1. Sourcing for information and researching
Skimming and Scanning:
- Reading techniques to help a reader read faster
- May lose details but is able to find main points faster
Skimming:
- Reading main points in the passage to get an overall impression of the content
- Titles, Subtitles, First sentence from each paragraph, last sentence from whole thing
Scanning:
- To find specific information quickly
- Start with a question, read to find answers
- Look for clues such as capital letters and numbers, ignore irrelevant things
Index VS Glossary
- An index is a list of words or phrases and associated pointers to where useful material relating to that heading can be found in a document or on a page.
- A glossary is an alphabetical list of terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms.
How to know if a site is reliable?
Domain name:
- gov, VS .wordpress.com, .blogspot.com
Secure URL
- https:// VS http://
Author:
person with credentials from reputable institutions
Date of site:
updated regularly
Contact info:
working contact email/phone number
Agency:
reputable company or association
Website designs:
professional look, language used is appropriate, use of official logos and terms
Connections:
Links on site are working and do not lead to blank pages. Site is linked to by other reliable websites.
2. Literature Review
Direct & Indirect citations:
Direct citation:
Jones (1998) suggests that students who …
Indirect citation:
According to Jones (1998), “Students often had difficulty…”
Critiquing a source for reliability
5 fingers test
- What is the source of the information?
- Is it accurate?
- Is it current?
- Is it relevant?
- Is it objective?
Critique
- A detailed analysis and assessment of something.
A good critique:
Points out what is good in the existing literature
Points out what could be improved in the existing literature....