2. Tools to Enhance Your Research Skills

3. Menu Part I  Getting Started – Brainstorming Part II  Gathering Data – Surveys, Comparison Tools Part III  Visualization – Gadgets Part IV  Sharing – Files & Thoughts Part V  Staying Updated – Info Comes to You

4. Part I: Getting Started - Brainstorming MS Word/PowerPoint/Excel > Insert > Smart Art Hierarchies, boxes, cycles, processes, etc.  Save to the web (my.uwest.edu) and share. Bubbl.us:  Quick and easy hierarchical and brainstorming maps.  No registration required.  http://bubbl.us http://bubbl.us Mind42:  Attach pictures, icons, notes, links, to-do lists.  Collaborate on the map with other people, share.  http://mind42.com http://mind42.com

5. Part II: Gathering Data – Surveys, Comparisons, Statistics Google Forms – Survey  Google Account  http://docs.google.com http://docs.google.com  Create new “Forms” Britannica World Data Analyst  Tables & Charts of Comparisons of Current Demographic data  Cell phone subscriptions  Cause of death – Disease of the circulatory system  Gender Distribution Chronological Comparisons Country Rankings

6. Part III: Visualization – Gadgets  Google Spreadsheet Gadgets: http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl =en&answer=92575 http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl =en&answer=92575  Heat Maps Heat Maps  Timelines Timelines  Interactive Distribution Charts Interactive Distribution Charts  Organizational Chart Organizational Chart

7. Part IV: Sharing – Files & Thoughts  Files Dropbox (Application installation required) Box.net Microsoft SkyDrive 25 GB online storage (Check your my.uwest.edu email account)  Blogs Blogger WordPress Microsoft Live Spaces (Check your my.uwest.edu email account)  Websites Google Sites Microsoft Live Spaces (Check your my.uwest.edu email account)  Documents/Images Google Docs  Sharing via Email setup or URL Microsoft Office Live (Check your my.uwest.edu email account)  Sharing via Email setup/password protection/etc.

8. Part V: Staying Updated – Info Comes to You  RSS Feeds From blogs, newspapers, forums, websites. Whenever a new item is posted, it will push the link to you.  Example: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/  Click on the symbol: (Firefox – Live Bookmarks) (IE – Favorites: Feeds Menu)  Use Google Reader as a Feed Aggregator (Think Email for RSS feeds)  Google Alerts Enter a keyword(s) you are interested in, and every time it is mentioned in a newspaper, blog, videos, you will get an email.  Use “” for phrases  Use – (minus sign) for NOT “University of the West” -indies

9. The Mother Lode of Tools  Digital Research Tools (DiRT)  http://digitalresearchtools.pbworks.com/ http://digitalresearchtools.pbworks.com/  A large list of digital tools to help you in your research, whether it is statistics, brainstorming, visualizations, etc.  Shows whether the program is free/commercial, online or offline.