Politics Information Literacy Assessment, Form #12.2, Part A

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Course: POL

Date: 11/08/09 01:22:15

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This assessment is designed to measure your skills in accessing, evaluating, and presenting political information. The goal is to compare the skills of those soon to be graduated with those beginning their undergraduate careers. This assessment has no influence on your grade in any course, and your score will be kept confidential.

This assessment must be completed in 30 minutes.
If you are stumped by a question, skip it. You can return to skipped questions later if time permits.

***You CANNOT use the Internet and/or library sources to answer these questions***
  1. A bibliography is
    1. A book about a person’s life
    2. A list of references or citations
    3. A directory of names
    4. An analysis of a literary work


  2. Which search strategy would retrieve the most records when searching a database?
    1. policy AND legislation
    2. policy OR legislation
    3. “policy legislation”
    4. policy NOT legislation


  3. Imagine you are searching a database for articles about U.S. foreign relations with Brazil. Choose the best search strategy:
    1. U.S. foreign relations AND Brazil*
    2. “ United States foreign relations with Brazil”
    3. Brazil* AND United States foreign relations OR United States international relations
    4. Brazil* AND (foreign relations OR international relations) AND United States


  4. What is the best search strategy to find a book about Colin Powell?
    1. Subject search: “Powell, Colin L.”
    2. Title search: “Colin Powell”
    3. Author search: “Powell, Colin L.”
    4. Keyword search: “Colin Powell”


  5. Which of the following is not an effective strategy for constructing a database search?
    1. Brainstorm a list of synonyms and related terms for your keywords
    2. List abbreviations and alternative spellings of words
    3. Type a question in the database search field (e.g., “What is neoliberalism?”)
    4. Brainstorm for broader and narrower terms


  6. A keyword search locates articles in a database by searching:
    1. In the subject field only
    2. In the title field only
    3. In the abstract field only
    4. In the subject, title, and abstract fields


  7. Subject searching has all the following characteristics, except:
    1. Searches in the subject, title, and abstract fields
    2. Uses controlled vocabulary (word/phrase used consistently to describe a subject)
    3. Finds related sources that do not necessarily share the same keywords
    4. Searches in the subject field only

Rajeswari, S. R. (2004). Rethinking law and violence: The Domestic Violence (Prevention) Bill in India, 2002. Gender & History 16, 769-793.

  1. If you had this citation for an article, how would you search the Cole Library Catalog to see if the print version of the article is available in the library?
    1. By the article title: “Rethinking law and violence: The Domestic Violence (Prevention) Bill in India, 2002.”
    2. By the journal title: “Gender & History”
    3. By the author: “Rajeswari, S. R.”
    4. By the keywords: “law” AND “domestic violence” AND “ India”


  2. The best place to search for a library book on a specific topic is:
    1. A web search engine (e.g., Google, Yahoo)
    2. A library catalog (e.g., Cole Library Catalog)
    3. A library-subscribed database (e.g., EBSCOhost databases, LexisNexis)
    4. An encyclopedia (e.g., Britannica, World Book)


  3. You have been assigned to write a public policy paper using scholarly articles. Which source would be the most appropriate for finding the articles?
    1. A web search engine (e.g., Google, Yahoo)
    2. An encyclopedia (e.g., Britannica, World Book)
    3. A library-subscribed database (e.g., EBSCOhost databases, LexisNexis)
    4. A library catalog (e.g., Cole Library Catalog)


  4. LexisNexis contains online full-text access to all of the following, except:
    1. Political science journals
    2. Public laws and court cases
    3. Law reviews
    4. Newspapers


  5. Which statement about the EBSCOhost databases is false?
    1. They allow you to search for articles by subject or keyword
    2. They limit your search to one database at a time
    3. They include items owned by Cole Library
    4. They always provides article citations and may also include abstracts or full-text


  6. Which of these tools does not index journal articles?
    1. LexisNexis
    2. Cole Library Catalog
    3. EBSCOhost databases
    4. PAIS


  7. Which is the best database to search for law review articles?
    1. Academic Search Premier (in EBSCOhost)
    2. ERIC (in EBSCOhost)
    3. LexisNexis
    4. PsycINFO (in EBSCOhost)


