Researching Your Presentation Topic Research is a complex skill - PDF document

Researching Your Presentation Topic Research is a complex skill requiring diverse sub-skills. For example, some of those skills are very procedural, while others involve critical thinking. Still others require strategic thinking (e.g., knowing what tools and procedures are appropriate/efficient for different research questions). Furthermore, in addition to developing proficiency in all of these areas and more, students must be able to integrate all of them. Because the Internet contains a vast amount of information from reliable and unreliable sources, wading through all the material could prove to be overwhelming for students. Learning to view Internet sites with a critical eye will help students become more efficient and effective researchers. It is likely that students do not possess these skills they need. Many of the research assignments in high school are easily answered by Wikipedia and the free web (e.g., Google). Because students may be able to perform successfully in high school, they may have false assumptions about their research abilities. Research skills are more than just typing a few words and taking the top searches, these skills must be taught and practiced. Research is a complex skill requiring diverse sub-skills. For example, some of those skills are very procedural (e.g., How to use a database), while others involve critical thinking (eg. Evaluating search results). Still others require strategic thinking (e.g., knowing what tools and procedures are appropriate/efficient for different research questions). Furthermore, in addition to developing proficiency in all of these areas and more, students must be able to integrate all of them. It is likely that students do not possess these skills because many of the research assignments in high school were easily answered by Wikipedia and the free web (e.g., Google). Because students were able to perform successfully in high school they my have false assumptions about their research abilities. In addition, we faculty may correlate technological competency with solid research skills when in reality, these skills must be taught and practiced. More than ever, information is literally at the fingertips of students through smartphones, tablet computers, and other digital devices. Students often go on Google and type a word, and that is the extent of their research skills. There is so much more to doing research on the Internet. Finding the right search engine or database is also an important step in conducting online research Evaluating Websites Just as critical as smart searching is evaluating the information on the Web. Students can take specific steps to dissect a website, such as checking whether its URL ends in a .com, .org, .gov, or .edu. If it's from a university, museum, government, or some state run agency, then it's pretty valid. If it's someone's personal website, how do you know what that person is saying is true? 1

In any case, students should approach websites with a critical eye. They should ask themselves while searching on sites: Who wrote this? What is the perspective of the person who wrote this? It's also important to know if a site is commercial. If so, it may be slanted toward having users buy products. Not that advertising on a site makes it less credible, but it's just another point to consider when looking at information. What is the intent of the information? When students take the time to approach their Web research thoughtfully, they sometimes encounter websites that are biased. Website test/evaluation Follow the three steps below in order to choose effective keywords to find material on your research topic. Step 1 : Identify your research topic Your research topic is: "Females have brought a positive element to the military." Step 2 : Identify the major concepts in your topic The two main elements of the chosen topic are "Female" and "Military" Step 3 : Develop keywords related to the major concepts Now that you know the major concepts of your topic, think of synonyms that may also describe those concepts. For an example, see the table below: Major Concept 1: Female Major Concept 2: Military Female Military Woman Soldier Girl Army Constructing a Keyword Search Using Boolean Operators There are three major operators you can use to join keyword terms when constructing a search: AND, OR, and NOT. Each is discussed below. "AND" Operator: Example search using "AND": Female AND Military Using the AND operator with these search terms would retrieve results that contained BOTH terms ( each result would have to contain the term "female" and the term "military" ). "OR" Operator Example search using "OR": Female OR Military 2

Using the OR operator would retrieve results that contained either term ( each result would contain EITHER the term "female" or the term "military" - not necessarily both ). "NOT" Operator Example search using "NOT": Female NOT Military Using the NOT operator would retrieve results that contained only the first term without including the second term ( each result would only include the term "female" and could not include the term "military") Combining Operators Complex search statements can be constructed by using more than one operator at a time. If you wanted to search for both major concepts, including the additional synonym keywords you thought of, you could construct a search statement that looks like this: (female OR woman OR girl) AND (military OR soldier OR army) That statement would look for results that had any of the terms in the first set (female, woman, girl) and then look for results that had any of the terms in the second set (military, soldier, army), then it would return results for documents that had at least one term from the first set and at least one term from the second set. Constructing a complex statement like the one above allows you to get more results on your topic by incorporating more keyword terms that may be used to describe articles you're interested in. Check out this website. While it is designed for elementary students some of the information pertains to all grade levels. Click on the icons/pictures to go to the links on specific topics. http://www.kyvl.org/kids/homebase.html Are you meeting the 8 th and 9 th grade Language Arts standards for your research? Standard: 1.1.8.B. – Use context clues, knowledge of root words as well as a glossary/thesaurus to decode and understand specialized vocabulary in the content areas during reading. Standard: 1.1.8.D. – Demonstrate comprehension/understanding before reading, during reading, and after reading on grade level texts through strategies such as comparing and contrasting texts, describing context, analyzing positions and arguments, and citing evidence in text. 3

Standard: 1.2.8.B. – Differentiate fact from opinion utilizing resources that go beyond traditional texts. Standard: 1.2.8.D. – Draw inferences and conclusions based on a variety of information sources, citing evidence from multiple texts to support answers. Standard: 1.2.8.E. – Read, understand, and respond to essential content of text and documents in all academic areas. Standard: 1.4.8.C.2. – Include convincing, elaborated, and properly cited evidence. Standard: 1.8.8.B. – Conduct inquiry and research on self selected or assigned topics, issues, or problems using a variety of appropriate media sources and strategies. Standard: 1.8.8.C. – Produce an organized product that presents and reflects on findings, draws sound conclusions, and gives proper credit to sources. Standard: 1.1.8.B. – Use context clues, knowledge of root words as well as a glossary/thesaurus to decode and understand specialized vocabulary in the content areas during reading. Standard: 1.1.8.D. – Demonstrate comprehension / understanding before reading, during reading, and after reading on grade level texts through strategies such as comparing and contrasting texts, describing context, analyzing positions and arguments, and citing evidence in text. Standard: 1.2.8.B. – Differentiate fact from opinion utilizing resources that go beyond traditional texts. Standard: 1.2.8.D. – Draw inferences and conclusions based on a variety of information sources, citing evidence from multiple texts to support answers. Standard: 1.2.8.E. – Read, understand, and respond to essential content of text and documents in all academic areas. Standard: 1.4.8.C.2. – Include convincing, elaborated, and properly cited evidence. Standard: 1.8.8.B. – Conduct inquiry and research on self selected or assigned topics, issues, or problems using a variety of appropriate media sources and strategies. Standard: 1.8.8.C. – Produce an organized product that presents and reflects on findings, draws sound conclusions, and gives proper credit to sources. Standard: 1.9.8.A. – Use media and technology resources to support personal productivity, group collaboration, and learning throughout the curriculum. 4