Building Library Research Skills

Research and information literacy skills take time to cultivate. You will develop and refine these skills throughout your program. This assignment, in two parts, allows you to practice and improve on your current skills. You will write a 2–3-page reflection paper on your approach, strategy, experience, and confidence with communication and research and information literacy skills. Part 1 Learning how to find credible information and applying it to a problem are critical skills in nearly all areas of life: at school, at work, or in your personal life. During orientation, you were introduced to online research and Capella library resources. In the third study in this unit, you completed the RAILS assessment. In this assignment, you will build on these information literacy skills by practicing how to conduct good research. This will lay the groundwork for your individual and team proposals. For the first part of your reflection paper, complete the following: 1. Apply the research skills you learned by selecting a topic related to IT and the career that is of particular interest to you. 2. Locate three articles in the Capella library related to your topic. 3. Reflect on your search process and the skills you practiced by responding to the following questions regarding your research efforts: o Was it hard to focus your topic? Why or why not? What strategies did you employ to focus your topic? o If you needed help finding an appropriate or current research topic in your area of interest, what resources or techniques did you use for inspiration? o Which database (or databases) did you search? Why did you choose to research in that database? o How did you use other Capella academic and writing resources in your research efforts? o Was it difficult to find the right keywords (that is, the best technology terms and jargon) to use in your search? What strategies did you employ to find appropriate keywords for your searches? o What strategies did you employ to find current research on your topic? Was it difficult to find current research? Or have you found this difficult in the past? o Did you find Boolean commands (ands/ors) confusing? What tips would you give others for learning these commands? o How might you improve your search? What steps might you take? o Do you feel confident in your skills to find 10–20 relevant, on-topic, credible articles, if needed? Explain what fuels your confidence or what may be deterring your confidence.

Part 2 For the second part of your reflection paper, complete Activity 1.1, Test Your Communication Skills, on pages 24 and 25 of your textbook, Essentials of Business Communications. Respond to the following: 1. What are your assessment results based on the rating guide? 2. What aspects of the activity surprised you? 3. Did you find the assessment beneficial in identifying areas for improvement? As you write your paper, provide specific examples of your research approach, and support your work with references to the Library RAILS site or other Capella library links. Use the following APA citation on your references page for the main page of the Library RAILS tutorial: Capella University Library. (n.d.). Library research and information literacy skills. Retrieved from https://campus.capella.edu/web/library/library-research-skills Assignment Requirements • Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message. • APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to APA style and formatting. • Length: Write 2–3 pages, excluding the references page. • Font and font size: Use Times New Roman, 12 point.

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