This document is a guidebook for parents and teachers to help students develop research skills. It provides exercises, learning objectives, and descriptions for each step of the research process. The guidebook introduces research and why teaching students these skills is important. It outlines the typical research process and describes each step for the student's research project, including choosing a topic, developing questions, finding information, organizing findings, and presenting. It provides guidance for parents and teachers to facilitate each step of the student's project.

1. The Young Person's Guide
to Doing Research
Parents/Teachers
Guidebook
Second Edition
September 2014
Copyright © 2014 by Kids’Research Partners (KRP)

2. 2
The Young Person’s
Guide to Doing Research
Parents/Teachers
Guidebook
This guidebook is a companion to your student’s
research Guidelines. It provides exercises for
developing research skills, learning objectives for each
section within the student Guidelines, description of
each step of the research process, special instructions,
hints for completing tasks, and a description of skills
that students will build with each task
that they complete.
Copyright © 2014 by Kidz Research Partners (KRP)

3. Introduction
Welcome to this research guidebook and the world of inquiry. Children are naturally inquisitive,
open-minded, and as we know, they love to question everything around them. As caring adults
that want the best for our children and the next generation of visionaries, we have a duty to give
our students the skills they need to embrace their inquisitive nature and be better prepared to
meet new challenges in the future.
KRP’s aim in offering this tutorial is to encourage and enable students to develop curiosity,
interest and enjoyment towards research and the methods of inquiry; to gain new
knowledge and understanding of the world around them; and to acquire the skills that they need
to effectively communicate their ideas to others.
What is research?
Generally, research can be defined as the process of being curious about a topic, gathering
information, and coming to new understanding about it. There are various types of research
methods such as fundamental, applied, quantitative, qualitative, and scientific research.
Although these are different, they all follow a similar series of steps that come to some
conclusion or new understanding about their subject. These guidelines apply to fundamental
research: a method for knowledge enhancement, and done for the welfare, of humans, animals
and the plant kingdom welfare.
Why teach your student research skills?
Research skills are a set of tools that are used to systemically inquire, investigate, think critically,
and problem-solve. Skilled researchers are in great demand both in educational institutions and
businesses. Colleges and businesses need people who have the skills to examine an idea and
convey their findings to others. Universities such as Harvard, Stanford and UC Berkeley are
incubators for innovation and many new products and services such as Yahoo and Google were
developed by students working within the spaces of these schools.
Your role as parents and teachers
The parent’s role is to help students develop their research skills. Inquiry-based learning is driven
by students. When they are free to be curious, they are motivated to learn and develop a sense
of ownership about their research project. Parents and teachers can best serve their students by
acting as coaches and facilitators who help learners question, seek, and arrive at thoughtful
conclusions.
Important Note: With the freedom to inquire, children may find it challenging to stay focused on
each task and the process overall. Parents can help their students overcome this challenge by
keeping them organized and focused on completing each task in an agreed on amount of time.
3

4. Why do people conduct research?
4
People do research to:
• focus on their interests;
• learn something new and expand their view of the world;
• challenge themselves in new ways;
• develop and hone their problem-solving and communication skills
(written and oral)
• help them do better in school and throughout their careers.
Exercise 1
Exploring reasons for doing research
Exercise Objective: To learn what research is and why people do it. To open
your student’s minds to the benefits of learning these skills.
Directions: Turn to page 3 of your student’s project Guidelines and talk with
them about the meaning of research and why people do it.
After you two have discussed the various possible reasons for doing research ask
your student why they may want to learn research skills and conduct research
projects.

5. Research Process
Research is a continuous cycle
5
Conducting
Research
(projects)
6
Evaluate
Project
1
Choose
Topics
3
Find
Answers
4
Organize
Findings
5
Present
Findings
2
Develop
Questions
Inquiring

6. Your Student’s Research Project
To complete their project, your student will:
Step 1: Choose a research topic.
Step 2: Develop guiding questions for their research topic.
Step 3: Find answers to their guiding questions.
Step 4: Organize their findings.
Step 5: Create a presentation and communicate their findings.
Step 6: Receive feedback from their audience after they give their presentation.
Step 7: Reflect on what they learned and consider their audience’s feedback.
6
You can help your student by making suggestions about their
topics and questions, supporting them as they search for
information, and being present as they create and practice their
presentation.

