Plan, Look, Do, Review

Don’t know where to start with your project, essay or assignment?

Four great research steps to try –

Plan, Look, Do, Review

 

Plan  – 20% of your time (12 mins out of an hour)

Think, brainstorm, define.  What have I been asked to do?  What information do I need?  What do I know about this subject already?  Organise your thoughts and what you need to find out BEFORE you start searching.

Look – 40% of your time (24 minutes out of an hour)

Search, search and search again.  Find all the information you need BEFORE writing your report.  Don’t just use Google for searching.  Use different keywords and spellings.   Check the information you find – is it accurate and up to date?  Did you apply a CRAAP test?

Do – 30% of your time (18 minutes out of an hour)

Write notes from books and websites and make a note of where each piece of information came from.  Don’t copy – use your own words. Organise your notes in a logical order so that your report has a beginning, a middle and an end.   Have you presented the information in the right form – report, poster, power point, etc

Review – 10% of your time (6 mins out of an hour)

How well did you do?  Get feedback from your teacher.  What could you have done better?  Did you need more information?  What will you do differently next time?