The BISD Research Process

1. 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. The BISD Research Process

2. Research Steps • Define your search • Find information • Evaluate your results • Synthesize what you’ve found • Evaluate the product/performance and the process

3. Step 1: Define Your Search Before 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/

4. 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!

5. 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?)

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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/

9. 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?

10. 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

11. 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/

13. BISD eLearning Portal • Web-based information source • May be accessed from school or anywhere with an Internet connection • http://portal.bastrop.isd.tenet.edu/

14. 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 • Videos With more to come!

15. 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.

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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/

20. 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:

21. 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. Step 3: Evaluate Your Results

22. 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

23. 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?

24. 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?

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. 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

29. 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?

30. 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.

31. QUESTIONS ?

32. Feedback: • http://wallwisher.com/wall/researchprocess