VCLA Research and Information Literacy 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: When evaluating the credibility of a source, which factor is MOST important to consider?
- The length of the document
- The author's qualifications and expertise (Correct answer)
- The number of images included
- Whether the source is available online
Correct answer: The author's qualifications and expertise
An author's qualifications and expertise directly affect how reliable and accurate the information in a source is likely to be.
Question 2: Which of the following is an example of a primary source?
- A textbook chapter summarizing historical events
- A magazine article reviewing a novel
- A diary written by a Civil War soldier (Correct answer)
- An encyclopedia entry about World War II
Correct answer: A diary written by a Civil War soldier
A diary written by a Civil War soldier is a firsthand account created during the time period being studied, making it a primary source.
Question 3: What does it mean for an academic article to be 'peer-reviewed'?
- It was written by more than one author
- It was evaluated by experts in the field before publication (Correct answer)
- It is freely available to the public
- It has been cited by many other researchers
Correct answer: It was evaluated by experts in the field before publication
Peer-reviewed means the article was evaluated by other experts in the subject area before being published, ensuring higher standards of accuracy.
Question 4: When assessing the currency of a source, a researcher should ask:
- How much does this source cost to access?
- Is this source popular among students?
- When was this information published or last updated? (Correct answer)
- How many pages does this source contain?
Correct answer: When was this information published or last updated?
Currency refers to the timeliness of the information, so checking the publication or update date is essential for determining if the content is still accurate.
Question 5: Which of the following best defines plagiarism?
- Citing too many sources in one paper
- Using another person's ideas or words without proper credit (Correct answer)
- Writing a paper that is too long for the assignment
- Summarizing a source using different words
Correct answer: Using another person's ideas or words without proper credit
Plagiarism is presenting another person's words, ideas, or work as your own without giving appropriate credit to the original source.
Question 6: A website with a .gov domain is generally considered reliable because:
- Government websites are always written by scientists
- The content is verified by a private company
- It is maintained by an official government agency (Correct answer)
- Government sites never contain biased information
Correct answer: It is maintained by an official government agency
The .gov domain is restricted to official U.S. government agencies, making these sites generally trustworthy sources of factual and authoritative information.
Question 7: What is the main purpose of a bibliography or works cited page in a research paper?
- To show how long the paper is
- To list the topics the writer plans to cover
- To give credit to all sources used in the research (Correct answer)
- To summarize the main argument of the paper
Correct answer: To give credit to all sources used in the research
A bibliography or works cited page documents all sources consulted and cited in the paper, giving proper credit to original authors and allowing readers to locate those sources.
VCLA Research and Information Literacy 1
When evaluating the credibility of a source, which factor is MOST important to consider?