research skills lesson plans

• Research Skills

50 Mini-Lessons For Teaching Students Research Skills

Please note, I am no longer blogging and this post hasn’t updated since April 2020.

For a number of years, Seth Godin has been talking about the need to “ connect the dots” rather than “collect the dots” . That is, rather than memorising information, students must be able to learn how to solve new problems, see patterns, and combine multiple perspectives.

Solid research skills underpin this. Having the fluency to find and use information successfully is an essential skill for life and work.

Today’s students have more information at their fingertips than ever before and this means the role of the teacher as a guide is more important than ever.

You might be wondering how you can fit teaching research skills into a busy curriculum? There aren’t enough hours in the day! The good news is, there are so many mini-lessons you can do to build students’ skills over time.

This post outlines 50 ideas for activities that could be done in just a few minutes (or stretched out to a longer lesson if you have the time!).

Learn More About The Research Process

I have a popular post called Teach Students How To Research Online In 5 Steps. It outlines a five-step approach to break down the research process into manageable chunks.

This post shares ideas for mini-lessons that could be carried out in the classroom throughout the year to help build students’ skills in the five areas of: clarify, search, delve, evaluate , and cite . It also includes ideas for learning about staying organised throughout the research process.

Notes about the 50 research activities:

• These ideas can be adapted for different age groups from middle primary/elementary to senior high school.
• Many of these ideas can be repeated throughout the year.
• Depending on the age of your students, you can decide whether the activity will be more teacher or student led. Some activities suggest coming up with a list of words, questions, or phrases. Teachers of younger students could generate these themselves.
• Depending on how much time you have, many of the activities can be either quickly modelled by the teacher, or extended to an hour-long lesson.
• Some of the activities could fit into more than one category.
• Looking for simple articles for younger students for some of the activities? Try DOGO News or Time for Kids . Newsela is also a great resource but you do need to sign up for free account.
• Why not try a few activities in a staff meeting? Everyone can always brush up on their own research skills!

• Choose a topic (e.g. koalas, basketball, Mount Everest) . Write as many questions as you can think of relating to that topic.
• Make a mindmap of a topic you’re currently learning about. This could be either on paper or using an online tool like Bubbl.us .
• Read a short book or article. Make a list of 5 words from the text that you don’t totally understand. Look up the meaning of the words in a dictionary (online or paper).
• Look at a printed or digital copy of a short article with the title removed. Come up with as many different titles as possible that would fit the article.
• Come up with a list of 5 different questions you could type into Google (e.g. Which country in Asia has the largest population?) Circle the keywords in each question.
• Write down 10 words to describe a person, place, or topic. Come up with synonyms for these words using a tool like  Thesaurus.com .
• Write pairs of synonyms on post-it notes (this could be done by the teacher or students). Each student in the class has one post-it note and walks around the classroom to find the person with the synonym to their word.

• Explore how to search Google using your voice (i.e. click/tap on the microphone in the Google search box or on your phone/tablet keyboard) . List the pros and cons of using voice and text to search.
• Open two different search engines in your browser such as Google and Bing. Type in a query and compare the results. Do all search engines work exactly the same?
• Have students work in pairs to try out a different search engine (there are 11 listed here ). Report back to the class on the pros and cons.
• Think of something you’re curious about, (e.g. What endangered animals live in the Amazon Rainforest?). Open Google in two tabs. In one search, type in one or two keywords ( e.g. Amazon Rainforest) . In the other search type in multiple relevant keywords (e.g. endangered animals Amazon rainforest).  Compare the results. Discuss the importance of being specific.
• Similar to above, try two different searches where one phrase is in quotation marks and the other is not. For example, Origin of “raining cats and dogs” and Origin of raining cats and dogs . Discuss the difference that using quotation marks makes (It tells Google to search for the precise keywords in order.)
• Try writing a question in Google with a few minor spelling mistakes. What happens? What happens if you add or leave out punctuation ?
• Try the AGoogleADay.com daily search challenges from Google. The questions help older students learn about choosing keywords, deconstructing questions, and altering keywords.
• Explore how Google uses autocomplete to suggest searches quickly. Try it out by typing in various queries (e.g. How to draw… or What is the tallest…). Discuss how these suggestions come about, how to use them, and whether they’re usually helpful.
• Watch this video  from Code.org to learn more about how search works .
• Take a look at  20 Instant Google Searches your Students Need to Know  by Eric Curts to learn about “ instant searches ”. Try one to try out. Perhaps each student could be assigned one to try and share with the class.
• Experiment with typing some questions into Google that have a clear answer (e.g. “What is a parallelogram?” or “What is the highest mountain in the world?” or “What is the population of Australia?”). Look at the different ways the answers are displayed instantly within the search results — dictionary definitions, image cards, graphs etc.

• Watch the video How Does Google Know Everything About Me?  by Scientific American. Discuss the PageRank algorithm and how Google uses your data to customise search results.
• Brainstorm a list of popular domains   (e.g. .com, .com.au, or your country’s domain) . Discuss if any domains might be more reliable than others and why (e.g. .gov or .edu) .
• Discuss (or research) ways to open Google search results in a new tab to save your original search results  (i.e. right-click > open link in new tab or press control/command and click the link).
• Try out a few Google searches (perhaps start with things like “car service” “cat food” or “fresh flowers”). A re there advertisements within the results? Discuss where these appear and how to spot them.
• Look at ways to filter search results by using the tabs at the top of the page in Google (i.e. news, images, shopping, maps, videos etc.). Do the same filters appear for all Google searches? Try out a few different searches and see.
• Type a question into Google and look for the “People also ask” and “Searches related to…” sections. Discuss how these could be useful. When should you use them or ignore them so you don’t go off on an irrelevant tangent? Is the information in the drop-down section under “People also ask” always the best?
• Often, more current search results are more useful. Click on “tools” under the Google search box and then “any time” and your time frame of choice such as “Past month” or “Past year”.
• Have students annotate their own “anatomy of a search result” example like the one I made below. Explore the different ways search results display; some have more details like sitelinks and some do not.

• Find two articles on a news topic from different publications. Or find a news article and an opinion piece on the same topic. Make a Venn diagram comparing the similarities and differences.
• Choose a graph, map, or chart from The New York Times’ What’s Going On In This Graph series . Have a whole class or small group discussion about the data.
• Look at images stripped of their captions on What’s Going On In This Picture? by The New York Times. Discuss the images in pairs or small groups. What can you tell?
• Explore a website together as a class or in pairs — perhaps a news website. Identify all the advertisements .
• Have a look at a fake website either as a whole class or in pairs/small groups. See if students can spot that these sites are not real. Discuss the fact that you can’t believe everything that’s online. Get started with these four examples of fake websites from Eric Curts.
• Give students a copy of my website evaluation flowchart to analyse and then discuss as a class. Read more about the flowchart in this post.
• As a class, look at a prompt from Mike Caulfield’s Four Moves . Either together or in small groups, have students fact check the prompts on the site. This resource explains more about the fact checking process. Note: some of these prompts are not suitable for younger students.
• Practice skim reading — give students one minute to read a short article. Ask them to discuss what stood out to them. Headings? Bold words? Quotes? Then give students ten minutes to read the same article and discuss deep reading.

All students can benefit from learning about plagiarism, copyright, how to write information in their own words, and how to acknowledge the source. However, the formality of this process will depend on your students’ age and your curriculum guidelines.