7. Step One: Choose a Topic
7
Description: Choosing a topic is essentially a brainstorming exercise that starts with
noting any ideas that comes to mind, creating a list of these ideas, then eliminating ideas
from the list until there is just one left to be researched. Ideas can come from current
school lessons or anything in the past, present, or future.
Brainstorming to help choose a research topic
1) Think BIG about an idea;
2) Pick a few ideas that you like the most; and
3) Decide on one idea that you want to learn more about.
Exercise 2: Brainstorming for topic ideas
Step 1: In 5 minutes, write as quickly as you can, any idea that pops into
your head. Let your mind take you from one thought to the next to the
next. Keep writing your ideas down until you’ve generated a long list.
Step 2: Narrow down the list to no more than 3 ideas that interest you.
Step 3: Decide on one idea that interests you the most.
Skills Developed: Free-thinking, brainstorming, and organizing thoughts.
Parent's/Teacher’s Role: Help your student think of a topic by suggesting lessons that
they could review for ideas, remind them of questions that they have in their everyday life,
or bring up news and events that they found interesting in the past.
Suggestions/Remarks: The Internet is also a useful source for exploring ideas.
Instructions for using the Internet are available on page 13 of the student Guidelines. Work
with your student to search for ideas on the Internet.
Go with your student to page 8 of their research Guidelines and
work with them to choose a research topic.

8. Step Two: Develop Guiding Questions
8
Description: This is a critical part of your student’s research, because it will guide their
inquiry and help them develop a presentation that provokes the interest of the
audience. If your student’s questions are not clear, then the rest of the research is
unlikely to be successful.
Skills Developed: Critical thinking and sentence construction
Research is based on inquiry and discovery. Researchers ask questions that help them
discover how their world works.
There are three main types of questions
Factual (literal) questions are those that require the researcher to retrieve facts about a
given topic. These types of questions usually start with who, what, when, where, why and
how.
The answers to factual questions form the foundation for higher-level (interpretive and
evaluative) questions. If we don't know the "facts" about something, our interpretation
and evaluation of something will probably be flawed.
Interpretive questions ask for answers based on what people think about evidence that
they find while answering factual questions or reading assigned texts. These questions ask
what can be inferred by the facts. See page 23 of the student Guidelines to learn about
observations and inferences.
Evaluative questions ask for some kind of opinion, belief, or point of view. Answers to this
type of question depend on a person’s knowledge and experience.
Evaluative questions rarely make good questions for inquiry-based projects, because they
ask for an opinion without regard to facts about the topic of inquiry.
Parent's Role: With your student, review the descriptions above. Then GO to page 11 of your
student’s Guidelines and help them follow the directions for developing their guiding
questions. Your student should start with a general question to help define their topic and
then use deeper questions to learn more about the topic.
Suggestions and Remarks: Interpretive and evaluative questions should be asked after
factual questions are completed. The answers to factual questions can be used as facts to ask
interpretive and evaluative questions later in your conclusions if your student wishes to.

9. Step Three: Do Your Research
Learning about information sources and searching methods
9
Description: This is a searching exercise to help the student learn how to look for
information and use it. Students look through all types of sources that could have relevant
information to answer their guiding questions.
Skills Developed: Computer and Internet operation, online searching (using Google
and Bing), online information review and information collection, library
familiarization, library resource collection, identifying experts, and interviewing
techniques.
Parent's/Teacher’s Role: Help your student search for information. Have a discussion with
them about what it is and where it is found. Help them learn how to search for information
and use it for their research.
Not all information is equal: Go with your student to page 12 of their Guidelines and
discuss the characteristics of information with them. Some pieces of information just
replicates others, and some is not complete. Just because someone finds an answer in one
source does not mean that they have found a complete or correct answer. The researcher
should search several sources before settling on a correct answer. And sometimes it is useful
to use contradicting information to come up with what is considered the best answer. Verify
that your student has looked through all of the sources of information that are available to
them.
Accompany your student to a local library, use the library catalog to locate sources, and
collect information from the sources that are necessary for their research.
Help your student identify experts and conduct expert interviews. Your student should read
articles about the topics, see who is quoted in the articles, and consider the authors too as
someone who they can contact to ask questions about the topic. Help you student develop
questions to ask the experts and help them set up times and venues for talking with the
expert.
Suggestions and Remarks: Instructions and samples are found on the following pages.
Students may need help operating a computer, using the Internet, operating search engines,
developing key words, identifying answers to their questions and obtaining it.
Pages 10 through 13 explain (of this Guidebook) source characteristics and how they
can be used.

