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Home » Welcome to The Information Age » Exercise: Finding the Best Sources

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These exercises have been provided to help students learn about library services and researching. They may be used by an instructor as an assignment.

Exercise: Finding the Best Sources

Identifying types of information resources

Learning Objective: Identify the different types of information resources, and use the flow of information to identify the best resources.

INSTRUCTIONS: Print out this page and fill in the blanks.

  1. Topic: Pearl Harbor
    Match the information you need with the resource that would best answer the question by putting the appropriate letter in the space at left.

    When you need: Resource:

    ____ A concise summary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and why it happened.

    ____ The most recent research on the long-term psychological effects of Pearl Harbor on veterans who survived it.

    ____ As much in-depth information as you can get in one resource.

    ____ What Americans were saying about the Pearl Harbor attack at the time it happened in 1941.

    1. scholarly journal article

    2. newspaper article

    3. government document

    4. encyclopedia article

    5. book

  2. Topic: Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
    Put a check next to the information resources that are scholarly:

    ____ "Technology Developed After Shuttle Disaster to Aid in Search Today." Atlanta Constitution, July 19, 1996, p. 11A. (newspaper article)

    ____ Challengers : The Inspiring Life Stories of the Seven Brave Astronauts of Shuttle Mission 51-L. (book)

    ____ "Analysis of In-Flight Winds for Shuttle Mission STS 51-L." Journal of Applied Meteorology v. 27 (Nov. 1988) p. 1232-41. (article)

    ____ "Media Coverage of Shuttle." Time, Feb. 10, 1986, p. 42. (article)

  3. Topic: Battle of Gettysburg
    Mark the information resources that are primary sources:

    ____ Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (text of speech)

    ____ "In Not So Dubious Battle: Motivations of American Civil War Soldiers." Journal of Military History. January 1998. (article)

    ____ "Gettysburgh: Rebel Accounts of the Battle." New York Times, July 11, 1863. (newspaper article)

    ____ War Journal of Louis N. Beaudry, Fifth New York Cavalry : The Diary of a Union Chaplain (book)

    ____ Death of a Nation: The Story of Lee and His Men at Gettysburg (book)

Submit your work to your instructor if required.

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