Developing student research skills

1. Developing student research skills EasyBib School Edition

2. Online research is more important than ever... Yet many students do not have fundamental research skills. They often: • Start their research in Google, and rely on the immediate results presented to them like Wikipedia • Do not assess the credibility of the information presented to them • Do not understand what constitutes plagiarism • Lack an organizational framework to meaningfully understand and synthesize information • Do not take advantage of library databases How do we provide an intuitive solution to cultivate critical information literacy skills?

3. Your students become better researchers Citation tool helps prevent plagiarism • EasyBib makes citing intuitive, encouraging students to cite while they write, accurately crediting sources and avoiding plagiarism • Instructional features teach information literacy– students grasp what they are researching and learn to evaluate online sources • Easily create a bibliography in MLA, APA, and Chicago styles • Export works cited to Word or Google docs fully formatted • Create in text citations, and tag and sort citations. Cite/autocite 59 source types • Instructional Website evaluation, Citation guide, Source guide, and LearnCite features Notebook improves critical thinking and research habits • EasyBib Notebook teaches students to meaningfully organize their notes helping them become organized and effective researchers • Two systems: virtual note cards and list view modeled after Cornell Note-taking • Dynamic outline lets students fluidly move data points • Group, color, and tag notes, and associates them with your outline and sources Used by over 37 million students!

4. Teach students to credit information Students are intimidated by complicated citation rules.. By making the citation process intuitive, students learn to cite while they write and end up: • Accurately crediting their sources • Avoiding having to track down and or make up their sources • Avoiding accidental plagiarism 1. Search for your source 2. Verify or manually enter bibliographic data 3. Compile bibliography & export to Word or Google docs

5. Students learn to distinguish sources Visual citation guides – Define different sources types and show where bibliographic data is found and structured Source guide – Defines and provides suggestions and examples of different sources, helping users cite the correct source 59 options – Students can cite 59 different sources, encouraging a diverse research approach and proper accreditation LearnCite – Shows the citation being created as information is entered, providing students a structural understanding of citations

6. Reiterate the importance of website evaluation With ever-growing amounts of information available, students must learn what is reliable information. EasyBib website evaluation: Alerts students at the point of reference of the credibility of the source 2. Provides robust criteria to explain and help understand the source’s credibility 3. Shows visual examples of credible, questionable, and not credible sources

7. Provide a framework to understand research • The notebook provides students structure to take away and organize key ideas • Quotes - Students can copy and paste, and track quoted content • Paraphrasing - Encourages students to synthesize and understand information • Comments - Pushes students to think aloud and explore ideas • Organization - Associate a source with a note, and tag/group/color the note

8. Brainstorm and construct ideas with notebook Virtual note cards • Easily moveable virtual notes cards promotes brainstorming • Organization tools help develop concepts List view • List view helps students understand notes along the various organizational means, and encourages big picture thinking Outline • Outline helps students dynamically conceptualize paper ideas, and creates a paper trail to notes and sources

9. Understand the quality of their research • Bibliography Analytics teach students to evaluate their own work and identify areas for improvement before submitting assignments. • Students are given an overall score based on 4 elements: • Diversity of source types • Database usage • Website Credibility • Number of sources

10. Share feedback • Project sharing encourages more interaction between students and teachers throughout the research process. Sharing is also facilitates group work. Leave comments in their notes & outline Leave comments directly related to the sources cited in the bibliography Students can set who can view, edit, and comment on projects.

11. Manage your subscription • View users, help reset passwords and view projects • Track usage of Easybib; see accounts, notes, citations created and much more • Customize your subscription to help promote your school resources

12. The EasyBib experience “My interest in EasyBib stems from my users’ interest in it: I’ve been getting feedback from students that the amount of time and effort required to learn and use some other citation tools is greater than students need, or want, to invest. They find EasyBib to be easier to use.” -Cheryl LaGuardia, Research Librarian, Harvard University “Because the Web site is so intuitive and quick, they can focus on using reliable sources and documenting them properly instead of worrying about formatting the citations correctly.” -MaryAnne Karre “I love your website. I don't know how I would make it through all these papers without you! Thanks so much!” -Matthew, Student Give your students the tools to embrace better research!