Research
Children, when you research a topic make sure you look at the author. Is the author published or credible. Think about what is being said in the material. Look for opposite views so that you can understand the whole picture. It is very important you don’t research to make yourself write. Look for information in a way that is curious but don’t take sides. Learn from a range of different views. Learn about the difference between an opinion (just a point of view) and a research study where a person has studied the topic from lots of points of view and written a paper on it.
Some tips:
- Look for government published reports
- Look for independent researchers
- Go to the National Library of Australia www.NLA.gov.au (if in Australia) and look at all the journals and magazines
- Use different search engines e.g. Yahoo, Dog Pile, Google, Google Scholar etc.
- Look at newspapers
- Watch Videos and Television documentaries
- Ask Librarians how best to research this topic
Always listen to other people’s views, they may enlighten you, even if they don’t believe what you do. Everyone has a right to an opinion or conclusion to a study. If we look at different views with an open mind we learn more. Avoid sites that are full of hate or negative or belittle any person.