The Assignment Process

The Information Process: Identifying & locating relevant information

To get the information you need it is necessary to:

• Identify relevant material
  Where do you start looking?
  What do you start looking for?
• Locate that information
• Think critically about the information you collect
• Use that information you find to help you focus your search and find further information.

Identifying Relevant Information

Where do you start looking?

There are three main access tools which you can use to identify the useful information for your assignment topic:

1. The University of Waikato Library catalogue
2. The World Wide Web
3. Electronic indexes or fulltext databases for your discipline

To use the various information access tools effectively you need to develop skills in using each of the above tools. The next step is to learn how to develop appropriate search strategies for your information need..  

The skills you gain in learning to develop effective search strategies for the online catalogue can be applied to other databases and in using Internet search engines. Exactly how you enter your terms and the way the screen looks may vary from one source to another, but the underlying principles are similar. To develop your skills be sure to also visit the following pages:

Using the Library catalogue
Searching the Web
Search strategies

In this section we will be concerned mostly with the Library Catalogue and World Wide Web searching; you will learn more about using abstracting and indexing databases specific to your discipline once you have had a chance to develop basic search skills. Focusing the Information Search has more detail about using indexing databases to find more specific information (e.g. journal articles, conference papers, reviews)

What do you start searching for?

What you start looking for information will depend on what sort of information you need. You will need to ensure that you understand the terms and concepts relating to your assignment topic. Following this you should make sure you have a good overview or understanding of the topic area, then look for more specialised and focused discussion of your topic, so that you can further your own understanding of the topic, develop your own arguments and show the lecturer that you have a good grasp of the subject.

Finding background information

To understanding relevant terms, concepts and theories, try consulting encyclopedias or dictionaries for your subject area. These are available:

• In the Reference section of public and university libraries
• On the WWW. See for example, the University of Waikato Library Online Quick Reference Pages.

While encyclopedias and dictionaries are a good place to start, it is unlikely that they will provide enough information for a university level assignment.

For an overview or an introduction, try:

• Checking the Library Catalogue for books and other material on your topic.
• Looking for material within books. To do this you will need to find books covering a broader area that may have a chapter or section on your topic. Use the Table of Contents or Index to locate relevant sections. Some Catalogue records include the Table of Contents of books. You will need to do a Keyword search to make use of this feature. See the next section on Using the University of Waikato Library Catalogue for an explanation of the different types of searches possible.
• Looking for WWW resources. The Internet can be a useful and fun resource, but you must think about the quality of information you find. You will need to consider carefully the authority of the author. Furthermore you may get far more information than you want and little of relevance to your needs. Finding the 'good stuff' can be very frustrating and time-consuming. For tips and strategies on WWW searching see the Module on Searching the World Wide Web.

More information on finding material is available in Step Focusing the Information Search.

Locating relevant information

Once you have identified some useful records in the Catalogue, you will need to locate this material. Whether you are using the Library on campus or from a distance you should take a note of the citation (Author, Title, Publisher & Publication Year) of the selected material. You can copy and paste the records you find in the library catalogue into a text document or you can download the citations and save them in your own file. Doing this will ensure that you have all the information you need to gather the items, and to cite the material correctly in your assignment should you need to. More information on citing (or referencing) material is available in the section: Some General Points Regarding Content and Style.

If you are in the Library note the Shelf Location (the area of the Library where the item is held) and the Call Number (where on the shelf to find that particular item). See the Collections Overview for more information about call numbers, shelf locations and the classification systems used in the University of Waikato Library. Tours and tutorials are held frequently in the Library (see the tutorials timetable). You can also ask at any of the Library Information Desks for help if you have difficulty locating material.

Distance Students will need the Call Number and Citation (Author, Title, Publisher & Publication Year) of each of the selected items. Email this information to the Distance Librarian, along with your name and Student ID number. The requested items will then be sent to you. See Services for Distance Students for more information.

If there are unfamiliar terms in this section see the Glossary of Library Terminology