2. Choose Topic from a list Once your major topic idea is decided upon, your first step is to formulate some open ended questions. What do you want to learn? What questions do you need answered? Do you have guidelines to follow or a rubric to complete?

3. Collect Data from a Range of Resources Print and electronic resources include: Reference texts Periodicals Web pages Online sources And data from Experts How do I know which type of resource to use? Click hereClick here

4. Gathering Relevant Information How do you know what is relevant and what is not? What are some guidelines to follow? Where should I begin to find resources? Librarian, Teachers, Experts, Books, Encyclopedias, and ONLINE……….

5. Boolean Searching Using Boolean operators “and, or and not” narrows your search options. Put quotation marks around your “search terms”. Boolean Machine

6. Differentiate between primary and secondary sources A primary source is the original article or piece of information. This could include a novel, painting, speech, article, letter, play, etc. A secondary source is someone else’s information or analyzing about the original piece. For example if someone wrote an article about the President’s speech. The response is a secondary source. A secondary source could contain some biased information.

7. Notetaking Notetaking is a very important skill to learn at an early age. Write down more information than you are going to need to complete your assignment. Then you can go back and decide what is most important. It is best to use an organizer to sort your thoughts. If you don’t already have one created for you, use your main topics for your assignment as your headings. How do I know what resources to use? Click here for help!Click here for help!

8. Record Data utilizing technology Take written notes and convert in meaningful way. Use word processors Using charts, graphs, diagrams, timelines, etc. Make a graphic organizer to keep your thoughts organized and collect necessary information.

9. Skimming and Scanning Skimming and scanning allows you to cover a lot of information in a short amount of time. Helps to identify main idea. This is where you need to pay attention to titles, subtitles, headings, first and last sentences in paragraphs, illustrations, and first paragraphs. This is simply to locate information, not for total comprehension. Scanning involves moving your eyes quickly down a page to locate specific information. Let’s practice.

10. Paraphrasing vs. Plagiarism Important to cite resources you use. This is called the works cited page. If you use author’s words, must put their words in quotation marks and then author’s name in parenthesis after each statement. If you don’t say exact words, but use same idea, still need to give credit. Example: What weighs about three pounds but has more parts than there are starts in the Milky Way Galaxy? (Flieger) the human brain Example of a completed research paper. Click hereClick here

11. Identify the source of the notes Must include author, title, page number for each note. Record bibliographic information for each source in standard MLA format. You may use this citation maker to correctly site your sources. Just choose the source type and complete the information. http://www.palomar.edu/dsps/actc/mla/http://www.palomar.edu/dsps/actc/mla/ Copy and paste this citation into your works cited page.

12. Your requirements for this paper: All text must be in the same font. Title page: text must be centered, title in size 72 font and name is size 36 font. ( May adjust if title is too long) Body of paper will be size 12 font, double-spaced, and left aligned. Each paragraph must be indented. Number each page in top right corner with your name then page #. (example Hames 1) Follow the expository pillar: 5 paragraphs- intro, 3 main ideas with at least 4 details for each idea, conclusion Works cited page. Will begin on new page and next page number. Alphabetize each entry by first letter. Underline all titles of books, magazines, films, etc. Indent the 2 nd line, 3 rd line, and all subsequent lines of each citation. Must include at least one citation from a book, one from a webpage, and 1 from an online database or encyclopedia.

13. Links to lots of resources! So you have to do a research project? Webb Reference Resources