find out?
• What Have I learned?

This is the first time I really use a chart like this to visual see what my thought process is when I am researching a topic. I believe we all go through this mentally but not as much detail that the chart will have you look into.

So with the methods and techniques that I have read in the text I am looking to use them in my everyday life as well in my studies.  I think information literacy is very important part of life because it seems like whatever you do, you will have to do some type of research to perform whatever task that is assigned to you.