Question & Explore (The PRE-Search)
Have a Plan
How will you keep track of your sources & source citations?
- Teacher or Librarian-provided research log?
- List of sources on a Google Doc?
- Google Keep?
- Scrible?
- NotebookLM?
How will you take notes?
- Teacher or Librarian-provided research log?
- Notes on a Google Doc?
- Print or copy paper sources, and annotate by hand?
- Annotate using a digital annotation tool?
- Annotate using Scrible?
- What folders, tags, labels will you use to stay organized?
Select a Topic (Explore)
Explore various sources of information in order to select a topic and eventually create a question..
Explore and read from the recommended places below to find a topic:
- GALE library databases
- JSTOR book reviews
- News articles: New York Times
- Magazine articles: SORA Magazines from OPRF
- Topics covered in class and/or text book
- Broad Google search
- Wikipedia
How do you know you found “the right” topic?
- Is it interesting to you?
- Is there enough information about it?
- Are there debates or problems being discussed?
- Does your teacher approve it as relevant to your project?
Familiarize yourself with the topic by reading about it from multiple source types (Mainly reference and news). This is the “Pre-search.”
Create a Question
Be sure you have read enough background (“pre-search”) on your topic in order to ask a question.
- Determine what aspect of your topic to investigate.
- Consider the issues, mysteries, debates, problems, or controversies.
- What interests you?
- What needs to be solved?
- What have other experts argued or investigated?
- Brainstorm these aspects of your topic in order to think of questions.
- Create a concept map to brainstorm.
- Write a list of ideas to brainstorm.
- Use question starters to help create a list of potential questions.
- Who
- What
- Why
- When
- Where
- Which
- How
- To what extent
- Put your brainstormed list of questions through some tests to select the best one.
- Answerable but not obvious?
- Open? (not a yes or no)
- Simple? (not too many questions being asked)
- Debatable? (you should need multiple perspectives)
- Judgment or evaluation needed?
- Narrow and focused?
- Select the one question you feel best passes all of the above tests.
- Keep in mind: It is okay and normal for your question to evolve once you begin seeking the answer to your question. Research is iterative!
Science
| Primary Source | Secondary Source |
| DEFINITION: A document that fully describes original research written by those that conducted that original research. | DEFINITION: A document that contains commentary, interpretation, and/or analysis of original research. |
| EX: Academic journal article where researchers describe their own research and experimentation regarding enzymes in bovine liver. European Journal of Biochemistry | EX: Popular magazine blog post that comments on multiple studies regarding the impact of sleep on regulating emotions. Psychology Today |
Humanities
| Primary Source | Secondary Source |
|
DEFINITION: a document, image, or artifact that provides us with evidence about the past. (Also called a direct source.) |
DEFINITION: A document that contains commentary, interpretation, and/or analysis of a primary source(s). |
| EX: the "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King Jr, | EX: an academic journal article analyzing King's speech. |
Examples of Primary and Secondary Sources
| Primary Sources | Secondary Sources |
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