5th topic

Synthesis

Finally we reached at the end of the topics for this semester, and this is the last topic of this subject. In this topic we have learnt all about synthesis. At first she started with the definition of the synthesis. According to my understanding “Synthesizing is like putting a puzzle together and we have to sort out our thinking and put it in the right place.”  Fundamentally, Synthesis is a system of organization. There are many kinds of strategies we can use to organize the information such as Chronological Organization, Hierarchical Organization and lastly Alphabetical Organization.

  

To finish the topic early she started describing in more details as fast as she can. She also maintains that there has a difference between summarizing and synthesis. As she has point out to us that Summarizing is identifying key points and organizing thoughts, a listing of the parts, and summarizing usually occurs at the end. Beside that she also stated that synthesizing is the creation of a whole, but it goes on throughout the process of reading; not just at the end.  It is bringing together different ideas and facts and weaving them together into a tapestry, something much larger than all the threads. From my understanding, summarizing also is part of synthesis.  We can’t synthesize if we don’t know how to summarize.  Summarizing is the act of briefly presenting the main point.  When teaching summary, teachers should encourage readers to retell information by including important ideas but not telling too much. Alhamdulillah finally with this topic we have done our information literacy subject. 

4th topic

Introduction to Citation

Now we are in topic four and in this topic our main lesson was all about the way of citation. During this session we came to know the importance of citation. Whenever we take some information from others sources or from others idea without any citation then it's called plagiarism, which is illegal and forbidden. This plagiarism is similar to steal, because we take other ideas without any reference. Those people who do the plagiarism can be punished brutally. Consequently, to avoid the plagiarism appropriate citation is essential. To do the citation appropriately some of the rules should be followed. During the class hour our respective lecturer explained several rules which are needed to do the correct citation .At first she gave us the primary knowledge about the materials of citation, as an example author name, publication year, book title publisher etc. After that we have maintains the serial as like, at first we have to write the author name after that year followed by others. 

After introducing with the summary part we have learnt more ways about the citation. There are three ways of doing citation, but we are doing the APA style of citation, since it is more appropriate than other style. To do the citation from the different sources we have to follow different ways as an example, when we take information from books and again when we take information from magazine for the citation the way will be different from each other. So to make us more clear about the many rules of citation our Miss showed us several slide show which were on the base of different sources citation. In addition our lecturer also warned us that from wherever we take the information, whether it can be book or internet we have to cite it following the APA style citation. There are several internet sources such as Blog, Online article, Wikipedia and so on. Hence, to write in more formal way without any plagiarism the importance of citation is unavoidable.

APA Citation

         To know about the particular citation she started with the new session of citation.  Our respective lecturer again re-explained about the introduction of citation which we have learned our last class and based on this topic she asked us several question to investigate that weather we have understood our last lesson. After that to continue our class we were introduced with the new topic. But the new topic was also related with the previous topic which was all about the APA style citation. However, the only difference is in previous week we have learnt that we take our information from the other sources without any changing. During this session we also take the information but, not the exactly what the author have written. During the having with this topic the main lesson was related with the paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting. 

Paraphrasing:

                    When we do paraphrasing we take the main idea and after that we write it in our own words. During this class I was confused because we are not taking the exact information what the writer have told then why we still have to cite it? Then my lecturer explained me that we are still using other idea so we have to cite it.  

Summarizing:

                 Summarizing is when we summarize the others writing to make use it in our writing. Usually we summarize from the original sources. Whenever we summarize, we just take the main point from the author writing. After finishing the summarizing still we have to mention the author name, year to make sure avoiding the plagiarism.

Quoting:

           In term of quoting we use exactly what the author or writer have told in his/her writing with quotation mark. But if our quotation is more than forty words then we don't have to use the quotation marks. But we have to write it a little bit far from the main line. And after that we have to use the citation.

3rd topic

Search tool and search strategies

       Alhamdulillah, now we are in topic three which is all about search tool and search strategies. In this topic at first we concerned with the library catalogs. Library catalog system supposedly refer to the information retrieval system. With the help of this system we can easily find out any books or periodicals from the library. As well as this system gives us the information and guidance on how to conduct with the library catalog system. Furthermore during this period we also came to know about the library OPAC system which actually stands for Online Public Access Catalog. This system serves us focal search point for our library system. We can search by the name of title, author, publisher or date of publication to find out any book. By finding out any book in sort time this system helps us to save our time.

       In this session we have learnt about the information search tools which are actually related with the internet, because with the help of internet we can find out any information within a second. Due to this reason internet is considered as one of the best tools for searching any kind of information. Now a day’s internet has become the environment of information where we can find out any kind of information without any delay. Internet constitutes a large number of search engines to get available information. The great example of search engines are Google, Alta Vista, Being, yahoo, ask.com, live search and so on. To acquire any kind of information we can use these engines. 

      During this topic our another main lesson was connected with the specialized databases. At the beginning of the class our lecturer asked us some brief question about the previous topic which was on information search tools. When she recognized that the previous lesson was done then she proceeds with the next topic. At first she introduced us with the general knowledge about the database and to continue she showed us some of the slide show on it. As far as I understand about the online database it is a collection of computerized information or data such as articles, books, graphics and multimedia that can be searched to find information.