• Watch the video Citation for Beginners for an introduction to citation. Discuss the key points to remember.
• Look up the definition of plagiarism using a variety of sources (dictionary, video, Wikipedia etc.). Create a definition as a class.
• Find an interesting video on YouTube (perhaps a “life hack” video) and write a brief summary in your own words.
• Have students pair up and tell each other about their weekend. Then have the listener try to verbalise or write their friend’s recount in their own words. Discuss how accurate this was.
• Read the class a copy of a well known fairy tale. Have them write a short summary in their own words. Compare the versions that different students come up with.
• Try out MyBib — a handy free online tool without ads that helps you create citations quickly and easily.
• Give primary/elementary students a copy of Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Citation that matches their grade level (the guide covers grades 1 to 6). Choose one form of citation and create some examples as a class (e.g. a website or a book).
• Make a list of things that are okay and not okay to do when researching, e.g. copy text from a website, use any image from Google images, paraphrase in your own words and cite your source, add a short quote and cite the source. 
• Have students read a short article and then come up with a summary that would be considered plagiarism and one that would not be considered plagiarism. These could be shared with the class and the students asked to decide which one shows an example of plagiarism .
• Older students could investigate the difference between paraphrasing and summarising . They could create a Venn diagram that compares the two.
• Write a list of statements on the board that might be true or false ( e.g. The 1956 Olympics were held in Melbourne, Australia. The rhinoceros is the largest land animal in the world. The current marathon world record is 2 hours, 7 minutes). Have students research these statements and decide whether they’re true or false by sharing their citations.

Staying Organised

• Make a list of different ways you can take notes while researching — Google Docs, Google Keep, pen and paper etc. Discuss the pros and cons of each method.
• Learn the keyboard shortcuts to help manage tabs (e.g. open new tab, reopen closed tab, go to next tab etc.). Perhaps students could all try out the shortcuts and share their favourite one with the class.
• Find a collection of resources on a topic and add them to a Wakelet .
• Listen to a short podcast or watch a brief video on a certain topic and sketchnote ideas. Sylvia Duckworth has some great tips about live sketchnoting
• Learn how to use split screen to have one window open with your research, and another open with your notes (e.g. a Google spreadsheet, Google Doc, Microsoft Word or OneNote etc.) .

All teachers know it’s important to teach students to research well. Investing time in this process will also pay off throughout the year and the years to come. Students will be able to focus on analysing and synthesizing information, rather than the mechanics of the research process.

By trying out as many of these mini-lessons as possible throughout the year, you’ll be really helping your students to thrive in all areas of school, work, and life.

Also remember to model your own searches explicitly during class time. Talk out loud as you look things up and ask students for input. Learning together is the way to go!

You Might Also Enjoy Reading:

How To Evaluate Websites: A Guide For Teachers And Students

Five Tips for Teaching Students How to Research and Filter Information

Typing Tips: The How and Why of Teaching Students Keyboarding Skills

8 Ways Teachers And Schools Can Communicate With Parents

10 Replies to “50 Mini-Lessons For Teaching Students Research Skills”

Loving these ideas, thank you

This list is amazing. Thank you so much!

So glad it’s helpful, Alex! 🙂

Hi I am a student who really needed some help on how to reasearch thanks for the help.

So glad it helped! 🙂

seriously seriously grateful for your post. 🙂

So glad it’s helpful! Makes my day 🙂

How do you get the 50 mini lessons. I got the free one but am interested in the full version.

Hi Tracey, The link to the PDF with the 50 mini lessons is in the post. Here it is . Check out this post if you need more advice on teaching students how to research online. Hope that helps! Kathleen

Best wishes to you as you face your health battler. Hoping you’ve come out stronger and healthier from it. Your website is so helpful.

Comments are closed.

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How to Teach Research Skills to Elementary Students in 2024

Research skills are incredibly important in the world we live in today. When we come across a problem or a question, what do we do? We quickly search online to find the answer. We are using our research skills while we are doing this. Read below to learn how to teach research skills to elementary students! This will help you prepare your twenty-first century learners for the ever-changing world we live in. You’ll have the confidence to create opportunities to apply these skills to research projects like this animal research project .

What are Research Skills?

Research skills is the ability to search for information about a topic, evaluate that information efficiently, and share findings in an organized way.

What Research Skills do Elementary Students Need?

Your elementary students are required to learn research skills if your state uses the Common Core or TEKS.  Read below to learn what specific research standards your grade level covers.

Research Standards in Common Core

The standards listed below are a good starting point for figuring out how to teach research skills to your elementary students.

Kindergarten

• ELA.W.K.7 : Participate in shared research and writing projects.
• ELA.W.K.8 : With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

First Grade

• ELA.W.1.7 : Participate in shared research and writing projects.
• ELA.W.1.8 : With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

Second Grade

• ELA.W.2.7 : Participate in shared research and writing projects.
• ELA.W.2.8 : Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

Third Grade

• ELA.W.3.7 : Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
• ELA.W.3.8 : Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.

Fourth Grade

• ELA.W.4.7 : Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
• ELA.W.4.8 : Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources. 
• ELA.4.9 : Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
• ELA.4.9.B : Apply grade 4 Reading standards to informational texts.

Fifth Grade

• ELA.W.5.7 : Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
• ELA.W.5.8 : Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.
• ELA.W.5.9 : Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
• ELA.W.5.9.B : Apply grade 5 Reading standards to informational texts.

Research Standards in TEKS

The standards listed below are a good starting point for figuring out how to teach research skills to your students.

• Generate questions for formal and informal inquiry with adult assistance. (TEKS 12A)
• Develop and follow a research plan with adult assistance. (TEKS 12B)
• Gather information from a variety of sources with adult assistance. (TEKS 12C)
• Demonstrate understanding of information gathered with adult assistance. (TEKS 12D)
• Use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present results. (TEKS 12E)
• Generate questions for formal and informal inquiry with adult assistance. (TEKS 13A)
• Develop and follow a research plan with adult assistance. (TEKS 13B)
• Identify and gather relevant sources and information to answer the questions with adult assistance. (TEKS 13C)
• Demonstrate understanding of information gathered with adult assistance. (TEKS 13D)
• Use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present results. (TEKS 13E)
• Identify and gather relevant sources and information to answer the questions. (TEKS 13C)
• Identify primary and secondary sources. (TEKS 13D)
• Demonstrate understanding of information gathered. (TEKS 13E)
• Cite sources appropriately. (TEKS 13F)
• Use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present results. (TEKS 13G)
• Generate questions on a topic for formal and informal inquiry. (TEKS 13A)
• Identify and gather relevant information from a variety of sources. (TEKS 13C)
• Recognize the difference between paraphrasing and plagiarism when using source materials. (TEKS 13F)
• Create a works cited page. (TEKS 13G)
• Use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present results. (TEKS 13H)
• Generate and clarify questions on a topic for formal and informal inquiry. (TEKS 13A)
• Develop a bibliography. (TEKS 13G)
• Use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present results . (TEKS 13H)
• Understand credibility of primary and secondary sources. (TEKS 13D)
• Differentiate between paraphrasing and plagiarism when using source materials. (TEKS 13F)

20 Research Mini Lesson Ideas

Below are 20 research mini lessons for how to teach research skills to elementary students.

