Investigating a Research Topic

“A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.”

-- ALBERT EINSTEIN “The World as I See It,” Ideas and Opinions, trans. Sonja Bargmann, p. 8 (1954). Quoted in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989. Bartleby.com, http://www.bartleby.com/73/1603.html, 4/1/09

Goals Understand and apply key concepts in academic

research Use tools and strategies to begin researching topics (you

may explore more than one) Demonstrate understanding of the ethical use of

information

• Section One: – Research Process– Search Strategies

• Section Two:– Research Toolkit

– Identifying Scholarly Information– Finding Scholarly Information

• Section Three– Books and Catalogs– Library Databases

• Section Four– The Free Internet

• Evaluation• Search Tools and the Invisible Web

• Section Five– Ethical Use of Information

• Section Six– Using what you’ve learned to research

Search Process & Search Strategies: An Investigation

1. Look at the search strategy handout on the handout and links page.

2. Choose at least two that you think are helpful.

3. Decide how you might use them and write a reflection on the discussion page attached to page one.

4. Comment on the discussion postings.

1. Go to http://www.21cif.com/rkitp/challenge/v1n3/Keyword_Challenge/KeywordChallenge2.swf.

2. Do the Great Wall Challenge and at least one more.

3. Discuss your experience on the discussion page attached to the handouts page.

End of Section One

• Make sure you’ve posted to the discussion page

• What search strategy format will you use?

What’s in your toolkit?

• There are many ways to save information you find online

• The easiest is to create a word document, and add the citation for each thing you find as soon as you find it

• Or do that the old fashioned way, with a note card for each source

• Number your sources, and use the same numbers on your NOTES

Electronic Tools

• There are many web based tools that help you save and collect information. You have already signed up for myEBSCOhost, which lets you save materials from that database.

• Explore the tools to see what works for you; be sure to read the privacy policies and terms of use before you sign up.

• This is about your style – do you want to use pen and paper? Something on your computer? Something that has a mobile app? You MUST have an organization plan you can share with your teacher – but it has to be something that works for you!

Electronic Tools to Try• Evernote, Delicious, and Diigo are some of the

sites which let you collect information from web sites and save web pages or links. Note that most of them will not save pdf files.

• Google Docs allows you to set up spreadsheets, discussions, and collaborative projects

• There are a lot of tools out there – explore “web 2.0 tools for education” if you want more.

What is Scholarly Information?

• Vocabulary– Serials – things which are published monthly,

weekly, quarterly, or yearly– Journals – scholarly magazines, or serials– Peer Reviewed – before materials can be printed

in this type of journal, other people in the field need to review it and agree the research methods are valid (written by scholars for scholars)

Click on the chart to go to the link.

You are going to want to use primarily scholarly journals for your research, though that depends on your topic,

Finding Scholarly Information in online library databases

Do you have your search strategy and keyword list?

• Go to Badgerlink http://www.badgerlink.net• Choose EBSCOhost (All Databases)

Set up an account in myEBSCOhost • Choose Academic Search Elite• Find:– Advanced Search [Video is available on the handout page

as well as through this link]– Full Text– Peer Reviewed– Limit by Date

• Search for your topic or interest and find at least 4 articles.

End of Section Two

• You should have at least four articles. Did you save them? Email them to yourself? Copy the citations?

• Search two catalogs: • AASD Catalog• Appleton Public Library Catalog • WISCAT • WorldCat

• Find at least 2 books on your subject• Note your key words and what you found, and

discuss on the discussion page: • Where you were searching• What you found• Advanced Search Features.• The difference between a KEYWORD and a

Subject Search

The Return of the Databases

• Go

Middle and High School Library Resource Links on the AASD Web Page (Students) and explore other databases.

• Be sure to use at least 2 different ones!• Find another 4 articles

End of Section Three

• You should now have – A search strategy – A list of key words– An organization plan and tools, electronic or paper– 8 articles– 4 books

Acknowledgments

• This class is based on classes I’ve developed and taught in many high schools

• The opening Cartoon is from http://www.unshelved.com and is use with permission.

• The “Reflective Research” handout is based on one originally developed at Rockhurst High School, Kansas City. It was further refined by the JSEA Librarians, and the by me.

• All artwork is from the Microsoft Office Collection• Amy Healey, July, 2011