Enhance our Research Skills Write Responsibly Document the Research

WHAT IS RESEARCH? Re (again) + search (to look for) Look everywhere for info Look again & again Helps you to narrow down your topic and/or take a position

PRIMARY & SECONDARY SOURCES PRIMARY Original sources that inform you directly (not through someone else’s interpretation) – Diaries, journals & letters – Presentations – Interviews – Surveys & questionnaires – Observation & participation SECONDARY 3 rd person accounts, done by other people – TV – Radio – Books – Internet – Magazines – Newspaper BEST SOURCE OF INFORMATION!

TERTIARY SOURCES  Tertiary sources are a synthesis of information available in other resources. Tertiary sources often list the information in a convenient form. Eg: All encyclopedias  WIKIPEDIA Tip: This is always a good place to start your research as it gives you a comprehensive understanding of the topic.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Think of 2 sources (Primary & Secondary) that you can use to learn about life in the military

EVALUATING SOURCES Is the source primary or secondary? Is the source an expert? Is the information accurate? Is the information fair & complete? Is the information current?

HOW TO RESEARCH? 1.Recognize the need for additional information 2.Search thoughtfully 3.Evaluate information 4.Improvise in your research methodology Prepare to recognise gaps in information & to revise the search

CLASS ACTIVITY TOPIC: How to bake a cake? After quite a bit of searching, you find that you have sufficient material to teach you how to put the icing on the cake, but not enough to teach you how to actually make the cake. Is something wrong? What could you do now?

You have heard that you have to be careful about Internet materials, because anyone can put up a webpage, it is all uncontrolled. You are not naive about stories in the mass media either: you know they are frequently biased and inaccurate. But you are unsure about what you should do with books and articles written by academics. Can you assume that they are all valuable and trustworthy, and that you don't really have to bother trying to evaluate those? What do you assume? Do you need to evaluate all the sources of information gathered? ALSO…