A College Search Guide for High School Students Submitted by: Corina Galvan and Dmaris Thorn LS 5443: Librarians as Instructional Partners Dr. Judi Moreillon October 22, 2010 Information Literate The Big6 Many of you will be looking for colleges soon and that means looking for the right one that fits you. So how are you going to do this? The Big6 method will help you do just that. The Big6 is an information problem- solving process to be used whenever people need or use information (Darrow, 1999). It was developed by two educators, Mike Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz to teach students information and technology skills. The Big6 is divided into 6 skills. Task Definition Information Seeking Strategies Location and Access Use of information Synthesis Evaluation Task Definition Information Seeking Strategies Location and Access Use of Information SynthesisEvaluation Big6 Define information problem What college is right for me? Identify the information need Information on different colleges. Things you need to ask yourself: What is my task? Find the right college for me. What am I supposed to do? Find information to help me make my decision. What kind of information do I need? What do I want to know? Find information on different colleges. What do I already know? What schools do I already know about? What are all the possible sources? Where should I start looking? Websites, books, news magazines, journals, encyclopedias? What type of sources would provide the type of information I need? Narrow down the sources. For example, school websites and news publications (websites, magazines, and articles). Source:ngsandreviews.com/best- colleges Source:m/2007/08/31/america- s-25-hot-schools.html Now that you have chosen the sources you will use where is the information you need within each source? Where will you find the information that you need, i.e. Admissions, degrees offered, cost of tuition, school location and demographics, services offered to students, and so on. Source:dmissions/default.asp Source:/admissions/progra ms-majors.asp Now that Ive found the information within each source what do I do with it? Great! Youve found the information within each source, now extract the information that will answer your questions you have about each school. Take notes to help extract the information you need. Example Questions: What kind of degrees are offered? How do tuition costs compare to other schools? How do the school rankings compare to other schools Im interested in? What is the admission process and deadlines? Eisenberg created this note taking template to help organize the information that is found for each question asked. Source: Synthesis = combine all the information and create a new product (PACE, p.5). How can I fit all the pieces of the information together? How about using a graphic organizer! How can I best show what Ive learned? A slide presentation? A research paper? A display board? Graphic Organizers are used to structure writing projects, to help in problem solving, decision making, studying, planning research and brainstorming (eduplace. com). KWL Chart fromorganizer/pdf/kwl.pdf This is the last step of the Big6 process. In this step we reflect what we have accomplished and evaluate it. Did I answer all my questions? Is there anything else I need to do? Did I meet the standards of my assignment/task? The Big6 Method of Research Task Definition Information Seeking Strategies Location and Access Use of Information SynthesisEvaluation Big6 This process of searching and finding the information you need can be used to help you with any of your information needs. You can use it for you next big research assignment or looking for a new car or cell phone. Remember this process will help you work smarter, not harder! The Scholarship Guide for High School Seniors How do I apply for scholarships? The Financial Guide for High School Seniors How do I save money for my college years? The College Housing Guide for High School Seniors Should I live on-campus or off-campus during my college years? Berkowitz, Bob, and Mike Eisenberg. The Big6. Accessed on October 12, 2010 from.http://www.big6.com/ Champlin, Connie, and Nancy A.S. Miller With David V. Loertscher. A Painless Guide to Research Using Web 2.0 Tools. Under the Umbrella of 21st Century Learning Skills. Salt Lake City, UT: Hi Willow Research & Publishing, Clip Art. (2010). Microsoft Corporation. Darrow, Rob. (1999). Harnessing the Internet: Use the Big6!. ClovisUSD. Accessed on October 18, 2010 from Eisenberg, Dr. Mike. Information Literacy. The Most Basic of Basics! University of Washington. June 2009