SEAS Career Readiness Resources: Information Skills
Employers highly value the ability to locate and evaluate information (Head, 2012). The recent proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated content and misinformation have further highlighted the importance of these skills.
Finding information in a career setting can differ significantly from your college experience. This page provides practical tips for quickly locating and evaluating information, including job postings, using tools that will likely be accessible to you after graduation.
Using Google
After graduating from UB, your access to paid scholarly databases will likely change. Because of this, it's important to learn how to locate information using freely available tools, like Google.
Google is a great tool for finding information, but the top results aren't always what you're looking for. Fortunately, there are a few tips and tricks that can help you find the best information more efficiently.
Finding Technical Information
All engineers, but especially those working outside of academia, use non-scholarly information in their careers (Kaufman et al., 2019). This information, often called grey literature or technical literature, includes standards, reports, and patents. Check out the following guides to learn how to find these materials:
- Technical Standards Research GuideStandards are detailed instructions that explain how something is to be manufactured, managed, designed, or otherwise handled. Standards are usually written by an authoritative body, such as a professional organization, government agency, or manufacturer. The Institute for Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE), for example, publishes electronic and electrical engineering-related standards.
- Technical Reports Research GuideTechnical reports are works that describe the progress or results of scientific or technical research and development. Technical reports usually fall into two categories: government-sponsored and privately funded research reports. Both categories may include national or international reports by university departments, institutes, private industry, or government agencies and laboratories. Technical reports are often more detailed than articles in the peer-reviewed journal literature.
- Patents Research GuidePatents are a rich source of scientific and technical information. The time-consuming task of searching for patents has been streamlined by the availability of Web-based patent search and retrieval systems.
Evaluating Information
Information needs to be evaluated for accuracy, regardless of it's source. This video gives a quick overview of how you can assess information.
Spotting Job Scams
Reports of job scams increased 118% in 2023 (Identify Theft Resource Center, 2024).
Don't fall victim to a scammy recruiter or job ad. Check out UBIT's Fake Job Scams webpage and the Federal Trade Commission's advice for spotting job scams to learn the warning signs.
You should also use your information evaluation skills to assess a job posting's legitimacy.