Reviews
Information Now: A Graphic Guide to Student Research by C. Michael Hall, Matt Upson, Kevin Cannon
celestihel's review against another edition
3.0
I am both a librarian who teaches information literacy and a comics fan. So, I really wanted to love this. But, like so many forays into comics for explicitly educational purposes, the book suffers from a lopsided respect that favors the topic well over the medium.
Comics are at least half about the art of visual story telling. In this book, the art is decoration, it doesn't contribute much to the story. Which leads into the related problem--way too much text. The only written form that has to exercise greater economy of language than comics is poetry. If you have to squeeze art in around the enormous word bubbles, then you have missed the point.
All that said, the information is accurate and well explained. It isn't usually patronizing, which is nice. It needed more editing, lots more. I would still recommend it to struggling students based on the strength of content. There is a way to present this info in comic form that honors the medium better, now someone go write it!
Comics are at least half about the art of visual story telling. In this book, the art is decoration, it doesn't contribute much to the story. Which leads into the related problem--way too much text. The only written form that has to exercise greater economy of language than comics is poetry. If you have to squeeze art in around the enormous word bubbles, then you have missed the point.
All that said, the information is accurate and well explained. It isn't usually patronizing, which is nice. It needed more editing, lots more. I would still recommend it to struggling students based on the strength of content. There is a way to present this info in comic form that honors the medium better, now someone go write it!
stevie_b's review against another edition
4.0
A little word heavy, but the topics are covered well and a lot of the the visual aspects were really well done.
bodagirl's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
3.0
An excellent journey through the research process. The explanations are clear and kind of concise. The big short coming is that this "graphic novel" doesn't actually need the graphics to convey the information, they're just a nice add-on most of the time.
librarian_nic's review against another edition
4.0
A super fun read! As a recent library school grad, this was a refreshing reminder of information literacy and how to spread the knowledge. The authors were upfront with the amount of information they were presenting, and that acknowledgement played well with the meta quality of the book. (Or was it just me that felt this way?) Highly recommend to readers interested in learning more about info lit, though take it slow. Careful of information overload.
However, I would like to know how the authors may make the text accessible to anyone who may have trouble reading graphic novels. (ie: low vision community, anyone who have trouble processing visual images or reading small caps.)
However, I would like to know how the authors may make the text accessible to anyone who may have trouble reading graphic novels. (ie: low vision community, anyone who have trouble processing visual images or reading small caps.)
bngchip55's review against another edition
5.0
This book is amazing! I have never seen anything else that explained research processes in such a fun and accessible way.
olivia_piepmeier's review against another edition
4.0
I think I originally heard about this in BookList and immediately requested it through interlibrary loan. It actually took awhile to get because it was checked out in most libraries, probably by librarians.
Overall, this does a great job explaining information literacy principles to those who need it most. I could see this being used in a class, with librarians providing extra information about using catalogs, databases, and ILL at their specific institutions.
My main issue with this is the fact it's word heavy. You can tell just by flipping through it. I'm not sure how to not make it word heavy, but it could look discouraging to an undergrad who's already unsure about this. The comic format reminds me of giving dogs medicine in peanut butter, disguising the education in comic form. This has a lot of potential, and students who care about their education will probably be all over this.
Naturally I recommend it to any librarian, faculty member, or undergraduate, but anyone who cares about finding credible information would benefit from this.
Overall, this does a great job explaining information literacy principles to those who need it most. I could see this being used in a class, with librarians providing extra information about using catalogs, databases, and ILL at their specific institutions.
My main issue with this is the fact it's word heavy. You can tell just by flipping through it. I'm not sure how to not make it word heavy, but it could look discouraging to an undergrad who's already unsure about this. The comic format reminds me of giving dogs medicine in peanut butter, disguising the education in comic form. This has a lot of potential, and students who care about their education will probably be all over this.
Naturally I recommend it to any librarian, faculty member, or undergraduate, but anyone who cares about finding credible information would benefit from this.
anyepagan's review against another edition
4.0
*3.5
This book was pretty good, particularly for teaching information literacy to high school or first-year college students. It introduces the reader to important topics, such as information overload, doing research online, using catalogs and databases, evaluating sources, and plagiarism and citations. As an educator, I think the images would truly contribute to the learning process as they would serve as scaffolding. The use of text and images also helps tap into students' verbal-linguistic and visual-spatial intelligences. The book also includes critical thinking questions and exercises at the end of each chapter, which would help students develop their intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences.
However, I did find the book too text-heavy for the medium. There are large text bubbles in continuous panels in black and white. As someone who wears glasses, this made the book harder to read for me and gave me a headache. Nevertheless, it truly has good content for the audience mentioned above.
This book was pretty good, particularly for teaching information literacy to high school or first-year college students. It introduces the reader to important topics, such as information overload, doing research online, using catalogs and databases, evaluating sources, and plagiarism and citations. As an educator, I think the images would truly contribute to the learning process as they would serve as scaffolding. The use of text and images also helps tap into students' verbal-linguistic and visual-spatial intelligences. The book also includes critical thinking questions and exercises at the end of each chapter, which would help students develop their intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences.
However, I did find the book too text-heavy for the medium. There are large text bubbles in continuous panels in black and white. As someone who wears glasses, this made the book harder to read for me and gave me a headache. Nevertheless, it truly has good content for the audience mentioned above.
vdyej's review
5.0
Excellent resource - especially for undergraduate/graduate students new to performing scholarly research.
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