ExPLORE Information Plan Locate Organise Represent Evaluate EX

Step 1 Plan - what information do you need? What is your subject? What do you need to find out about? What other words or phrases can you think of to describe or are linked to this subject? Brainstorm - Make a list or draw a mind map Discover the most important words – these will be your keywords. What do you know about this subject already? Ask yourself some questions. So…what are the key questions you need to answer?

Brainstorming Brainstorming is a way of coming up with loads of ideas in a short amount of time. If you are in a group then everyone shouts out their ideas and they are all written down. If you are brainstorming on your own, then it is best to create a Mind Map… It can be done alone or in groups. The aim is to come up with ideas or solutions, and to explore different possibilities. Make sure you shout out every idea that pops into your head no matter how silly it seems!

Mind Mapping A Mind Map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. You can create mind maps online: You can use it to organise your thoughts from your brainstorming session.

Example of a Scientist Mind Map

Step 2 – Locate -identify helpful resources What resources will you use to help you find information about your subject and answer your key questions? Here are some to get you started: Non-Fiction Books Newspapers TV Reference Books Videos & DVDs Maps The Internet People Make a note of all the resources you use in your bibliography organiser

Step 3 – Organise - relevant information Step 3 – Organise - relevant information Examine all the resources you have gathered. The information which answers your questions is relevant. Keep this. Look again at your questions and use information- seeking & recording skills such as: skimming scanning notemaking Discard everything that is not relevant. Sort the relevant information to answer your questions. to find and record information

Information-Seeking Skills But what is the best way to find this relevant information? You must skim and scan the books, newspapers, websites, encyclopedias etc that you have found to find the relevant information to help answer your questions. This is where your information-seeking skills really kick in… Skimming Scanning

Skimming Skimming involves reading very fast to find only the main ideas of a piece of information. When you read a newspaper, you're probably not reading it word-by-word, instead you're skimming the text. Skimming is done at a speed three to four times faster than normal reading. People often skim when they have lots of information to read in a limited amount of time. Use skimming when you want to see quickly if a piece of information may be of interest and is relevant to your research.

Scanning Scanning is a technique you often use when looking up a name in the telephone book or a word in a dictionary. Scanning involves moving your eyes quickly down the page until you see what you are looking for. You are searching for key words or ideas. Scanning is also used when you first find a resource to determine whether it will answer your questions. In most cases, you already know what you're looking for, so you're concentrating on finding a particular answer. Once you've scanned the document, you might go back and skim it.

Information-Recording Skills Notemaking How to make notes: Only write down the important information Don’t worry about writing in sentences Use bullet points, abbreviations, symbols and colours Write information in your own words Notemaking helps you… Save time – you won’t write down information you don’t need Produce original work – you haven’t copied and have used your own words. This is very important so as to avoid Plagiarism!

Step 4 – Represent - relevant information After you have kept only what is relevant - Present your information Write a report or an essay Give a talk Make a slide show Create a poster or leaflet Write a song or rap Remember to include your Bibliography at the end To do this you might:

Step 5 – Evaluate - what you have done Think about the process you went through to find your information. Are there things you would definitely do next time? Are there things you would never do again? What could you do next time to make your enquiry even better? Ask Yourself: