Why do we research?
Researching is important in all fields of study, especially English and Social Studies. When we want to learn more about a topic or when we want to find evidence to support a claim, idea, or thesis that we have, research is our best method.
Learning how to research effectively is important. We must also be careful not to steal ideas that are not our own (please see the Plagiarism & Copyright section of this website).
Learning how to research effectively is important. We must also be careful not to steal ideas that are not our own (please see the Plagiarism & Copyright section of this website).
Online research
The internet is a great place to begin your research. Your search can be as broad or as narrow as you like.
For example, if you were researching the Titanic, you might be interested what percentage of the passengers were in third class. This would be an example of a broad research topic. If you wanted to explore the comparison of third class cabins to first class cabins on the Titanic and the related safety protocols for each, this would be a narrow research topic.
It is important that you make sure the websites you use for research are legitimate. How can you tell if a website is legitimate? That might not always be so easy to determine. Websites containing information that can be edited by anyone (such as Wikipedia) are examples of illegitimate websites for research purposes.
So, how do you find legitimate websites?
Try using SweetSearch, a search engine designed for students. The search results using this search engine weed out illegitimate sources, such as Wikipedia, and generally provide you with legitimate sources.
If you have any questions about whether or not the website(s) you are planning to use for research purposes are legitimate, please come see me and we can look at it together.
For example, if you were researching the Titanic, you might be interested what percentage of the passengers were in third class. This would be an example of a broad research topic. If you wanted to explore the comparison of third class cabins to first class cabins on the Titanic and the related safety protocols for each, this would be a narrow research topic.
It is important that you make sure the websites you use for research are legitimate. How can you tell if a website is legitimate? That might not always be so easy to determine. Websites containing information that can be edited by anyone (such as Wikipedia) are examples of illegitimate websites for research purposes.
So, how do you find legitimate websites?
Try using SweetSearch, a search engine designed for students. The search results using this search engine weed out illegitimate sources, such as Wikipedia, and generally provide you with legitimate sources.
If you have any questions about whether or not the website(s) you are planning to use for research purposes are legitimate, please come see me and we can look at it together.
Library research
While the internet is convenient for research, there is still a lot of great information within the books sitting on our library shelves.
To begin your search in the EPEC library:
1. Go to the HRSB Library search engine, located here.
2. In the navigation box near the top of the page, locate Eastern Passage Education Centre in the list under 'Library.' You will need to scroll to find it as the box is small.
3. In the top part of the navigation box, you will see a 'Search' section with a search bar for you to type. Once you've entered in your research topic (try to keep it simple - you'll find more books that way), press 'search.' The page may take a few moments to load as it searches through the database, so be patient.
4. The results that show up when you search can all be found within the EPEC library!
For more information about using the library for research, please talk to me or the librarian. We'd be more than happy to help.
To begin your search in the EPEC library:
1. Go to the HRSB Library search engine, located here.
2. In the navigation box near the top of the page, locate Eastern Passage Education Centre in the list under 'Library.' You will need to scroll to find it as the box is small.
3. In the top part of the navigation box, you will see a 'Search' section with a search bar for you to type. Once you've entered in your research topic (try to keep it simple - you'll find more books that way), press 'search.' The page may take a few moments to load as it searches through the database, so be patient.
4. The results that show up when you search can all be found within the EPEC library!
For more information about using the library for research, please talk to me or the librarian. We'd be more than happy to help.