Synopses & Reviews
Every day researchers face an onslaught of irrelevant, inaccurate, and sometimes insidious information. While new technologies provide powerful tools for accessing knowledge, not all information is created equal. Valuable information may be tucked away on a shelf, buried on the hundredth page of search results, or hidden behind digital barriers. With so many obstacles to effective research, it is vital that higher education students master the art of inquiry.
Information Now is an innovative approach to information literacy that will reinvent the way college students think about research. Instead of the typical textbook format, it uses illustrations, humor, and reflective exercises to teach students how to become savvy researchers. Students will learn how to evaluate information, to incorporate it into their existing knowledge base, to wield it effectively, and to understand the ethical issues surrounding its use. Written by two library professionals, it incorporates concepts and skills drawn from the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and their Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Thoroughly researched and highly engaging, Information Now offers the tools that students need to become powerful consumers and creators of information.
Whether used by a high school student tackling a big paper, an undergrad facing the newness of a university library, or a writer wanting to go beyond Google, Information Now is a powerful tool for any researcher’s arsenal.
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It has no mean derivative results about the only derivatives that matter…. A spunky tool-toting heroine called Delta Wye seems the perfect role model for our next generation. Susan Holmes, Professor of Statistics, Stanford
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Gonick is to graphical expositions of advanced materials as Newton or Leibniz is to calculus. The difference is that Gonick has no rival. Xiao-Li Meng, Whipple V. N. Jones Professor of Statistics and Department Chair, Harvard University
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Larry Gonicks sparkling and inventive drawings make a vivid picture out of every one of the hundreds of formulas that underlie Calculus. Even the jokers in the back row will ace the course with this book. David Mumford, Professor emeritus of Applied Mathematics at Brown University and recipient of the National Medal of Science
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I always thought that there are no magic tricks that use calculus. Larry Gonick proves me wrong. His book is correct, clear and interesting. It is filled with magical insights into this most beautiful subject. Persi Diaconis, Professor of Mathematics, Stanford
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A creative take on an old, and for many, tough subject…Gonicks cartoons and intelligent humor make it a fun read. Amy Langville, Recipient of the Distinguished Researcher Award at College of Charleston and South Carolina Faculty of the Year
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“How do you humanize calculus and bring its equations and concepts to life? Larry Gonicks clever and delightful answer is to have characters talking, commenting, and joking-all while rigorously teaching equations and concepts and indicating calculuss utility. Its a remarkable accomplishment-and a lot of fun.” Lisa Randall, Professor of Physics, Harvard University, and author of < i=""> Knocking on Heaven's Door <>
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Information Now is the research guide undergrads, faculty, and librarians did not know they were waiting for. Combining the fun of comics with wit and useful knowledge,
Information Now provides new researchers a visually engaging guide to succeed in the world of academic research. I highly recommend librarians and faculty use it to help undergraduates actively engage with the research process in a meaningful, yet super fun way. By using the comic format to ease undergrads into the challenging world of academic research, the authors have created one of the most relevant, accessible, and entertaining guides to research available.
Upson, Hall, and Cannon might not save the world with this book, but they are definitely saving the sanity of overwhelmed undergraduates facing their first college papers. Highly recommended for academic library collections and classroom instruction."
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"In today’s world of information overload, it is often difficult for students, the average citizen, and even faculty to wade through the mass of clutter out there in the world. So much of the information we encounter in our day-to-day lives is not only irrelevant, it’s often wrong. Increasingly, information literacy is a skill that everyone needs to function in our complex world and without it most of us are lost trying to navigate through the maze. Upson, Hall, and Cannon’s Information Now provides a practical guide for all of us to find our way around. They show us HOW and WHY it’s important to think about information literacy and the steps to take to make sure we do it correctly. It’s all here in this sequential art textbook: searching techniques, critical thinking, how information is organized, problems of plagiarism, copyright, and correct citation, databases, peer reviewed sources, metadata, Boolean operators, and much more. Information Now is a godsend and I can’t wait to use it in the classroom."
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“Upson and Hall’s experience as instruction librarians ensures that Information Now’s presentation of information literacy aligns with professional standards and practices, while cartoonist Cannon’s wry, animated style serves to reassure readers. Let their intrepid librarian help guide your students through morasses such as information overload, controlled vocabulary, scholarly publishing, the deep Web, and plagiarism. You won’t regret it.”
Synopsis
“In Gonicks work, clever design and illustration make complicated ideas or insights strikingly clear.”
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New York Times Book ReviewLarry Gonick, master cartoonist, former Harvard instructor, and creator of the New York Times bestselling, Harvey Award-winning Cartoon Guide series now does for calculus what he previously did for science and history: making a complex subject comprehensible, fascinating, and fun through witty text and light-hearted graphics. Gonicks The Cartoon Guide to Calculus is a refreshingly humorous, remarkably thorough guide to general calculus that, like his earlier Cartoon Guide to Physics and Cartoon History of the Modern World, will prove a boon to students, educators, and eager learners everywhere.
Synopsis
A complete—and completely enjoyable—new illustrated guide to calculus
Master cartoonist Larry Gonick has already given readers the history of the world in cartoon form. Now, Gonick, a Harvard-trained mathematician, offers a comprehensive and up-to-date illustrated course in first-year calculus that demystifies the world of functions, limits, derivatives, and integrals. Using clear and helpful graphics—and delightful humor to lighten what is frequently a tough subject—he teaches all of the essentials, with numerous examples and problem sets. For the curious and confused alike, The Cartoon Guide to Calculus is the perfect combination of entertainment and education—a valuable supplement for any student, teacher, parent, or professional.
Synopsis
Information literacy is generally defined as the ability to recognize situations in which information is needed and to find, evaluate, and effectively use relevant information from a variety of media. It is an essential skill set in all academic disciplines at all levels of education and also in professional and personal life. The recent dramatic changes in the technologies of creating, storing, and retrieving content have made information at once more accessible but also more difficult to critically evaluate, and universities have increasingly come to recognize that effective instruction in information literacy is essential to incoming students success in their academic careers and beyond. With that goal in mind, Matt Upson, C. Michael Hall, and Kevin Cannon have created a unique guide in graphic-novel format that instructs undergraduate students in the fundamental research skills that constitute information literacy that is both academically sound and wildly imaginative and engaging. Following the Association of College and University Libraries Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, the guide stresses skills such as determining the extent of information needed for a research project, accessing the needed information effectively and efficiently, evaluating information and sources critically, incorporating selected information into ones knowledge base, using information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose, and understanding the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information. Each of the eight chapters ends with exercises that allow students to apply their knowledge to relevant scenarios, and the manuscript concludes with a glossary of critical terms.
About the Author
Matt Upson is assistant professor and director of library undergraduate services at Oklahoma State University.C. Michael Hall is a writer, cartoonist, and public speaker who advocates for comics and graphic novels in libraries and educational settings and creates visual aids for libraries.Kevin Cannon is the illustrator of numerous educational and fictional graphic texts, including Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing and The Cartoon Introduction to Philosophy.