Visit the ThinkTank for ideas, inspiration and examples.
Now that you have determined a problem that you want examine more closely, follow these steps to assist in your exploration.
Brainstorm ideas on your problem or area of interest. Use the steps below to refresh your memory on the brainstorming process. Check out the list of brainstorming and search tools to assist you. Determine whether you are a left or right brain thinker. Use the tools to help you organize your ideas.
Connect to your prior knowledge on your subject. What do you already know?
Construct questions of your own.
Search for and read preliminary information on your research topic.
Refresh your note-taking skills and learn to use some cool new tools.
Check out the Student Resources to assist you along the way.
Before launching into an individual brainstorming activity, the instructor should "prime" the researchers thinking with some brainstorming activities in order for the researchers to have a frame of reference for productive brainstorming.
Students - Follow the directions below as you explore your issue or problem.
Step 1
Review the methods of brainstorming (structured, unstructured and silent) and choose the method that best suits your style.
Step 2
To brainstorm as a whole group and provide a framework for how to brainstorm productively, you can access the site, 25 Brainstorming Techniques , or UNC Brainstorming Handout, for engaging brainstorming ideas/techniques.
Step 3
Complete this preliminary brainstorming activity related to the GENERAL topic or area of study you are interested in researching for the course by clicking the icon to the right. This creative, idea generation tool inspires you to make connections between a random image and your idea.
Now it is time to introduce a variety of Internet tools to aid you when brainstorming for information on your topic in your chosen field of study.
If you are interested in technology or engineering design and invention, use these invention brainstorming strategies and tools to identify needs to be addressed or problems that might be solved through invention.
This web application organizes search results chronologically allowing users to view news and other data sources on a browseable, graphical timeline. Available data sources include recent and historical news, scanned newspapers and magazines, blog posts, sports scores, and information about various types of media, like music albums and movies.
Google Search, Google Spin
A pre-defined mind mapper which helps the user get all the related search results in a wheel shaped display (similar to mind mapping software which are commonly used); gives users another reason to use it in addition to the features already provided by search engine giant Google.
If the right-brained process makes you break out into a cold sweat, you may be a left brain. If you aren't comfortable with chaos and you need to find a more orderly way to brainstorm, the bullet method might work better for you.
Put the title or topic of your paper at the head of your paper.
Think of three or four categories that would serve as subtopics. You can start by thinking how you could break down your topic into smaller sections. What sort of features could you use to divide it? You could consider time periods, ingredients, or sections of your subject matter.
Write down each of your subtopics, leaving a few inches of space between each item.
Make bullets under each subtopic. If you find you need more space than you've provided under each category, you can transfer your subtopic to a new sheet of paper.
Don't worry about the order of your subjects as you write; you will put them into order once you have exhausted all your ideas.
Once you have emptied your brain, take a short break from your work.
When you return with a fresh and rested mind, glance over your work to see what kinds of patterns emerge.
Number your main ideas so they create a flow of information.
You have a rough outline for your paper!
Right brained thinkers are typically comfortable with a variety of shapes, ideas, and patterns. Right brains don't run from chaos. The artistic side of the right brain enjoys the process of creating--and it doesn't really matter whether they start with cluttered ideas or clumps of clay.
Write your main idea or topic in the middle of the paper.
Start writing down thoughts, in no particular pattern. Write words or passages that pertain to your main idea in some way.
Once you've exhausted the random thoughts that come into your head, start using prompters like who, what, where, when, and why. Do any of these prompters generate more words and ideas?
Consider whether prompters like "opposites" or "comparisons" would be relevant for your topic.
Don't worry about repeating yourself. Just keep writing!
If your paper gets full, use a second sheet. Tape it to the edge of your original paper.
Keep attaching pages as necessary.
Once you have emptied your brain, take a short break from your work.
When you return with a fresh and rested mind, glance over your work to see what kinds of patterns emerge.
You'll notice that some thoughts are related to others and some thoughts are repeated. Draw yellow circles around the thoughts that are related. The "yellow" ideas will become a subtopic.
Draw blue circles around other related ideas for another subtopic. Continue this pattern.
