Research Advice

1. Listen to task instructions when your task is handed out.

2. If you have any questions about the task at that time, ask your teacher.

3. Follow the task instructions - task instructions usually contain a step-by-step guide that explains what you need to do. This includes checking the marking criteria, so that you know what is required to get a good mark.

4. Plan out what you need to do, step-by-step, and factor your task due date into the planning.

5. Where you are required to conduct research to complete the task, make sure you:

• Access websites or other resources that are reputable (meaning the creator of the website is a well-known organisation or the individual author is identified on the page).

• Take notes from the websites or other resources, then put the information into your own words as best as possible. You can do this by reading the information alloud to yourself and thinking about how you would say it. You should use a thesaurus (see https://www.thesaurus.com) to help you with words you do not understand. You should not copy and paste chunks of information without putting it into your own words, as this is plagiarism (pretending someone else's work is your own).

• Make sure you get the bibliographical reference details for the sites you visit. See "How to Write a Reference List" below.

6. Start putting your notes and research into logical order so that you complete the task requirements / answer the questions. If the information needs to be presented in the TEEEL format (see below), make sure you have done this.

7. Check that you have included all the relevant information - including bibliography, images, graphs, etc.

8. Proof read the work yourself by reading it aloud. This will allow you to pick up on any errors more easily.

9. Ask someone else to proof read your work. You can ask me (Miss McDonogh) or your teachers to do this. Or even Mum, Dad or another family member.

10. Submit - via Google Classroom or hard copy.

To write a bibliographical reference, you need a few key details from the resources that you use:

For a website, you should include the following:

• Creator - a person or a group. (Year it was created or updated). Title of website. Title of the article or page within the website. http://xxxxx. Date you accessed the website.

• Example: National Geographic Society. (2018). Society. Resource Library - Encyclopedic Entry - Julius Caesar. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/julius-caesar/. Accessed 28/4/22.

Sometimes the Title of the work and the Site Name can be the same. In that case, you only need to include the Site Name.

It can sometimes be difficult to find this information on every website, so if you need help, feel free to send the website link to me (kathleen.mcdonogh@det.nsw.edu.au) and I can help find the relevant details.

For a book, you should include the following:

• Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work. Publisher Name.

• Example: Benesch, S. (2001). Critical English for academic purposes: Theory, politics, and practice. Lawrence Erlbaum.

• Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of work. Publisher Name.

• Example: Grant, P. R., & Grant, B. R. (2008). How and why species multiply: The radiation of Darwin’s finches. Princeton University Press.

Again, if you need any help finding these details in a book, please see me or email me for help.

For a video or DVD, you should include the following:

• Director, B. B. (Director). (Year). Title of film [Film]. Production Company(-ies).

• Example: Spielberg, S. (Director). (1975). Jaws [Film]. Universal Pictures.

For a TV show, you should include the following:

• For a whole TV series:

• Producer, P. P. (Executive Producer). (Year-Year). Title of series [TV series]. Production Company/-ies.

• Example: Blomgren, L., Featherstone, J., Levin, M., Melhli, N., Mensah, A., De La Patellière, F., & Wilson, K. (Executive Producers). (2013-2018). The tunnel [TV series]. Kudos; Shine France.

• For an Episode in a TV series:

• Writer, W. W. (Writer), & Director, D. D. (Director). (Year, Month Day). Title of episode (Season x, Episode x) [TV series episode]. In P. P. Producer (Executive Producer), Title of series Production Company/-ies.

• Example: Perske, J. (Writer), & Ivin, G. (Director). (2018, September 30). (Series 1, Episode 1) [TV series episode]. In C. Mundell, E. Kilgarriff, & G. Holmes (Executive Producers), The cry. Synchronicity Films.

For other resources not listed here, please come and see me in the Library for help.