        To continue our class, she started with the database search engine. In order to search any information by using the online system, we can follow two ways which are simple screen search and advanced screen search. The example of simple screen search is Google search which is used by most of the user to find out any kind of information. And the example of advanced screen search is the searching tool which we use to get more information about the topic. We can search any information by mentioning the topic, keyword or full text. 

        The new thing which I have gained from this topic was, if we want to search any information about any topic what we have to mention in order to get the right information. For getting actual information about any topic we can search by subject, keyword or full text. At what time we should use which method it depends on the topic .Again we can also search by using media type and using phrase, instead of using the whole sentence for searching essential information. We can use phrase to find out any suggestions in short time. It will save our time and provide us the needed information.

       Finally, with the truncation and wildcard we have finish this topic . First of all our Miss explained us what is the meaning of truncation and wildcard, and in which way we should use these two method to get the needed information. She narrated all the important point about this topic by using her informative slide show.First of all our Miss explained us what is the meaning of truncation and wildcard, and in which way we should use these two method to get the needed information. She narrated all the important point about this topic by using her informative slide show. From this class I came to know about this topic which is 'Truncation and Wildcard both assists us to broaden our search in order to have appropriate information about the topic’. Moreover in this search we may also use retrieve multiple spelling of the synonyms. These search systems expand the search to locate all the words at the beginning with the same root. During this class our respective Miss gave us a lot of meaningful example to clarify our concepts about this topic. By attending this informative class I was able to have a clear concept about the lesson.

       To continue this class she started with the phrase searching. Before go through to the new topic our respective lecturer again reminded us about the previous topic. She asked us several questions to make sure that we understand the previous one. To make clear she again re-explained the previous topic. Formerly, our lecturer started with the new part which is phrase searching. Usually phrase searching is used when we use a strings word instead of a single word. But there is a disadvantage of using phrase searching which is retrieving less information. As a great example if we want to search for 'information literacy' then we can use this phrase searching system and it will give us the meaning of the whole word. But at a same time if we search word by word it will give us more information. In the system of phrase searching we can use bracket or inverted comma for the database to understand our search. And these are all what we have learned from topic three.

2nd topic

Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources 

       Ultimately we are done with our first topic and started with 2nd topic which is all about primary, secondary and tertiary sources of information. During the class we have learned about the primary sources of information. After having this class as far as I came to know about the primary source that "A primary source is an original object or document" and it is also called as the first hand information. A researcher can get the original or actual information by the primary sources because a primary sources generally write by the witnessed or experienced person. There are so many database which are considered as a primary source of information such as diaries, journals, speeches, audio or video recording and so on. Autobiography is also included as a primary sources because it is written by a person about his/her own life. After teaching this lesson our lecturer asked us several question which was related with this topic.

       After giving the lecture based on primary sources she started with the secondary sources of information. At first our miss gave us the brief definition of secondary sources and to be continuing she introduced us with the different example of secondary sources. From her meaningful interpretation I got the priceless suggestion about the secondary sources. During this class as far as I came to know about the secondary sources that "A secondary sources is written something about the primary sources". It is actually a second hand information. The great example of secondary sources are history books, textbooks, encyclopedias and so on. 

        In this session there was another sub topic which was about the tertiary sources of information. To be continue her lecture she gave us the proper definition of tertiary sources that "It is distillation and collection of primary and secondary sources." To make understand us clearly she gave us several examples and asked us the question. From my point of view tertiary sources is actually the collection of information from primary and secondary sources, it is also includes most types of references. The examples of tertiary sources are bibliographies of bibliography, directories of directory and guides to the literature. 

1st topic

                                      Information Literacy Process

       In my first class I have learnt the basic knowledge about the information literacy. our lecturer asked us to give our existing knowledge about the information literacy. Most of the students say their opinion about what they actually know about the information literacy. After hearing all the feedback our lecturer showed us the correct definition of the information literacy. From my point of view, information literacy is a skill to find out the more information. From this topic we also came to know about the information of literacy in our modern technological world. In this session our miss also taught us about the information literacy process which is totally different from the information literacy. Beside that she also gave us some hints about the information literacy process which is "Big 6" process.

       During this session we have learnt clearly about Big 6 process. our lecturer elaborate the every single point of this process. At first I was unknown about this process but after the clear definition of the point from our lecturer I got proper knowledge about this topic. From my point of view Big 6 is process which is continue in six steps in purpose of helping anyone to solve problems or make decision by using information. During the class our respectable miss asked us several question to make sure that we understand this lesson. 

Getting To Know Each Other

       Alhamdulillah, luckily I got the chance to get the class with my one of the lovely ex-lecturer whom I wanted. The first session it was an introductory session, where we came to know each other. In that class we were introduced with our course schedule. Firstly I was so afraid whether the teacher and the students would be friendly or not . At my first glance my mind was changed, all of my classmates and teacher were so friendly and open minded. In that class we were supposed to write an essay about computer and internet which was the key to go out. However, this class was one of the memorable class in my life which I can never forget. I am really glad to get the class with such a great lecturer :)