• Research and What it Looks Like
• The Steps in the Research Process
• Types of Resources
• Text Features in Websites
• Finding Resources on the Internet
• Finding Information in Non-Fiction Books
• Text Features in Non-Fiction Texts
• How to Use an Encyclopedia
• Conducting an Interview with an Expert
• Reading a Newspaper and Getting Information from it
• Previewing a Text for Research
• Evaluating a Resource to Determine if it is Reliable
• Citing Sources
• Facts vs. Opinions
• Taking notes
• Paraphrasing
• Summarizing
• Organizing Information
• Writing Like an Informational Writer
• Presenting Findings

What are the Research Steps for Elementary Students?

Here are the 4 steps of the research process for elementary students:

• Choose a topic.
• Search for information.
• Organize information.
• Share information.

Ideas for Elementary School Research Topics

Below are research topic ideas for elementary students.

Animal Research Topics for Elementary Students

1. ocean animals.

Oyster, tuna, cod, grouper, shrimp, barnacle, barracuda, shark, bass, whale, lobster, starfish, salmon, clam, conch, coral, crab, sea otter, dolphin, eel, seal, sea turtle, flounder, octopus, sea star, haddock, jellyfish, krill, manatee, marlin, seahorse, sea otter, sea cucumber, sea lion, sea urchin, stingray, squid, swordfish, and walrus

2. Land Animals

Aardvark, elephant, frog, dog, tortoise, ant, anteater, antelope, fox, rabbit, baboon, camel, badger, owl, bat, bear, beaver, bison, rhinoceros, spider, bobcat, buffalo, bumble bee, butterfly, cat, chameleon, cheetah, chicken, chipmunk, cockroach, cougar, cow, coyote, gorilla, deer, donkey, dragonfly, eagle, emu, ferret, flamingo, goat, goose, hedgehog, heron, hippopotamus, horse, hummingbird, hyena, iguana, jaguar, kangaroo, koala, lemur, leopard, lion, llama, meerkat, mongoose, monkey, moth, mouse, mule, panther, parrot, peacock, pelican, peacock, pheasant, pig, platypus, porcupine, possum, puma, quail, raccoon, rattlesnake, sheep, skunk, sloth, squirrel, swan, termite, tiger, turkey, vulture, walrus, weasel, wolf, woodpecker, yak, and zebra

3. Endangered Species

Bengal tiger, polar bear, Pacific walrus, Magellanic penguin, leatherback turtle, bluefish tuna, mountain gorilla, monarch butterfly, Javan rhinoceros, giant panda, amur leopard, sei whale, Asian elephant, sumatran elephant, pangolin, African wild dog, amur tiger, blue whale, bonobo, chimpanzee, dugong, Indus river dolphin, orangutan, red panda, sea lion, vaquita, whale shark, yangtze finless porpoise, North Atlantic right whale, and yellowfish tuna

Resources for Teaching Elementary Research Skills

Below are resources for teaching elementary student research skills.

Animal Research Project

Learn more about the animal research project below!

What is the animal research project?

The animal research project is a printable and digital research project where students learn about any animal they choose. You can also choose the animals for them. The resource can be used over and over again all year long by just picking a new animal.

What grades is the animal research project appropriate for?

This resource includes tons of differentiated materials so it is appropriate for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students.

What is included in the animal research project?

The animal research project includes the following:

• teacher’s guide with tips and instructions to support you with your lesson planning and delivery
• parent communication letter to promote family involvement
• graphic organizers for brainstorming a topic, activating schema, taking notes, drafting writing
• research report publishing printables including a cover, writing templates and resource pages
• grading rubric so expectations are clear for students and grading is quick and easy for you
• research activities (KWL, can have are chart, compare/contrast Venn diagram, habitat map, vocabulary pages, illustration page, and life cycle charts)
• flipbook project printables to give an additional choice of how students can demonstrate their understanding
• flap book project printables to offer students another way to demonstrate their learning
• research poster to serve as an additional way to demonstrate student understanding
• poetry activities to offer students an alternative way to demonstrate their learning
• digital version so your students can access this resource in school or at home

4 Research Websites

Below are 4 research websites for elementary students.

• http://www.kidrex.org
• https://www.kiddle.co
• https://www.safesearchkids.com
• https://www.kidzsearch.com/boolify/
• Read more about: ELEMENTARY TEACHING , LITERACY

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How to teach research skills to high school students: 12 tips

by mindroar | Oct 10, 2021 | blog | 0 comments

Teachers often find it difficult to decide how to teach research skills to high school students. You probably feel students should know how to do research by high school. But often students’ skills are lacking in one or more areas.

Today we’re not going to give you research skills lesson plans for high school. But we will give you 12 tips for how to teach research skills to high school students. Bonus, the tips will make it quick, fun, and easy.

One of my favorite ways of teaching research skills to high school students is to use the Crash Course Navigating Digital Information series.

The videos are free and short (between ten and fifteen minutes each). They cover information such as evaluating the trustworthiness of sources, using Wikipedia, lateral reading, and understanding how the source medium can affect the message.

Another thing I like to integrate into my lessons are the Crash Course Study Skills videos . Again, they’re free and short. Plus they are an easy way to refresh study skills such as:

• note-taking
• writing papers
• editing papers
• getting organized
• and studying for tests and exams.

If you’re ready to get started, we’ll give you links to great resources that you can integrate into your lessons. Because often students just need a refresh on a particular skill and not a whole semester-long course.

1. Why learn digital research skills?

Tip number one of how to teach research skills to high school students. Address the dreaded ‘why?’ questions upfront. You know the questions: Why do we have to do this? When am I ever going to use this?

If your students understand why they need good research skills and know that you will show them specific strategies to improve their skills, they are far more likely to buy into learning about how to research effectively.

An easy way to answer this question is that students spend so much time online. Some people spend almost an entire day online each week.

It’s amazing to have such easy access to information, unlike the pre-internet days. But there is far more misinformation and disinformation online.

A webpage, Facebook post, Instagram post, YouTube video, infographic, meme, gif, TikTok video (etc etc) can be created by just about anyone with a phone. And it’s easy to create them in a way that looks professional and legitimate.

This can make it hard for people to know what is real, true, evidence-based information and what is not.

The first Crash Course Navigating Digital Information video gets into the nitty-gritty of why we should learn strategies for evaluating the information we find (online or otherwise!).

An easy way to answer the ‘why’ questions your high schoolers will ask, the video is an excellent resource.

2. Teaching your students to fact check

Tip number two for teaching research skills to high school students is to teach your students concrete strategies for how to check facts.

It’s surprising how many students will hand in work with blatant factual errors. Errors they could have avoided had they done a quick fact check.

An easy way to broach this research skill in high school is to watch the second video in the Crash Course Navigating Digital Information series. It explains what fact-checking is, why people should do it, and how to make it a habit.

You can explain to your students that they’ll write better papers if they learn to fact-check. But they’ll also make better decisions if they make fact-checking a habit.

The video looks at why people are more likely to believe mis- or disinformation online. And it shows students a series of questions they can use to identify mis- or disinformation.

The video also discusses why it’s important to find a few generally reliable sources of information and to use those as a way to fact-check other online sources.

3. Teaching your students how and why to read laterally

This ties in with tip number 2 – teach concrete research strategies – but it is more specific. Fact-checking tends to be checking what claim sources are making, who is making the claim, and corroborating the claim with other sources.

But lateral reading is another concrete research skills strategy that you can teach to students. This skill helps students spot inaccurate information quickly and avoid wasting valuable research time.

