FAU Information Literacy 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which Boolean operator should you use if you want to require that BOTH search terms appear in every database result?
- OR
- NOT
- AND (Correct answer)
- NEAR
Correct answer: AND
The AND operator narrows a search by requiring both terms to be present in every returned result.
Question 2: What is an 'abstract' in a scholarly article?
- The bibliography listed at the end of the article
- A brief summary of the article's purpose, methods, and findings (Correct answer)
- The author's personal opinion section at the end
- A list of all keywords used throughout the article
Correct answer: A brief summary of the article's purpose, methods, and findings
An abstract is a concise summary placed at the beginning of a scholarly article that outlines the research question, methodology, and main findings.
Question 3: Which of the following is considered a secondary source?
- A diary entry written by a historical figure
- Raw data collected from a scientific experiment
- A textbook chapter that analyzes and synthesizes multiple studies (Correct answer)
- A photograph taken at a historical event
Correct answer: A textbook chapter that analyzes and synthesizes multiple studies
A secondary source interprets, analyzes, or summarizes primary sources, such as a textbook that reviews and discusses multiple original studies.
Question 4: What does 'information literacy' primarily involve according to academic standards?
- Being able to type quickly and produce large amounts of text
- Knowing how to find, critically evaluate, and effectively use information (Correct answer)
- Memorizing large amounts of factual data from textbooks
- Understanding computer programming and software development
Correct answer: Knowing how to find, critically evaluate, and effectively use information
Information literacy is the ability to recognize when information is needed and to locate, critically evaluate, and effectively use that information.
Question 5: When using FAU's Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service, what can students request?
- Free physical textbooks for all enrolled courses
- Materials not in FAU's collection borrowed from partner libraries (Correct answer)
- Unrestricted copies of any published book for personal use
- Access to restricted government classification databases
Correct answer: Materials not in FAU's collection borrowed from partner libraries
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) allows FAU students to borrow materials that FAU's library does not own by requesting them from other libraries in a cooperative network.
Question 6: Which of the following statements is most accurate regarding Wikipedia's use in academic research?
- Wikipedia is always reliable and may be cited directly in FAU academic papers
- Wikipedia can be a useful starting point but should not be cited as an academic source (Correct answer)
- Wikipedia is never useful for any academic purpose whatsoever
- All Wikipedia articles are peer-reviewed by subject experts
Correct answer: Wikipedia can be a useful starting point but should not be cited as an academic source
Wikipedia can provide useful background information and direct researchers to more authoritative sources, but its open-edit nature makes it unsuitable as a direct academic citation.
Question 7: What is the purpose of a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) on a scholarly article?
- To identify the country where the article was originally published
- To provide a permanent, unique link to the article's online location (Correct answer)
- To indicate the recommended reading level of the article
- To show how many times the article has been cited by other scholars
Correct answer: To provide a permanent, unique link to the article's online location
A DOI provides a permanent, unique URL that always links to the same article, ensuring reliable retrieval and accurate citations.
FAU Information Literacy 2
Which Boolean operator should you use if you want to require that BOTH search terms appear in every database result?