Assignment 2: Information Literacy

Travis White
1. A. The key words used to find my articles were cyber security.
B. Database: Ebsco Host- Science Full Text
C. I felt that the science database would be the best place to find information about
computer related topics.
D. Citation 1: APA
Chang, E. S., Jain, A. K., & Slade, D. M. (1999). Managing cyber security vulnerabilities
in large networks. Bell Labs Technical Journal, 4(4), 252-272.
E. Citation 2: APA
Etzioni, A. (2011). Cybersecurity in the Private Sector. Issues In Science &
Technology, 28(1), 58-62.

F. Screen Print 1

2. A. The article I chose focused on the points of emphasis for the president in his latest
national security document. The president cited Russian Ukranian civil unrest, cyber
security, and ISIS as the main threats currently in U.S. The article discusses how the
recent hackings in the U.S. including the incident related to the movie The Interview
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are actually believed to come from China and not North Korea as previously thought. In
the strategy document, the president vows to make every attempt to protect the U.S.
networks and its private information from the hands of hackers.
B. APA Citation:
Acosta, J. (2015). Russians, hackers cited as threats in new Obama National Security
Strategy Document. CNN. Retrieved from
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/06/politics/obama-national-security-strategydocument/index.html
3. A. Key words used were cyber security
B. MLA Citation:
SECURING CYBERSPACE - President Obama Announces New Cybersecurity
Legislative Proposal and Other Cybersecurity Efforts. White House.
United States Government. 13 Jan. 2015 Web. 11 Feb. 2015.

C.

Search Engine

Yahoo

Dogpile

Number of Results

36,900,000

>36,900,000 since its

results are from google
and yahoo

Suggestions

Offers 1 alternative to
my initial search inquiry

Offers 8 alternative
searches to my initial
inquiry

Ads

Has one distracting ad

related to my search
topic

Has two distracting ads

related to my search
topic

Videos

Offers videos related to

my search topic
included in my results

Has only website links

available for me based
on my search.

Time frame

Offers ability to refine

search based on date
page has been updated

This capability is either

non-existent or not in
plain sight.

Alternative links

Both offer alternative

links to search the topic
in news, images, etc.

Both offer alternative

links to search the topic
in news, images, etc.

Although dogpile had more search results, I found yahoo to be the better
search engine. It just appeared to be more user friendly and the articles that
initially appeared seemed more helpful. In addition, I liked the feature that
allows you to refine the search to more recent websites.
4. A. Time- The initial date was written is unclear. The article was updated
February 6, 2015.
B. It is related to my topic. The article deals with current cyber
security in the U.S.
C. Authority- The author is Jim Acosta. Yes, he is qualified to write about
this topic. I know because he is the Senior White House Correspondent.
Also, he has a bachelors degree in mass communication.
D. I believe the information is trustworthy. He uses direct quotes from
the presidents strategy documents and other articles have been
written concerning the information on which Mr. Acosta is reporting.
E. It appears that the article was written simply as an informative
piece. It does not seem to be biased toward any particular viewpoint or
subjective in any way. It appears to be an account of what is in the
presidents strategy document.
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5. Internet 1:
The Internet article I used from cnn.com appeared to be a little better
than my findings on the library database. The article was found
relatively quickly on the cnn website. In addition, the article had been
updated in the past three days which assures me that the information
is not out of date. Similarly, the authors title and credentials were
easily found on the website which gives the article credibility.
DB Article 1:
The other article I located was a little more difficult to use. First I had to
look through multiple links to find an article related to the topic of
interest. When, I did locate my article I realized that the date it was
published was more than 15 years ago. Also, the authority of the
author was a little more challenging. His credentials and title were not
readily available on the database website. It was difficult to find a
website with background information on Edward Chang, the author of
the database article.