Wilde+Poets

=**1. Asking Good Research Questions**= Asking good questions is where research projects begin. If you are creating a paper, video, or presentation, it all begins with the question. We seek answers to questions every day. Which college is best for me? Which car is the most economical to drive? How can I find a job?

Become an effective, creative researcher and problem solver! Begin with good, solid questions that focus your research topic or solution to a problem.

Video: @http://library.wlu.ca/help/tutorials/developing-research-question

Question Pick 'n Mix: @http://go.infohio.org/images/WRDSBQuestionPickMix.pdf

Research Question Rubric: @http://educators.infohio.org/INFOHIO_DOCS/R4S/Module_One/Research_Question_Rubric.pdf

=2. Using Databases=

Online Databases: excellent, reliable articles from newspapers, journals, encyclopedias, books, and more; gathered together in one place and accessed online.
=== Why should you use online library databases instead of Internet websites for research? ===
 * **Library Databases** || **The Internet** ||
 * Paid for by the State of Ohio/Cincinnati Public Library so that you can have free access to scholarly information. || Some resources are free, but others require you to pay for them. ||
 * Content is evaluated for authority and accuracy. || Information is not evaluated for accuracy and may be incorrect, misleading, or biased. ||
 * Information is stable. || Websites come and go. ||
 * It is easy to find databases that relate specifically to your topic (and get connected to an expert if you need guidance). || The internet is a vast sea of information with no organization. ||
 * Library databases offer options to quickly limit or expand your search to find the articles you need. || A search engine (like Google) often returns an overwhelming number of results with no quick way to narrow them down or ensure they relate to your topic. ||
 * Articles from library database include the citation information. || Internet websites are harder to cite. You need to use EasyBib, which isn't terrible, but it's not as easy as copying and pasting a citation from a database article. ||
 * If you go to college or university, you will be required to use library databases for all of your research papers. College and university libraries have much more extensive lists of databases that they pay for. || College and university professors typically frown upon the use of Internet websites in research papers. You may even receive a 0 if you cite websites. ||
 * Don't believe me? Watch this video to hear it from someone else: @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIp5dIsr-go **

===A. INFOhio Databases=== A complete list is here: http://www.infohio.org Click on "9-12" for a list of resources that are good for HS students to use. Consult the yellow bookmark for login information if you are using the databases at home.

===**NEW** iSearch: Searches through almost all of INFOhio's online databases with just one search!!===

Databases that will be helpful for this project:
 * Biography Reference Bank EBSCO
 * Type the name of your poet in the search box.
 * Skim through the descriptions of the articles. If any look like they are relevant to your questions, click on the titles and the full text of the articles will be displayed. Read through each article, taking notes/highlighting/underlining when appropriate.
 * RECORD THE TITLES OF THE ARTICLES YOU USED AND ANY OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION SO THAT WHEN YOU ARE READY TO PREPARE YOUR WORKS CITED PAGE, YOU WON'T BE FRUSTRATED!
 * To find the citation for the articles, click on the yellow icon labeled "Cite" on the right side of the article. Scroll down until you find the MLA format. Copy and paste it into your Word document titled Works Cited. Make sure your citations are in alphabetical order.
 * Literary Reference Center EBSCO
 * Type the name of your poet in the search box.
 * Skim through the descriptions of the articles. If any look like they are relevant to your questions, click on the titles and the full text of the articles will be displayed. Read through each article, taking notes/highlighting/underlining when appropriate.
 * RECORD THE TITLES OF THE ARTICLES YOU USED AND ANY OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION SO THAT WHEN YOU ARE READY TO PREPARE YOUR WORKS CITED PAGE, YOU WON'T BE FRUSTRATED!
 * To find the citation for the articles, click on the yellow icon labeled "Cite" on the right side of the article. Scroll down until you find the MLA format. Copy and paste it into your Word document titled Works Cited. Make sure your citations are in alphabetical order.

===B. Cincinnati Public Library=== A complete list is here: @http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/resources/research.asp Choose a subject area to see all of the database options that are available in each subject. These databases are free to all Cincinnati residents who own library cards. You may use Mrs. Walker's card # if you need to. It is on the back of the yellow bookmark.