10. 10
Where to Find Information
Internet (World Wide Web), Libraries, and Experts
Internet (World Wide Web)
The Internet is like a big library that
computers (and other devices) can access
from anywhere in the world. Just as anyone
can access information sources such as
books, magazines, newspapers and videos in
a library, they can also access these sources in
an electronic form on the Internet.
Looking for answers on the Internet
To find information on the Internet:
Commerce Sites
(Amazon, etc.)
Images Videos
Other Stuff
1st, Use a search engine such as Google (www.google.com) or Bing
(www.bing.com).
Internet
(World Wide Web)
Social media
Personal opinions
Blogs
2nd, Enter (type in) your search term (words that describe questions about your
topic).
3rd, Scroll down or use the direction keys on your keyboard to review the results
of your search.
4th, Click on the highlighted links on the page to review each site and look for
information that you can use for your research.
5th, Repeat your search. If you are not satisfied with your original search results,
then you can try new words or combinations of words and search again. You can
do this again and again until you think you’ve got the complete answer to your
questions.
Government
information
Documents
From
Libraries
Company Sites

11. 11
Steps to Searching the Internet
Enter
your search
term here
Go to a
search
engine
Scroll down
results page
using the
direction keys
on your keyboard
4
Click
on the
highlighted
text to review
the web page
3
2
1

12. Libraries
The library is a great place to find sources of information that you can use to answer your
guiding questions. The library holds both print and electronic information, videos, and
music. The library catalog helps you locate sources of information that are found in the
library.
Using the library catalog
12
1) Find the library catalog.
Libraries have catalog terminals
throughout the building. Electronic
catalogs are also available on library
websites.
2) Enter your search term.
These are the same terms that
you used to search the Internet.
Library systems also allow you
to search by subject, source
title, author, or key word.
3) Review your search results.
Scroll down the results page or
use the direction keys on your
keyboard to review your library
source results.
4) Select your resources.
Click on the links and find
the source location (library
locator/call number).
Having trouble using the catalog or finding
a location? Librarians love to help their
customers. Please ask the librarian for help if
you need it!

13. Experts
An expert is a person that knows a lot about a topic. They
might work in an area that involves your topic, or maybe
they are in school and researched your topic too.
• Experts may live close to you or across the world.
• They may be able to answer your questions. If they
cannot, maybe they will know where to go to answer
them.
The Internet is a great source of locating experts. They
can be found on:
• Personal or company websites.
• Social media sites (such as Linked-in and Facebook).
• Schools (educational institutions).
• News articles.
• Conference agendas.
Asking for Information
• Contact experts by email or call them.
• Introduce yourself (student and researcher).
• Explain your research and interest in the topic.
• Ask them if you could ask some questions.
• Ask them questions about your topic.
• Afterwards, thank them for their time.
Examples
Authors
University professor
and researcher
News reporters
Museums staff
Local officials
Local experts
If you look around your community, you
might find people that can help answer your
questions.
13

14. Writing a Bibliography
14
Description: This section describes how to create a bibliography - a list all of the
sources that are used to conduct research such as books, movies, websites, expert
interviews, or magazine articles. We have provided a simple, general style for your
student to follow while conducting their project.
Skills Developed: Bibliography construction.
Parent's/Teacher’s Role: With your student, please turn to pages 18 - 21 of their
Guidelines and using the samples create a bibliography.
Suggestions and Remarks: Keep in mind that there are numerous bibliographic
styles available to researchers. This could be confusing to newcomers and
veterans alike. In the future, other lessons, schools, or employers may require the
use of different bibliographic styles that can be found on the Internet by Googling
them.
Below, you will find a sample that illustrates how all of the information for a
bibliographic entry is found directly from the source.

