Chapter 2 : Information Sources And Resources

Question 1

Article

Answer 1

A piece of writing on a specific topic forming an independent part of a publication, such as a newspaper, journal or magazine.

Question 2

Bibliographic database

Answer 2

Contains summary representations of documents, including their titles, abstracts and keywords. It indicates the author, date of publication and the name and location of the publisher. They do not contain the full text of documents

Question 3

Dictionary

Answer 3

List of words and their definitions, or a list of words and their translations in one or more languages

Question 4

Digital library

Answer 4

A collection of documents in electronic format so that they can be accessed by the computer.
Digital libraries are also called virtual libraries, electronic libraries or e-libraries.

Question 5

Directory

Answer 5

List of names of people living in a particular area, organisations operating in a particular field of individuals in a particular profession.

Question 6

Document

Answer 6

Written, printed or electronic material that provides information. The term document applies to information in a range of formats, including books, articles, maps, web pages, photographs and videos

Question 7

Encyclopaedia

Answer 7

Collections of paper-based or digital knowledge in written format.
Can be general, dealing with a range of topics or subject-specific, for example, medical encyclopaedias.

Question 8

Gateway

Answer 8

Serves as a single point of entry to many information sources

Question 9

Internet

Answer 9

Network of computer networks that operates worldwide using a common set of communication protocols.
The internet is the broad name given to several communication technologies used on the worldwide network, eg, email, chat rooms and the world wide web

Question 10

Invisible web

Answer 10

The part of the web which is not accessible to general search engines.
Consists of pages that are not linked to any external pages.
It’s also called the deep web of hidden web

Question 11

Journal

Answer 11

Collection of academic reports and articles that is published on a regular basis and is available in print form and/or internet

Question 12

Periodical

Answer 12

Published at regular intervals, for example, weekly or monthly.
They usually keep the same title and the issues are numbers consecutively.
As a rule, several people contribute to a single issue.

Question 13

Publication

Answer 13

A work that is produced and made available to the public.
Some publications are for sale and others are free.
Examples of publications are books, songs, software, videos and journals

Question 14

Text

Answer 14

Can be broadly defined as the written or printed material that forms the main body of a publication

Question 15

World Wide Web (www)

Answer 15

The www is part of the internet that a browser can access

Question 16

Yearbook

Answer 16

A publication that contains current information for a particular year.
The subject material may be general or specific and is provided in brief descriptive or statistical form.
Also known as annuals

Question 17

Timeline of the development of the internet and its applications

Answer 17

(See picture)

Question 18

Communication services

Answer 18

Email, Skype, etc

Question 19

Discussion services

Answer 19

Newsgroups, blogs, etc.

Question 20

Example of a URL

Answer 20

(See picture)

Question 21

Corporate website

Answer 21

Provides information about the company, institution or organisation.

Question 22

Personal website

Answer 22

“Vanity sites”

Individuals or small groups create them and often do so purely for pleasure

Question 23

Dictionary

Answer 23

Alphabetical list of words with definitions or a list of words with translations in one or more languages

Question 24

Examples of dictionaries

Answer 24

(See picture)

Question 25

Thesaurus

Answer 25

Book that lists words for each entry that have similar, related or opposite meanings for each entry. Does not supply meaning of words

Question 26

Biographic database

Answer 26

Do not contain full-text documents. They contain representations of documents by providing details of the title, abstract and keywords, also name of author and place of publication

Question 27

Bibliographies

Answer 27

Bibliographies are compiled lists of publications of either a single author or all the books and articles on a particular topic. They are also sometimes compiled according to all the books published in a certain country or within a particular time span. Bibliographies do not exist for every possible topic, but they are a useful source of information for the topics they do cover.

Question 28

Directories

Answer 28

Directories are lists of names of people living in a particular area, organisations operating in a particular field or individuals in a particular profession. Directories can be found in both printed and electronic form.

Question 29

Almanacs

Answer 29

An almanac is an annual publication that lists events for the next year such as planting dates for farmers, oceanic tide tables, phases of the moon and times for sunrise and sunset.

Question 30

Important dates

Answer 30

(See pictures)

Question 31

Orthophoto maps

Answer 31

An orthophoto is an aerial photograph that has been corrected so that there are no distortions, for example, due to the earth's curvature. Orthophotos are used to measure the true distances between objects.

