Week 2 - Assignment-Information Literacy

Ashford University Library has good resources for any academic material one wants to read. I am a business student and when I joined Ashford University I was a little worried about what might happen if I could not find the necessary academic materials to support my education. Another issue I found overwhelming at first was how to navigate the library database because there were so many options. If you click on a particular option at times they are not relevant to the topic under research. A friend directed me on how to navigate in the Databases A-Z. Nowadays it is easier because I followed all the instructions to the later.

I like the ProQuest Database because it has so many options someone can choose from and the resources are very helpful, (Brannon, 2017). I do not have any concerns but don't like the fact that Ashford Library pulls up student's research papers as references that have to be changed. In these databases, one has to use the subject topic to find readings or scholarly articles, (Nelson & Huffman, 2015). Some databases may not have the articles one is looking for because they are all specified for certain course work, if you are new it can be very overwhelming. I also realized that if I download a full PDF then all the details about the authors and references will be readily available.

Ashford University Library has improved skills in my business course because before the exams approach I am always equipped with adequate information. This keeps me away from using search engines like Google and some of the resources may not be credible. The best part with the resources that come from Ashford Library is that they help one reduce the reference format mistakes because they are already located on the articles, (Omar, et.al, 2018). The newspapers and other articles that are on the internet can be very difficult to cite at times. In general, the Ashford University Library is effective and reliable because it has good resources and citations which are accurate.

References

Brannon, P. C. (2017). ProQuest Regulatory Insight. Law Library Journal, 109(3), 484.

Nelson, N., & Huffman, J. (2015). Predatory journals in library databases: How much should we worry?. The serials librarian, 69(2), 169-192.

Omar, D., Preater, A., Clark, I., & Liebert, R. J. (2018). Inclusive reading lists: how libraries can support student and academic leadership.