15. 15
Observations and Inferences
The main reason for doing research is to learn about a topic and come to conclusions
about what is learned.
Observations are anything that can be detected with the use of the five senses: sight,
hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Observations can be clues that a researcher sees, either
literally (looking at something) or figuratively (reading about it). From these observations,
researchers can make inferences.
Inferences are personal and contain opinion. An inference is the interpretation of facts.
Inferences express probability, not certainty. They are based on personal observations or
on the observations of other people.
By asking questions about your topic and finding answers to your questions, you can learn
new facts about it. In research you make observations, learn new facts, then infer - make
conclusions about the facts that you observed.
Remember that the same observations can lead to different conclusions, depending on the
researchers’ perspective. This should be considered when coming to your own conclusions.
Exercise 3
Making Inferences
Exercises Objective: To help the student understand how to observe and make
inferences.
Directions:
With your student, observe each fact below, then make inferences about them, and
make inferences in the corresponding blank space. There is no right or wrong answer.
Inferences are just someone’s opinion about their observation.
Fact Inferences
The flower has red petals and thorns
The clouds above are dark
Steam is rising above the water
The dog is barking at the door
The siren blasting loudly

16. Step Four: Organize Your Findings
Description: In this section the student will learn how to organize all of the information
that they found: answers to their guiding questions, any interesting facts that they found
while reviewing the information they collected, and any inferences and conclusions that
they came to while doing their research.
Skills Developed: Reading, identifying relevant information, making observations,
inferring information, and creating outlines.
Parents/Teacher’s Role: Please help the student organize their data. Instructions and
examples are given on page 24 in the student Guidelines and an outline for organizing
their information is provided on pages 24 and 25.
Suggestions/Remarks: Please keep in mind and remind your student that research is
presented like a story and should be organized as such. So, first they should start with
information that is general and will help explain what the research topic is, then they
should add details to define and explain the topic further.
16
Page 24 of your student’s Guidelines and help
them organize their findings. GO TO

17. Step Five: Present Your Research
17
Description: In this section your student will learn how to present their research
findings. Students are reminded again that presenting findings is like telling a story
about one’s research. Presentations have an introduction, a main body and a
conclusion. When a researcher creates their presentation, they take organized
findings (from section 4) and place it in a format that is easy for an audience to
follow. This section provides some ideas about why certain presentation types and
formats may be used and gives some directions on the process of creating a
presentation in each.
WE RECOMMEND THAT YOUR STUDENT ONLY USE POWERPOINT for their
presentation. We provide some details of various types of presentation types and
practices. For this presentation, we recommend that your student use PowerPoint.
This is because:
- PowerPoint is still the most common type of presentation tool used in schools
and workplaces,
- It is available in most households (most computers have some form of MS OFFICE
tools)
- It will be the easiest to use and present to your student’s audience.
Skills Developed: Typing and computer operation, PowerPoint skills, spelling, and
thinking critically about organizing information and story telling
Parent's Role: Please help your student read through pages 26-32 of their Guidelines
and help them create their presentation. Some areas where students may need help
operating PowerPoint include creating new slides, creating text boxes, modifying font
styles and sizes, and inserting (copying and pasting) images.
Go to page 26 of this Guidebook to consider the evaluation criteria that your
audience will use. They can be useful guideposts to ensure that the presentation is
well constructed and complete.
Encourage your student to practice giving presentations. See page 28 of this
Guidebook for helpful hints on giving presentations.
Suggestions and Remarks: It might be useful for you and your student to do some
Google searches on your topic and add the word “presentation” to find similar
presentations that others have completed. These may give your student ideas about
how to present their findings.

18. 18
PowerPoint Presentations
PowerPoint presentations include pictures, and
clip art (animations), designs, tables, and simple
texts. Presentations may include video and
sound too.
Each presentation will have:
• 1 title slide; then
• 6-8 main body slides; and
• 1 conclusion (or Summary) slide.
Some important steps to follow when
designing your presentation:
• Less is more. Use simple designs.
• Standardize heading positions, colors and
styles throughout the presentation.
• Colors should contrast the background.
• Follow the same format with effects,
transitions and animation.
• Fonts show be clear and easy to read from a
distance.
Text guidelines
• Use bullet points (phrases not complete
sentences).
• No more than 6 words a line.
• No more than 6 lines to a slide.
• Font size between 18 to 36 point.
• Try to use bold font for most text on a slide.
• Text should contrast with background.
• Information should be simple and clear to
understand (just what’s needed).
• Avoid abbreviations and acronyms.
• Limit punctuation marks.
Clip art and graphics
• Graphics should help the audience
understand the text, not overwhelm it.
• No more than two graphics per slide.

19. 19
Prezi
With Prezi zooming presentation
software, you create an engaging
experience that leads your audience
down a path of discovery.

