What is it and where do I begin? RESEARCH

Maple trees and Maple Syrup production in Ontario What is your topic ? What are your sub topics? Trees

Now make a list of related key words Maple syrup Sap buckets Sugar bush Evaporator Sugarhouse

These related key words can be used to: organize your thoughts. narrow your focus. Create the topics of the paragraphs in your report. Look for a book on the library database

Where do I go from here?

ALWAYS CHECK OUT THE BOOKS FIRST

Now check out Spectrum and see if the library at La Salle has any books or vertical files on your topic.

ALWAYS REMEMBER: Record the bibliographical information that is required for your bibliography. Go to Click on MLA and enter the information. Press submit. Cut and past the information in the grey bar to a word document… and you have a bibliography.

Sign the books out of the library that you are going to use in your research.

Remember to have your books scanned by your friendly librarian.

What does the encyclopedia say about my topic? “The sugar maple is one of the most common trees in the broadleaf forests of southeastern Canada and the northeastern quarter of the United States. Sugar maple Is the hardest and strongest maple wood….” What does Grolier-on-line say about my topic? Username: limeston Password: lime6838

Don’t forget to make an Entry in your bibliography For every resource that you Use in your research. Go to

Where else can I look for information? The Kingston Public Library Chapters, Indigo or Novel Idea Is there anyone in the community who is an expert on your topic? (Resist the temptation to search the internet…that should be the last place you look)

You can ask Mel and Jerry for help on your projects. We would be glad to assist you!

What does EBSCO say about my topic (use your key words to do alternate searches)? Go to: Click on: Username: limestone Password: limestone

DATABASES ARE WHERE IT’S AT!! Check out our library website. All the database icons have links to thousands of articles from newspapers, magazines and journals, etc. Remote access: Trillium / Trillium WHY ARE DATABASES MORE RELIABLE THAN THE INTERNET?

Record all the articles that you find in your Bibliography.

When you have exhausted all other possibilities you may turn to the internet for your research. A search engine like Google can help you find websites that may have information about your topic.

When you are searching for something like maple enter it in the search engine as a single word. A phrase needs quotations: “maple tree” To zero in on a website try “maple tree” + Canada This will give you all websites with the phrase maple tree near the word Canada.

BEWARE: THE INTERNET LIES ! On most sites there is no way of knowing if the information that you are reading is accurate or reliable. Beware of web sites that do not have an author attached to the information you are reading.

The ending of a web site address is a good indication of how reliable the information on that site will be..edu stands for education and these sites are usually sponsored by an educational facility like a university.

.org stands for organization and could represent a highly persuasive group that is trying to sway your opinion about something and the information will most likely be biased. However, reputable organizations like The Red Cross and Amnesty International also have web site addresses ending in.org

Newspaper websites like the Toronto Star have an URL address that ends in.com means commercial and chances are web sites with a URL address that end in.com are trying to sell you something.

Remember to record any web sites that you use in your research in your bibliography. Do not trust information from web sites that do not have an author’s name attached to the information that you are reading!!!!! Check with Mel, Jerry or your teacher if you are not sure of the quality of a web site.

Now it is time to read summarize think record You must put everything in your own words!!!!

You are not allowed to copy someone else’s work word for word or steal their ideas without making reference to them in your bibliography.

You are not allowed to “cut and paste” from resources and pass it off as your own. A direct quote must be in quotations.

Copying other people’s words and ideas is Plagiarism. It is against copyright laws and against school policy.

If you copy it word for word and pass it off as your own you will get caught. Don’t take the easy way out…thinking for yourself and coming up with your own ideas is what it is all about.

OK, you caught me. I am guilty of plagiarism in this very presentation. Can you guess what I did wrong?

To illustrate this presentation I cut and pasted most of the images from the internet. “Google images” is really helpful in finding pictures….but you have to acknowledge where you got the pictures from too.

Thanks for your attention!