A&S 138:  Hitchiker’s Guide to the information highway    
(1 credit, S/U Grade)

SYLLABUS

Return to LATweb  ¤  Updated:  January, 2006  ¤  Questions or Comments to Prof. Edward A.  "Ted" Riedinger

What is the importance of information to you?  Almost everyone recognizes the importance in their lives of love and money, happiness and security.  Nevertheless, these values and many others depend fundamentally on obtaining adequate information.

Seeking information dominates our thoughts and actions.  I wonder if I can get a raise on this job?  Is this teacher qualified?  How will I know the right person to marry?  I wonder what the doctor meant by that remark?  How long am I going to have to wait in this line?  I need to check when that game begins.  Is it the same time as the “Friends” program.  I wonder how much gas is going to cost next week?

How do we answer our questions?  What do we do?  Ask other people?  Remember something from TV?  Go to a computer, a bulletin board, a book?

This class deals with how you find information in libraries, the storehouses of electronic and print resources, for responding to questions that concern us intellectually, personally, socially,  and professionally.  The resources of libraries can be quite extensive, and those in libraries in major research universities may be mammoth.  How do you find what you need in the midst of such abundance?

What is the information you need in order to find the information you seek?  In this regard, therefore, we will be concerned with discovering:
-- how we find out what information has been published,
-- where such publications are held, and
-- how we obtain them.

In our classes this quarter we will be examining the resources and techniques needed to use the riches of libraries.  Not only will we be examining the ways of finding information for our inquiries but also how to communicate what we have found to others.

Course Goals:

1)  Realize the importance of obtaining and communicating information.

2)  Articulate strategies for the identification and use of standard print and electronic library resources. 

3)  Compile a Suggested List of Resources (SLR) for a particular issue or topic, demonstrating one’s ability to find and communicate information.

4)  The ultimate goal of the course is to make you “information resourceful.”

The scholarly outcome of the class is to produce a ten-item list, a Suggested List of Resources (SLR or “top ten” list) on a topic of your choice.  Discussion of the composition and usefulness of an SLR will be the subject of the first class.  Selection of entries, meaning articles, books, and web sites, for it will occur progressively with each class. Items will be added or discarded based on the relevance of materials as they are found through progressive use of indexes, catalogs, search engines, full-text retrieval databases, etc.

Each class will begin with an introduction to a category of information resources, such as an index, a catalog, a full-text database, etc.  Questions about and discussion of the nature and function of the resource will follow.  The relevance and application of such resources for a student’s future academic, professional, and personal objectives will be emphasized.  Searches in print and electronic resources in class will be conducted and accompanied by the students with hands-on practice. The assignment at the end of each class will be to use the particular resource to add to the student's SLR. Before the following class, each student will report by e-mail to the instructor what item s/he has added. As the course advances and more research resources are examined, items in the SLR will be de-selected as better ones are encountered. The concept of "better" for the SLR will be developed in terms of standards for: accuracy, completeness, and relevance. The SLR should have a minimum of ten entries, which include a mix of articles, books, and web site, from a variety of resources. 

Class Topics
 (ten class sessions; one hour length, once per week; course also requires regular, significant outside classroom work in a library or on a computer):

Class 1.
Love, fame, fortune ... and information?
Discussion - Consider the importance of obtaining and communicating information and how to find, organize, and communicate such.  Defining key terms related to seeking information: 
     search engines                    indexes                                    catalogs                        bibliographies
     searching strategy               keywords                                 subject phrases
Examine the communication model of a Suggested List of Resources (SRL).  How to go about assembling an SLR through a mix of items that include articles, books, and websites.
Handouts distributed in class: 
1.  OSU Libraries Guide
2.  Sample SLRs (also available at http://www........):
     “How do I Know the Right Person to Marry?”
     “Is Fame a Value to Pursue?”
     “Is Lord of the Rings a Great Movie?”
Assignment:  Use Google to find information related to the above questions or topics.  Decide the topic on which you prefer to write your SLR.       

Class 2.   
Key words, subject phrases
Beyond Google:  Expanding One’s Resources for Finding Information
Discussion – From your Google assignment, what did you find of use?  Would you like more?  Are there other ways of getting information?  Are these the questions you want answers for, or are their others you would like to ask?
Is there a type of resource that tells me what type of information has been published?  What type of articles already exist?  Yes, there are indexes.  One of the most widely used indexes is The Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature (RGPL).  It lists by subject, author, or title articles that have been published in a variety of fields of the social sciences and humanities.  Indexes can be very specialized.  For example there are the Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI) and the Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS).
Handouts:  “What are Key Words?”  “How are Subject Headings Phrased?”
Assignment:  In the Main Library, find the RGPL.  On your computer, find HAPI and/or HLAS.  Do these indexes provide articles on subjects of interest to you?  Are there other indexes that may be of more interest to you?  How can you find these indexes?  On the Libraries homepage, click on to “databases” and see what additional indexes exist.  Which are more useful or relevant for you?  Give the instructor a paper indicating the topic on which you will write your ARL and a list of any initial articles, books, or web site you have found regarding it.  Getting as much as you want and exactly what you want in terms of information. Keyword and subject searching, pitfalls and advantages. Searching widely and precisely for information. Using keyword and subject strategies. Noting the pitfalls (too general, too narrow) and advantages (plentiful, precise) of each and the “looping” benefits of  hybrid technique.

