Independent Research Strategies for the Exit Project Enrich Social Studies Exit Project with Technology iLearn Social Studies Session 4 of 8

Focusing Questions What are ways we can use our research topic/question to effectively search the Internet for information? How can I be sure that the information I find is accurate? How can I be sure that I cite Internet sources correctly?

Instruction

Framing The Session Today we will learn how to: Use advanced online searching techniques. Evaluate Web sites for validity of content. Learn about copyright and how to cite online sources. Organize and store the electronic information we find using TrackStar.

Teaching Effective research of a topic requires knowing how to make your search specific. One way to do this is to limit a search using Boolean search terms. >A Boolean search involves limiting the terms of a search using quotation marks. Another technique for limiting a search is to use the advance search feature.

Teaching Once you have used a Boolean search to identify Internet research sites, you need to evaluate Web sites for validity of content, learn about copyright, and how to cite online sources. Web sites that end with “edu” and “gov”: >E.g., The Library of Congress and National Archives = public domain Copyright laws: Citing electronic sources:

Guided Practice Using your research questions on the topic of “The Civil Rights Movement,” search and identify three to five Web sites that you will then add to your track. Once you have identified your Web sites, add them to your track using the process you learned in the last session. >Remember to use correct citation form.

Work Time

Getting Started Now that we’ve learned how to locate the information we need, we need to think about how students will access it. Questions: >How do we know the Web site is reputable? >Where will we store the information? >What is the format for citing the information?

Work Time Return to TrackStar to categorize your research. You will be able to access it from any computer. Go to: Select the track that you created, and check for the authenticity of the Web sites by using the following URL:

Share

Share your tracks. How can the use of advanced search tools help students research their question for the Exit Project? Share

What did you do? Share

How does this work address the questions that began the session? Today we learned how to : Use advanced searching techniques. Evaluate Web sites for authenticity. Understand and respect copyright laws. Use TrackStar to organize and contain our Internet research.

For more information Office of Instructional Technology