Reference Materials Objective – When conducting research understand differing use of reference materials to locate information. CS 6.7 – Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate.

Conducting Research Define the term research for me.

The collecting of information about a subject What is it like? Definition The collecting of information about a subject Putting the parts of a puzzle together to make a complete picture Research An example Creating a project

Four Types of Reference Materials Encyclopedia Atlas Dictionary Thesaurus

Encyclopedia Why do we use encyclopedias? An encyclopedia is used when someone wants to find basic information about a person, place, or thing. You may want to find out information about Dr. Ronald McNair. You can learn about him from reading information in an encyclopedia.

Atlas An atlas is a book of maps. An atlas is a good source to use when you want to find a specific place, street, road, city, or state. Many people use an atlas when they are going on vacation or traveling to another place.

Dictionary We use a dictionary to look up words. You will find the meaning of words in a dictionary. You can also learn how to pronounce a word by looking it up in a dictionary. Many dictionaries will have information on how words came into our language.

Thesaurus A thesaurus helps you find synonyms and antonyms for words. A synonym is a word that as the same meaning as another word, such as great, magnificent, excellent, wonderful. All these words are synonyms. An antonym is a word that has the opposite meaning. Antonyms for wonderful include horrible and awful. Being able to find other words can help you write better.

Do you know? For the next couple of slides I will describe a situation. You must decide what type of reference material would be used in this situation. Do you know what reference material to use?

Challenge Question One My teacher has assigned a report on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. I need to find information on the Challenger’s history and especially its 10th and final mission. Where would I find this type of information?

Answer Encyclopedia Remember, an encyclopedia helps us find basic information of a wide variety of topics. It is a good place to begin your research.

Challenge Question Number Two My family is planning a vacation to Florida. We are going to Kennedy Space Center. I am so excited! We are trying to decide what interstate we need to take. How can we get there from South Carolina? What reference material should we use to find this information?

Remember, an atlas is a book containing maps. Answer Atlas Remember, an atlas is a book containing maps.

Challenge Question Number Three Jimmy is working on writing a sentence with each of his spelling words. He comes to a word he does not know. How can he find the definition of the word? What reference material should he use to find this information?

A dictionary gives us the meaning, pronunciation, and origin of words. Answer Dictionary A dictionary gives us the meaning, pronunciation, and origin of words.

Challenge Question Number Four I am writing a report about Dr. McNair, the astronaut. I want to find another word to use instead of saying “smart.” Where can I find a word that means the same as smart? What reference material would I use to find this information?

A thesaurus has synonyms and antonyms. Answer Thesaurus A thesaurus has synonyms and antonyms. smart astute intelligent bright

Challenge Question Number Five Jane is working on a research paper for her third grade class. She is trying to find information about how people in France celebrate Christmas. First, she must find out where her country is located and some of the major cities. Where would she find this information? What reference material would she use for this report?

Answer Atlas

Challenge Question Number Six Tracy is learning new vocabulary that goes along with her reading story for this week. Her teacher has explained the word to the class. Tracy would like to find another word that means the same as the vocabulary word she is working on. What reference material should Tracy use to find a synonym for this word?

Answer Thesaurus

Reference Materials Reference materials like the encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, and thesaurus help us find information. There are other special reference books that we will talk about at another time. The Internet has all of these reference materials. In South Carolina, we have discus, South Carolina’s virtual database. The URL is www.scdiscus.org.

Can you stump the class? Divide into groups. Each group makes up a reference question that can be solved by using one of the sources we talked about today. Ask your group’s question to the class and see if you stumped the class.