Lesson: Maintaining a Research Notebook During the Research Process

Lesson: Maintaining a Research Notebook During the Research Process

Description

It is helpful to have students keep all of their research work in a notebook that parallels the information process. This brings the stages in the process to a conscious level as well as provides students with a graphic organizer for their work.

Learning Outcomes I Suggested Procedure I Assessment for this Lesson

Materials for this Offline lesson:

Notebook for each student or each cooperative group

Dividers for each notebook (there should be enough dividers for each stage of the process)

Rings to attach note cards in the binder

Time allotment: 20 minutes when presenting the notebook for the first time; 5 minutes with each succeeding lesson to ensure understanding and completeness

Grade Level: Grade 2 - 12

Information Literacy Standard:
1.The student who is information literate accesses information efficiently and effectively.

Learning Outcomes

Students will bring the information literacy process to a conscious level by maintaining a notebook that follows the process
Students will learn to organize their research work
Students will use the notebook to assess whether they have enough information for each stage of the process
Students will use the notebook to reflect on the process as a whole

Suggested Procedure

Pass out notebooks to students. Have students label the cover in some way so they can identify the notebook as theirs

Give students seven dividers with tabs. Each tab should be clearly visible upon opening the notebook.

Have students label the tabs with the seven stages of the information management process in the following way:

Tab 1 - Questioning
Tab 2 - Identifying and Collecting
Tab 3 - Evaluating
Tab 4 - Sensemaking
Tab 5 - Reflecting and Refining
Tab 6 - Using Information
Tab 7 - Assessing the Process and Product

Have students type out and place their research question behind Tab 1
Have students put the Checklist for Collecting Sources and Information from Various Resources and Research Question and Keywords/Synonym Sheet behind Tab 2
Have students put five copies of the Comprehensive Source Evaluation Checklist behind Tab 3. (Students may add additional copies as needed).
Have students put a copy of the 3 pages identifying how to take notes behind Tab 4.
Have students put a copy of the Reflecting and Refining Template behind Tab 5
Have students put the following pages behind Tab 6: Forms of Representation Chart ; Criteria for Determining a Form of Representation Check-off Sheet ; Tips for Successful Presentation ; Bibliography Guidelines .

Tab 1 - Questioning	Research question behind Tab 1
Tab 2 - Identifying and Collecting	Checklist for Collecting Sources and Information from Various Resources (link) and Research Question and Keywords/Synonym Sheet behind Tab 2
Tab 3 - Evaluating	Five copies of the Comprehensive Source Evaluation Checklist behind Tab 3. (Students may add additional copies as needed).
Tab 4 - Sensemaking	Copies of the 3 pages identifying how to take notes behind Tab 4.
Tab 5 - Reflecting and Refining	Copy of the Reflecting and Refining Template behind Tab 5
Tab 6 - Using Information	Have students put the following pages behind Tab 6: Forms of Representation Chart Criteria for Determining a Form of Representation Check-off Sheet Tips for Successful Presentation Bibliography Guidelines
Tab 7 - Assessing the Process and Product	Quick writes assigned by the teacher. See below.

The teacher tells students that they will be responsible for maintaining a complete notebook for their research process.

The teacher also tells students that the notebook will be turned in as part of their grade.
The note cards that students take on their research topic will be placed on a ring and attached inside the notebook. These will also be turned in with the notebook
The teacher identifies for students what section of the information literacy process they are working on daily, and reminds students to file their work under the appropriate tab.
Students file their work appropriately.

Periodically, the teacher has the students do a quick write on the part of the process they are currently engaged in. This quick write should address questions such as:

"How is this part of the process going for you? What is hard? What is easy?"
"What questions do I have?" "If I could change one thing about this part of the process, it would be . . ."

These quick writes are stored behind Tab 7.

Assessment

At the end of the research process, students give a final presentation. They also turn in their research notebook and note cards. The teacher goes through the notebook to determine how well students understood organizing their information according to the research process. The teacher also determines who is organized and can follow directions and who is not. The teacher also reads students' quick writes to determine how each part of the research process affected each individual student. Where several students recorded major difficulties regarding the research process, the teacher takes these into account for planning the next research process.

Last Lesson I Home I Glossary

This page was last updated March 21, 2002
This lesson was created to support the AT&T/UCLA Initiatives for 21st Century Literacies.
Maintaining a Research Notebook was created by Sharon Sutton and Judith Kantor.