20. 20
Display Board
Single and Tri-Fold
Display boards are simple, artistic and mobile
ways to help tell the story of your research.
A display board is used at a competition, a
showroom, in a classroom, at a conference,
or in any situation where the researcher
wants to have a self explanatory display and
provide details through an oral presentation.
When using a display board, think
about the following:
Organization
Ensure that your presentation goes from…
• Top to bottom
• Left to right
…so your audience can quickly and easily
follow it.
Font size
Adjust your text fonts…
• Headlines – 24 to 36 points
• Text 18 - 20 points
…to make the presentation easy to read from
a few feet away.
Visual aids
Add visual aids such as…
• Photos, drawings, diagrams
• Models
• Tables (for numbers)
• Experiment results
…to make the presentation interesting
and easy to understand.

21. 21
Tell Your story: Practice your presentation skills
Once your student has completed their research and created a presentation, it is
time to share it with their audience. A presentation should be no more than 10
minutes long (if they are doing a PowerPoint presentation there will be about 10-12
slides). While preparing for their presentation your student should make sure that
they:
• Know their audience. Consider what their audience may already know about their
topic. It will help you connect with them better.
• Plan carefully. Review their presentation to make sure that they aren’t missing
anything. Your audience should not wonder what your presentation was about when
the student completes it.
• Time the presentation. Plan to speak about one minute for each slide. Practice your
presentation and time it to make sure that the student does not go over or under
their allotted time.
• Speak slowly and clearly. Speak clearly, not too fast, naturally, and loud enough that
everyone can hear what they are saying.
• Follow the text and pictures on your presentation. Your student will want their
audience to follow them as they tell their story. If the student follows the text of their
presentation, the audience will also be able to follow.
• Speak about, but DO NOT READ the information on your presentation. The
presentation helps you know what to say and it gives the audience a guide to follow.
But don’t read from the presentation, because it will get boring to the audience.
Instead, while speaking, add more details and provide more examples.
• Practice your presentation. Good presentations take practice. Practicing will help
your student be more confident and feel more natural when they get up in front of
their audience and share their work. Practice will help their bodies and minds
remember the pace and rhythm of their presentation. The presentation will be their
cheat sheet and help you remember what you are talking about. You (the parent)
should help them remember to keep going regardless of how it goes. If they have
problems, they shouldn’t worry. It happens to everyone.
• Have fun with your presentation. Remind your student that, while they are
presenting they are the expert. They should just enjoy the experience. It only lasts for
a short time and they will feel accomplished afterwards.

22. 22
Step Six: Audience Evaluates the Project
Description: Your student’s audience will be asked to measure various factors
about their presentation and research. Some factors that the audience will
consider include:
• Project completeness
• Completed all steps of the research process thoroughly
• Well edited and easy to follow
• Reviewed and used all types of sources
• Bibliography is complete
• Good use of visual aides
• Grammar and spelling errors
• No grammar errors
• No spelling errors
• Amount of thought put into project and presentation
• Words are clearly understood
• Voice easy to understand
• Good eye contact
• Scans the audience
Parents/Teachers Role: Provide the rubric and instructions to the audience.
The Audience should be made up of your student’s family and peers.
- Please copy the rubric on the next page (p. 23) and pass the copies to the
audience.
- -Please give them instructions to first read the criteria in each column and
row of the rubric, then circle the appropriate marks as they observe your
student’s presentation.
- Explain to your student that evaluations are meant to help them grow and
develop their research skills.

23. 23
Research and Presentation Rubric
Please observe the presenter and their work, then
circle the measurements that you think fits.

24. 24
Step Seven: Project Reflection
Description: Once they have completed their presentation, your student will give it to their
audience. The audience will evaluate their presentation and give feedback. The student
should use this feedback along with their own ideas about how things went during the
project to reflect on it.
Skills Developed: Listening and learning, maintaining an open mind.
Parent's Role: With your student review audience evaluation sheets (rubrics) and ask
your student what they thought about doing their project and presentation. Ask them what
they think they would do differently in future research and presentations?
Suggestions and Remarks: Remember and remind your student that your audience is just
providing their opinion about what they are observing during the presentation.
Go with your student to Page 36 of their Guidelines and follow
the directions for reflecting on their completed research project.

25. 25
Thank you for choosing Kids’ Research Partners!
We hope that your student has enjoyed conducting research, completing their
project and giving their presentation. We know that the research process will
be useful throughout their lifetime. Therefore, we believe that it is crucial that
they continue to practice the skills that they have learned doing their research.
Encourage your students to take every opportunity to wonder about ideas that
pop into their minds, question the world around them, go find answers to
those questions, and then tell someone what they’ve learned.