Sample Exam for Information Literacy

1.

Go to this Web site: http://www.vaclib.org/email/leprosy.htm

Rate the credibility of this website. In other words, how credible is this website as a source of information about leprosy? (circle one)

(Note: You may find it helpful to explore this website beyond this page in order to make your evaluation.)

Highly Credible   |   Somewhat Credible   |   Not Very Credible

Explain how you came to this conclusion. Discuss at least two different criteria you used in making your evaluation about the credibility of this website as an information source.

Suppose that you found an interesting passage from a newspaper article that was published in 1897. Because the passage reflects beliefs about leprosy that were common in the late nineteenth century but are now known to be untrue, you could quote a sentence from the article to illustrate how such beliefs have changed.

If you include the quote in your paper, would this newspaper article need to be referenced in your report and cited?

Defend your answer:

For your report, you'll need accurate statistics about the number of people in Hawaii were afflicted with leprosy during the last decade or so.

Read through the following approaches and choose the one you believe is the one most likely to get you the needed information:  (Select one)

Search for "leprosy statistics" using the search box on home page of the National Institute of Health's Web site.

Consult the Health section in the 2001 edition of the statistical reference book known as the State of Hawaii Data Book that is published by the Hawaii state government.

Look up the article for "Leprosy" in the most recently published edition of the World Book Encyclopedia.

Type "Hawaii leprosy" into an Internet search engine such as Google.

Call the Honolulu Advertiser's editorial desk and ask if they know.

Go to the Barnes and Noble bookstore and browse through the Hawaiian history books.

Explain why this approach is better than the others.

Say you wanted to find magazine articles that talked about using the drug thalidomide to treat leprosy, but you'd like to avoid articles that mention thalidomide's well-known role in causing birth defects. Which one of the following search strings is most likely to find articles you want?

a. leprosy AND thalidomide
b. leprosy OR thalidomide OR "birth defects"
c. leprosy AND thalidomide NOT "birth defects"
d. birth AND defects NOT thalidomide
e. leprosy AND "drug treatment" NOT "birth defects"

Leprosy is also known as Hansen's Disease. When looking for information on the condition, searching for both names will help ensure you don't miss anything. Write out a single search string to use in a magazine journal database that would find articles using either of the terms:

Imagine that you wanted to find a newspaper article published in the Honolulu Advertiser or Honolulu Star Bulletin since 1995 about the residents of Kalaupapa.

Which of information resources listed on the Windward Community College Library Web site (http://library.wcc.hawaii.edu) would be the most logical to use for your search?

(Note: just write the name of the information resource you would choose.) 

Use the Hawaii Voyager Catalog available from the Windward Community College Library website at http://library.wcc.hawaii.edu to find information on any video recording about Father Damien that's owned by Windward Community College.

Print a page that shows the title of one of the videos.

Your Using Ebsco's Academic Search Premier database accessible through Windward Community College Library Web site at http://library.wcc.hawaii.edu, find a peer reviewed journal article that discusses a possible leprosy vaccine during any time period.

Print out a citation to the article or the first page of the article.

Identify each item below as a Primary or Secondary source by circling “P” for primary or “S” for secondary:

P  S    The entry for "leprosy" in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

P  S    A letter written by Father Damien of the Kalaupapa leper colony.

P  S    A written transcript of an interview with a person diagnosed with Hansen's disease.

P  S    An article in a scholarly journal that reports on a laboratory test of a potential vaccine against leprosy, written by the research scientists who conducted the study.

P  S    A made-for-TV movie about Father Damien and the leper colony at Kalaupapa.

P  S    A short article about the Kalaupapa colony in the Hawaiian Airlines' in-flight magazine Spirit of Aloha.

P  S    A paragraph in a college history textbook that mentions leprosy during the middle ages.

P  S    Statistics collected by the Hawaii State Department of Health about the number of cases of leprosy in the state.

P  S    You're talking to a guy who had a neighbor who had a great aunt with leprosy.

P  S    An audio recording made in 1975 of a resident of the Kalaupapa colony in which she tells stories from her life there.

P  S    A cover story from Time Magazine with an overview of the current status of Hansen’s Disease around the world.

P  S    An untouched photograph of a person with Hansen’s Disease.

Describe a key characteristic that distinguishes a primary source from a secondary source.

What is the full name (not abbreviation) of the agency directly responsible for this particular webpage on leprosy?

Does this organization and its sponsoring organization have the authority or expertise to write about the subject of leprosy?

Defend your answer:

Match the description of each fictional website with the extension most likely to appear at the end of its URL.