This week I am away on an offline vacation. Rather than let the blog be dormant or rerunning old posts I decided to give some other people a chance to share their experiences and ideas with you. I hope you enjoy the posts.
Do
you or your students cringe at the thought of research? Why not try
some of these tools to help you update and revitalize the research
process for both you and your students?
Planning
“A journey well begun is half done.” Anonymous
Infohoio
was created to assist Ohio educators and students with the research
process. The Ask, Act, Achieve page offers many links which will assist
students as they plan and organize their research.
Assignment Calculator
was created by the University of Minnesota. Students enter their
project’s due date and are given a dated, detailed plan of action for
each step of the research process. Teachers might also want to use the
Assignment Calculator to set checkpoints along the research path.
Locating and Accessing Information
A
well-constructed search yields the best results. Can your students
choose the appropriate keywords and phrases to ensure success? Do they
believe everything they read on the Internet, or do they know how to
evaluate sources?
Google Search Education
offers a set of lesson plans designed to meet students at their level
of need (beginner, intermediate, and advanced). You’ll find lesson
plans aligned with Common Core State Standards on picking the right
search terms, understanding search results, narrowing a search to get
the best results, searching for evidence for research tasks, and
evaluating the credibility of sources.
Evaluation Wizard
The 21st Century Information Fluency website offers a free evaluation
wizard. Students insert a website’s url and then are taken through the
steps to determine the site’s accuracy and reliability.
Gathering Information: Taking Notes
My
students have more trouble with the notetaking portion of research than
any other step in the process. Without good notes, students can’t hope
to compose an excellent paper.
Zotero: this invaluable tool assists students in doing online research.
Students will love the iTunes-like format where they capture each site’s
bibliographic information, take notes, and add tags, simplifying their
online research.
Notetaking templates Do students need assistance to determine what information to collect as they take notes?
Pulling It All Together: Synthesis
The
hardest work is behind you! if you took excellent notes, then this
step of your research project will practically organize itself.
(Teachers, see this Libguide from John Wood Community College in Quincy, Illinois, for suggestions on notetaking formats and organization.)
Essay Map this interactive tool from readwritethink.org walks students through the steps of preparing their final paper.
Free Online Plagiarism Detector
Once students have a rough draft, they can copy and paste it into the
space provided on this site. Students will be given feedback (on online
sources only) to help them identify areas in their paper that must be
edited to avoid plagiarism.
Bio:
Fran taught English at both the junior high and high school levels for
29 years before becoming the lead librarian at Boiling Springs High
School in Boiling Springs, South Carolina. She is passionate about
reading and using technology to enhance instruction.
Fran
taught English at both the junior high and high school levels for 29
years before becoming the lead librarian at Boiling Springs High School
in Boiling Springs, South Carolina. She is passionate about reading and
using technology to enhance instruction.
Connect with me: fran.bullington@gmail.com
Informania blog: http://informania.wordpress.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FranBullington
