Lesson 29 — Activity 3: Finding and Choosing Resources
Completion requirements
Lesson 29 — Activity 3: Finding and Choosing Resources
After you have decided on your topic, you need to think about looking
for information to support the purpose of your report. You have to
decide what you need to know!
When you have thought of questions you need to answer, you have to do some work to find the answers. You can look for information in many places, but not all sources are equally useful. How do you decide where to look for information? How do you decide which information to use when you find sources?
When you have thought of questions you need to answer, you have to do some work to find the answers. You can look for information in many places, but not all sources are equally useful. How do you decide where to look for information? How do you decide which information to use when you find sources?
Consider the questions you need to ask to get started.
If your topic is narrowed to something manageable, you should be able to use the 5Ws and 1H: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
These words help you to write some helpful questions to find what you need to know for your readers. You can organize your questions about the topic with the question words. This may help you when you decide how to present your information in your report too.
If your topic is narrowed to something manageable, you should be able to use the 5Ws and 1H: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
These words help you to write some helpful questions to find what you need to know for your readers. You can organize your questions about the topic with the question words. This may help you when you decide how to present your information in your report too.
- Who? questions help us find who was involved or affected by events.
- What? questions help us find what happened.
- Where? questions give information about the setting of events.
- When? questions also tell about the setting.
- Why? questions help find reasons or explanations for events.
- How? questions help us learn about the way events unfolded.
You
can look in many places for information to answer these questions.
A 1968 encyclopedia will give you very little information about computers, for example. However, for some topics, information that was written several years ago might be fine for supporting our ideas. That 1968 encyclopedia is just fine for events of World War II, for example.
- In school, you have many sources of information: textbooks, encyclopedias, teachers, or classmates.
- Your school library or local library can also provide information in magazines, newspapers, the Internet, or videos.
- At home and in your community, you can use similar sources, and you can also ask other people (parents, friends, and other community members), watch television documentaries, or visit museums, for example.
A 1968 encyclopedia will give you very little information about computers, for example. However, for some topics, information that was written several years ago might be fine for supporting our ideas. That 1968 encyclopedia is just fine for events of World War II, for example.
Another point to consider is the source of the information. Is your research based on facts as discovered by experts, or is your research based on opinions held by someone with a bias or prejudice?