How to Research Learning outcomes

• To understand the research process• To understand the benefits of planning

before embarking on internet searching• To use available search tools effectively to

identify appropriate resources • To develop awareness of the quality of

information found on the internet the importance of cross-checking

• To understand what plagiarism is and how to avoid it

• To understand the need for referencing

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Information Skills Framework

How to researchPlanning. What have I been asked to do?

What do I know already? What do I want to find out? Where could I find the

information?

Locating and gathering. What sources are available? Which ones should I use? How shall I use them?

Selecting and Recording. What is relevant? How shall I keep a record?

How should I organise my information?

Checking back. Have I done what I was asked to do?

Do I need to find out anything else?

Presenting Information The best way to present the info is?

Evaluating Would I do anything different next time?

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PLANNING

Teenagers Eyesight

Police

Statistics

Accidents

Driving licences

Older drivers

Insurance

Does the age of a driver influence their likelihood

of having an accident?

Health

Does the age of a driver influence their likelihood of

having an accident?

Accidents

Teenage Drivers

Statistics

Elderly Drivers

1. Teenage Drivers

2. “Teenage Drivers”

3. “Teenage Drivers” +accidents

4. “Teenage Drivers” +accidents +statistics

5. “Teenage Drivers” +accidents +statistics site:.gov.uk

28,600,000376,00064,800

2,280

50

Google search string Number of ‘hits’

WWWWW• Who? – Who wrote this information?

• What?– What is the purpose of this site?

• When?– When was this information

written?• Where?– Where else can I confirm this

information?• Why?– Why do I need this information?

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Keywords and strings

• Focus on the keywords you have already thought of

• Ignore ‘opinion’ keywords such as ‘best’, ‘correct’, etc. You are searching for a variety of evidence - not just someone’s opinions.

• Avoid long phrases unless you are searching for a specific quotation. Use quotation marks when necessary.•Google (and other databases) will ignore common “stopwords” such as ‘from’, ‘the’ and ‘when’.

•Use the Advanced search

• use + to force google to search for your keywords

A computer generated database of websites.

Common domain registrations

.com – The most popular

.co.uk – Region specific companies/ organisations

.org – Popularly used by public /non-profit organisations

.net – Originally for the computers of network providers, now a second .com

.edu / .ac / .sch – Educational establishments and schools

.gov – Government (US). Add a country code (.gov.uk)

The Quick QuizQuality Information Checklist

1. Is it clear who has written the information?• Is the author recognised?• Who owns the website?

2. Are the aims of the site clear?• Does the website have a ‘who we are’

page?• Does the domain extension give you a

clue?3. Does the site achieve its aims?

• Has the site been professionally created?

• Is the site ‘friendly’ to use?4. Is the website relevant to me?

• Does this site answer my questions?

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• Can the information be checked?• Is there a named author?• If so, is information provided about them/ their

qualifications?• If the content is from elsewhere, is it referenced?• Do linked sites link back?• Where else can you check the information?

• 6. When was the website produced?• Are updates dated?• Are links kept current or are they broken?• Are references up to date?

• 7. Is the information biased in any way?• What is bias?• Who is responsible for the site (see 2)• Does the site clearly state it’s point of view?• Does the site give only one point of view?

• 8. Does the site tell you about choices open to you?• Does it give you ideas for further research?• Do these choices show bias?

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Evaluate these sites using the WWWWW method.

1.www.dhmo.org

2.http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

3.http://www.worldpulse.com/node/11157 (only evaluate this page)

4. www.martinlutherking.org

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Now evaluate these sites. Spend no more that 5 minutes on each one. Pay attention

to bias.

http://www.monsanto.co.uk/

http://www.foe.co.uk/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food

http://www.food.gov.uk/gmfoods/

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Join Islington Public libraries for access to a number of free resources.http://bit.ly/bmszWM

www.hw.ac.uk/libwww/irn/pinakes/pinakes.html

www.intute.ac.uk

http://scholar.google.co.uk/

http://books.google.com/

http://news.google.com/archivesearch

http://news.google.co.uk/

Referencing websitesFive pieces of information

• The author’s name (if possible). Look at the top or bottom of an article. All news and online journal articles should list their author.

• Title of the article. This is not the name of the website, which will be much larger than the part that you are referencing.

• Date of publication. For official websites there should always be a date of publication or last update. If not, make sure that the content is current!

• Date that you accessed the site

• URL (full address) of the webpage that you are referencing.

• Holland, M. (2005) Citing References, University of Bournemouth:

http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/academic_services/documents/Library/Citing_References.pdf [Accessed 2 October 2006]

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References and Bibliographies

Five pieces of information:– Author– Year of Publication– Title– Publisher– Place of Publication

Cottrell, S. (2003) The Study Skills Handbook, 2nd Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

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You’ve found some books or other publications:• Check the publication dates. (Does it matter?)• Check authors – are they qualified?• Use the contents pages and indexes. • Do they have glossaries and bibliographies?• Are they well illustrated?Note-taking options:• Don’t print the page straight off the internet.• Print some of the information, if necessary.• Copy and paste words and graphics into Word or

another document. Remember to record your sources. • Photocopy selectively.• Make notes straight from the screen or book. Write

down your source of information.• Be aware of quoting, paraphrasing and summarising.

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Remember!

Plagiarism is…

The writers of the website PlagiarismdotOrg state in their article What is Plagiarism?:

• “Many people think of plagiarism as copying another's

work, or borrowing someone else's original ideas. But terms like "copying" and "borrowing" can disguise the seriousness of the offense:

• According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to "plagiarize" means

• to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own

• to use (another's production) without crediting the source

• to commit literary theft • to present as new and original an idea or product

derived from an existing source. • In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves

both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.”

http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_what_is_plagiarism.html

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“All of the following are considered plagiarism:

turning in someone else's work as your own

copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit

failing to put a quotation in quotation marks

giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation

changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit

copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not”

http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_what_is_plagiarism.html Library &

Learning Resource Centre

Many people think of plagiarism as copying another's work, or borrowing someone else's original ideas. But terms like "copying" and "borrowing" can disguise the seriousness of the offense:

Plagiarism is…to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of

another) as one's own to use (another's production) without crediting the

source to commit literary theft to present as new and original an idea or product

derived from an existing source. In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It

involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.

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If you handed this in, you’d be failed for

copying someone else’s work!

Where to find this information?

You can find this slide show here:http://www.slideshare.net/happyreading/howtoresearch-colai

You can find the workbook here:http://issuu.com/happyreading/docs/howtoresearch

You can find a free internet tutorial here:http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective

This slideshow was originally created by Tower Hamlets SLS, it has been adapted for use at COLAI

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