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Information LiteracyLesson 2
The Research Process
Martha Loesch Fall 2006
What is the Question?
Technology in the classroom
What is the topic you wish to research?
How can we rephrase this topic?
Computers in schools
Technology use in education
Internet access in schools
Technology in the classroom
What is the Question?
What is the Question?
Let’s formulate keyword search terms
technology classroom
computers schools
laptops education
Internet curriculum
What is the Question?
Do we wish to limit our search further by
Grade level elementary, secondary, higher education
Type of schoolpublic, private, charter
Location just United States
You can query any search engine and get thousands of hits instantly. Google
But is that really a good thing?
That’s a lot of information tosort through and to judge if the results are creditable.
Where to search for information?
Where to search for information?
Online subject directories can help you choose a topic or assist in narrowing it if it is too broad.
Click on logo to access site
Don’t forget about books!
Where to search for information?
Specialized encyclopedias can provide good introductory material and the bibliographies can lead to additional sources.
Education and technology : an encyclopedia Encyclopedia of American education Encyclopedia of modern education Philosophy of education : an encyclopedia
Where to search for information?
Subscription databases are not free so the contents are not available on the Web.
They contain scholarly material necessary for good quality academic research.
Subscription databases available from the Library homepage are designed for searching specific topics in select disciplines.
How to search a database
AND – use between keywords to narrow search
computers and education
OR – use between synonyms to broaden search
middle school or junior high school
NOT – use before a word to eliminate its use
laptop not desktop
Use Boolean operators
How to search a database
Use Boolean operators
How to search a database
Other searching techniques
* To retrieve various forms of a word
child* for child & children & childhood
“ ” To retrieve an exact phrase
“middle school”
How to search a database
Internet sources
Examine url suffix
Check evaluation criteria
How do you determine if a website is a good source of information or not?
Internet sources
.gov – a U.S. government site .org – an organization, often nonprofit .edu – a U.S. school or university site .info – a general information site .int – an international institution .pro – a site representing a profession
URL suffixes
Internet sources
Evaluation criteria
Relevancy – does info support your thesis
Currency – when was info created, updated
Authority – who is the author, their credentials
Accuracy – can info be verified, is it unbiased
Coverage – is the scope scholarly, content thorough
Would you include the source in your list of References?
The final step of the research process is to organize your materials in accordance with your written outline.
Now you can easily retrieve your sources during the writing process.
The Research Process