Class 3.   
Indexes
How do we know what publications exist? How does an “index” to periodical literature track such information. Examining the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, Book Review Digest, and the Hispanic American Periodicals Index.
Handout:  “Finding Relevant Indexes”  “Reading an Index”
Assignment:  Finding first entries for annotated bibliography

Class 4.   
Catalogs
What resources tell us what a library holds? What is the difference betwseen "holdings" and "access to holdings'?  What separates OSCAR from OhioLINK and from WorldCat?  How can items from other libraries be brought to you at OSU?
Handout:  Relevant sections of OSU Libraries Guide
Assignment:  Finding further entries for SLR

Class 5.   
Full-text Retrieval
What is the “Information Age”?  What are the articles and books at OSU in one’s computer: JSTOR, Project MUSE, netLibrary, Project Gutenberg, etc.
Handout:  “OSU Libraries Research Databases”
Assignment:  Further entries for SLR

Class 6.   
Gateways
The “information highway” is multi-lane.  Where is the entry ramp?  Deposits of information on the internet are wholesale.  How do I find my retail preferences?
Handout:  “Using, Abusing, and Not-Using Google”
Assignment:  Assembly of entries into first draft of SLR

Class 7. 
Making the “Top Ten” Part One:  Formatting the Entries in the SLR.
Examining the entries in your bibliography.  What to keep, what to discard, and why.
Handout:  “What is the Focus, What is the Technique:  Examing Samples of  SLRs”
Assignment:  Assessments of sample bibliographies

Class 8.   
Making the “Top Ten”  Part Two: Creating the Annotations in the SLR.
Annotating the entries What is abstracting? Examining abstracting in the Handbook of Latin American Studies.  Examine original book or article and its abstract.
Handout:  “The Similarities and Differences of an Outline and an Abstract”
Assignment:  Selected annotating of SLR entries

Class 9.   
Justifying/reviewing the draft
Group analysis/review of selected entries.  Do the factors applied for selection of entries in an SLR become factors of analysis and evaluation?
Assignment:  After group critique of entries, completion of annotations for all entries.

Class 10.   
Introduction for SLR
How does information need to be framed? How are parts brought together as a whole?
Handout:  “Planning and Writing an Introduction”
Assignment:  Completion and submission of SLR with introduction

Academic Misconduct

“Academic misconduct” includes all forms of student academic misconduct wherever committed; illustrated by, but not limited to, cases of plagiarism and dishonest practices in connection with examinations, quizzes, reports, term papers, etc. All instances of alleged academic misconduct will be appropriately reported. Further information on misconduct is available in the Code of Student Conduct (http://studentaffairs.osu.edu/info_for_students/csc.asp).

Disability Services

Students with disabilities that have been certified by the Office for Disability Services will be appropriately accommodated, and should inform the instructor as soon as possible of their needs. The Office for Disability Services is located in 150 Pomerene Hall, 1760 Neil Avenue; telephone 292-3307, TDD 292-0901; http://www.ods.ohio-state.edu/.

BACKGROUND of INSTRUCTOR

Edward A. "Ted" Riedinger is a tenured full professor and the head of the Latin America, Spanish, and Portuguese Library Collection at Ohio State University (OSU).  In addition he is an adjunct professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Department of History (graduate faculty).  He is also on the adjunct faculty of the Center for Latin American Studies at Ohio University (Athens).  A specialist in modern Brazilian culture and political history, Prof. Riedinger lived in Brazil, primarily Rio de Janeiro, from 1971 to 1988.  He has been a faculty member at various universities in Brazil (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio, Gama Filho University); Mexico (University of the Americas, Puebla); and the United States (San Francisco State University).  He has authored or edited nearly 250 articles, reviews, and books, written in English and Portuguese; and is editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Brazilian History and Culture.  He received MA and PhD degrees in history from the University of Chicago, and has a masters in library and information science from the University of California, Berkeley. He pursued postgraduate work in history at Harvard, Oxford (Exeter College), and Cambridge (Selwyn College) universities.

Phone:  614-688-8797         E-mail:  riedinger.4@osu.edu         Office hours:  by appointment