The Research Process

One way to look at research instruction is that students learn lifelong skills to accomplish an immediate task. 

Are you a student required to do research?

This website and new Hyperdoc are for you.

Are you a classroom teacher requiring your students to do research?

This website is for you.

Are you a teacher librarian who needs to collaborate with school site teachers to teach research?

This website is for you.

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Book: Practical Steps to Digital Research, ABC-CLIO/Libraries Unlimited

Research and Common Core State Standards in a Digital Environment

With the coming of Common Core State Standards (CCSS video) in combination with AASL Model School Library Standards (CA MSLS table) in a digital world of emerging literacies, students are being asked to discover information for themselves through research with the world of information at their fingertips. In the new paradigm, research moves beyond report writing to inquiry-based, multi-dimensional learning. How can we integrate basic research skills into a digital world? Is there a difference between print research skills and digital skills? Can either set of these skills be intuitively acquired or must they be taught? Sometimes as "guides on the side" and sometimes as knowledgeable instructors, classroom teachers and teacher librarians can address these key issues while pointing the way to fascinating discoveries through research.

This Web site suggests the school library is the best place to begin the research process. Research comes from the root word "search." But searching the library and the Internet can be an overwhelming and confusing scavenger hunt, leading students into the alluring abyss of plagiarism. Use this Web site as a guide to simplify the complex task of fulfilling research requirements while guaranteeing genuine student work. If print resources are not readily available, as required for thorough research, consider a WebQuest using QuestGarden.   

Focus of this Website

Basic library research skills are the starting point upon which to build effective digital research capabilities. The purpose of this Web site is to provide a seamless transition from print to digital research using a six-step process. Research becomes much more manageable---and successful---when it is broken down into parts. View this YouTube for an overview of this Web site and its six steps. 

Six simple steps for effective research:

Resources for post-research tasks:

Are you prepared for 21st century research?

"In the age of the Internet and YouTube, libraries are changing the way they do business." 

Stephen Wall, Press-Enterprise Riverside

Disclaimer: Did you know "digital research" isn't a real term at this point in time? For the purposes of this Web site, it's a term that is used to describe research performed on any type of Internet-accessible device. To clarify, student digital research involves the enormous world of Web-based data access, evaluation, and use. But is it more than that? Are we talking about eResearch? Or are we talking about some of the components of eResearch, which set the tone for student digital research. Namely, it's important that digital research goes beyond access, evaluation, and use into the capabilities of integrating and sharing information. This sets the stage for the goal of this Web site to identify, articulate, and provide instruction to students in both library (print) and digital (Web) research tasks and skills.

 

Basic library research skills are the starting point upon which to build effective research capabilities. Moving from library print-based research to digital device-based research takes on many levels of complexity and requires a student's understanding of:

 

1. DIGITAL LITERACY: Digital literacy is the knowledge needed to function in a digital world.

 

2. DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP: Digital citizenship is the appropriate behaviors needed to function in a digital world.

3. DIGITAL SKILLS: Digital skills are the specific skills needed to accomplish a specific digital task.

Choices promote good research

Remember, for research to be truly successful, choices in each of the six steps promote interest and engagement. 

Research Overview

What is research

 

Research is like cooking

Grade school vs college or academic research

Other resources for research

Student handouts

Additional research handouts are located on appropriate research "step" Web pages.

Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

Videos

       With special thanks to Karen Morgenstern, CSLA unofficial documentarian, here are a couple of videos of this website creator's research process presentations. While these clips are from a single CUE/CSLA Summit in Palm Springs, they represent sessions about teaching research since 1998. 

Works Cited

Created by Deborah B. Stanley. Copyright 2017, with credit to the YouTube creators and Web article authors included. Contact: debstanley550@mac.com.