Research Process
Research Tool Kit
Research is a process. It takes time and sometimes requires the researcher to rethink his/her approach, reorganize the information, or even restart with a different topic. It is messy and it takes time. So researchers need to know why they do what they do in order to stay motivated.
Here are some tools to help you through the process. These tools are organized into seven "steps" 1. Although these steps or parts of the process are in a logical order, sometimes you will need to go back and re-do a step or series of steps as you grow in your understanding of a topic. For example, you may realize that you do not have enough information to support a particular point in your research and need to locate and retrieve more. Or you may realize that there is way too much information on a particular topic and so, you need to narrow it to something that can fit into a 500 word report.
Here are some general resources to help you with the research process:
Plan your research process: Research Log
Organize: Tracking Sheets & NoodleTools
Tools for Each Step of the Process
Click on the links below to access relevant tools to help with that part of the research process
Explore the topic
Narrow or broaden your topic
Create a research question
Figure out what you need
Figure out where to look
Search books, videos, pictures, online sources, people, experts ~ Resource Checklist
Gather the best resources
Find lots of reliable information quickly by using "pre-reading" strategies to help you select.
Be selective: develop online search strategies
3 Select, Process & Record Data
TurboNotes -for taking time-stamped notes while viewing YouTube videos
Keep a source sheet
Put everything in a research folder
4 Analyze
Sort, classify and compare information
Look for patterns
Respond to your information and make connections
Look for relationships: cause and effect, spacial, hierarchical
Answer research problem/question
Make a summary, come to a conclusion
Solve a problem or make a decision
6 Share & Use
Decide how to share learning
Make a plan
Create something new and share it with others
7 Reflect, Transfer & Apply
Think about how well you did
Talk to your teacher about what was good and what you need to work on
Think about why your research is important
1 Koechline & Zwaan. Build Your Own Information Literate School, Libraries Unlimited Inc, January 31 2004 ISBN 978-0931510892