Where can I FIND the information I need?
The second step in the research process is to FIND and RECORD what you need. You might need to gather information for yourself via interviews, experiments and questionnaires and sometimes you need to source information from other texts.
There are three things to think about during this stage:
You will need to RECORD the information you find, including the source. Remember at Lowther Hall we use the Harvard style of referencing.
This is the stage when you search online, look at books, find original documents and talk to people!
Before you start searching for information (sources), you need to choose good keywords for your search.
Keywords are words that describe your research task and are needed for asking the right question in your information search.They can be single words or very short phrases. Consider synonyms too.
Keywords are an important part of the ASK Stage
You need to search online, look at books, find original documents - and talk to people!
Learn how to determine keywords, develop search strings, and how to find just what you are looking for in a library catalogue, database or on the Internet.
Duration: 3:50
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After you have found possible sources of information to answer your research question, you need to find the information within the text. To do this you need to develop the specific reading skills to help you find the information you need quickly and effectively. You need to skim and scan.
For beginners with these techniques watch this video: Skim and Scan
For senior students use the Butte College Skim and Scan Tips
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You need to think about how to use Wikipedia. It's okay to use it as a starting point to get your bearings, browse different sections to get an overview of the general content, then look at the sources used.
You may not cite it as a reference in your work.
See the guide for using Wikipedia in your research.
Learn techniques for generating a list of keywords for searching.
Duration 1:29
When we search, we often get many more responses than we need. Keywords help to retrieve what you need but there are other ways too. This video explains the symbols you can use to limit your search further. It is called Boolean searching.
Watch the entire video on Quoting, Summarising, Paraphrasing.