Question 32

Relief maps

Answer 32

Relief maps show the geographical features of an area, for | example mountains

Question 33

Distribution maps

Answer 33

Distribution maps focus on particular subjects and can show how, where and when they occur. For example, distribution maps can indicate which languages are spoken in a particular geographical area or the prevalence of a disease in different parts of the world

Question 34

Topographical maps

Answer 34

Topographical maps illustrate topographical features, for example dams, mountains, towns, roads and farm boundaries.

Question 35

Street maps

Answer 35

Street maps provide a lot of detail and are used to navigate small areas such as towns or suburbs in a city.

Question 36

Road maps

Answer 36

Road maps are less detailed than street maps and are used to | navigate large areas, for example, across countries.

Question 37

Atlases

Answer 37

An atlas is a collection of maps.

Question 38

Geographic information system (GIS)

Answer 38

A geographic information system (GIS) creates and manages spalial data using a computer system. Geographic information is referenced and stored so that people can use it interactively by analysing and integrating the information available.

Question 39

Conference proceedings

Answer 39

Conference proceedings are published records of conferences. Usually the full text of the papers presented at a conference is published However, sometimes only an extended abstract or slides are made available

Question 40

Diaries

Answer 40

Diaries are personal accounts of events and are often handwritten Scientists sometimes use diaries to record the progress of their experiments.

Question 41

Government publications

Answer 41

Government publications are official publications published by a govemment's printing facility. Printed copies of government publications are stored in national and parliamentary libraries, but most government departments make relevant documents available on their websites.

Question 42

Grey literature

Answer 42

'Grey literature stands for manifold document types produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in print and electronic formats that are protected by intellectual property rights, of sufficient quality to be collected and preserved by libraries and institutional repositories, but not controlled by commercial publishers.

Question 43

Reports

Answer 43

A report is a written description of a completed research project or an interim description of progress made towards the completion of a research project.

Question 44

Theses or dissertations

Answer 44

A thesis or dissertation is an academic report or treatise that is written as part of a higher degree or diploma. Whether to use the term dissertation' or thesis' depends on the institution.

Question 45

Bulletin boards

Answer 45

Bulletin boards and groups are similar to emails and electrohic mailing lists as they are forms of communication among people.

Question 46

Blogs and vlogs

Answer 46

The term 'blog is short for web log or weblog. Vlog' is short for video blog, and makes use of video or includes video clips. Personal blogs are like online diaries, The owner can post messages from time to time and allow others to comment. This creates a discussion forum or a virtual community around a particular person or interest.

Question 47

Wikis

Answer 47

Wiki comes from the Hawaiian word for 'fast' or 'quick'. Wikis are mediated public spaces open to participation. Anyone can edit, change or delete text on a wiki. Wikis are based on the collaborative sharing of knowledge

Question 48

Microblogging

Answer 48

Microblogging is a combination of blogging and text messaging that allows users to post a short message on their profile. Microblogging evolved from blogging, as people began to post shorter or condensed versions of their blogs

Question 49

Social media and social networking

Answer 49

Social networking, which uses social media, is the process of establishing and building online relationships with others for social, professional or educational purposes. In other words, social networking enables people to come together online around shared interests or causes.

Question 50

Photo sharing

Answer 50

Photo sharing is the publishing or transferring of digital photos online, allowing them to be shared with others, either publicly or privately. Photographs can be organised into online groups, sets, categories, events or albums.

Question 51

Video sharing

Answer 51

Video sharing allows websites or software users to distribute their video Olips. Some video-sharing services may charge for their services, but the large majority do not.

Question 52

Podcasts

Answer 52

The term podcast actually applies to both audio and video recordings. However typically, it only refers to audio broadcasting Podcasts allow anyone to create their own talk show, interview educational or training seminar, sermon, speech, presentation or music file that can be distributed worldwide for people to download and listen to

Question 53

Social bookmarking

Answer 53

Social bookmarking is a web-based service where people share internet bookmarks. With social bookmarking, users store lists of internet sources that they find useful on a public website and tag them with their own keywords.

Question 54

Really Simple Syndication (RSS)

Answer 54

RSS is a way to automatically feed your web pages, blogs, audio, video and photographs to people who subscribe. Every time that you create something new on the internet and hit Publish', a feed goes to everyone who has asked for an update.

Question 55

Social libraries

Answer 55

Social libraries are sites that allow users to keep track of their collections, such as books, records and DVDs. Users can also use social libraries to share their collections.

Question 56

Data

Answer 56

Research published in journal articles and books is often based on empirical data - data collected by the researcher(s) and analysed and summarised in the article or book. Up to quite recently, such data were regarded as proprietary.