THREE STEPS TO INFORMATION COMPETENCY
Knowledge, Skills & Values That Help You Do The Following

• While in school, as a student, this usually means knowing your assignment and making sure you know it well, that you understand clearly what your instructor is asking you to do.
  • Usually your instructor provides guidelines about topics you're to research and the kinds of information sources your instructor expects you to use to do that research.
  • If you're not sure about an assignment, read your syllabus or assignment sheet and talk with your instructor until you are clear about what you're to do, what your instructor expects of you.
• If you can choose any topic but aren’t sure what interests you, try the following: 
  • Surf the Web. 
  • Look through magazines and newspapers. 
  • Ask Librarians about the “topic finding” features of some of RCCD Library's electronic resources. 
  • Ask a family member or friend so you can adopt one of their interests —since you care about them, select something they care about as the topic for your assignment.
• When choosing a topic, keep it "proportional" to the nature and purpose your assignment.
  • Select a topic for which information can more or less readily be found —otherwise you'll be spending a unreasonable amount of time just trying to find the information you need.
  • Remember: You want to find the information you need efficiently and effectively (within a reasonable amount of time and with as little hassle as possible) —so that you're then able to move on to the other important intellectual tasks of reading and thinking criticallly about what you find, then synthesizing it so you can write your report, make your presentation, etc
  • At RCCD, research assignments are important and valuable, but they are not doctoral-level research —so keep them reasonable, proportional, and appropriate to your assignments.

STEP 2: Find the information efficiently and effectively.

• REFERENCE BOOKS
  • Ask librarians to show you those most relevant to your information needs and interests.
• BOOKS
  • Use LAMP's Library Catalog.
• MEDIA
  • Use LAMP's Library Catalog.
• MAGAZINE, JOURNAL, NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
  • Use LAMP's Electronic Resources, Periodical Indexes.
  • Examples: Expanded Academic ASAP, General Reference Center, ProQuest Newspapers — plus 12 more that index, abstract (summarize), and provide literally millions of articles full text online.
• WEB SITES
  • Use LAMP's Internet Resources, Internet By Subject for Web sites that give good, authoritative, authentic, reliable information — grouped by broad subject/interest categories.
  • Links to other major "Web subject directories" are listed immediately beneath this Internet By Subject table, to the right of the line reading: "For even more subject links ...."

STEP 3: Use the information well and wisely.

• Read and think critically about the information you find.
  • Ask yourself: Is this information true, trustworthy, accurate, reliable, current, etc.?
• Cite or document the information you find according to standard “citation format style” guides, like MLA or APA.
  • For online help with MLA or APA, use LAMP's Electronic Resources, Reference Resources, NoodleTools.