The BISD Research Process

Please go to http://wallwisher.com/wall/researchprocess and introduce yourself to the class. Please include your name, campus, grade, and something interesting you did over the summer.

RESEARCH STEPS

Define your search

Find information

Evaluate your results

Synthesize what you’ve found

Evaluate the product/performance and the process

STEP 1: DEFINE YOUR SEARCH

Before you can find an answer, you have to know what you’re looking for.

What question am I trying to answer? State your given assignment as a question. Be

specific! What do I already know about this subject?

What does my neighbor know - collaborate What are the important words in my question?

These are your key words for searching. Write them down!

http://www.wordle.net/

PREPARE FOR RESEARCH

Now that you know exactly what you’re looking for, you’re ready to begin your search.

You’ll need a way to keep track of the information and resources that you’ll be finding. You may wish to do this in Word or Excel or PowerPoint or OneNote. You may also choose to do this with a paper copy. Pick a way that works best for you!

KEEPING YOUR WORK

You should also create a folder in your My Documents folder, labeled with your name and the project title, to use in storing all of the resources you’ll be gathering.

(Did you know that you can grab a web page to the left of its URL in the address bar and simply drag it to your project folder to keep?)

STEP 2: FIND INFORMATION Remember that information may be in many

different formats, not always just text. You may find videos, audio files, presentations, graphics, charts, maps, or diagrams that will help you.

As you locate valuable information, be sure to write down or copy/paste where it came from. At the end of your research, you’ll have to cite the sources you used to develop your answer.

WHERE TO FIND GREAT INFORMATION

In BISD, we have some great resources to help you in your search: Wikipedia Encarta Encyclopedia (K-4 NB; 5-8 laptops) Destiny and Your Library BISD eLearning Portal K-12 Databases Internet via a Google Search

Each time you need information, these are the places, in order, that you should go to.

WIKIPEDIA

An online encyclopedia created and modified by users all around the world

General background on most subjects Very current information May or may not be the most reliable http://en.wikipedia.org/

WIKIPEDIA QUESTIONS

What advantages does Wikipedia have over other resource sources?

What disadvantages does it have?

For what type of topics might Wikipedia be a good starting place?

ENCARTA ENCYCLOPEDIA AND ENCARTA FOR KIDS

Encyclopedia on the 5th – 8th grade laptops Contains articles, videos, charts, maps, diagrams,

and audio files Updated every two months

DESTINY AND LIBRARY RESOURCES

Web-based catalog that lets you see all of the resources available, not only in your campus library, but in all of the district’s libraries

May be accessed from school or anywhere with an Internet connection

Contains information about books, videos, audio files, and great websites

http://destiny.bastrop.isd.tenet.edu/

BISD ELEARNING PORTAL

Web-based information source May be accessed from school or anywhere with an

Internet connection http://portal.bastrop.isd.tenet.edu/

AVAILABLE ON THE PORTAL Animations Audio books Book trailer videos Clip art Diagrams eBooks Flags Google Earth files Graphic organizers Interactives Maps

MS Office templates Music and sound

effects National anthems Photos Podcasts TALP documents for

students and teachers Textbook resources Tutorials VideosWith more to come!

PORTAL CONTINUED

At the Portal, click on the Search Center in the top bar.

Type in what you’re looking for.

Once you’ve found something, you can right-click and select Save Target As to save it to your research folder.

K – 12 DATABASES

Online resources provided for use at school or anywhere with Internet access

Designed for primary through adult learning Requires a user name and password, which

each student may get from the campus librarian

http://web.esc20.net/k12databases/accessk12.html

DATABASES INCLUDE:

Britannica Learning Zone

Britannica Online Elementary

EBSCO Searchasaurus K – 3

EBSCO Kids Search 3 – 6

Britannica Compton’s Middle School

Britannica Universal in Spanish

EBSCO Student Research Center

EBSCO Business Source Complete

Britannica High School

EBSCO Consumer Health Complete

Britannica Global Reference Center

Britannica Teacher Resources

GOOGLE INTERNET SEARCH

If you still haven’t found all of the information that you need, then this is your final place to search.

Google is the most reliable and largest search engine on the web.

Use your keywords! http://www.google.com/

CITING YOUR SOURCES

We’ll talk later about the correct format for listing your sources.

For now, just make sure that for each piece of information you find, you have the following for your citation:

Title Author Publisher

Place of Publication

URL Other Information

Volume Pages Date

STEP 3: EVALUATE YOUR RESULTS

•Just because you found information written somewhere doesn’t mean it’s valid or good to use for this assignment.

•You need to evaluate what you’ve found.

ONLINE RESOURCES FOR EVALUATING WEBSITES

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/webcrit.html

http://www.lesley.edu/library/guides/research/evaluating_web.html

http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective/crimescene.html

ASK YOURSELF:

Is the information from a reliable author or source?

Is the information current? Is the information fact or opinion? Does the information contain bias or

prejudice?

ASK YOURSELF CONTINUED:

Does the information help to answer my question?

Do I have information that is not good enough to use? If so, have I gotten rid of it?

Have I found enough information to answer my question and fully support the answer?

STEP 4: SYNTHESIZE

Pull everything you have together to form a polished, impressive answer to the question.

Review your assignment sheet to be sure of what is required.

Organize the information from multiple sources. Create a product or performance. Give yourself the time you need to practice your

performance or to make a rough draft, edit it, and make a final copy before the work is due.

DON’T FORGET TO CORRECTLY CITE YOUR SOURCES

Giving credit for work that isn’t yours is called citing your sources. It’s not just nice; it’s the law!

In order to not plagiarize, you must list the author, title, URL, date, volume, publisher, and place of publication for each source.

The easiest way to create citations for the work of others that you are referencing is to use an online citation maker.

ONLINE CITATION MAKERS

Easy Bib – MLA http://www.easybib.com/

Citation Maker – MLA http://www.english.eku.edu/mla/

Son of Citation Machine – APA and MLA http://citationmachine.net/

Knight Cite – APA and MLA http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/index.php

STEP 5: EVALUATE THE PRODUCT/ PERFORMANCE AND THE PROCESS

Judge the product or performance. Did I complete the assignment given by the teacher? How did I do? (Look at order, logical thinking, spelling,

grammar, neatness, citations, supporting arguments.) Is my product or performance my best work?

Judge the research process you used. What worked really well for you? What needs to be improved? What might you need help on to improve?

GT CREDIT?

To receive full credit for the 6 hour GT update, teachers must complete a lesson plan that utilizes the tools they learned today in their classroom. The format for the lesson plan has been sent to you via email.

QUESTIONS ?

FEEDBACK:

http://wallwisher.com/wall/researchprocess