WikiInfoLit Unit 2 Page 5
Unit 2, Activity 1
You should be learning and teaching your students how to use Wikipedia with a sort of double-mindedness. On the one hand, Wikipedia is an information source for research. On the other hand, it is the way you are teaching particular research skills. On one hand, you are using Wikipedia to learn about protein structures, and on the other, you're using it to find out what information sources about protein structures are cited in the Wikipedia article's References.
Choose a topic that interests you and look it up in Wikipedia. If the Wikipedia article is not very substantial, choose another topic. You want one with a lot of content.
Read the article.
Go through the References and categorize what you find there.
- How many information sources are available on the web, and how many are not?
- How many appear to be primary sources (first-hand accounts, data, evidence)? How many are secondary sources (interpretation, synthesis, analysis)?
- How many appear to be scholarly sources (by and for academic experts, peer reviewed)? How many are popular sources (for a general audience)?
- What is the oldest source? What is the newest?
Choose one of the sources that is available on the web and follow the link to it. What advice would you give a student about using this particular information source for research?
Share your answers to these questions in Unit 2, Question 1 of the WikiInfoLit Google Group.