2. Information Literacy Lesson 2 The Research Process Martha Loesch Fall 2006

3. What is the Question? Technology in the classroom What is the topic you wish to research?

4. How can we rephrase this topic? CComputers in schools TTechnology use in education IInternet access in schools Technology in the classroom What is the Question?

5. Let’s formulate keyword search terms technologyclassroom computersschools laptopseducation Internetcurriculum

6. Do we wish to limit our search further by  Grade level  elementary, secondary, higher education  Type of school  public, private, charter  Location  just United States

7. 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 to sort through and to judge if the results are creditable. Where to search for information?

8. 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

9. Don’t forget about books!

10. 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

11. 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.

12. How to search a database

13.  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

14. How to search a database Use Boolean operators

15. 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”

16. How to search a database

17. Internet sources  Examine url suffix  Check evaluation criteria How do you determine if a website is a good source of information or not?

18. 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

19. 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?

20. 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