Download - The BISD Research Process
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 STEPSDefine your searchFind informationEvaluate your resultsSynthesize what you’ve foundEvaluate the product/performance and the
process
STEP 1: DEFINE YOUR SEARCHBefore 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