Test Your Information Literacy:
(This Quiz Covers All of the IRIS Modules)

How prepared are you to select, locate, evaluate and use information? If you answer all of the following questions correctly, you will earn a certificate. If you score 5% or higher, you can retake the quiz or print out the results. Missed questions will provide a link to the relevant module so you can review before re-taking the quiz.

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1. Two of the following statements are true. Which two?
A. You have to develop your own style for writing bibliographic citations.
B. A bibliographic citation provides complete information about a source.
C. Bibliographic citations are only necessary for written material.
D. A list of one or more bibliographic citations is often called a Bibliography, Works Cited, or References

2. Which of the following tools could you use specifically for locating articles in scholarly journals? (Select two.)
A. Book catalog
B. Periodical index/database
C. Wikipedia
D. Google Scholar
E. Search engines like Google or Yahoo

3. Which of the following is the most direct tool for locating books, videos, DVDs and other materials owned by your library?
A. Catalog
B. Periodical index/database
C. Wikipedia
D. Google Books
E. Search engines like Google or Yahoo

4. You do not have to provide a citation for information you find in Google Books.
A. True
B. False

For each of the following questions, identify the best resource:

5. Most recent data on vehicle emissions from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Choose one)
A. World Wide Web
B. Broadcast media
C. Newspaper
D. Popular magazine
E. Scholarly journal
F. Book
G. Subject encyclopedia

6. Reliable, broad overview of stem cell research (choose one.)
A. World Wide Web
B. Broadcast media
C. Newspaper
D. Popular magazine
E. Scholarly journal
F. Book
G. Subject encyclopedia

7. Up-to-the-minute election results (Choose two.)
A. World Wide Web
B. Broadcast media
C. Newspaper
D. Popular magazine
E. Scholarly journal
F. Book
G. Subject encyclopedia

8. A thorough examination of the history of race relations in the United Kingdom. (Choose one.)
A. World Wide Web
B. Broadcast media
C. Newspaper
D. Popular magazine
E. Scholarly journal
F. Book
G. Subject encyclopedia

9. Primary research done in the past year on treating Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (Choose one.)
A. World Wide Web
B. Broadcast media
C. Newspaper
D. Popular magazine
E. Scholarly journal
F. Book
G. Subject encyclopedia

10. In researching steroid use, you look up your topic on the web and find an article in a personal blog that claims the use of steroids by high school girls increased from 1.2 percent in 1991 to 5.3 percent in 2003. Your next best step:
A. Write down the information so you can cite this source in your paper.
B. Verify the statistic in another source, such as a reference book or journal article.
C. See if you can find another blog that has the same information.

11. You are looking for a book on how understanding child psychology can help parents. You search the library's book catalog for the terms child psychology and get back 549 titles. What's the best thing to do next?
A. Pick a title from the first screen.
B. Add another term to make the search more specific.
C. Change the search to psychology child.

12. Primary or secondary? Following are four real records from different types of sources. Indicate whether you think each citation is for a primary source or a secondary source.

A. Primary
B. Secondary

A. Primary
B. Secondary

A. Primary
B. Secondary

A. Primary
B. Secondary

13. Consider each of the following criteria and decide whether each one typically applies to SCHOLARLY JOURNALS or POPULAR MAGAZINES:

a. Articles are written by author(s) with academic credentials
A. Scholarly B. Popular

b. Articles are written by journalists
A. Scholarly B. Popular

c. Articles are written for the general public
A. Scholarly B. Popular

d. Articles are written for scholars
A. Scholarly B. Popular

e. Articles are in-depth and often have a bibliography
A. Scholarly B. Popular

f. Publications have a lot of color photographs
A. Scholarly B. Popular

g. Publications have few, if any, advertisements
A. Scholarly B. Popular

h. Publications are typically published weekly
A. Scholarly B. Popular

i. Articles may be approved by a panel of peer scholars
A. Scholarly B. Popular

j. Good type of source for finding primary research
A. Scholarly B. Popular

14. Which of the following are effective strategies for choosing search terms? (Choose all that apply.)
A. Write out your topic in a few sentences and highlight the main terms and phrases.
B. Brainstorm related keywords, phrases, synonyms, broader terms, and narrower terms.
C. List abbreviations and alternate spellings of words.
D. Scan articles in a subject encyclopedia or other tools and “mine” for keywords.
E. Use a thesaurus to identify synonyms for your keywords.

