Research+Strategies

=//**Based on the work of William B. Badke in Research Strategies: Finding Your Way through the Information Fog**//=

**1.1 Before there was print**
information was passed down orally, therefore it had to be remembered

all the information you needed was contained in your own head

those who were able to remember well survived (i.e. those who were more intelligent) and those who were not able to remember had a harder time surviving, (i.e. knowing and remembering which plants were poisonous and which weren't)

**1.2 Reading and Writing**
knowledge could be preserved in print, therefore there was less of a need to pass it on orally, let alone a need to memorize vast amounts of information

it was possible to look up the information BUT ONLY IF YOU HAD ACCESS TO IT!

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER but not everyone was a knowledge keeper, nor had access to the knowledge (there was still JUST ONE COPY at this time)

the printing press had not yet been invented, therefore information was transcribed by hand

**1.3 The printing press**
multiple copies could now be produced

more people now had access to the information - it was no longer controlled by a single person or group of people

this created a better informed society

there was less of a need to memorize information

because so many more people had access to existing knowledge, possibilities for adding to the knowledge base increased

two things existed here: only those with money had access to this information, only those with intelligence could read and produce new information

HOWEVER, the information was only as useful as the people were literate

not as necessary to memorize information

**1.4 Enter the World Wide Web**
ANYONE can publish

no more gatekeepers of knowledge - no librarians, no scholars in the field, money is not an issue, nor is intelligence

the greatest vehicle for free speech that we have ever known

we are now inundated with information - **people need to learn to exercise discernment** (learn evaluation skills)

**1.5.3 Government and Corporate Documents**
[|Go here for a directory of sources at the University of Michigan]

[|Go here for a directory of sources at Brooklyn College]

**1.5.5. Web 2.0**
blogs

wikis

RSS feeds

social networking sites

forums

chat

messaging

e-mail

**1.7 Warning - Not All Information in Informative**
what are the qualifications of the author of this information?

who else believes this?

has this information been subjected to some kind of peer review or other form of gatekeeping?

are there vested interests at stake? is someone trying to sell you something?

what are some good reasons for //not// believing it