We all rely on information to live our lives, complete assignments for our classes, and finish tasks for our employers. As students, you will primarily use the library's information in order to complete assignments. No matter your major, the library should have resources to help you find the information you need to complete your assignments and help you to become independent searchers. This guide will be used as a resource to help you define information, identify trustworthy sources, search using databases, and properly cite the information you have located.
When I searched for a definition using the Bing search engine, information was defined as "facts provided or learned about something or someone." This is a very simple definition of information which can come in many formats including books, articles in journals and periodicals, websites, statistics, opinions, and more.
For your projects and coursework you will likely need four distinct types of information: factual, analytical, subjective, and objective.
An example of factual information: "Google is the most popular search engine in the world."
Scholarly articles and books are usually analytical because they analyze multiple sources of information and reach a conclusion based off of the research.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is heavily influenced by Stephen Colbert's political beliefs, biases, and attitudes.
Although fewer examples of objective information exist, research papers are objective because researchers examine and synthesize information that can be checked for accuracy.
