Developing Research
Strategies
Pat McDougall
Teacher-Librarian
Dartmouth High School
Locating & Extracting precise
information for a position paper
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Choose a topic
Do some basic research to help decide your position
Take a position & develop a thesis statement
Formulate factual, interpretative and inquiry
questions.
Begin with general sources
Library catalogue
EBSCO
Web Sites
Individuals and Organizations
Works cited page
Choose a Topic
 Soviet Communism as a stabilizing force in
Eastern Europe
 The effect of the forces of nationalism on
Yugoslavia
 The role of the US in policing the world
 NATO peacemaking and the goals of
collective security
Next task
Basic research
 If you know nothing about your topic you may
have to check out some basic reference
books like encyclopedias, your textbook to
find some facts about your topic before
working on your thesis statement.
 So start with Step 2 if you need to find out
basic information on your topic.
Next Task
Thesis Statement
Take a position and develop a thesis statement.
 Do some critical thinking and write your
thesis statement down in one sentence.
 Your thesis statement is like a declaration
of your belief.
 The main portion of your essay will
consist of arguments to support and
defend this belief.
Sample
Thesis Statement Example
 “NATO should be enlarged to take in former
Warsaw Pact nations”
Next Task
Formulate factual questions.
 These concern the who, what, when, where,
why and how of your topic.
 For our NATO example, you may want to ask
 ”What nations currently want to join NATO?”
 “How have their governments changed since
they were members of the Warsaw pact?”
Interpretative Questions
Formulate interpretative questions.
 These delve deeper into the meaning of the
uncovered facts.
 For example, “What are the characteristics of
a genuine democratic society?”
 May have different answers.
 Must be supported with reliable evidence.
Inquiry Questions
Formulate inquiry questions.
 Look for connections between facts to draw
together arguments in favour of a particular
viewpoint
 For example, “What would be the advantages
to global collective security if NATO were
expanded?”
Next task
General Sources
 If you haven’t already done so, check your
textbook and encyclopedias for general
factual information about your area of study.
 This should help you answer the factual
questions you composed on page 1.
 It may also lead you to more probing
questions.
Next task
Library catalogue
 How to search – if screen has a list already
hit F7 to start a new search
 Enter your keywords
 Hit enter twice
 A list of books will be shown, note the ones
that say Dartmouth High
 Write down the Dewy number and find the
book on the shelf
 Hit Page Down to see more pages
Next Task
Searching EBSCO
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http://search.epnet.com
At DHS – automatic logon
At home Username: DHS
Password: spartan
Click on EBSCOhost Web
Canadian Reference Centre is already checked
off
 Also Check off Middle Search Plus
 Hit Continue
 Click on Full text
Next Task
Search Engines
 AltaVista Search Engine an excellent
search engine that allows phrase and
boolean searching as well as required and
prohibited terms. Be sure to use AltaVista
Advanced with its "Sort by" feature.
 Google. Remember results are based on
popularity. A good search engine for
sports teams and music groups. Google
has an Advanced Google Search.
Meta Search Engines
 IXQuick One of the top meta-search
engines
 Metor An excellent meta search engine. It
will do a meta search for encyclopedias,
science sites, music, movies, downloads,
search sites for kids, and even a meta
search on recipe sites.
 KartOO – a visual search engine,
organizes your results into subheadings.
Next Task
Individuals and Organizations
 We are not going to contact people for this
part of the research material gathering but
when you are doing your actual project, there
may be authorities on your subject that you
can contact. How would you find these
experts? Where would they be located?
Next Task
Works cited page
 A Sample Works Cited page in MLA format is
included as page 8 of your handout. A more
detailed sample page is located at:
http://www.aresearchguide.com/sam
pleworks.html
Summary
Summary – Each item is worth 2 points
 Choose a topic
 Thesis statement
 Two factual Questions
 One Interpretative question
 One Inquiry Question
 General Source Worksheet
 Library Catalogue worksheet for book
 EBSCO worksheet
 Website worksheet – two of these
 Works Cited page