Don't worry if one subtopic has ten circles and another has two. When it comes to writing your paper, this simply means you may write several paragraphs about one idea and one paragraph about another. That's OK.
Once you finish drawing circles, you may want to number your individual colored circles in some sequence.
Don't know where to go with your topic? Cannot find an original path to research? Take a look at this Power point that illustrates some of the paths to researching the positive effects of video games. Use this as a model to think about your topic in another way.
The tools below are traditional forms of brainstorming with paper and pencil.
Click one of the links below to access a brainstorming graphic organizer. If you prefer the paper/pencil approach to brainstorming, print out the organizer that works best for you and record your brainstorm onto it. Be sure to hold on to your brainstorm throughout the research process
MiindMeisterQuickly build your own mind maps using our intuitive, award-winning interface - absolutely no learning required! Access them online whenever you like, export them to other formats, or import your own existing maps. All you need is a standard web browser, no plugins or additional software required
Bubbl.Us Bubbl.us is a simple and free web application that lets you brainstorm online, create colorful mind maps online, share and work with friends, embed your mind map in your blog or website, email and print your mind map and save your mind map as an image.
Mindomo Mindomo and mind mapping provide the ideal environment for research and information storage for you. With real life ideas and concepts existing in a hierarchical and interrelated form, Mindomo lets you represent those ideas and concepts as they exist in your mind, store and organize and your research and information, accessible anywhere with an Internet connection, understand your information by storing and viewing it in a interrelated, structured form, create a formatted outline for use as a study guide or handout and present your information in Mindomo, or share it on the web.
Still need some subject specific assistance? Check out some of the research done in multiple fields for a quick "brainjog" for your "brainstorm" by accessing
Now that your brains have been primed, it is time to begin to narrow your focus to 2-4 topics and access your prior knowledge. A crucial step in the research process, you need to determine what you know about each topic, so you can establish what further information you need to discover about each topic.
1
Your instructor will explain/describe the importance of accessing and connecting your prior knowledge to the topics you want to research further. To do so you will....
2
Access your brainstorming activity and narrow the topics down to the 2-4 that you are most interested in researching further. In order to prepare for a more in depth understanding of these chosen topics, connect each of the topics to your prior knowledge. To do this, try these tools used to concretely connect prior knowledge to the current topics of choice. The following is a short list of tools available:
Complete one of the "connecting" methods above for each of your topics of choice. Include personal experience along with factual knowledge and draw on as many aspects of your prior knowledge as possible.
Having brainstormed and connected to your prior knowledge, you will develop the skills necessary to generate a series of questions about your topic(s) which will guide the preliminary research (investigation into deep, background knowledge) and ultimately provide a focus for your project.
1
Reflect on your charts/organizers from the previous lesson. For each topic, write as many questions as you can about each topic that would be used for further research. You may want to turn any of your statements into questions to assist with this process.
2
Set aside your generated questions for later use. Read How to Ask a Smart Question1, by S. Snyder. This article will be given to you by your teacher. After reading the article, pair up with another person in the room and review each others questions for clarity, framing and sincerity. Revise your questions, if need be, to reflect the information in the article.
3
Your teacher will introduce Bloom’s Taxonomy as a concrete way for you to form questions (by distributing the Blooms Chart2).
4
Learn how to turn those concrete questions into "Big" questions4that will require a more in depth analysis and provide you with a more focused path to your original research and general resources5 to help you develop these big questions.
5
Your teacher will model how to identify “big and deep” questions6 and then assign an activity. To complete the activity, you may work independently, paired or whole-group. This help you in creating “big and deep” questions that could be asked about your topic.
6
Refer back to your list of questions and eliminate or edit your questions that do not fit the definition of a “big and deep” question by modeling them after the upper three levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Narrow your research questions to at least three questions that you want to research further and extend your questions by using the “BIG question machine8 to transform each question into a new question with a different perspective.
Search for and Read Preliminary Content/Topic Specific Information
You have brainstormed your topic and thought about different questions associated with your topic. Now it's time to see what is out there about your topic. During this portion of your research you will be skimming, scanning, and reading sources about your topic.
Often times this portion of your research will involve an Internet search about your topic. In conducting an Internet search, you may find it useful to use Boolean search terms in order to narrow your search results.
