How Do We Research?

We use a research model - the "Ready, Set, Go....Show" model.

READY (Preparing for Research)

- What do you already know?

- What do you need to find out?

- What answer(s) do you need to your question(s)?

- What will help you solve your problem?

- Where should you look for the answer(s)?

- Write down what you need to find out and keep updating it as you go along

SET (Accessing Resources)

- Find materials (books, magazines, encyclopedias, videos, CD Roms, etc. that relate to your subject or question

- Keep track of where you found these resources

- Use tables of contents, indexes, glossaries, and other helpful tools to make the best use of your time

- Keep track of the information you get from them, using graphic organizers, worksheets provided by the teacher, mindmaps, etc.

GO (Processing Information)

- What books, magazines, people, or other resources have been the most useful?

- Are you still needing answers to some of your questions?

- Does all your information fit, or can some of it be thrown out?

- Have you chosen the best information?

- Have you organized it in a meaningful or easy-to-understand way, so that you can actually use it easily?

- Have you come to a conclusion (or found the main answer to your question), or do you need to redirect or start over? (If so, go back to “ready” or “set.”)

SHOW (Transferring Learning)

- How can you best show what you’ve learned?

- What’s the best method to demonstrate your findings?

- Will everyone understand what you are trying to say?

- Can you show your work in a bunch of different ways (graphs, words, charts, etc.)?

- Did you do your best work?

- Looking back, could you have done something a different way, to get a better result?

- Does all your work show in your final product? Did you miss anything important?

- Did you answer your question the way you intended?

- Does your finished product match what you set out to do in the “ready” step?

- Are you proud of what you learned?