Year 11 Science

tips for

Research

Middleton Grange

School

Where to start

• identify your question or topic• brainstorm (write down!) alternative words• put these words and phrases together to

make

KEYWORDS

Where to go

• books – see our Library webOPAC(reading lists under 11SCC) – use books inthe library or take out on overnight loan.

• EPIC databases• -these include

journal articles, news items,fact sheets, and reference materials

• The Internet

EPIC DATABASES

• Google “epic tki”• Enter the Username and Password

Which databases to choose?

• Britannica School

• Science in Context

• Student Resources in Context

• Health and Wellness Resource Centre

• MasterFILE Complete

THE INTERNET

• Google is not necessarily the best search engine. Try carrot2 or Sweet search.

• Using Wikipedia can be a good starting point, but DO NOT USE THE INFORMATION WITHOUT VERIFYING ITS ACCURACY FROMANOTHER AUTHORITATIVE SOURCE.Anyone can add anything to Wikipedia, so it’s not necessarily accurate.

SEARCH TECHNIQUES

Use KEYWORDS• Find the important words in your task• Think of other words that mean the

same thing

Use SPEECH MARKS• Group words and phrases together in “ “.• This tells the search engine to find the words

only when they are next to each other• Putting “ “ around a single word, will find

precisely that word, and not another way of saying it

SEARCH TECHNIQUES - cont

Use OPTIONS (for Google search results page)• News – for news items on your search• More Apps• Any time – choose appropriate timeframe• Search tools All results Reading level

Use WILD CARD (the asterix *). This is called truncation

• To search for all spelling of words, such asorganisation or organization, type organi*ation

• To find all endings of words, such as microbe, microbiology, microbiota, microbiome, typemicrob*

EVALUATING WEBSITES

C urrencyA ccuracyM eaningP rejudiceE videnceR elevance

Domain codes• .ac academic sites in NZ or UK• .edu academic sites in Aus/USA, etc• .co commercial sites in NZ or UK• .com commercial sites anywhere• .gov government in Aus/USA• .govt government in NZ or UK• .net networked service providers• .org not-for-profit organisations• .school NZ schools• .iwi official NZ iwi sites

Are these websites FACT OR FICTION ?

http://www.buydehydratedwater.com/

http://www.umbachconsulting.com/miscellany/velcro.html

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

CRITICAL EVALUATION(revisited)

The 5W’s of Website EvaluationBy Kathy Schrock

Use this as a checklist!

AVOId plagiarism !

When presenting your research, you must paraphrase, i.e. you must express the same message in different words ….

Paraphrasing techniques

Watch this YouTube clip

This is passing off somebody else’s work or ideas as your own and is nothing short of stealing!

Paraphrasing

“An effective paraphrase keeps the same

core meaning as the original passage, but

the meaning is expressed in your own

personal voice. It sounds like you.”

Of course, you may quote excerpts from articles you find, providing they are in quotation marks, and referenced in your bibliography. And remember: Teachers can use plagiarism –checkers online!

COPYRIGHT and images

To safely search for images that can be reused without prior permission:

• Go to Google Images• Type in your keywords Enter.

Search Tools Usage Rights Labelled for Reuse.

You can now copy and paste any of these images legally. There are other Creative Commons’ sites such as www.pixabay.com, www.tumblr.com or www.digitalnz.org.

Citing your sources• From the MGS WebOPAC, find (Fast Find) the

book, tick the checkbox, hover over List, go down to View Citation. Choose APA.

• For other resources, including websites, useRefME. Free sign-up, and there is a freeApp for your phone! Just scan the barcodeand the app does the rest!

N.B. You must state the date you accessed a website!

Whatever you do, make a trail of your research !

PRESENT your research

Re-read the instructions for your assessment, e.g.

• Have you written a report as requested?

• Is it the correct word-length?

• Have you used the correct number of sources?

• Have you completed a bibliography?

REFERENCES

• Julie James, Librarian, Mountainview High School

• Jackie Phillips, Library Manager,Mackenzie College & Community Library

• Kathy Schrock, an online adjunct graduate-level professor at two universities and an independent educational technologist, US

• Senga White, Research & Learning Co-ordinator, Southland Boys’ High School

REFERENCES - cont

School, N. P. C. (2013, November 4). How to Paraphrase. YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGoIePml2w4Accessed 28 March 2015

Skywalker, K. (2012, March 28). Funny but teaches about Plagiarism.YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdOYE-FLNuoAccessed 23 March 2015