One of the best (and easiest!) research skills for high school students to learn is how to read laterally. And teachers can demonstrate it so, so easily. As John Green says in the third Crash Course Navigating Digital Information video , just open another tab!

The video also shows students good websites to use to check hoaxes and controversial information.

Importantly, John Green also explains that students need a “toolbox” of strategies to assess sources of information. There’s not one magic source of information that is 100% accurate.

4. Teaching your students how to evaluate trustworthiness

Deciding who to trust online can be difficult even for those of us with lots of experience navigating online. And it is made even more difficult by how easy it now is to create a professional-looking websites.

This video shows students what to look for when evaluating trustworthiness. It also explains how to take bias, opinion, and political orientations into account when using information sources.

The video explains how reputable information sources gather reliable information (versus disreputable sources). And shows how reputable information sources navigate the situation when they discover their information is incorrect or misleading.

Students can apply the research skills from this video to news sources, novel excerpts, scholarly articles, and primary sources. Teaching students to look for bias, political orientation, and opinions within all sources is one of the most valuable research skills for high school students.

5. Teaching your students to use Wikipedia

Now, I know that Wikipedia can be the bane of your teacherly existence when you are reading essays. I know it can make you want to gouge your eyes out with a spoon when you read the same recycled article in thirty different essays. But, teaching students how to use Wikipedia as a jumping-off point is a useful skill.

Wikipedia is no less accurate than other online encyclopedia-type sources. And it often includes hyperlinks and references that students can check or use for further research. Plus it has handy-dandy warnings for inaccurate and contentious information.

Part of how to teach research skills to high school students is teaching them how to use general reference material such as encyclopedias for broad information. And then following up with how to use more detailed information such as primary and secondary sources.

The Crash Course video about Wikipedia is an easy way to show students how to use it more effectively.

6. Teaching your students to evaluate evidence

Another important research skill to teach high school students is how to evaluate evidence. This skill is important, both in their own and in others’ work.

An easy way to do this is the Crash Course video about evaluating evidence video. The short video shows students how to evaluate evidence using authorship, the evidence provided, and the relevance of the evidence.

It also gives examples of ways that evidence can be used to mislead. For example, it shows that simply providing evidence doesn’t mean that the evidence is quality evidence that supports the claim being made.

The video shows examples of evidence that is related to a topic, but irrelevant to the claim. Having an example of irrelevant evidence helps students understand the difference between related but irrelevant evidence and evidence that is relevant to the claim.

Finally, the video gives students questions that they can use to evaluate evidence.

7. Teaching your students to evaluate photos and videos

While the previous video about evidence looked at how to evaluate evidence in general, this video looks specifically at video and photographic evidence.

The video looks at how videos and photos can be manipulated to provide evidence for a claim. It suggests that seeking out the context for photos and videos is especially important as a video or photo is easy to misinterpret. This is especially the case if a misleading caption or surrounding information is provided.

The video also gives tools that students can use to discover hoaxes or fakes. Similarly, it encourages people to look for the origin of the photo or video to find the creator. And to then use that with contextual information to decide whether the photo or video is reliable evidence for a claim.

8. Teaching your students to evaluate data and infographics

Other sources of evidence that students (and adults!) often misinterpret or are misled by are data and infographics. Often people take the mere existence of statistics or other data as evidence for a claim instead of investigating further.

Again the Crash Course video suggests seeking out the source and context for data and infographics. It suggests that students often see data as neutral and irrefutable, but that data is inherently biased as it is created by humans.

The video gives a real-world example of how data can be manipulated as a source of evidence by showing how two different news sources represented global warming data.

9. Teaching your students how search engines work and why to use click restraint

Another video from the Crash Course Navigating Digital Information series is the video about how search engines work and click restraint . This video shows how search engines decide which information to list at the top of the search results. It also shows how search engines decide what information is relevant and of good quality.

The video gives search tips for using search engines to encourage the algorithms to return more reliable and accurate results.

This video is important when you are want to know how to teach research skills to high school students. This is because many students don’t understand why the first few results on a search are not necessarily the best information available.

10. Teach your students how to evaluate social media sources

One of the important research skills high school students need is to evaluate social media posts. Many people now get news and information from social media sites that have little to no oversight or editorial control. So, being able to evaluate posts for accuracy is key.

This video in the Crash Course Navigating Digital Information series also explains that social media sites are free to use because they make money from advertising. The advertising money comes from keeping people on the platform (and looking at the ads).

How do they keep people on the platform? By using algorithms that gather information about how long people spend on or react to different photos, posts and videos. Then, the algorithms will send viewers more content that is similar to the content that they view or interact with.

This prioritizes content that is controversial, shocking, engaging, attractive. It also reinforces the social norms of the audience members using the platform.

By teaching students how to combat the way that social media algorithms work, you can show them how to gather more reliable and relevant information in their everyday lives. Further, you help students work out if social media posts are relevant to (reliable for) their academic work.

11. Teaching your students how to cite sources

Another important research skill high school students need is how to accurately cite sources. A quick Google search turned up a few good free ideas:

• This lesson plan from the Brooklyn Library for grades 4-11. It aligns with the common core objectives and provides worksheets for students to learn to use MLA citation.
• This blog post about middle-school teacher Jody Passanini’s experiences trying to teach students in English and History how to cite sources both in-text and at the end with a reference list.
• This scavenger hunt lesson by 8th grade teacher on ReadWriteThink. It has a free printout asking students to prove assertions (which could be either student- or teacher-generated) with quotes from the text and a page number. It also has an example answer using the Catching Fire (Hunger Games) novel.
• The Chicago Manual of Style has this quick author-date citation guide .
• This page by Purdue Online Writing Lab has an MLA citation guide , as well as links to other citation guides such as APA.

If you are wanting other activities, a quick search of TPT showed these to be popular and well-received by other teachers:

• Laura Randazzo’s 9th edition MLA in-text and end-of-text citation activities
• Tracee Orman 8th edition MLA cheet sheet
• The Daring English Teacher’s MLA 8th edition citation powerpoint

12. Teaching your students to take notes

Another important skill to look at when considering how to teach research skills to high school students is whether they know how to take effective notes.

The Crash Course Study Skills note-taking video is great for this. It outlines three note-taking styles – the outline method, the Cornell method, and the mind map method. And it shows students how to use each of the methods.

This can help you start a conversation with your students about which styles of note-taking are most effective for different tasks.

For example, mind maps are great for seeing connections between ideas and brain dumps. The outline method is great for topics that are hierarchical. And the Cornell method is great for topics with lots of specific vocabulary.

Having these types of metacognitive discussions with your students helps them identify study and research strategies. It also helps them to learn which strategies are most effective in different situations.

Teaching research skills to high school students . . .

Doesn’t have to be

• time-consuming

The fantastic Crash Course Navigating Digital Information videos are a great way to get started if you are wondering how to teach research skills to high school students.

If you decide to use the videos in your class, you can buy individual worksheets if you have specific skills in mind. Or you can buy the full bundle if you think you’ll end up watching all of the videos.

Got any great tips for teaching research skills to high school students?

Head over to our Facebook or Instagram pages and let us know!

Teaching Research Skills to K-12 Students in The Classroom

Research is at the core of knowledge. Nobody is born with an innate understanding of quantum physics. But through research , the knowledge can be obtained over time. That’s why teaching research skills to your students is crucial, especially during their early years.