  8. Which is the best tool for finding the full text of newspaper articles online?
    1. Cole Library Catalog
    2. PAIS
    3. LexisNexis
    4. Project Muse


  9. Which is the best tool for finding the full text of U.S. Statutes and Codes online?
    1. A web search engine (e.g. Google, Yahoo)
    2. Cole Library Catalog
    3. PAIS
    4. LexisNexis


  10. Which is the best tool for finding U.S. Government Documents?
    1. Academic Search Premier (in EBSCOhost)
    2. PAIS
    3. Project Muse
    4. GPO Monthly Catalog


  11. What type of information is found at http://thomas.loc.gov/?
    1. Information about the life and times of Thomas Jefferson
    2. Information about the legislative work of Congress
    3. Information about the judicial work of the U.S. Supreme Court
    4. Information about presidents and presidential decision making


  12. If you were writing a paper on the political economy of India, which of these materials would be considered a primary source?
    1. A textbook discussing the political economy in India
    2. A journal article that provides review of the literature to date on the topic
    3. A newspaper editorial discussing the political economy in India
    4. Gross domestic product statistics for India


  13. Which of the following is generally not true of scholarly articles:
    1. They include a bibliography and source citations
    2. They discuss in detail the methodologies from which conclusions were drawn
    3. They are written for general audiences or include graphics to enhance attractiveness
    4. They report findings of original research or are peer-reviewed prior to publication


  14. Select the reference that is correctly formatted in the APA citation style.
    1. Stein, Laura. “Understanding Speech Rights: Defensive and Empowering Approaches to the First Amendment.”Media, Culture, & Society 26.1 (2004): 103-120.
    2. Stein, Laura. Media, Culture, & Society. “Understanding Speech Rights: Defensive and Empowering Approaches to the First Amendment.”(2004): 26(1), 103-120.
    3. “Understanding Speech Rights: Defensive and Empowering Approaches to the First Amendment.”Media, Culture, & Society Stein, Laura. (2004). 26(1), 103-120.
    4. Stein, L. (2004). Understanding speech rights: Defensive and empowering approaches to the first amendment. Media, Culture, & Society, 26, 103-120.


  15. Select the reference that is correctly formatted in the MLA citation style.
    1. Stein, Laura. “Understanding Speech Rights: Defensive and Empowering Approaches to the First Amendment.”Media, Culture, & Society 26.1 (2004): 103-120.
    2. Stein, Laura. Media, Culture, & Society. “Understanding Speech Rights: Defensive and Empowering Approaches to the First Amendment.”(2004): 26(1), 103-120.
    3. “Understanding Speech Rights: Defensive and Empowering Approaches to the First Amendment.”Media, Culture, & Society Stein, Laura. (2004). 26(1), 103-120.
    4. Stein, L. (2004). Understanding speech rights: Defensive and empowering approaches to the first amendment. Media, Culture, & Society, 26, 103-120.


  16. All of the following are good ways to avoid plagiarism, except:
    1. Cite the sources used in the paper
    2. Take accurate notes about where you found specific ideas
    3. Paraphrase the idea in your working notes rather than directly copying the words
    4. Use quotation marks or block quotes to denote exact quotations

“If Congress delegates the power to make decisions to agency bureaucrats, the lack of electoral controls on those bureaucrats allows concentrated interests to exert a corrupt influence on agency decision-making processes” (Lovell 8).

  1. Which of the following choices is an acceptable (i.e., plagiarism-free) paraphrase of this quotation?
    1. Lovell states that if Congress delegates the power to make decisions to agency bureaucrats, the lack of electoral controls on those bureaucrats allows concentrated interests to exert a corrupt influence on agency decision-making processes (8).
    2. Lovell argues that Congressional delegation of authority to executive agencies effectively increases the power of special interests because bureaucrats cut deals with special interests without fear that unhappy voters will remove them from office (8).
    3. If Congress entrusts the power to make decisions to agency bureaucrats, the lack of electoral constraints on those bureaucrats enables concentrated interests to wield a corrupt influence on agency decision-making processes.
    4. If Congress entrusts the power to make decisions to agency bureaucrats, the lack of electoral constraints on those bureaucrats enables concentrated interests to wield a corrupt influence on agency decision-making processes (Lovell 8).

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