Research

It may sound scary, but research is what you do every day.

Research is the process of:
  • finding a question you need to answer
  • looking up basic information on the topic so you know what you need to find out
  • determining keywords that will help you locate information in library catalogs, search engines, webpages, books and other resources
  • identifying resources that will have information to answer your question
  • evaluating whether these are sources that you can understand, that have the right information at the right complexity and are trustworthy
  • writing down the citation information for your resource
  • locating the information to answer your question in the resource
  • figuring out when you need more information and where else to look
  • figuring out the important points in your resource and recording them in note form
  • taking your notes from different sources and combining them
  • proof-reading
  • presenting your results to your teacher/classmates/community/the greater world.
Sometimes you will focus on just one of those points; eventually, you will put all of these skills together.

The library is always here to help you with any part of the process!