But teaching research skills to students isn’t an easy task. Like a sport, it must be practiced in order to acquire the technique. Using these strategies, you can help your students develop safe and practical research skills to master the craft.

What Is Research?

By definition, it’s a systematic process that involves searching, collecting, and evaluating information to answer a question. Though the term is often associated with a formal method, research is also used informally in everyday life!

Whether you’re using it to write a thesis paper or to make a decision, all research follows a similar pattern.

• Choose a topic : Think about general topics of interest. Do some preliminary research to make sure there’s enough information available for you to work with and to explore subtopics within your subject.
• Develop a research question : Give your research a purpose; what are you hoping to solve or find?
• Collect data : Find sources related to your topic that will help answer your research questions. 
• Evaluate your data : Dissect the sources you found. Determine if they’re credible and which are most relevant.
• Make your conclusion : Use your research to answer your question! 

Why Do We Need It?

Research helps us solve problems. Trying to answer a theoretical question? Research. Looking to buy a new car? Research. Curious about trending fashion items? Research! 

Sometimes it’s a conscious decision, like when writing an academic paper for school. Other times, we use research without even realizing it. If you’re trying to find a new place to eat in the area, your quick Google search of “food places near me” is research!

Whether you realize it or not, we use research multiple times a day, making it one of the most valuable lifelong skills to have. And it’s why — as educators —we should be teaching children research skills in their most primal years. 

Teaching Research Skills to Elementary Students

In elementary school, children are just beginning their academic journeys. They are learning the essentials: reading, writing, and comprehension. But even before they have fully grasped these concepts, you can start framing their minds to practice research.

According to curriculum writer and former elementary school teacher, Amy Lemons , attention to detail is an essential component of research. Doing puzzles, matching games, and other memory exercises can help equip students with this quality before they can read or write. 

Improving their attention to detail helps prepare them for the meticulous nature of research. Then, as their reading abilities develop, teachers can implement reading comprehension activities in their lesson plans to introduce other elements of research. 

One of the best strategies for teaching research skills to elementary students is practicing reading comprehension . It forces them to interact with the text; if they come across a question they can’t answer, they’ll need to go back into the text to find the information they need. 

Some activities could include completing compare/contrast charts, identifying facts or questioning the text, doing background research, and setting reading goals. Here are some ways you can use each activity:

• How it translates : Step 3, collect data; Step 4, evaluate your data
• Questioning the text : If students are unsure which are facts/not facts, encourage them to go back into the text to find their answers. 
• How it translates : Step 3, collect data; Step 4, evaluate your data; Step 5, make your conclusion
• How it translates : Step 1, choose your topic
• How it translates : Step 2, develop a research question; Step 5, make your conclusion

Resources for Elementary Research

If you have access to laptops or tablets in the classroom, there are some free tools available through Pennsylvania’s POWER Kids to help with reading comprehension. Scholastic’s BookFlix and TrueFlix are 2 helpful resources that prompt readers with questions before, after, and while they read. 

• BookFlix : A resource for students who are still new to reading. Students will follow along as a book is read aloud. As they listen or read, they will be prodded to answer questions and play interactive games to test and strengthen their understanding. 

• TrueFlix : A resource for students who are proficient in reading. In TrueFlix, students explore nonfiction topics. It’s less interactive than BookFlix because it doesn’t prompt the reader with games or questions as they read. (There are still options to watch a video or listen to the text if needed!)

Teaching Research Skills to Middle School Students

By middle school, the concept of research should be familiar to students. The focus during this stage should be on credibility . As students begin to conduct research on their own, it’s important that they know how to determine if a source is trustworthy.

Before the internet, encyclopedias were the main tool that people used for research. Now, the internet is our first (and sometimes only) way of looking information up. 

Unlike encyclopedias which can be trusted, students must be wary of pulling information offline. The internet is flooded with unreliable and deceptive information. If they aren’t careful, they could end up using a source that has inaccurate information!

How To Know If A Source Is Credible

In general, credible sources are going to come from online encyclopedias, academic journals, industry journals, and/or an academic database. If you come across an article that isn’t from one of those options, there are details that you can look for to determine if it can be trusted.

• The author: Is the author an expert in their field? Do they write for a respected publication? If the answer is no, it may be good to explore other sources.
• Citations: Does the article list its sources? Are the sources from other credible sites like encyclopedias, databases, or journals? No list of sources (or credible links) within the text is usually a red flag. 
• Date: When was the article published? Is the information fresh or out-of-date? It depends on your topic, but a good rule of thumb is to look for sources that were published no later than 7-10 years ago. (The earlier the better!)
• Bias: Is the author objective? If a source is biased, it loses credibility.

An easy way to remember what to look for is to utilize the CRAAP test . It stands for C urrency (date), R elevance (bias), A uthority (author), A ccuracy (citations), and P urpose (bias). They’re noted differently, but each word in this acronym is one of the details noted above. 

If your students can remember the CRAAP test, they will be able to determine if they’ve found a good source.

Resources for Middle School Research

To help middle school researchers find reliable sources, the database Gale is a good starting point. It has many components, each accessible on POWER Library’s site. Gale Litfinder , Gale E-books , or Gale Middle School are just a few of the many resources within Gale for middle school students.

Teaching Research Skills To High Schoolers

The goal is that research becomes intuitive as students enter high school. With so much exposure and practice over the years, the hope is that they will feel comfortable using it in a formal, academic setting. 

In that case, the emphasis should be on expanding methodology and citing correctly; other facets of a thesis paper that students will have to use in college. Common examples are annotated bibliographies, literature reviews, and works cited/reference pages.

• Annotated bibliography : This is a sheet that lists the sources that were used to conduct research. To qualify as annotated , each source must be accompanied by a short summary or evaluation. 
• Literature review : A literature review takes the sources from the annotated bibliography and synthesizes the information in writing.
• Works cited/reference pages : The page at the end of a research paper that lists the sources that were directly cited or referenced within the paper. 

Resources for High School Research

Many of the Gale resources listed for middle school research can also be used for high school research. The main difference is that there is a resource specific to older students: Gale High School . 

If you’re looking for some more resources to aid in the research process, POWER Library’s e-resources page allows you to browse by grade level and subject. Take a look at our previous blog post to see which additional databases we recommend.

Visit POWER Library’s list of e-resources to start your research!

Research Building Blocks: "Organize This!"

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

Children are naturally curious—they want to know "how" and "why." Teaching research skills can help students find answers for themselves. In this minilesson, students organize the information they have compiled through the research process by using sentence strips. Students first walk through the process using information on Beluga whales as a model. Students match facts written on sentence strips to one of four categories: appearance, behavior, habitat, and food. Sentence strips are color-coded to match each category. The sequence of notes (sentence strips) under each category are placed in an indented outline form, and regrouped so that similar facts are placed together. Next, the appropriate Roman numerals and letters are added to the outline. Finally, students use the same process to create outlines for the research topics they are working on.