Databases that will be helpful for this project:
 * Literature Resource Center Gale (from the BOOKS & LITERARY CRITICISM subject heading)
 * Type your poet's name in the search box.
 * Look carefully at the tabs at the top of your page. If you're looking for Biographical information, click on the Biographies tab. If you're looking for analysis of the poet's works, click on the Literature Criticism tab. If you want overviews of the poet's works, click on the Topic & Work Overviews tab. If you want reviews of the poet's works and/or newspaper & magazine articles about the poet, click on the Reviews & News tab. If you're looking for poems (primary sources), click on the Primary Sources tab. If you're looking for videos, images, audio, or any type of multimedia, click on the Multimedia tab.
 * Once you have found an article, click on the Full Text or PDF button to read the full article.
 * RECORD THE TITLES OF THE ARTICLES YOU USED AND ANY OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION SO THAT WHEN YOU ARE READY TO PREPARE YOUR WORKS CITED PAGE, YOU WON'T BE FRUSTRATED!
 * To find the citation, click on "Citation Tools" on the right side of your page under the heading "Tools." The citation will pop up and it should be in MLA format. Highlight and copy/paste the entire citation into your Word document titled Works Cited. Make sure your citations are in alphabetical order.

=3. Taking Notes= You can use EasyBib for note taking, or you can go old school and use index cards.

A. EasyBib

 * Go to www.easybib.com
 * Create an account
 * Click on "Sign Up" in the top right corner
 * Enter your first name; last name; email address (if you don't have one, make one up using your first initial+last name+@finneytown.org...example rglenn@finneytown.org); type your STUDENT ID# for your password; re-type it to confirm; choose male or female; ignore the coupon code; click Sign Up.
 * Every other time you go to EasyBib, you will just have to click on "Login" in the top right corner using your email address and your password.
 * Click on "New Project" to create a project specifically for this assignment.
 * Give it a title (example: Maya Angelou)
 * Choose English as your subject
 * Type in one or all of your research questions
 * The default style is MLA, so leave it as it is
 * Click Create
 * You will see "Bibliography," "Notebook," "Paper," under the project title
 * Click on "Notebook" to start taking notes from your database articles and books.
 * Here's a tutorial from EasyBib on how and why we take notes: http://content.easybib.com/students/writing-guide/ii-research/e-taking-notes/#.VHILpr5okmU
 * Here's a video tutorial on how best to use EasyBib for taking notes: @http://www.easybib.com/products/notebooktour
 * Click on "New Note" to create a note.
 * Give your note a Title (example: basic biography)
 * Right now, you don't have a source in your EasyBib biography, so you'll leave that one blank
 * You have two options for this note: to quote directly from the text (which you only want to do every once in awhile) or to paraphrase the words of the author--or put his/her words into your own words--(which you mostly want to do).
 * Here's a tutorial on the difference between quoting and paraphrasing: http://content.easybib.com/students/research-guide/paraphrasing-patchwriting-direct-quotes/#.VHILWb5okmU
 * You can add a comment if you want (something like, this would be good for the introductory slide, etc)
 * Write the title of the article/book and the author where it asks for the Identifier (or copy the URL if you got the information from a website). That way, you will know where you got this particular information.
 * If you click the "Organize" link, you can assign each note to a group, give them tags, and give them colors. How you want to organize them is entirely up to you.
 * You can type your thesis in the box on the right. Your thesis is basically your question turned around (example: if your question is "how did Maya Angelou's childhood influence the themes in her poetry?" then your thesis could be "Maya Angelou's childhood greatly influenced the themes in her poetry." It's a little vague, but as you learn more, you can add to it or change it. You will be provide supporting and specific details throughout your project as you research and take notes.
 * You can create an outline underneath your thesis in order to help organize yourself even more.
 * Here's an EasyBib tutorial on how to create an outline: http://content.easybib.com/students/writing-guide/iii-outline/#.VHIMPb5okmU
 * Simply add bullet points to list the topics that you want to cover (for example: introduction, childhood experiences, becoming a poet, themes in specific poetry/poems that relate to childhood experiences, conclusion).
 * For each bullet point/topic, you can create notes and make them each a different color (for example: introduction notes can be pink; childhood experiences notes can be blue; becoming a poet notes can be green; poetry themes notes can be yellow, etc.)
 * You can drag each note into the bullet point associated with it. That's only if you want to be SUPER organized!

B. Note Cards
= = =4. Using Websites= Always evaluate any websites you find using the **ABCs of Website Evaluation**:
 * Here's a great video tutorial to help you get started with note cards: @http://www.studygs.net/wrtstr5.htm
 * You will want to develop a system of organization for your notecards just like there is in EasyBib: either using colors, keeping all notes on the same topic together, etc.
 * A** = Authority, Accuracy
 * B** = Bias
 * C** = Current, Correct

EasyBib has a research tool: @http://research.easybib.com/ They will even (sometimes) tell you if the website is ** credible **, ** maybe credible **, or ** not credible **.

Look at how the web addresses end: for example, .edu (education sites) and .gov (government sites) are more reliable than .com (commercial sites) or .org (sites created by organizations--oftentimes biased).

Some good Poetry websites: Poets.org Library of Congress poetry Poetry Foundation Poem Hunter Poets and Writers

A good Biography website: Biography.com