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How to Write an Annotated Bibliography

It Is Still A Big Deal!

Information Basics

 

To give fair credit, Dr. Claude Shannon is considered to be the Father of Information Science. It has been said that even Dr. Shannon once stated that he could not define information (source unknown) but he did describe its elements:

  • technical - did the receiver hear the signal?
  • semantic - did the receiver understand the signal?
  • behavioral - did the receiver carry out its instructions?

Isn't it interesting that this sounds a lot like what happens between people in human communication? It is even more interesting when one inserts an Almighty God into the picture. Do we hear Him during sermons, Sunday School, or personal devotional times? (Are we even listening?) Do we understand what He is telling us? Will we obey?

Dr. Gitt (mentioned above) add one additional element: apobetics (Greek - purpose). Information has a purpose. It means the completion of the purpose for which the information was intended. His example: Acts 8 where the Apostle Philip runs alongside the chariot (how did he do that?). The eunuch did not understand and Philip explained. God's purpose was to make him (and all of us) His child. The eunuch got the message, saw water, and said, "What is preventing me from being baptized?" Boom-shakalaka. Mission accomplished.

People don't realize that information is shaped. Dr. Brenda Dervin, Professor of Communications, Emeritus at Ohio State University believes this. We all live on a moving timeline. As children, we develop our religious faith (or not), education, friendships, and have life experiences. We grow up and these all expand. Also, all of this shapes our thinking. What you believe, what you know, what you have learned from school, friends, and life, shape your thinking.

If you were to look up the meaning of the the word INFORM in the Oxford Dictionary of English, you would see that it means "to give form to, to give shape to something." Like a potter shapes a vase, the totality of your life informs or shapes your thinking just as you are shaped by God (Psalm 139: 1-18; Isaiah 64:8).

People, like pottery, are shaped in God's image (Gen. 1:27-28; Isaiah 64:8). Our research is shaped by our faith or lack of it. For God to be glorified and His kingdom to be advanced, we are stewards of all the information that we create, share, or discover. How will you use it? God can use our reports for our jobs when we do our best and have proper information literacy skills. The librarians are here to help you make sense of all this. If you don't want to waste time and find better results to have better term papers or better reports on your futures jobs (that get you better pay), then come visit the librarians.