Apprentice Researcher

Initiating inquiry

Try using our Preparing for Research Checklist to help you begin your research project. You can also visit ProQuest to access tools for developing critical thinking skills.

Questions to ask

During this stage, you should ask and answer the following questions:

• Am I prepared to begin my research?
• What do I have to do? Presentation? Report? Project?
• How will I present the final product?
• Who is my audience?
• How will it be evaluated?
• When is the project due?

Choosing a topic

Before you begin your research, you need to choose a topic. Sometimes your teacher will give a topic and other times you'll get to choose a topic. Here are some resources to help you choose a research topic:

• Choosing Your Topic Worksheet – helps you brainstorm topics
• Mind Map Worksheet – helps you record ideas
• KWL Chart – helps you record what you know, what you need to find out and where to look

You can also visit Visual Word to help you with brainstorm ideas and make connections about your research topic.

Questions to ask

During this stage, you should ask and answer the following questions:

• What is my topic?
• Have I brainstormed my ideas?
• Do I have a focus?
• Have I listed my topics and subtopics?
• Have I shared my ideas with others?
• What do I already know about the topic?
• What do I want to find out?
• Where will I look for information?
• Have I discussed my research plans with my teacher, librarian, parents and peers?

Developing questions

Once you've picked a topic, you'll want to start creating research questions to help guide you through the research process. Here are some resources you can use to help you develop research questions:

• Blooms Taxonomy Starters
• Mapping the Five Ws and H – Junior Template

Questions to ask

During this stage of research, you should ask yourself the following questions:

• What do you want to learn about the topic?
• Have I developed one or more good research questions?

Developing a plan

During this stage of research, you should ask and answer the following questions:

• Do I know where to find information to answer my research questions?
• Have I considered a variety of resources (i.e., books, magazines, websites, people, newspapers, etc.)?
• Have I used Destiny to locate non-fiction resources in my school library?
• Have I accessed other links from the Virtual Library related to my research?
• Have I developed keywords to search all resources such as databases and eBooks?

Selecting the information

During this stage of research, you should ask and answer the following questions:

• Have I looked through different resources to get an overview?
• Have I found enough useful information?
• Have I picked the best resources for my topic?
• Have I looked at tables of contents, indexes and summaries in my non-fiction resources?
• Have I skimmed and scanned the pages to see if they may answer my questions?

Determining the focus

It is important that you keep track of your resources while you're conducting research. This will make it easier to go back and review facts when you process your findings. Here are some tips to help you track your resources:

• Keeping Track of Your Resources – Junior
• Learning Logs

Questions to ask

During this stage of research, you should ask and answer the following questions:

• Have I recorded specific page numbers, inserted sticky notes and bookmarked websites?
• Have I collected the most appropriate resources?
• Am I keeping track of all sources that I use?
• Have I talked with my teacher, librarian or peers to explain my progress and resources?

Analyzing information

Here are some resources to help you process your research:

• Processing Information Checklist
• Making Research Notes – Junior Template

Questions to ask

During this stage of research, you should ask and answer the following questions:

• Am I ready to organize my research results?
• Have I used sources that are reliable and up to date?
• Have I taken notes in my own words that make sense to me (point form, lists, charts)?
• Have I kept track of all my sources of information and page numbers?
• Have I recorded my own thoughts, ideas and questions?

Evaluating ideas

Use our Determining Importance Worksheet to help determine which information is important and which information is not important. This will allow you to evaluate your research.

Questions to ask

During this stage of research, you should ask and answer the following questions:

• Does the information relate to my topic?
• Am I on the right track?

Organizing and synthesizing your findings

Check out these tools to help you organize and consolidate your research findings:

• Write Design Graphic Organizers
• Creating an Outline from a Web Organizer

Questions to ask

During this stage of research, you should ask and answer the following questions:

• Can I make connections based on my findings?
• Have I been able to form my own opinion about the information?
• Do I have evidence to support my main idea or point of view?
• Have I made use of graphic organizations to sort my information?
• Have I looked for similarities, differences and connections?

Making and presenting a product

Once you've finished researching, you'll want to transform your research into a finished assignment. Here are some resources and tools to help you through this process:

• Transferring Learning Checklist
• Read, Write Think – Essay Map

Questions to ask

During this stage of research, you should ask and answer the following questions:

• Am I ready to put my research together?
• How can I share my findings?
• What format will I use to present my work?
• Who is my audience?

Assessing product and process

It is always important to spend time reflecting on your work so that you can continue to improve in the future. Here are some resources that you can use to help you assess your work and reflect on the research process:

• Reflect and Rework
• MLA Citation Maker

Questions to ask

During this stage of research, you should ask and answer the following questions:

• Have I proofread my work for spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors?
• Have I asked someone else to proofread my work?
• Do I have a list of my resources?
• Have I met all the project requirements?

Extending and transferring learning

Complete our Reflection Worksheet after you've finished your research project.

Questions to ask

During this stage of research, you should ask and answer the following questions:

• What did I do well in the project?
• Have I made effective use of information and communication technology?
• What could I change next time I do research?
• How can I apply what I have learned from my research?
• Why was my work important to my learning?