Use basic search skills and Boolean search techniques as you complete an Internet search. To learn about basic search skills and Boolean search techniques click on the following link.
Additional Boolean search techniques:
Truncating- A symbol at the end of a word stem will return results for all variations on the word stem. An asterisk is often used to return these results. Example: manufact* will return results for manufacture, manufacturer, manufacturing, etc.
Wildcards - A symbol within a word will return all possible variations inside a word or stem. An !, an *, or a ? may be used for internal truncation in different search engines Example: wom?n will return results for woman or women.
Different search engines may use some or all of the Boolean search strategies. Click on the following link to view a chart comparing popular search engines. Click on each search engine link within the page to view specific details about each search engine.
Check out this tutorial from the Oregon State Library System on the secondary research process. Boolean Bash
Baltimore County Public Schools has many databases that you may use to search for your topic. Visit the Library Information Services Database Portal in order to gain access to these databases. They are also available from home. Check with your Library Media Specialist for remote access information.
The Internet contains a wealth of information about a wide range of topics. However, you must be aware of the potential pitfalls of the Internet. Anyone can make and post a website. This means that you must be critical of the information posted and be mindful of the sources that you choose to use. Things to consider when viewing a website
look & layout - How is the site organized?
domain - What type of organization is associated with the site?
relevance - Does the information presented relate to my topic?
authority - Who is the author and are they an expert in the field?
accuracy - Who is the sponsor of the site? What are the interests of the authors/sponsors? Can I trust this site?
point of view - Does the author have bias about the subject? What is the author's background?
Need more help with evaluating your source? Click on the following link to work through a tutorial about evaluating online resources.
As you continue to search for information about your topic of interest keep in mind that there are many types of sources out there. You may use a variety of sources in your research and upcoming literature review. These sources may include (but are not limited to): online sources, scholarly journals, books, interviews, magazines, and more.
When researching your topic keep in mind the difference between primary and secondary sources. A primary source is a source that contains originally created work or data. A secondary source is a source that analyzes or interprets a primary source. Complete the lesson on Primary vs. Secondary sources with your instructor. Visit Princeton University's reference desk to learn about the difference between primary and secondary sources.
Goggle Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. Goggle Scholar helps you find relevant work across the world of scholarly research.
Being skilled in taking notes is more important than most people realize. Not only will effective note taking provide evidence and support for your research, it will also make referencing your research efficient and professional. Only through highly developed note-taking skills do we learn about our topic and create a knowledge base from which to conduct original research.
1
Complete the lesson plan on note-taking with your instructor.
2
To practice your note-taking, the instructor will provide the you with an article that is current, interesting, and thought provoking.
3
As a final application to note-taking, you will view a BrainPop animation on citing sources. Then your instructor will guide you to a list of on-line tutorials that will walk you through various methods/styles of taking traditional forms of notes and digital options for the tech savvy student.
Bring the information from web sites and journals to YOU by adding an rss feed to your iGoogle page. It will streamline your research and keep you abreast of the most current information in your field.
Tutorial by Barb Falkinburg using Jing
and stored on Screencast
This ehow video provides a short introduction to the purpose and method of writing and organizing notes specifically for research
These tutorials cover the gamut with practical advice on adjusting to college. However, the sites most useful sections include:
Study Tips,
Using Software and
Writing Research Papers
Taking Notes from Research Reading, Written by Margaret Procter, Writing Support, is a short, informative site that lists three main principles when writing notes specifically for research purposes.
How to Take Notes like Thomas Edison is an article describing Edison's methods to note-taking and the elements of his style that can be incorporated today so that we, as researchers, can be as effective.
This is part two of the “Back to School with the Class of Web 2.0″ series. This article covers web-based alternatives to desktop office applications including: word processing, presentations, diagrams, spreadsheets, and more. Consider some of these tools as a replacement for more traditional researching methods.
So you found a great article but either it does not provide a clear introduction or abstract and you need to know if it is pertinent to your research question in a timely fashion. View this tutorial on one of the little known tools within a well known word processing program, Microsoft Word Auto Summarize. A GREAT TOOL!
