Technology Literacy Guide

The following guide was created to guide Middle School and underclassmen High School student in the process of writing a research paper.

Picking a topic:

You want to pick a topic that interests you. Maybe pick something that brings curiosity to you.  You may want also to consider your audience at the time of picking a topic.  Remember the purpose of research is to answer a question.

Where do I look?

You may want to consider the following places:

The library

Text Books

The internet

Experts in the field

The library:

When you visit the library you may request help from the librarian or you may want to find the book catalog and search the topic of your research. You may also look for Journals or academic publishing on other related researches.

Text Books:

You may want to look at the index of your textbook.  Your topic may be listed there.

Text books are written by experts in the field, therefore they make a good source of information.

Experts in the field:

If you have the opportunity to interview en expert in the field of your research, he or she will be able to provide a lot of helpful information and key perspectives. 

The internet:

As we all know the internet is great place to find information.  At times it may seem like we have infinite amounts of information on the internet.  You have to be careful as to what from the internet you use, as anybody can post just about anything on the internet.  I would recommend sticking to the following when using the internet for your research:

1) Professional Journals

2) Academic Research similar to yours

3) Educational Sites (.edu)

4) Websites by professionals in the field of your topic. 

How do I know what to use?

All information you look at you should evaluate through the following focus:

Who wrote it? (is he or she an expert in the field)

Why did they write? (as part of some research, as their opinion, as a response to somebody else’s work)

When did they write it? (if the piece is to old sometimes the information may no longer be accurate)

 After answering those questions, you need to ask yourself, how this information helps me answer my question.

Writing your research:

Depending on the field of study a specific format may be have to follow a specific format.  Make sure you understand all the requirements and pieces of the format before you begin.

You used it, you cited:

Give credit where credit is due.  Depending on the format you write your research on, will depend who you cite your work.  Make sure to keep track of every source you use (title, author, publishing company, year it was published, city where it was published.)