Research Skills Big6 - Step 4. Use of Information

Research Skills Big6 - Step 4. Use of Information

This step is to evaluate information collected from various sources. Mainly  involves information evaluation, note-taking skills and citations.

There are also two layers of meaning for information evaluation. First is the evaluation for the reliability. Second is the evaluation for how much information related to the project is.

For the reliability of information
Students you may ask the following questions to yourself.

A. What to look for in books and periodicals

1. Currency: What is the publication date of the resource? 
2. Authority: Who is the author and publisher? 
3. Validity/Accuracy: Is the information accurate or valid?
4. Audience: Who was the resource written for? 
5. Point of view (bias): What is the resource's point of view?

B. What to look for in web sites

1. Currency: When was the website last updated?
2. Authority: Who is the author or creator?
3. Validity/Accuracy: Is the information accurate or valid?
4. Audience: Who was the website created for?
5. Point of view (bias): What is the website's point of view?

If you want to get more ideas about this, you can go to the following website.

How to evaluate information

**Once you confirm the data you have got reliable, then you can go to next step. That's extracting information from the reading materials and taking note whenever you find any useful information related to the project.

For Effective Reading and information Extraction

A. What is critical Reading ( By the University of Leicestar )

This article gives you some guidelines and reminders while you are reading. Remember! Don't just only read the things. You need to keep on asking yourself whether the materials you are reading are relevant to your project and how you would use the information. No just only read.

To our food waste project, you may ask the following questions:

1. What kind of information can the readings contribute to the project?
2. Is the information about the cause of the problem of food waste? or the solution?
3. Where do the information come from a reliable organization, like government?
4. Is it a fact? Or is it related to emotion expression from the writer?

One more tip to all of you. Skim and Scan bold print, headings, and captions can save up your time and energy!
For Note-taking (Skills)

It is impossible to keep all the information you got in your mind. You need to take an note for the important information or idea you got while you are reading. Here are some websites for grabbing the skills of note-taking.

A. NOTE TAKING SYSTEM (by  California Polytechnic State University)

According to California Polytechnic State University, there are five methods for note-taking. You can read the link article to learn more about the technique of each methods, as well as their pros and cons .

B. Tooling and Studying: Effective Reading and Note-Taking ( by Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

This article lists out all the points that you may miss out when taking note. It is worth reading it before taking notes. You can treat this as a reminder.

Your optimal style may include the following:

• Dating your notes, and provide a heading that describes the piece's overall content.
• Numbering the pages of your notes.
• Paraphrasing instead of writing verbatim - writing in your own words, except for formulas, definitions, and specific facts (i.e. involving dates), which should be recorded exactly as in the text.
• Using consistent abbreviations and symbols.
• Developing an ideal organizational format, like an outline, map, table, or notecards, depending on content.
• Leaving room in the margins for additional thoughts or questions.
• Typing your notes, which can be used for exam-studying, once you have clarified any ambiguities.

For Note-taking (tools)

Web 2.0 does create an environment which is favor for conducting project. There are many good websites allow students can take note, share information and do the collaboration instantly. Here are some examples.

A. Remember the Milk allows you to Manage tasks quickly and easily. Get reminded, anywhere. Organize the way you want to. Work together to get things done. Plan your time. Add tasks wherever you are.

B. Evernote keeps you focused on moving those ideas from inspiration to completion, no matter what form your writing takes, from short lists to lengthy research.

**While you are reading your resources and taking note, it is a time for making a list of reference. Students, you need to remember that Copy and Paste is not allowed in all the academic writing. plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and ideas, as well as lying about it afterward. Therefore, it is important to you to grab the skill of citation. Here are some good videos and websites about this. 

For skills and tools of citation

A. Understanding Plagiarism

**This video lets you know the reason and the definition of plagiarism. 

B. Plagiarism: How to avoid it

**This video teaches some skills to avoid plagiarism by using quotation and paraphrasing. 

C. Plagiarism: What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It (By Indana University) gets a clear definition on Plagiarism and introduce methods to avoid it with plenty of examples.

D. Reference Machine by PolyU HK is a useful referencing machine. You can follow the instruction to input the necessary information and you can get a citation in return.