1.3: Find and Select Open Resources
Upon successful completion of this subunit you will be able to:
- Discuss your proposed topic of research interest.
- Apply advanced search skills for more productive online searches.
- Implement advanced database searches on a number of open repositories to source OER and open access research publications.
- Evaluate the reliability and credibility of resources you find online for academic purposes.
- Adopt and use citation management software to support your academic work; and
- Publish an annotated bibliography online using the APA reference format with the help of your citation management tool.
Your assignment for this unit is to prepare an analytical essay demonstrating your digital literacies, including advanced search strategies to identify and select relevant open access resources to research, analyse, produce and present information for tertiary education purposes.
You have the option of choosing a topic that interests you for this assignment. The mini learning challenge which follows will guide you in selecting a suitable topic.
Mini challenge summary
Summary: Choose a research topic suitable for tertiary academic study to guide your search and selection of online resources in this learning pathway. 
Approximately 1 hour Improving search skills will save you time and result in more productive searches. The Google search engine provides a number of features to improve your searches in finding open access resources.
Mini learning challenge summary
Summary: Advanced searching 30 – 45 minutes This section focuses on searching database repositories.
Most databases provide advanced search features, however there are differences in how each database site implements search functionality. At the OERu, we focus on repositories that provide access to OER and open access resources so that you do not need to incur cost in sourcing online resources.
Mini challenge summary
Summary: Database search 30 – 45 minutes There is a great deal of information available on the Internet. Some of it is very credible and useful. However, there is a lot of misinformation and poorly researched information online too. As you become more skilled at academic online searching and locating materials you will become quicker at determining what information is useful and credible. In the meantime, consider the following frameworks.
Wikipedia is the free online encyclopedia created through collaborative effort of contributors from around the globe. Wikipedia is one of the most popular websites in the world. When conducting general Internet searches, Wikipedia articles will frequently be listed in the top results.
Anyone registered on the Wikipedia site can create a new article page. Anyone can edit a Wikipedia article, and registration is not required to edit existing articles.
There have been a number of studies examining the accuracy of Wikipedia articles. Notwithstanding the outcomes of these studies, many educational institutions will not accept the use of Wikipedia as a credible source for academic writing and research. In this section we invite learners to evaluate whether Wikipedia is a trustworthy resource and to form a justified opinion on its use as a reliable resource for academic writing.
We commence with an opinion poll on the reliability of Wikipedia and then invite you to annotate and comment on a few online articles on the topic. Finally, you will be invited to apply your knowledge on evaluating online resources to inform your use of Wikipedia for academic purposes.
Now that you have selected four online resources for your research question, you need to evaluate the quality of these resources for the purposes of academic study.
Normally, you would carry out the evaluation of resources during the search and select process, but for the purposes of this introduction to finding and selecting online resources we have presented these activities separately.
In this section, we introduce digital tools to assist you with citation management.
Citation management software or reference management software is software used for recording and utilising bibliographic citations for scholarly writing.
There are two components:
- The citation which is a verbatim quotation published between quotation marks and / or a reference to a book or journal article. The citation appears in the body text.
- The reference list which is a list of all the sources used for citations in the body text. The reference list is usually inserted at the end of the written work.
In both cases, the format for citations and reference lists are determined by the required citation style, for example: The American Psychological Association (APA) or the Oxford Citation style. For more information on citation styles, consult the OERu micro-course on Making your arguments more credible. Citation management software will assist in organising in text citations and generating reference lists within your word processor.
This is a learn-by-doing challenge where you are directed to produce and share an output demonstrating your knowledge in using your preferred citation management tool.
Mini challenge summary
Summary: Practical exercise using the citation management tool your selected. 1 hour Challenge summary
Summary: Publish and share an annotated bibliography 1 – 1.5 hours Optional: Continue to participate in the LiDA photo challenge.
