Elementary Information Literacy Pretest

Information Literacy Skills Test: Middle School

Record your choice for the best answer on a sheet of paper.

         1. a device that allows the computer to be connected to a phone line

         2. a Web site or software that offers searching capabilities

         3. the brains of a personal computer

         4. an electronic "booster" you can install for quicker searchers

         1. "Can I order products from this site?"

         2. "Are these pictures/graphs/charts colorful enough?"

         3. "Is all the spelling and grammar correct in this text?"

         4. "Who is the author of this information and is it accurate?"

         1. a standard command

         2. a keyword search

         3. a subject search

         4. a link to another file or site

         1. is far more reliable than books and magazines

         2. is factual because the Internet is constantly monitored by world educational organizations

         3. is required by law to be accurate, timely, and appropriate

         4. comes from many varied sources such as business, the government, or private citizens

         1. asking yourself interesting questions about your topic and using those questions as a basis for your search

         2. taking 20 or 30 minutes to surf the Web and get comfortable with lots of particular Web sites

         3. checking out as many sites as possible and jotting down the addresses for future reference

         4. locating a chat room that is using your topic as the subject of the discussion

         1. it is too hard to find the source of the information

         2. you may use the text word-for-word in your report because most Web site authors are not known

         3. you must properly cite your source

         4. you may assume that all of your data or text is factual

         1. a drug company promoting a particular drug

         2. a national news site giving weather reports

         3. a college library allowing access to its reference material

         4. an airline listing future flights for advance reservations

         1. refer to "Bookmarks" for pre-tagged sites

         2. use the pre-selected links or the OSLIS Web site to go to good sites

         3. use a directory or search engine like Yahoo, Alta Vista, or Lycos

         4. all of the above

         1. search only titles

         2. work even if you spell a word wrong

         3. search title, contents, and subject areas

         4. search reference material only

         1. a complete, full-text reading of an article

         2. a short, objective summary of an article

         3. a list of information needed to locate a magazine, such as publication date, volume, and author

         4. a printout containing critical reviews of the article

         1. summaries of current non-fiction books

         2. choice of subject or keyword search

         3. information to help you retrieve magazine articles

         4. full-text listing of a magazine article

         1. use correct spelling. It does affect the searches

         2. use capital letters only

         3. always use a person's first name first, and last name last

         4. never use any punctuation

         1. give up and change your whole topic, then try again

         2. use synonyms, or words that mean the same thing as your topic

         3. stick with very broad terms and ideas

         4. try another computer

         1. you're not sure how to spell the topic

         2. you're not sure what specific part of the topic you want to focus on

         3. your teacher has assigned a general subject as a topic and wants each student to narrow it down

         4. all of the above

         1. summary

         2. title

         3. author

         4. date

         5. pages

         1. an article from a CD-ROM database

         2. an article on microfiche

         3. a reference book

         4. a hard copy of a magazine

         5. an article or information from a World Wide Web site

         1. and

         2. maybe

         3. or

         4. not

         1. The authority and sources have gone through some evaluation process.

         2. It is organized by both human and electronic brain power.

         3. The text comes from verifiable and reputable sources.

         4. All of the above.

How did you do? Check your answers here.

Test questions created by Gail Withers and Mary McClintock, Douglas County, Oregon. March, 1998.

OSLIS EVALUATION FORM: Baseline for Outcome #3