Student formulates appropriate research questions.
Suggested assignment to develop this skill.
Objective:
To have students pick a topic and narrow it so it becomes manageable.
Activity:
1. Students are given a list of topics to research (e.g. abortion, euthanasia, educational testing, gangs, drugs, animal testing).
2. Students will pick out three topics that they will want to work on. They will write down what they know about each topic without looking anything up.
A discussion will follow. This will probably get out of hand. By that time they will be asked to stop and define each topic. They will be shown available tools to use to narrow the topics. By this time, each student will choose a research tool (e.g. Readers' Guide, SIRS, MAS, card catalog, Internet, L.A. Times index).
3. Show students how to ask where, how, when questions to define topic and to formulate what they want to look for. Ask them what they want to look for and write those questions down. They will then be shown how to use the keyword and subject searches, so they can see other related topics, keywords and more specific areas of their topics.
They can now define their topic and do literature searches. Fact vs. opinion will be discussed so that they can be recognized and separated.
This can be done in two class periods at the end of which each student will have a sell-defined, searchable topic.
