Change Project Research Orientation 2016

What are we doing today? Search skills for Change Project: Keywords Modifying a search Evaluation Citing sources in MLA 8 This is for classes that have already had a basic intro to the library (checkouts, holds, renewing, etc)

Research in the Change Project Over a quarter of your Change Project grade depends on research! For the Annotated Bibliography Assignment you need: At least 3 different sources of at least 3 different types For the Research Report you need: At least 5 sources of at least 3 different types

Research starts with questions… A scientist observes an environmental problem. What kinds of things do they need to find out?: Brainstorm in groups and then together, add to slide. Make sure they hit: How big of a problem is it? What’s causing it? Where is it a problem? What are the effects/impact of it? What’s the science behind the problem/how does it work? How can we fix it?

Use keywords, not whole sentences How does solar power work and how can it save money and help our environment? Solar power Solar power cost Energy costs Solar power benefits Renewable energy Green energy Green technology Sustainable power sources Tip: Try to guess the keywords that researchers would use to describe that topic.

Brainstorm keywords for your topic…

…Then you find information Book Reference Periodical Website Interview Pamphlet Video Gov’t Report

Modify Your Search Look at your results, and change keywords to get better results! If you find TOO FEW sources, try BROADER or MORE GENERAL keywords: Motor oil pollution in storm drains Water pollution Don’t settle for bad sources!

Modify Your Search If you find TOO MANY or IRRELEVANT sources, try NARROWER or MORE SPECIFIC keywords: Endangered species Burrowing owl Endangered species Fremont, CA

Try Using Keywords in the Library Catalog to Find Books Have students find one book on their practice Change Project topic and bring it back to their table.

Smarter Web Searching Discuss what cartoon means

How do I know if a source is reliable?

Authority WHO created the source and are they an expert on my topic? Truncate (shorten) the URL back to the .gov, .edu, .whatever… Find the About Us section Decide if the author or organization is an expert Authority: An author may be an organization, not a person. Stop & show examples of this with one topic. Show students how to find the “About Us” section of different websites and how to truncate a URL to get back to the home page. For the truncated URL, choose a site from Google that has no links to the home page—like one of those floating PDFs they always find

Bias WHY did they create it? Are they trying to educate you, persuade you, or sell you something? Look for balanced sources whose purpose is education FrogsSee Kaur file. Some students may have already seen

Currency WHEN did they create it? Is it too old for your topic? How recent does your source need to be for that topic? Types of e-waste we can recycle List of greenhouse gases Statistics on what percentage of beach litter is plastic Description of how wetlands help clean our water Show students how to find date on bottom of page (most websites) or below byline of periodicals. Discuss dfference between “last reviewed/updated” (what we want) and copyright date (which is often just auto-updated without the content changing). Also have one example where there’s NO date—what detective work can we do to determine the approx date? Ex: if they mention the nuclear accident in Fukushima Japan, we know it’s after 2011; if they cite sources that have dates, that also gives a clue.

Your turn: Evaluation 1. Dihydrogen monoxide, 2. Kaur’s list

Parts of a citation

Citing A Website (Web Document or Page from a Website) “The Problem with Marine Debris.” California Coastal Commission, State of California, July 2016, www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/marinedebris.html.

How to find citation info on a website #3: Publisher How to find citation info on a website #2: Site title #1: Page title

Use “About Us” to find publisher: Give the most complete date that you can. Use n.d. if no date.

Date at top or bottom of site Look for most recent date “Posted,” “Last updated,” “Reviewed,” not copyright date Day, abbreviated month, year: 29 Aug. 2016 x

Helpful Website Hints “Page Title” and Site Title (Container) are different Common to have no author. Leave it out. For the publisher, look for the organization that made the site. You need the “last updated” date, not the copyright