HOW TO RESEARCHSpringboard 2.14 and 2.15

FIRST THINGS FIRST

• Before anything else, you have to know what you are going to write about.

• Here are your research options:

• Use of technology

• Standards-based grading

• Paying college athletes

• Movie ratings

• Military Draft

• School involvement in social media

First Amendment rights in schoolsDriving/voting AgeMaking automobiles more greenChildhood obesityPolice Body CamerasSchool Safety

NOW YOU NEED TO FIGURE OUT SOME STUFF…

• Next, you need to decide what you want to focus on WITHIN that topic…

• This means that you want to come up with the beginnings of a DEBATABLE claim.• But, you should not be completely decided about what you believe until after

you have done your research!

DEBATABLE VS. NON-DEBATABLE

• When you get to the point that you have a topic and a direction in mind, you are going to start thinking about what your claim is going to be.

• You will want to have a DEBATABLE claim, which means:• It is controversial• Two reasonable people could have opposing points of view

• And that those points of view would be valid based on evidence and reasoning

GROUP PRACTICE

• Each person in your group will pick a different research topic from the list. Hopefully, it is one you are interested in pursuing on your own later.

• If multiple people in your group are interested in the same topic, you still need to have different topics represented.

• Then, you need to come up with two debatable claims that represent two different points of view on the topic.

• Then, share them with each other and see if you can come up with interesting counterclaims within your group.

NEXT STEPS

• In order to be ready for your days of preliminary research, you will need to do the following:

• Come up with research questions

• Know what search times you might use

THE GENERAL PROCESS

• Identify the issue or problem.

• Form questions. (YOU ARE HERE)

• Gather evidence.

• Interpret information and draw conclusions.

• Communicate findings (quote or paraphrase).

YOUR TASK

• You will come up with a basic claim you are interested in for your topic, and then you will come up with 2-3 research questions that you can use to guide your research.

• What is a research question?• A question that is open-ended, directly related to your claim, and purposeful

(so, the answer will be used to support your argument)

• How will gathering evidence affect my research questions?

• How will gathering evidence affect my research questions?

• An example:

• How does cell phone use affect driving performance?

SEARCH TERMS AND EVALUATING SOURCES

• You need to choose relevant search terms when it comes time to do your online research.

• Be specific—instead of “car accidents,” use “distracted driving” if you are researching the question of whether or not cell phones have an effect on driving safely

• Use quotation marks if you have exact phrase in mind

• Once you get to a list of results, don’t just pick the first link; read the descriptions of the sites to get a better handle of what they might cover and how relevant they are to your research questions.

EVALUATING SOURCES ONCE YOU FIND THEM

Criteria for Evaluating Websites

Accuracythe site is free from errors and operates properly; information is consistent with other sources

Validityinformation appears to be well researched and/or there is a statement about the purpose of the site, which is educational in nature

Authority

the author appears to be well qualified to write on the subject and/or the site is part of a respected institution (e.g., a college, a museum, a newspaper, a journal)

Currency the site has been updated recently

and/or sources of information are current

Coveragethe site seems to cover the topic fully, other related topics are discussed on the site, and/or there is a resource section with links to other sites

WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITY

In your groups, you will know practice with the topic of “school safety.” Come up with at least 3 different search terms (phrases) that you could use to do some research on this topic.

Then, we will practice as a class and see what happens when we use those search terms.

If we find a decent source, we will then practice using the evaluation tools we discussed to determine if it is a decent source.

PREPARING FOR TOMORROW

• You will need to have the following:

• A claim that you are willing to revise as you do research

• 2-3 research questions

• Some ideas for research terms for your topic

• An understanding of the source tracking sheet we will provide and the schedule that goes along with it.