Saturday, August 23, 2008

Library Research Project 101



"I’ve been playing around with making a worksheet to use when I’m working with students who are just starting a research project. “Research” in this context refers to library research to find relevant articles, books, documents, etc, about a topic.
So here’s my first draft:

  1. What discipline or disciplines am I working in?

  2. What type of literature or information do I need?

  3. How and where will I search for the information I need?

  4. How will I access the information that I find?

  5. What keywords or terms will I use to describe my topic?

  6. After running a few searches: What results am I getting?

  7. What refinements should I make to my search in light of those results?

  8. How will I use the results that I’ve found?

  9. What am I missing?