From Theory to Practice

Teaching the process and application of research should be an ongoing part of all school curricula. It is important that research components are taught all through the year, beginning on the first day of school. Dreher et al. explain that "[S]tudents need to learn creative and multifaceted approaches to research and inquiry. The ability to identify good topics, to gather information, and to evaluate, assemble, and interpret findings from among the many general and specialized information sources now available to them is one of the most vital skills that students can acquire" (39). In her article "Rethinking Research," Eileen A. Simmons agrees: "We can't expect students to produce outstanding research papers unless we teach them strategies for gathering information, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating that information through critical thinking." (115) Further Reading

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
• 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
• 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
• 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
• 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
• 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

Colored paper (four different colors)

• Example Outline Format
• Sample Outline for Beluga Whale

Preparation

Before beginning this lesson, students should be familiar with the research skills covered in the following lessons:

• Research Building Blocks: Hints about Print
• Research Building Blocks: Examining Electronic Sources
• Research Building Blocks: Notes, Quotes, and Fact Fragments
• Research Building Blocks: Skim, Scan, and Scroll
• Research Building Blocks: “Cite Those Sources!”

Student Objectives

Students will

• create and use graphic organizers.
• work with students to brainstorm category labels.
• generate categories and subheadings.
• sort note cards into categories or subheadings.
• practice outlining skills.

Instruction & Activities

The way in which the following example is used to “discover” outlines can be adapted to any research topic. Modeling a topic in which all the class is involved will demonstrate the step-by-step procedure that can then be applied later by small groups or individuals as they work on their own projects.

Research Topic: Beluga Whales

Big questions/Categories:

• What do Beluga whales look like? (Appearance)
• How do Beluga whales behave? (Behavior)
• Where do Beluga whales live? (Habitat)
• What do Beluga whales eat? (Food)
• Hand out the Example Outline Format and explain that students will be making sentence strips for their research topic.
• Model the activity by making a sentence strip and placing it on the board using the Beluga whale topic or one of your own choosing.
• Record each big question or category on a different colored sentence strip and place it on the board.
• Give members of the group or class colored sentence strips.
• Remind students to match the color of the sentence strip on which the fact is written to that of the big question (category) it is about, recording only ONE fact fragment (note) on each strip. These do not have to be complete sentences.
• Students bring their fact strips to the board and place them under the appropriate big question/category (same color strip) indenting them as in outline form.
• After all strips are placed on the board, the sequence of the notes under a big question/category may be changed to place similar facts together. This will help the facts flow once the students start writing.
• Add the appropriate Roman Numerals (categories) and letters (notes) to create an outline form. (See Sample Outline on the Beluga whale.)
• Remind the students that an outline highlights the essential information they want to include in their final product and helps organize their information. Modeling for students how to use an outline enables them to determine the sequence of their report. It is important for students to learn that they decide which information is most important for their readers to know at the beginning of the report, and to think about ways to make the report flow from section to section.
• Have students practice outlines for the research topics they are working on.
• Mini-lessons can be repeated for different topics until students become comfortable with the skill of outlining.
• If this method of outlining and organizing information is not appropriate for your students, other graphic organizers are available online.

Student Assessment / Reflections

As this is only one step in teaching the research process, students need not be graded on the activity. Continued practice using outlines and other graphic organizers on different topics, with teacher and peer feedback on in-process and finished outlines, would best benefit the student researcher. Final outlines turned in with the research report could then be graded based on accurate information and logical organization.

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• Kindergarten K

• Our Mission

Getting First Graders Started With Research

Teaching academically honest research skills helps first graders learn how to collect, organize, and interpret information.

Earlier in my career, I was told two facts that I thought to be false: First graders can’t do research, because they aren’t old enough; and if facts are needed for a nonfiction text, the students can just make them up. Teachers I knew went along with this misinformation, as it seemed to make teaching and learning easier. I always felt differently, and now—having returned to teaching first grade 14 years after beginning my career with that age group—I wanted to prove that first graders can and should learn how to research. 

A lot has changed over the years. Not only has the science of reading given teachers a much better understanding of how to teach reading skills , but we now exist in a culture abundant in information and misinformation. It’s imperative that we teach academically honest research skills to students as early as possible. 

Use a Familiar Resource, and Pair it with a Planned Unit

How soon do you start research in first grade? Certainly not at the start of the year with the summer lapse in skills and knowledge and when new students aren’t yet able to read. By December of this school year, skills had either been recovered or established sufficiently that I thought we could launch into research. This also purposely coincided with a unit of writing on nonfiction—the perfect pairing.

The research needed an age-related focus to make it manageable, so I chose animals. I thought about taking an even safer route and have one whole class topic that we researched together, so that students could compare notes and skills. I referred back to my days working in inquiry-based curriculums (like the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program) and had students choose which animal to study. Our school librarian recommended that we use Epic because the service has an abundance of excellent nonfiction animal texts of different levels.

Teach the Basics for Organized Research 

I began with a conversation about academic honesty and why we don’t just copy information from books. We can’t say this is our knowledge if we do this; it belongs to the author. Instead, we read and learn. Then, we state what we learned in our own words. Once this concept is understood, I model how to do this by creating a basic step-by-step flowchart taught to me by my wife—a longtime first-grade and kindergarten teacher and firm believer in research skills.

• Read one sentence at a time.
• Turn the book over or the iPad around.
• Think about what you have learned. Can you remember the fact? Is the fact useful? Is it even a fact?
• If the answer is no, reread the sentence or move onto the next one.
• If the answer is yes, write the fact in your own words. Don’t worry about spelling. There are new, complex vocabulary words, so use your sounding-out/stretching-out strategies just like you would any other word. Write a whole sentence on a sticky note.
• Place the sticky note in your graphic organizer. Think about which section it goes in. If you aren’t sure, place it in the “other facts” section.

The key to collecting notes is the challenging skill of categorizing them. I created a graphic organizer that reflected the length and sections of the exemplar nonfiction text from our assessment materials for the writing unit. This meant it had five pages: an introduction, “what” the animal looks like, “where” the animal lives, “how” the animal behaved, and a last page for “other facts” that could become a general conclusion.

Our district’s literacy expert advised me not to hand out my premade graphic organizer too soon in this process because writing notes and categorizing are two different skills. This was my intention, but I forgot the good advice and handed out the organizer right away. This meant dedicating time for examining and organizing notes in each combined writing and reading lesson. A lot of one-on-one feedback was needed for some students, while others flourished and could do this work independently. The result was that the research had a built-in extension for those students who were already confident readers.

Focus on What Students Need to Practice 

Research is an essential academic skill but one that needs to be tackled gradually. I insisted that my students use whole sentences rather than words or phrases because they’re at the stage of understanding what a complete sentence is and need regular practice. In this work, there’s no mention of citation language and vetting sources; in the past, I’ve introduced those concepts to students in fourth grade and used them regularly with my fifth-grade students. Finding texts that span the reading skill range of a first-grade class is a big enough task. 

For some of the key shared scientific vocabulary around science concepts, such as animal groups (mammals, etc.) or eating habits (carnivore, etc.), I created class word lists, having first sounded out the words with the class and then asked students to attempt spelling them in their writing.

The Power of Research Can Facilitate Student Growth 

I was delighted with the results of the research project. In one and a half weeks, every student had a graphic organizer with relevant notes, and many students had numerous notes. With my fourth- and fifth-grade students, I noticed that one of the biggest difficulties for them was taking notes and writing them in a way that showed a logical sequence. Therefore, we concluded our research by numbering the notes in each section to create a sequential order. 

This activity took three lessons and also worked for my first graders. These organized notes created an internal structure that made the next step in the writing process, creating a first draft of their nonfiction teaching books, so much easier. 

