Middle School Research

1. Tips for Effective Online
Research

2. 1. It is Important to Check Your Sources
The Skill: Evaluating information found in your sources on
the basis of accuracy (how correct they are), validity (how
trustworthy they are), appropriateness for needs, importance,
and social and cultural context (Context refers to background
information)

3. The Challenge with source checking: While most kids know not to believe
everything they read online, the majority also don’t take the time to fully
evaluate their sources, according to the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation. The same study showed that, on average, kids as young as 11
rate themselves as quite proficient Internet users, which may inflate their
confidence.

4. What can I do? :
Evaluate the website for:
1) currency (Is the information up to date?)
2) security (Does the site ask for too much personal information or prompt virus
warnings?)
3) scope (Is the information in-depth?)
4) authority (Does the information come from a trusted expert?).

5. 2) Ask Good Questions and Be Specific
The Skills: Developing and refining search queries to get better research
results. This means you need to be very clear with what you are looking
for.
The Challenge: Students will enter a search term, say, “Abraham
Lincoln,” and comb through pages of results that aren’t related to their
research (think Lincoln beards, Lincoln Logs), rather than narrowing their
original query (“Lincoln assassination”).

6. What Can I Do?
*Ask SPECIFIC questions about the topic you are researching…
(Ex: Instead of searching WWI, research causes of WWI, Effects of WWI,
Women’s roles during WWI, or whatever you want to know)
*Seek Time-Specific Info- This means look for articles or sources that are more
recent. Check the date in which the article was written to make sure it is useful or
relevant.

7. 3)Use Best Websites for Research
If you are searching for information about current events, you should learn about
best websites are such as nytimes.com, CNN, Time for Kids, NewsELA, etc…
https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/best-news-websites-for-studen
ts (This website has a list of tons of websites for students)
If you are researching historical information, or very complex topics, you might use
Google Scholar, or add “for kids, simple explanation” or other words to look for
easier resources to understand.

8. 4)What is an Internet Domain?
A domain name is a unique name that identifies a website.
For example, the domain name of the Tech Terms Computer
Dictionary is "techterms.com." Each website has a domain
name that serves as an address, which is used to access the
website.

9. 5) Understand Domains
Here follows a list of the most common domain suffixes and the types of
organizations that would use them.
.com
This is a commercial site. The information provided by commercial interests is
usually trying to promote something... While this information might not necessarily
be false, you might be getting only part of the picture. Remember, there's a
monetary ($$$) incentive behind every commercial site in providing you with
information, whether it is for good public relations or to sell you a product outright.
EXAMPLE: CBS.com, CNN.com (They provide news, but may differ slightly, and
want to make $)

10. 6) .edu refers to...
Educational institution. Sites using this domain name are
schools ranging from kindergarten to higher education. If you
take a look at your school's URL you'll notice that it ends with
the domain .edu. Information from sites within this domain
must be examined very carefully. If it is from a department or
research center at a educational institution, it can generally
be taken as credible. However, students' personal Web sites
are not usually monitored by the school even though they are
on the school's server and use the .edu domain.

11. 7) .gov refers to...
Government. If you come across a site with this domain, then
you're viewing a federal government site. All branches of the
United States federal government use this domain.
Information such as Census (population) statistics,
Congressional hearings, and Supreme Court rulings would be
included in sites with this domain. The information is
considered to be from a credible source.

12. 8).org refers to...
Traditionally a non-profit organization. Organizations such as
the American Red Cross or PBS (Public Broadcasting
System) use this domain suffix. Generally, the information in
these types of sites is credible and unbiased, but there are
examples of organizations that strongly advocate specific
points of view over others, such as the National Right to Life
Committee and Planned Parenthood. You probably want to
give this domain a closer look these days.

13. 9) .mil refers to...
Military. This domain suffix is used by the various branches of
the Armed Forces of the United States.
10) .net refers to...
Network. You might find any kind of site under this domain
suffix. It acts as a catch-all for sites that don't fit into any of the
preceding domain suffixes. Information from these sites should
be given careful scrutiny.

14. Cite your sources!
*This means you must say where you got your information
*Most high schools require MLA citation
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers
and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities
Petaluma High School and Casa use this website to help students
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_s
tyle_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html