Transcript Research Skills - Boclair Academy

Selecting and Using Information in Projects
Research Steps
 Choose your topic
 List what you already know
 Keywords
 Select your sources
 Research Questions
 Skim and scan for information
 Make bullet points of interesting information
 Write up in your own words
 Complete your Bibliography
Your Topic
 Make sure you understand your topic
 Look up the dictionary
 What facts will you need to write a good essay?
 Write out questions you need answered
What Next?
 List what you know already
 Topic spider/ bullet points/collage
 List what you’ll need to do
 Gather lots of facts

Make them interesting and relevant
 Words, tables, graphs, diagrams, pictures

colourful
 Clear presentation

Use reasonable size font (12), use headings, bold for
emphasis, label pictures etc
Keywords
Keywords are words that you will easily identify in
texts as important to your topic.
e.g.
Topic is ‘Ancient Egypt’
 Keywords
 Pyramids, tombs, pharaohs, sphinx, Tutankhamun,
hieroglyphics, sarcophagus, mummies....
Selecting Sources
Use a variety of sources for the best essay/project
 Books
 Internet
 Newspapers
 Magazines
Think of your keywords!
Books
o Use the library catalogue
o Look for your keywords
o Find your book
o Use contents and index pages
o Look for your keywords
o If useful take a note of book’s details
o Author, title, publisher, date of publication, Dewey
number
Internet
 Using the Internet
 Keywords for planned search
 Website credibility
Who put the information on?/ is it up to date?
Hint! Need a reminder, right click on this link for a quick tutorial
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/informationliteracy/secondlevel/lo
ok/IntroInternetSearching/resources/genericcontent_tcm42
68240.asp

 Relevance
• If useful then note the exact web address
E.g. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/first-world-war/
And the date you accessed it

Newspapers/ Magazines
Newspapers don't have full contents pages, so you
will have to look through the paper for relevant
articles
Magazines
 Use the contents page
 Look for your keywords
If useful then note the title, the date,
volume number, issue number, page numbers
Research Questions
When you have research questions then your
reading is more purposeful
Have you
• Who?
included these
words in your
• What?
research
• Why?
questions?
• Where?
• When?
• How?
Research Questions
 Write up as many research questions you can using
the question words
 As you do this add in any new questions that occur
 Put this sheet in your folder to refer to, as you
continue with your research
You don’t have to
read the WHOLE
book/website to be
a good researcher!
Skimming and Scanning
Skimming
Scanning
Use this technique to
Use this technique to
• Get a general overview of the
 Get the detail from your text
text
• Use for finding basic
information
• Use for finding most
important sections
Hint!
Look at first sentences/
headings/ bold text/ picture
captions/contents and index
 Locate specific information
quickly
Hint!
o Have your keywords handy
o Have your research questions
ready
o Use the index/contents page
to go directly to the answer
Reading for Research
You’ve found your information, now
 Read every word of the relevant text
 Know exactly what is meant by the text
 Take notes in your own words, this will help you to
 Remember what you have learnt
 Keep track of information
 Avoid plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is
 Stealing or borrowing from the writings or ideas of
someone else without permission
Chambers Harrap, 2009)
(Chambers School Dictionary,
Includes
 Copying from books
 Copying and pasting from the Internet
You must credit the author of anything you include in your
essay/project that is not your original work. That includes
pictures.
Notes
Read through information before starting to
make notes in your own words!
Can you read
 Read
your notes?
 Think
Do you know
what ALL the
 Make notes
words mean?
 Short notes
 Bullet points
 Diagrams
Include only interesting and relevant information
that you can understand
Organise your notes
Before organising your
notes
 Refer to your topic
keywords
 Refer to your research
questions
 Think about your end
product
Divide your notes into
sections by looking at
their
 Relevance
 Their interest level
 Diagrams/pictures
Then
 Order them
 Select Headings
Writing Up
Once you have put together all your notes, you are
ready to write up your work
 Look at your research questions before you start
 Consider using your keywords as Section Headings
or paragraph headings
Have you used
 Write each section separately
your own words?
 Finally look at the order
Have you credited
quotes?
Bibliography/ Source List
A Bibliography/ Source List is a list of all the
resources you have used to gather information.
• Book
Author, title, publisher, date of publication
 Website
Full web address and date that you last looked at it
 Magazine
Title of magazine, date of publication, volume number,
issue number, page numbers
And Finally!
 Proof read your work for spelling errors
 Spellcheckers don’t pick up everything
 Check the chapters are in the right order
 Write a contents page
 Write an index if required
Good Luck!