The overall result was that first graders were able to truly grasp the power of research and gathering accurate facts. I proved that young children can do this, especially when they work with topics that already fascinate them. Their love of learning motivated them to read higher-level and more sophisticated texts than they or I would normally pick, further proving how interest motivates readers to embrace complexity.

Research Lesson Plan: Research to Build and Present Knowledge

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the  Research Lesson Plan . 

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Research , and supports the standard of gathering relevant information from multiple sources. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Prompt students to think of a time they had to do research, either for school or for themselves. Ask: 

• How did you determine what information to look for?
• What went well? What was challenging?

Step 2: BUILD BACKGROUND

• Read aloud the description on the Research topic page .
• Play the Movie , pausing to check for understanding. 
• Have students read one of the following Related Reading articles: “Way Back When” or “In Depth.” Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: ENGAGE Students express what they learned about research while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

• Make-a-Movie : Create a tutorial that answers this question: What are the steps for writing  a research report? (Essential Literacy Skill: Acquire and use domain specific words and phrases)
• Make-a-Map : Make a spider map in which you state a research question in the center, and around it, identify sub questions and sources for finding answers in order to write a research report. (Essential Literacy Skill: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources)
• Creative Coding : Code a museum where each artifact represents a component of the research process. (Essential Literacy Skill: Make logical inferences from explicit details)

Step 4: APPLY & ASSESS 

Apply : Students t ake the Research Challenge , applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Assess: Wrap up the lesson with the Research Quiz . 

Step 5:  EXTEND LEARNING

Related BrainPOP Topics : Deepen understanding of research with these topics: Online Sources , Internet Search , and Citing Sources . 

Additional Support Resources:

• Pause Point Overview : Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students  to stop, think, and express ideas.  
• Modifications for BrainPOP Learning Activities: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• BrainPOP Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.

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Search engines can streamline the process of teaching basic research to elementary schoolchildren who require expert guidance on how to navigate the Web — and the earlier, the better.

Elementary school is when kids first begin to learn how to learn. Kids start using search engines quite early on, making elementary school the perfect time to teach research skills that become a foundation for a lifetime of learning.

The base skill for all schoolchildren is the ability to sift content for relevance and accuracy. Here are five ways teachers can help improve this skill in elementary-age children.

1. Define the task

What exactly must be researched? It’s very easy to get lost if children do not know precisely what they are looking for. In elementary school the subjects may be relatively simple, but they still must be defined accurately to aid in the search.

Teachers should talk with students about what they will be looking for and how to get specific results. The more specific they can get, the easier it will be to come up with search terms.

2. Discover keywords

Elementary school students may not fully grasp the concept of keywords, so they’ll need to be instructed in this foundational aspect of search technology. Search engines perform well only if correct keywords are used, and students need to learn how to come up with those words to get the results they need.

Keywords are typically based upon the most common approach to discussing a subject. Often, it will take some trial and error to discover just what keyword combination yields the desired results. Teachers can create a whole lesson around keywords, including what they are, how they work and how to find them.

3. Use appropriate tools

Google and Bing are probably the most popular search engines, but they may not be the best for teaching research skills to young people. Teacher Mary Beth Hertz recommends one of the more popular search engines for students, Sweet Search, whose results are screened by experts. Using something like Sweet Search may make it easier to teach research skills by weeding out a lot of the chaff that so often comes up on the more popular engines.

4. Teach about source hierarchy and evaluation

Elementary students can comprehend the tiers of legitimacy related to information-gathering. Teachers can explain about primary sources, original research and the reliability of information found on the Web. Kids can learn about how information travels from research papers to news sources to blogs and so on.

By going through examples, teachers can demonstrate the way various information sources find their information and present it to the public, and how to determine which information is best to use for their projects.

Children may not need to cite abstracts from scientific research papers, but they can learn to seek information more intelligently.

5. Take notes and compile information

The complexity of note-taking skills will depend on the students’ grade level, but even kids in the younger grades can learn to take pencil to paper and record the most important pieces of information they gather. The better they get at finding quality sources, the easier the note-taking will become.

Students should also learn how to cite their sources appropriately.

Setting up a lifelong skill

Learning research skills at a young age will give students a skill that will serve them over a lifetime. This skill will not only be useful in school, but in their everyday lives as they attempt to absorb ever-increasing amounts of information. Teachers will do their students a great service in teaching these skills.

You may also like to read

• How to Help Middle School Students Develop Research Skills
• Three Tips for Quality Assessment in Elementary School
• Top 5 Elementary School Models in America
• Resources for Social Skills: Lesson Plans for Elementary Students
• Web Research Skills: Teaching Your Students the Fundamentals
• Advice for Making Elementary School Reading Logs

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Tagged as: Early Childhood and Elementary (Grades: PreK-5) ,  Engaging Activities

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Research Skills Toolkit

• Welcome to the Research Skills Toolkit!
• Track: Library 101
• Track: Research 101
• Track: Find an Article
• Track: The Free Web
• Lesson Plans
• For Faculty

The Research Process

Students will learn the steps of The Research Process, ways in which it is the same and different between personal and academic situations, and begin to think about ways that their own research processes (both personal and academic) are good and bad. 

Learning Outcomes:

• Students will be able to recall the steps of The Research Process.
• Students will be able to compare and contrast The Research Process in personal and academic scenarios.
• Students will be able to describe their own research processes, both for their own personal research and their academic research.

Assessment Examples:

• reflective short essay/discussion board (200-300 words) on their personal and/or academic research processes
• quiz on the research process

Types of Information

Students will learn about the three types of information: scholarly, trade, and popular. They will begin to think about the types of information they use in their personal and academic research and why different situations call for different types of information.

• Students will be able to identify the three types of information.
• Students will be able to describe situations in which the three types of information are most appropriate.
• quiz on the different types of information
• reflective short essay/discussion board (200-300 words) on the different ways the three types of information could be used appropriately

The Information Timeline

Students will learn about how information is created using The Information Timeline, with a special emphasis on what that means for the various assignments they will encounter in a particular class or college in general.

• Students will be able to recall the sections of The Information Timeline.
• Students will be able to identify types of information they can expect to use in various information need scenarios.
• quiz on The Information Timeline
• discussion board/reflective essay (200-300 words) breaking down an assignment with the information types most appropriate for it

Evaluate Information

Students will learn techniques for evaluating the appropriateness of a piece of information for both their personal and academic needs. 

• Students will be able to identify key criteria for evaluating information.
• quiz on criteria for evaluating information
• reflective short essay/discussion board (200-300 words) on their experience with evaluating information according to one or more of the criteria
• short essay/discussion board (200-300 words) evaluating a piece of information according to one or more of the criteria

Creating a Search Strategy

Students will take a topic they were either assigned or selected themselves and use background research to develop good research questions and search terms.

