1. The Research Process Topic Subtopics Sources Read/Think/Select Notetake Sort & Number Notes Putting the pieces together.

2. Copyright 2008 Deborah B. Stanley All rights reserved This PowerPoint is intended for educational and/or instructional purposes in a school library setting or for use by an instructor for single-event staff development. It is not permissible to reproduce this material for commercial gain. This material may be adapted by teacher librarians for site-specific research teaching with minimal deviation from the original model and with proper credit to the source. Made and distributed by Deborah B. Stanley Debstanley550@mac.com All images are from MS PowerPoint Clip Art Gallery and from the Microsoft Office “Design Gallery Live” at http://dgl.microsoft.com/?CAG=1 http://dgl.microsoft.com/?CAG=1

3. Let’s focus on: Selecting Subtopics

4. Concepts to Consider “What do I want to know about my topic?” Where do they come from? Why are subtopics so important? How do I know if a subtopic is “good”? Subtopics focus research by answering the question: How many should I use? Subtopics

5. Subtopics focus your research: “WHAT do I want to know about (my topic)?” Subtopics “HOW do I create a plan to explore (my topic)?”

6. Why are subtopics so important? “You have absolutely Because if you don’t have subtopics, idea what you are doing!” Subtopics

7. Subtopics become the plan for research! Like an architect’s blueprints, Or a doctor’s x-ray, Subtopics Topic Subtopic

8. How do I know if a subtopic is “good”? Subtopics

9. Where do subtopics come from? General subtopics Specific subtopics can be brainstormed. must be pre-searched. Subtopics subtopics

10. General subtopics examples: Person: Early life, Education, Accomplishments, Later life Place: Origin, History, Leaders, Economy, Culture, etc. Thing: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How Subtopics

11. This simple story explains general subtopics: A little boy walks into the school library and asks the teacher-librarian for help because he’s writing a report about dinosaurs. Seeing the difficulty of too much information, the teacher-librarian asks, “Perhaps you want to know about its body--what it looked like?” “Yes, I do!,” said the little boy. “Maybe you want to know what it ate,” she says. “Yes, my teacher said I need to include that.” “Do you want to know where it lived?” As you can see, the library teacher was guiding him to choose subtopics in order to filter information. Subtopics

12. Specific subtopics examples: Paris: Photovoltaic cell: George Washington: Early life, Surveyor, Soldier, General, President Gallo-Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment Inventor, Uses, Improvements “I need to search for specific ways to tackle this topic.” Subtopics

13. Look for specific subtopics in: Book’s table of contents Encyclopedia’s bold subheads Textbook’s units and chapter titles Internet web site’s index or subsections Just like topics, “pre-search” to research! subtopics Subtopics

14. How many subtopics should I use? How do I start? How can I adjust? Budget your time according to when your project is due. You or your teacher can judge your ability to access, evaluate, and use information, Fewer days of research = fewer subtopics “So in a week, can I do ten subtopics?” and your motivation to complete tasks! Subtopics

15. Remember, subtopics are the guideposts on the road to to information management. subtopic