Glossary:
What Does It Mean?
 

For an online "Glossary of Internet & Web Jargon," go to <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Glossary.html> 

WORKING VOCABULARY

Access - To locate  a resource and/or find information within it.

Aggregator - An aggregator is a tool for gathering, reading, and sharing the feeds from all the blogs and websites you read on the web.

Annotated Bibliography - A list of resources, chosen on the basis of a common factor, which includes an explanation for its value or inclusion in the list.

Audience - The person/s to whom the research is presented; the reader, viewer, listener, etc.

Argumentative Position - The side that one takes on an issue.

Bibliography - A list of resources chosen on the basis of a common factor, such as author, subject, etc.

Block Quote - When a direct quotation is longer than 4 lines, it should be set off from the body of a paper as follows:

End the preceding text with a colon (:) and then begin a new line that is indented twice as far as a normal paragraph indentation. Type the quote using normal double spacing, omitting the use of quotation marks. A parenthetical reference should be placed after the period at the end of the quote.

Blog (Weblog) - An online diary or journal, available for anyone to read, and to which visitors are often allowed to submit comments.

Boolean Operators -The combination of keywords that uses the connectors, “AND,” “OR,” or “NOT,” in order to broaden or narrow an information search. (See also Keyword Search, below.)

Call Number - The combination of numbers and letters that indicate the specific location of an item in a library, with the first line usually containing the subject number and the second line indicating the author's last name.

Citation - The formal identification of a source of information used in research. See Creating a Works Cited in this manual.

Common Knowledge - Facts that are generally known by a specific group or audience; an agreed-upon body of knowledge. When you are not certain if something qualifies as common knowledge, it is better to err on the safe side, and include a citation.

Conclusion - A summary or a restatement of the thesis, which may reach a judgment, express approval of one side of an issue, or discuss findings.

Conclusion in Science - A decision reached about a question (hypothesis) under consideration; a final answer or explanation.  Conclusions can be drawn about identifications, classifications, patterns, causes, effects, and so on.  Often, scientists must draw conclusions in order to move ahead in their investigations. See Scientific Writing in this manual.

Database - A searchable collection of resources, normally digitized from original print sources (such as reference books, periodical articles, etc.), designed for continuous access to reliable materials.

Dewey Decimal System - A classification system, commonly used in public and school libraries, that organizes the books by subject.

Direct Quotation - The repetition of the exact words of an author or speaker, indicated by enclosure in quotation marks, and be used sparingly for special emphasis.

Essential Question - The big question you are trying to answer through your research, also called the central question or research question.

Expository Piece - A written composition that explains a topic or informs an audience.

Feasibility Scan - A preliminary search of resources to determine if sufficient research materials are available to address a topic, answer an essential question, and/or support a hypothesis.

Graphic Organizer - A visual representation of the organization of a research paper or other form of presenting information. See Using Graphic Organizers in this manual.

Hypothesis - An educated guess which requires proof or evidence to be supported or refuted.

Keywords - The important ('key') search terms related to a research topic, which might include dates, places, events, names of people, concepts, etc.

Internet - A  global network of computers, including commercial, governmental, educational, and personal content, that shares the same set of communication protocols.

Intellectual Property - Original, creative ideas and the virtual or tangible representation of those ideas, the use of which may or may not require royalty payments or permission, but should always include proper credit to the source.

In-Text Citation - See Parenthetical Reference, below.

Invisible (or Deep) Web - Websites that are not accessible through conventional search engine queries, but rather require passwords and/or subscriptions.

Laboratory Report - Expresses the result of the investigative process through an established procedure and may include such parts as title, hypothesis, materials, procedure, data, analysis, conclusion, and application.

Library Catalog - An electronic index to the holdings of a library. In Fairfield high schools, the Catalog is available in the libraries themselves, as well as online from anywhere via the libraries' Edline pages.

Multimedia - A combination of more than one media format for the dissemination of information, i.e., text, graphics, video, audio, and animation.

Note Card - Contains information from one source on one aspect of research. See Creating Note Cards in this manual.

Primary Source - An eyewitness account, legal document, or original work of an author, including novels, short stories, poems, letters, diaries, notes, manuscripts, government documents, autobiographies, interviews, photographs, artifacts, and experimental evidence.  See also Secondary Source, below.

Research - The investigative process directed to the discovery of new knowledge.

Research Project - Any product - including a n expository paper, oral presentation, video, or other means of communicating information - which presents the results of a careful investigation of some chosen topic and includes documentation for all information sources.

Secondary Source - Information about a topic or event that is based on an analysis of primary or other secondary sources.

Search Engine - A site on the Web that offers keyword searching of the freely accessible Internet.

Search String (or Query) - The sequence of keywords typed into the Search field of a search engine or database. These often incorporate Boolean Operators that help to broaden or narrow the search, resulting in the best possible results list for the individual's needs.

Synthesis - The combining of your thoughts, ideas, and opinions, based on the new information you learned from your research of primary and/or secondary sources, into a coherent whole.

Summary - A short, general expression containing the main idea or substance of an original statement.

Thesis Statement - A proposition advanced and supported by research.

Title Page - A cover page which contains the title of a research paper, along with the student's name, the class for which the paper was written, and the date.

Topic Sentence - A statement of the direction for the development of a paragraph.

Validity - Whether or not something is founded on truth or fact, or can be justified or defended.

Visual Literacy - The ability to understand, analyze, and express oneself in terms of images.

Wiki - (From the Hawaiian wikiwiki, which means 'quick', + web.) A collaborative website whose content can be edited by anyone who has access to it.

Working Bibliography Card - Fully identifies an information resource that may or may not be used in a research paper. See Creating Bibliography Cards in this manual.

Works Cited List - The alphabetized list of sources actually used - and therefore cited - in a research paper or project.  See Creating a Works Cited in this manual. See also  the definition of a Bibliography, above.

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