• Students will be able to develop research questions around a specific topic.
• Student will be able to develop search terms for a research question.
• reflective essay/discussion board (200-300 words) describing how their research question(s) and search terms were developed
• handout/quiz submitting research question(s) and search terms
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• Last Updated: Mar 3, 2022 1:17 PM
• URL: https://mgccc.libguides.com/research-skills-toolkit

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Ready-to-use lesson plans for scholarly research topics

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"Introducing Scholarly Research: Ready-to-Use Lesson Plans and Activities for Undergraduates"

"The Culture of Digital Scholarship in Academic Libraries"

"Using Context in Information Literacy Instruction: Beyond Basic Skills"

For Immediate Release Tue, 10/05/2021

Rob Christopher

Marketing Coordinator

ALA Publishing & Media

American Library Association

[email protected]

CHICAGO — The world of scholarly research is uncharted territory for undergrads, but with the right approach you can quickly get them up to speed. With 33 time-saving lesson plans, Toni Carter’s “ Introducing Scholarly Research: Ready-to-Use Lesson Plans and Activities for Undergraduates ,” published by ALA Editions, will assist you in moving your instruction beyond basic skills to include topics such as how to use a library database and the reasons scholars use them, to why peer review is important. Inside, you’ll find:

• modular lessons designed for 50-minute timeslots that include individual and group activities with 25 worksheets, quick in-session assessment, conversation starters, and learning outcomes; 
• a variety of mix-and-match tools and activities that can be easily adapted for one-shots;
• concepts that are grounded in the ACRL Framework;
• topics that include the infrastructure that supports the scholarly research process;
• warm-ups using the lingo of favorite hobbies to launch a discussion of scholarship terminology;
• an exercise that brainstorms the factors leading to authority, then asks students to apply them to a well-known campus professor;
• an activity using visualization to examine the characteristics of a scholar to check biases and explore diversity;
• factors to consider when choosing a scholarly journal for publishing research;
• QUAN and QUAL worksheets to teach the two type of research; and
• discussion on the categories, disciplines, and crossovers within liberal arts.

Carter is Director of Kares Library at Athens State University in Athens, Alabama. The first 15 years of her career in academic librarianship focused on information literacy instruction, including service as both an instruction librarian and instruction coordinator. She has published peer-reviewed articles and has presented related topics at local, regional, and national conferences, including ACRL, ALA, and LOEX.

Many book retailers and distributors are experiencing service disruptions or delays, including Amazon. For speediest service,  order direct  from the ALA Store.  ALA Store  purchases fund advocacy, awareness and accreditation programs for library and information professionals worldwide.  ALA Editions | ALA Neal-Schuman  publishes resources used by library and information professionals, scholars, students, and educators to improve programs and services, build on best practices, enhance pedagogy, share research, develop leadership, and promote advocacy. ALA authors and developers are leaders in their fields, and their content is published in a variety of print and electronic formats. Contact ALA Editions | ALA Neal-Schuman at  [email protected].

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How to Help Students Build Research Skills

Do you want to support students at your school as they conduct research this year? You can help students build research skills starting in elementary school. One of the hardest parts of getting started is finding resources that are just right for this age group of readers. We often associate teaching research skills with the work taking place in secondary classrooms. Middle school and high school students might synthesize information from a variety of sources for a research project. Research skills are important in elementary classrooms, too.

Elementary educators can introduce informational text to students as they take on the role of a fact-finder who gathers information to share with an audience.

Dr. Monica Burns October 18, 2023

Attributes: 1-3 4-5 Lesson Plan

Resource Link:  https://classtechtips.com/2023/10/18/how-to-help-students-build-research-skills/

Research Basics: an open academic research skills course

• Lesson 1: Using Library Tools
• Lesson 2: Smart searching
• Lesson 3: Managing information overload
• Assessment - Module 1
• Lesson 1: The ABCs of scholarly sources
• Lesson 2: Additional ways of identifying scholarly sources
• Lesson 3: Verifying online sources
• Assessment - Module 2
• Lesson 1: Creating citations
• Lesson 2: Citing and paraphrasing
• Lesson 3: Works cited, bibliographies, and notes
• Assessment - Module 3
• - For Librarians and Teachers -
• Acknowledgements
• Other free resources from JSTOR

JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students.

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Welcome to the ever-expanding universe of scholarly research!

There's a lot of digital content out there, and we want to help you get a handle on it. Where do you start? What do you do? How do you use it? Don’t worry, this course has you covered.

This introductory program was created by  JSTOR  to help you get familiar with basic research concepts needed for success in school. The course contains three modules, each made up of three short lessons and three sets of practice quizzes. The topics covered are subjects that will help you prepare for college-level research. Each module ends with an assessment to test your knowledge.

The JSTOR librarians who helped create the course hope you learn from the experience and feel ready to research when you’ve finished this program.  Select Module 1: Effective Searching to begin the course. Good luck!

• Next: Module 1: Effective searching >>
• Last Updated: Sep 15, 2023 7:40 AM
• URL: https://guides.jstor.org/researchbasics

JSTOR is part of ITHAKA , a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways.

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Citizen Science in the Classroom: Lesson Plans for Exploration and Learning

April is Citizen Science Month! Citizen science, also known as community science or crowd-sourced science, involves research conducted with active participation from the general public, amateur experts or volunteers. It is used in a wide range of areas of study, such as ecology, biology, conservation, health, communications and more. One way libraries can celebrate Citizen Science Month is by promoting projects and activities that invite ordinary people to participate in scientific research and discovery.

To support teaching and learning in high school science classrooms, EBSCO has created three citizen science lesson plans that spark curiosity and encourage students to explore topics in meteorology, animal behavior and plant biodiversity. These lesson plans align with the Next-Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and use EBSCO's Science Reference Source database as a curriculum resource for research and learning.

Each lesson plan includes everything educators need to guide students through each activity, as well as worksheets for students to complete. The lessons are designed to help students build critical thinking,  research and data analysis skills. Students will also learn the importance of working together to understand and protect the natural world.

Exploring Weather Patterns: A Citizen Science Adventure

This exciting meteorology activity encourages students to explore weather patterns and phenomena using data analysis and online research. Students will learn how to collect and interpret weather data from instruments, such as barometers and rain gauges, and understand the complex interactions of air masses. Additionally, at the end of the activity they can contribute to real scientific research by submitting their observations to mPING , a crowdsourcing weather app created by the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory. The app gathers weather reports from all over the world, and those reports are used by meteorologists to predict weather patterns.

Taking Flight: Discovering Local Bird Species and Migration Patterns

In this activity, students have the opportunity to study local bird species and migration patterns. They will learn how to identify different bird species, understand the concept and significance of bird migration, and analyze the factors influencing migration. After completing online research, the field observation portion of this activity allows students to get up-close and personal with local bird species as they use identification guides and maps to record bird sightings. They can then submit these findings to eBird , a website that collects and shares information on bird abundance and distribution.

Flora and Fauna: Plant Biodiversity in U.S. National Parks and Locally

Using a combination of tools including field notebooks, plant identification apps and photography, students will learn how to document and assess the diversity of plant species in a chosen National Park and a local area. Students can use the infographics available from Science Reference Source to explore all National Parks and find one with an ecosystem that interests them. The goal of this activity is for students to understand the ecological role of plants and the impact of human activities on biodiversity, and then propose solutions for conservation.

Additional Citizen Science Projects

Looking for more ways to incorporate citizen science activities into the classroom or library? Check out these sites:

• NASA includes space and earth science initiatives
• National Geographic has a compiled list of projects in a variety of science subjects
• The Smithsonian Institution also provides a broad collection of activities
• NOAA offers marine and environmental biology initiatives
• The National Park Service has citizen science initiatives related to U.S. National Parks
• The United States Environmental Protection Agency includes environmental science projects
• CitizenScience.gov provides a searchable catalog of citizen science projects. Educators can filter projects by status, agency and field of science.

Take your students on a citizen science adventure

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