Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Creature Feature Search Tips!

Congratulations 7th grade Scientists on a great opportunity to refresh your 6th grade Information Investigator skills!

You have a TOPIC:  Creatures of New England
You KNOW SOMETHING about the topic:  What are features that determine the type of creature
You have a QUESTION:  What are the features of my creature and how can it adapt further?

Let's talk KEYWORDS!
Think like the person who wrote the resource...

  • Where will you use these? 
    • Library catalog:  Not every topic in a book is always searchable in the library catalog. If you can't find the name of the creature itself, what other keywords might help you focus on your information?
    • Book:  Is the entire book about your creature? A chapter? A page? Which is the easiest way to find the information you need: Table of Contents? Index? Looking through the pages in alphabetical order? Is it about the region and you need to find the creature, or about the creature and you need to find the region?
    • Preselected website:  does it have a list of all of the creatures, or do I need to search for a larger category and then find it?
    • Search engine:  Am I allowed to use these, or does my teacher want me to focus on ones that were selected?

What keywords should you make sure to include in your brainstorm?
  1. The obvious keyword:  your creature! 
  2. More general:  broader group 
  3. Synonym:  latin name