Now What?

Time spent planning your project is the key to success.  Many student leap into a research project with only a vague idea of what they want to research, and find themselves frustrated with little information to help them.  When given a project by your teacher, follow these steps first!

1.  Clarify the point of the project.  What does the teacher want you to gain from this project?  What do you have to create?  Knowing where you want to end up is the first step to creating a plan.

2.  Consider the final product.  Are you writing a paper?  Making a model?  Consider whether your topic lends itself to your final product.  If not, reconsider your topic.

3.  Ask your teacher.  He or she may have some good ideas for this project.

4.  Look carefully at your topic idea.  Brainstorm all the different aspects of your topic.  Make a list of bigger ideas, narrower ideas, synonyms, important people associated with your topic.  Having a list of related topics to look up will ensure that you will never hit a dead end.

5.  Evaluate your topic.  Be sure the question you are researching will match what your teacher wants you to create.  If they don't match, pick another topic!

Ready to begin researching?

Here are some tools that you can access to get your information for your project.  Be sure to access all of these tools:  a thoroughly researched project is one that hits a variety of sources.

OPAC

Library Catalog

This is the place to go to find books, audiovisual resources, and websites to help you with your project.  Why would you go here instead of Google?  This source of websites will always be current, will give you live links that are saved all in one place, and will always be academically oriented.  If you find books and materials you like, add them to your book bag and print them out.  This printout will be useful later when you make your Works Cited Page

SIRS Proquest

SIRS Proquest Database

Get Username and Password from teacher or library staff

Be sure to check this site for your research, especially if you are doing a controversial topic.  The Pro v. Con feature will offer differing opinions on today's current issues.

Facts on File Databses Online

Facts on File Databases

Get Username and Password from teacher or library staff

This website will take you to four different databases:  Modern World History Online, Issues and Controversies, Issues and Controversies in American History, and the World News Digest.   Consider these databases when you are looking for information on your research, or just looking for an article to spark your discussion!

Time to cite your sources!

Easybib

http://easybib.com

You can access help to creating your Works Cited page by trying one of this on-line tool.  But be careful--always edit your work before you submit it to a teacher.  Don't assume the on-line tool will check your spelling or accuracy!  It will only print out what you tell it to.