Lesson 1 (Without Comments)

1. Technology and the Research Process
Introduction
The research process
Talk About It
Your Turn
Tech Tools in this presentation
• Bloglines
• Keyword Search
• Google Notebook
• Wikis

2. Introduction
A hot-air balloon without a
trained pilot will drift aimlessly,
but a trained pilot can guide it
in a planned direction.
Likewise, you can plan and
guide any research project if
you understand the research
process.

3. Introduction
In a research project, you investigate and present
information on a topic. The steps of the research process
will help you find and use that information effectively.
In this presentation, you will
• survey the steps of the
research process
• learn about some
technology tools that can
help you create and publish
a research project

4. The research process
When you begin a research project, you might have a
broad subject in mind. Focus your subject down to a
narrow topic to make it a suitable size for your work.
Nobel Prize Nobel Prize winners Marie Curie

5. Tech Tool: Bloglines
The free online service Bloglines enables you to
subscribe to Web feeds that are constantly updated. The
result is that, in a single place, you can collect
interesting content from many Web pages and blogs.
You also can
search content
feeds for
research topics.
The search can
help you narrow
a broad topic.

6. Tech Tool: Bloglines
To narrow a broad subject into a research topic, type the
broad subject—for instance, Nobel Prize—into the
Bloglines Search for Feeds box and get a list of Web
feeds about the Nobel Prize.
From there, you can narrow your topic—for example,
first to Nobel Prize winners and then to Marie Curie.

7. The research process
As you begin the research process, think about the
purpose, audience, and tone for your project.
The purpose of most research projects is to give clear,
complete information on the research topic.
Your audience is made up of the people who will
receive that information.
The tone you use for your project probably will be
relatively formal, as is appropriate for serious research.

8. The research process
Understanding your purpose and audience are important
as you design the research questions that will guide
your work.
Topic: Marie Curie
Research questions
What discoveries by other scientists led to
Marie Curie’s experiments?
How did Marie Curie’s experiments lead to her
discovery of radium and polonium?
How did the scientific community receive Marie
Curie’s work?

9. The research process
Choose good sources of information to answer your
research questions. Good sources have the Four Rs.
They are relevant, including information that relates
directly to your research questions.
They are reliable, using only accurate and objective
information.
They are recent, meaning that sources should be as
up to date as possible.
They are representative, addressing more than one
side of the issue.

10. The research process
There are many types of information sources, including
books, print and online newspapers and magazines, Web
pages, online museums, wikis, and online databases.

11. Tech Tool: Keyword Search
You can locate sources of information for your research
topic by typing a keyword into search engines, online
databases, RSS feeds, online museums, and other tools.

12. The research process
It is important to keep track of your sources. Create a
list of the sources you find and assign a number to each
one.
1 Krull, Kathleen. Marie Curie. Giants of Science
Series 4. New York: Viking, 2007.
2 Ham, Denise. “Marie Sklodowska Curie: The Woman
Who Opened the Nuclear Age.” 21st Century
Science and Technology Magazine 15.4
(2002-2003): 30-68.
3 Madame Curie. Dir. Mervyn LeRoy. MGM, 1944.

13. The research process
Once you find good sources, you will take notes on the
information you find in them, recording the information
in three ways.
When you make a direct quotation, you use the exact
words in the source and enclose them in quotation
marks.
When you paraphrase, you restate the information in
the source in your own words.
When you summarize, you condense the main idea of
the source into a much shorter version, using your own
words.

14. The research process
When you take notes from a source, make sure that you
write the source’s number next to all the information
from that source.
2 Marie Curie discovered the radioactive
substances radium and polonium. She coined the
term radioactivity.
6 Marie Curie and her husband, Pierre Curie, were
awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in
1903. They shared the prize with Henri Becquerel.

15. Tech Tool: Google Notebook
Google Notebook allows you to take notes online and
access them from any computer. You also can create
multiple notebooks and move notes from one notebook
to another.

16. The research process
After taking notes, you will create a thesis statement as
the working main idea of your project—the one big
idea you want your audience to understand. You
can revise your thesis later as your project develops.
Marie Curie overcame
many obstacles to
conduct research that
led to her discovery of
the elements radium and
polonium.

17. The research process
Next, organize the information from your notes so
you can plan your finished product. You might decide to
use a mind map to help you organize your notes.
Obstacles
Poor laboratory
Marie Curie
facilities
faced
Exclusion from Initial skepticism
University of by other scientists
Warsaw because of her discoveries
of gender of radium and
discrimination polonium

18. The research process
Another way to organize the information from your notes
is in a formal outline.
Thesis: Marie Curie overcame many obstacles to
conduct research that led to her discovery
of the elements radium and polonium.
I. Obstacles
A. Exclusion from University of Warsaw because
of gender discrimination
B. Poor laboratory facilities
C. Initial skepticism by other scientists of
her discoveries of radium and polonium

19. The research process
Now you are ready to write a draft of your research
project. You will use your notes and outline or mind map
as you write the draft.
In your draft, you should
• present a clear thesis statement that answers your
research questions
• include well-chosen support for your thesis, using
information from reliable sources
• effectively use summary, paraphrasing, and direct
quotations to present your ideas and support

20. The research process
After you write a draft, read it at least twice.
The first time you read it, focus on
content and organization.
The second time you read it, focus
on style.
Evaluate your draft and revise it
accordingly. You also might seek
feedback from teachers, classmates,
or others.

21. The research process
You can publish your research project in several
formats. The format you choose should be appropriate
for your purpose and your audience.
Possible formats include
• a written report
• a multimedia presentation
• a podcast
• a Web page
• a wiki

22. Tech Tool: Wikis
A class wiki is one way the members of an entire class
collaborating on a research project can post their work
to the Internet. A wiki allows readers to collaborate by
adding to and revising the text.

23. Tech Tip
Wikis
When you publish a document on a wiki, you
can track changes to the text and revert to an
earlier version of the document if unacceptable
changes are made to your work.

24. The research process
Once you have published your research project, you can
receive feedback on it from teachers and from peers.
Then, reflect on the work you have done. Use the
feedback and your own reflections to help you shape
future research projects.

25. Conclusion
Just as a trained pilot steers a hot-air balloon, you can
steer your research to a successful completed project.
The steps of the research process
help you find information about a
topic and shape that information
into a research project. Tech
tools such as wikis and Google
Notebook can help you in the
process.

26. Talk About It
Discuss these questions with your classmates.
1. Why is it necessary to follow a structured process
when conducting and publishing research?
2. What technology tools do you usually use for
research? How do you use those tools?
3. Have you ever used any of the tools presented in this
lesson (keyword search, Bloglines, Google Notebook,
wikis)? Why or why not?
4. Are you likely to try any of these tools in the future?
Why or why not?

27. Your Turn
1. Do an online keyword search on a subject of your
choice. Use the search results to help narrow your
subject to a suitable research topic.
2. Once you have a suitable research topic, identify an
audience that would be interested in this topic. Then,
choose a method for presenting your research to that
audience—as a paper, a podcast, a wiki, and so on.
Explain your choice.

28. Your Turn: Possible Responses
1. I picked “first aid” as a subject. I typed it into a
search engine and browsed through the results.
The results helped me narrow the topic to how
CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) was
developed.
2. People taking a first aid class would be a good
audience for my research project. They probably
would be curious about how CPR was developed. I
think a slide presentation with images and perhaps
video would be a good way to present my research
to this audience.

29. The End