Research

Resources

Hard copy

• It may be the 21st century, but hard copy resources are still valuable tools when performing research.

• Can you think of any hard copy resources?

• List them:

Hard copy resources

• Personal diaries• Encyclopedias• Newspapers• Journals• Dictionaries• Date Books/Year books• Official records (court, family, historical)• Textbooks• Did you get all these?

Soft copy resources

• You can find a number of sources online, or soft copy resources.

• See how many you can list:

Soft Copy Resources:

• Online newspapers• Online Journals• Online encyclopedias• Online diaries or recordings• Letters• Databases

Primary & Secondary

• There is a difference between the two types of resources.

• A primary source is a source provided by an eye witness. Such sources are:

• Diaries, letters, articles written by an eyewitness, speeches, or private journals.

Secondary

• Secondary sources are sources written by experts, but they were not eyewitnesses or there when an event took place.

• These include: textbooks, encyclopedias, professional journals, newspaper articles, the Internet or Computer Software.

Reliability

• Before you explore sources, you need to know if they are reliable or not. There are several ways to determine if a source is reliable or not.

• Play the game to see if you know your stuff!

• http://classtools.net/widgets/dustbin_8/asW7n.htm

How did you do?

• If you did really well, we are ready to move on!

• Next we will look at the research PROCESS

Step one: Brainstorming

• This is a process in itself. You need to decide on a topic and then narrow the topic down to manageable size. You learned a little about this in the Organization unit when you organized your essay.

• One way to help you is to use a graphic organizer.

Use a Map to Organize your thoughts

Narrow the topic

• As an example, you may want to research the origin of the Sock Monkey. That is the main topic and goes in the center of the organizer.

• Now, you need to figure out what else you want to know…A KWL chart can help you too.

Topic: Origin of the sock Monkey

• What is important to know?• Who began this fad?• When did it begin?• Why did it start?• Who owns the rights to this toy?• Why is it so popular? • What kinds of sock monkeys are available

today? • How can you tell if you own an original Sock

Monkey?

Notice the questions:• Who, What, Where, When, Why, and

How are the keys to asking probing questions. Start with these. You will find the more you learn, the more questions

you will have!

Next:

• Now it’s time to put that knowledge of sources to use!

• Where should you start?• If you are not sure, you can ask your

teacher, a parent or a librarian.

Notes

• The next step is to take good notes. • This involves good summary skills and some

organization. You will need to jot down where you got your information too.

• Look at the sample on the next slide to see the best way to format your note cards.

• You should separate the note cards according to the source first. Then you may want to separate them according to the information when synthesizing your information. See Slide # 21.

Effective Note cards

Important!!!

• One thing you did not see on that note card:• If the source was taken from the Internet,

you will need the DATE you took it off the net, the URL and the title and author (if there is an author) of the article and the web site.

• To cite the source easily, plug this information into www.easybib.org

• You can create a free account and save all of your sources for the bibliography.

Example:

Summarizing

• It is sometimes best to take down more information than you need. You can weed it out as you go along.

• Get the important information that answers your questions.

Putting the pieces together

• Once you have information from various sources, you will have to fit it all together, like a puzzle. You need to select what piece of information belongs with another when you are using two or more sources. This includes any illustrations you may need. (Illustrations need to be cited as well).

The Thesis Statement

• This is one very important aspect of your research paper. This is the sentence or group of sentences that will let the reader know just what you are going to cover in the paper.

• The Sock Monkey is one of the most loved and most hated toys of all time. This fad began as a necessity for workers and found its way into the hearts of children all over the United States. Today, there are over one million Sock Monkeys in existence in homes all across America. But where did the Sock Monkey phenomenon begin and why?

Now you can decide what is next

• Create an outline to help you stay on topic

• Gather only the information you need. • Write your rough draft• Cite your sources • Revise your paper• Edit your paper• Make sure all sources are in the Works

Cited page or Bibliography.

Success!

• If you follow theses steps when writing a research paper, you will succeed! And your teacher may just adopt you!

Questions?

• Please ask any questions you may feel necessary at this time. We will cover Documenting and citing sources in greater detail tomorrow.

• See if you know your research Process:

• http://classtools.net/widgets/quiz_7/aukDc.htm