Search & Research

In Middle School, you will do research in almost every subject.   In most research projects, you will need to search for at least 1 book, 1 online database, 1 website, and 1 image. You will need to cite your sources, follow copyright laws, and avoid plagiarism.  

You will use reference books and laptops for research.

RESEARCH TOOLS: 

Big 6 Research Guide

• Great guide that breaks down the research process into steps.  1 – Define Your Task, 2- Search Strategies, 3- Locate & Access Sources, 4 – Using Information Legally, 5- Putting it all Together (Synthesis), 6 – Evaluating Your Work.

Source Citations:  You must cite all of your sources (books, articles, podcasts, interviews, images, videos, etc.).  It is important to use source citations to avoid plagiarism, give credit to the person who originally created the work, and provide a list of references so that you can go back to the resource for more information.  Use these tools to create the source citations:

1. Citation Machine

• Use for creating citations for print and nonprint sources.  Remember to choose MLA.

2. Citation Maker

• Another great website that helps you create citations.

3. Bibme

• Plug in an ISBN number and the website creates the citation for you! This site also provides citations for websites, magazines, newspapers, films, etc.   

Books:

• Use iBistro Pocahontas Online Catalog to find books at our school.
• If we do not have the book you want, then we can request it from another school library (Search All Schools, then complete an Inter-Library Loan form). 

Online Databases:

• Great place to find quality resources that you can trust (articles, podcasts, websites, images, etc.).
• Always look for the Source Citation link in the databases. If there is no link, then use Citation Machine (under non-print, use Work from a Subscription Service Accessed through a Library).

Websites:

• Best sites for Research: websites that end in .gov, .edu, and .org (* watch for bias or POV). 
• Using Google Advanced Search: block websites ending in .com, .co.uk, .info, .net.
• Always Evaluate Websites: 

1. Who is the Author or Organization that created the site?
2. Is the site Accurate?
3. What is the purpose of the site? 
4. When was it last updated?

Images:

• Copyright Law – you may use 1 image per website unless you ask permission of the creator of the image.
• Copyright free images? Use creativecommons.org or visit the library’s delicious account (Under Research links, select the tag for Photos).
• Use Citation Machine to create your source citation.
• To make the source citation, find the information for the citation boxes on the website that houses the image.  (Google Images is not your source).
• Remember Online Databases have great images and often you can copy & paste the already-created source citation.