15. Which is true of the following call numbers:


A. The QA stands for the first two letters of the author's last name.
B. The QA represents the subject.


A. The 520 means this is the 520th book added to the collection.
B. The 520 is a code for the book's subject.

16. Google provides access to everything on the web.
A. True
B. False

17. Which of the following describes the "deep web" :
A. web sites that have more than 100 pages to view
B. information available on the internet but not searchable by a web search engine like Google
C. articles in free online encyclopedias, like wikipedia.com

18. Which of the following is true about evaluating web sites:
A. You do not need to evaluate sites that are from organizations.
B. Sites with a domain of ".edu" are from educational institutions and are all OK to use.
C. You need to evaluate every web site before using the information.

19. Following are four real citations for articles from a periodicals database. Identify the correct citation element for each article:



Which of the following is the article title?
A. Morality on today's college campuses: The assault upon liberty and dignity
B. Vital Speeches of the Day



Which of the following is the periodical title?
A. The Herald
B. Evergreen State Fair Facts



What does Vol. 58, Iss 5 mean?
A. page number is 58; volume number is 5
B. The volume number is 58; the issue number is 5



Which of these is the author of the article?
A. Mick Jagger
B. Brian Hiatt

20. Examine the web site shown below and answer the following:
A. The site below is one that I could use as a source in a formal research paper.
B. This site below is not appropriate to use as a source in a formal research paper.

21. For a 2-minute speech, which of the following topics is the most manageable?
A. What are the causes of global warming?
B. What are steps individuals can take to reduce carbon emissions?
C. How should we determine Federal responsibility for setting emissions standards?
D. How has the Kyoto Protocol made a difference in combating global warming?

22. You have to write a 10-page research paper and the topic you want to explore is childhood obesity Why might you want to start with a subject encyclopedia? (Choose two.)
A. to read a primary source
B. to get an overview and keywords for your topic
C. to get leads to other sources
D. to put off doing the real research

23. Consider the following statement: Explain the effects of rain forest depletion in global warming. Identify the main concepts that would be most effective as initial search terms:
A. effects, explain, rain forest, global warming
B. rain forest, global warming
C. effects, global warming
D. explain, effects, rain forest, depletion, global warming

24. In an online database, such as ProQuest or the library catalog, which of the following searches would retrieve the most results?
A. birth order or depression
B. birth order and depression
C. birth order not depression

25. Comparing library periodicals databases (indexes) with Google Scholar, indicate whether each of the following is TRUE or FALSE:
T F    Libraries pay an annual subscription fee for periodicals databases
T F    Many library databases focus on a specific subject area
T F    Both databases and Google Scholar provide sophisticated searching options
T F    Everything in Google Scholar is available full-text for free
T F    Libraries can borrow articles that you find in Google Scholar, usually for free

26. Which of the following criteria are useful for evaluating books: (Choose two.)
A. number of pages
B. credentials of the author
C. presence and number of color photos
D. documentation for the information
E. how you found the book

27. Read the statements below and decide which, if any, would likely need to be cited:

Statement: From October 1927 to October 1941, 400 workers labored to create Mt. Rushmore, a project conceived by Doane Robinson and brought to reality by sculptor Gutzon Borglum.
A. Needs to be cited
B. Does not need to be cited

Statement: The four presidents carved into Mt. Rushmore are George Washington, Thoman Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
A. Needs to be cited
B. Does not need to be cited

Statement: It's my opinion that people need to see Mt. Rushmore in person to appreciate how magnificent it is.
A. Needs to be cited
B. Does not need to be cited

Statement: Sculptor Gutzon Borglum said, "A monument's dimensions should be determined by the importance to civilization of the events commemorated."
A. Needs to be cited
B. Does not need to be cited

28. Which of the following statements is true about major search engines like Google and Yahoo
A. the sites returned in a search have been hand-selected by subject experts
B. sites on the first page of results can be trusted
C. the sites returned in a search have been gathered using programs called bots or spiders
D. search engines only include information that is copyright-free

29. One common use for a style manual is:
A. to provide a handy dictionary and thesaurus
B. to provide a format for consistently documenting your sources
C. to provide information about a specific topic
D. to help you evaluate information

30. You are researching for a 10-page argumentative research paper advocating pet therapy for the elderly. Which of the following are possible research steps, placed in a logical order:
A. conduct in-depth web search, follow leads from web sites, brainstorm keywords, locate books, focus your topic
B. locate subject encyclopedia(s), conduct in-depth web search, locate magazine articles, interview elderly person
C. brainstorm keywords, perform a quick web search, locate subject encyclopedias, locate books, locate scholarly journal articles, follow leads from sources.
D. Locate scholarly journal articles, locate books, conduct in-depth web search, follow leads from sources; brainstorm keywords, focus your topic