Conducting Research English 2

Not everything is what it appears…

Be an educated consumer of information Doing research means not only finding information, but deciding whether a given source is reliable, comprehensive and accurate

So where can you look for information? Nonfiction articles (newspapers, magazines, the Web) Fiction Interviews Images Field research Primary and secondary sources Expert opinions

To find a source Choose an appropriate keyword. For example, to locate interviews with survivors of the HMS Titanic disaster, “Titanic” and “survivors” and “interviews” would all be effective keywords.

Use Boolean search terms Searching for “Titanic” and “survivors” and “interviews” will provide more useful results than looking for each of these terms individually.

How Reliable Is the Source? Who compiled the information? Who published it? What was their purpose? What do other people within the field think about it? www.abcnews.go.com

How Reliable Is the Source? Who compiled the information? Who published it? What was their purpose? What do other people within the field think about it? http://davesweb.cnchost.com/Apollo1.html

Taking Notes Details about the publication: Author Title of the article Title of the publication Publisher Date of publication (if known) Date of most recent revision

Taking Notes How did this source answer the questions you had about this subject? What point of view does this source express? How does this source lead to other questions about the subject? How comprehensive or reliable do you find this source?