I-Search
Maxson 1213
Frederic Murray, M.L.I.S.
Instructional Services Librarian
SWOSU
774 7113
Metacognition, n.
Awareness and understanding of one's own
thought processes, esp. regarded as having
a role in directing those processes.
- Oxford English Dictionary
I-Search Paper
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What I Knew
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Why I am Writing This Paper
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The Search
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What I Learned
I-Search
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Selecting a topic - exploring interests, discussing ideas,
browsing resources
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Finding information - generating questions, exploring
resources
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Using information - taking notes, analyzing materials,
recording the process
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Developing a final product - developing
communications, sharing experiences
I-Search: Examples
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Social
Medical
Legal
Employment
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Personal Concern
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I-Search: Medical
I-Search: Medical: cleidocranial dysplasia
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Medical Databases
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Orthopedic
Dissertations
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Surgical Textbooks
I-Search Paper
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What I Knew
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Why I’m Writing This Paper
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The Search
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What I Learned
I-Search: Example: Medical
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Selecting a topic – Medical Condition (cleidocranial
dysplasia)
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Finding information – concept mapping, websites
& web tools, medical databases (general), medical
professionals, networking tools, blogs
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Using information - taking notes, analyzing
materials, interview people in the field
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What I learned – Treatment/Options
Selecting a topic - browsing resources
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Keywords
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Concept Maps
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Concept mapping is a brainstorming strategy to
help you generate ideas for your assignment,
visually organize information, and make
connections between different concepts.
Concept Maps: Critical Questions
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What is the central word, concept, research
question or problem around which to build the
map?
What are the concepts, items, descriptive
words or telling questions that you can
associate with the concept, topic, research
question or problem?
Concept Maps: Suggestions
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Use a free association approach by
brainstorming nodes and then develop links
and relationships. Use different colors and
shapes for nodes & links to identify different
types of information.
Gather information to a question in the
question node.
Mind mapping software (web-based)
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Bubbl.us - Web-based mind mapping /
concept mapping
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Mappio - Web-based mind mapping from
structured text
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Mindomo - Web-based mind mapping
I-Search Paper
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What I Knew
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Why I’m Writing This Paper
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The Search
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What I Learned
Selecting a topic - browsing resources
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World Wide Web ( NoodleTools)
Library Databases
Library Catalog (Books)
Reference Collection
WorldCat
Evaluating Websites
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Authority
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Accuracy
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Objectivity
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Currency
Finding informationgenerating questions, exploring resources
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Primary & Secondary Sources
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Personal Interviews
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Professional Associations
Finding informationPrimary & Secondary Sources
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Primary sources are the "materials
on a topic upon which subsequent
interpretations or studies are
based, anything from firsthand
documents such as poems,
diaries, court records, and
interviews to research results
generated by experiments,
surveys, ethnographies, and so
on."
Primary sources are records of
events as they are first described,
without any interpretation or
commentary. They are also sets of
data, such as census statistics,
which have been tabulated, but
not interpreted.
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Secondary sources, on the other
hand, offer an analysis or a
restatement of primary sources.
They often attempt to describe or
explain primary sources. Some
secondary sources not only
analyze primary sources, but use
them to argue a contention or to
persuade the reader to hold a
certain opinion.
Primary
Secondary
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Original artwork
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POW diary
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Poem
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Treaty
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Article critiquing the
piece of art
Book about POW
Camp
Treatise on a particular
genre of poetry
Essay on Native
American land rights
Primary & Secondary Sources
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Primary Sources
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Secondary Sources
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Person
Interview
E-Mail contact
Event
Discussion
Debate
Community Meeting
Survey
Artifact
Observation of object
(animate and inanimate)
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Reference Material
Book
CD Rom
Encyclopedia
Magazine
Newspaper
Video Tape
Audio Tape
TV
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Finding information –
Professional Associations
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Encyclopedia of Associations
R 060 En195
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A comprehensive list of national organizations described
briefly, with names, addresses, and telephone numbers.
Associations keep track of industry data for their members
and may have valuable information on an industry that
would not be found in standard business sources. Indexes
include name of organization, key word, and geographic
area.
Finding information –
Personal Interviews
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Get information by talking with people who
have knowledge you want.
Sometimes you simply want to know what
their experience has been.
Sometimes you want their expert opinion,
sometimes their knowledge of the facts.
Which of these kinds of information are you
after?
Finding information –
Personal Interviews
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When you make an appointment, you need to
introduce yourself and tell what capacity you are
calling in, explain the purpose of your call,
explain why you would like to talk with the
person, and request permission to set a time
and place.
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Conducting Interviews
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Field Research Conducting an Interview
Tools
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Research Journal….Keep One
Concept Maps
Noodle Tools
Interviews
RSS
Social Networks
Blogs: Technorati
RSS Feeds
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RSS In Plain English
Gather information from across the Web and
bring it to you
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Library databases are now incorporating RSS
feeds into their products, check here for more
information.
Blogs
Blogs
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A place to disseminate information on a
particular subject and allows direct feedback
from the readers of this content.
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Blogging: Personal participation in public
knowledge-building on the web
Did you know the library has a blog?
Technorati : Tracking the Live Web
Blogs - Services
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Blogger
WordPress
Movable Type
TypePad
I-Search
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Using information - taking notes, analyzing
materials, recording the process
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Developing a final product - developing
communications, sharing experiences
I-Search Paper

What I Knew
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Why I am Writing This Paper

The Search

What I Learned
Serendipity
The faculty of making happy and unexpected
discoveries by accident. Also, the fact or an
instance of such a discovery.
- Oxford English Dictionary
Thank You
Frederic Murray, M.L.I.S.
Instructional Services Librarian
580 774 7113
frederic.murray@swosu.edu