developing a research question worksheet high school

Think Like a Researcher: Instruction Resources: #6 Developing Successful Research Questions

• Guide Organization
• Overall Summary
• #1 Think Like a Researcher!
• #2 How to Read a Scholarly Article
• #3 Reading for Keywords (CREDO)
• #4 Using Google for Academic Research
• #4 Using Google for Academic Research (Alternate)
• #5 Integrating Sources
• Research Question Discussion
• #7 Avoiding Researcher Bias
• #8 Understanding the Information Cycle
• #9 Exploring Databases
• #10 Library Session
• #11 Post Library Session Activities
• Summary - Readings
• Summary - Research Journal Prompts
• Summary - Key Assignments
• Jigsaw Readings
• Permission Form

Course Learning Outcome:   Develop ability to synthesize and express complex ideas; demonstrate information literacy and be able to work with evidence

Goal:  Develop students’ ability to recognize and create successful research questions

Specifically, students will be able to

• identify the components of a successful research question.
• create a viable research question.

What Makes a Good Research Topic Handout

These handouts are intended to be used as a discussion generator that will help students develop a solid research topic or question. Many students start with topics that are poorly articulated, too broad, unarguable, or are socially insignificant. Each of these problems may result in a topic that is virtually un-researchable. Starting with a researchable topic is critical to writing an effective paper.

Research shows that students are much more invested in writing when they are able to choose their own topics. However, there is also research to support the notion that students are completely overwhelmed and frustrated when they are given complete freedom to write about whatever they choose. Providing some structure or topic themes that allow students to make bounded choices may be a way mitigate these competing realities.

These handouts can be modified or edited for your purposes.  One can be used as a handout for students while the other can serve as a sample answer key.  The document is best used as part of a process.  For instance, perhaps starting with discussing the issues and potential research questions, moving on to problems and social significance but returning to proposals/solutions at a later date.

• Research Questions - Handout Key (2 pgs) This document is a condensed version of "What Makes a Good Research Topic". It serves as a key.
• Research Questions - Handout for Students (2 pgs) This document could be used with a class to discuss sample research questions (are they suitable?) and to have them start thinking about problems, social significance, and solutions for additional sample research questions.
• Research Question Discussion This tab includes materials for introduction students to research question criteria for a problem/solution essay.

Additional Resources

These documents have similarities to those above.  They represent original documents and conversations about research questions from previous TRAIL trainings.

• What Makes a Good Research Topic? - Original Handout (4 pgs)
• What Makes a Good Research Topic? Revised Jan. 2016 (4 pgs)
• What Makes a Good Research Topic? Revised Jan 2016 with comments

Topic Selection (NCSU Libraries)

Howard, Rebecca Moore, Tricia Serviss, and Tanya K. Rodrigues. " Writing from sources, writing from sentences ." Writing & Pedagogy 2.2 (2010): 177-192.

Research Journal

Assign after students have participated in the Developing Successful Research Topics/Questions Lesson OR have drafted a Research Proposal.

Think about your potential research question.

• What is the problem that underlies your question?
• Is the problem of social significance? Explain.
• Is your proposed solution to the problem feasible? Explain.
• Do you think there is evidence to support your solution?

Keys for Writers - Additional Resource

Keys for Writers (Raimes and Miller-Cochran) includes a section to guide students in the formation of an arguable claim (thesis).  The authors advise students to avoid the following since they are not debatable. 

• "a neutral statement, which gives no hint of the writer's position"
• "an announcement of the paper's broad subject"
• "a fact, which is not arguable"
• "a truism (statement that is obviously true)"
• "a personal or religious conviction that cannot be logically debated"
• "an opinion based only on your feelings"
• "a sweeping generalization" (Section 4C, pg. 52)

The book also provides examples and key points (pg. 53) for a good working thesis.

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• Last Updated: Apr 26, 2024 10:23 AM
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English 151

• Pick a Topic & Develop a Research Question
• Getting Started
• Gather Background Information (or topic browsing)
• Use Databases to Find Articles
• Databases for Current Affairs/ Issues
• OneSearch for E-Books
• Annotated Bibliographies
• Cite Sources: MLA Style
• Off-Campus Access
• Information Literacy and Research Online
• Full Collection of Videos for Library Research
• Test Your Knowledge (Assessments)
• Reach out to a librarian! (Reference Desk Online)

Pick a topic and develop a good research question

The first step in writing a research paper is choosing a good topic. Your topic will have to be something that falls within the guidelines provided by your instructor, and should also be something that you find interesting and would like to learn more about.  However, a good research paper involves more than choosing an interesting topic and reporting information on it.  A research paper should attempt to critically analyze a complex problem, and that means you need to develop a focused research question, which is essential to the research process.  By defining exactly what you are trying to find out, your research question influences most of the rest of the steps taken to conduct your research. Follow the guides below to help you choose a topic and develop a good research question:

• Choosing a Topic A worksheet designed to help students brainstorm a topic for a research paper.
• Crafting a Research Question This is a worksheet designed to help students move from their chosen topic to a more focused research question.

Video: from topic to research question to keywords

Creating Research Questions

This section will help you consider a topic for your research paper that is interesting to you, and that is researchable using library resources. When you select a topic and focused research question, you’ll want to consider a few things:

• Does your section of ENG 151 have a theme? Does your professor want your research topic to correspond to that theme?
• What do YOU find interesting? You are going to spend hours reading information, thinking about how the information fits together, and then writing pages of critical analysis about your topic. This will be a more pleasant experience for you if you are genuinely interested in the topic you choose.
• Keep in mind that when you are searching for information about your topic, you can only find information that has been published This means you’re looking for a topic that other people are talking about, thinking about, and writing about. So, it needs to be interesting to you, but also to others.
• Don’t forget that you already know things! Many research papers start from the spark of an idea from something we hear or witness in the world around us.

Remember, your research question is NOT your thesis statement; it’s exploratory. If you start doing research and discover that people are writing articles about a more interesting (or easier to research) question, you can always adjust your question as you collect information.

The tools collected here will help you think about a topic that genuinely interests you, and develop a clear, concise, and researchable question based on that topic.

From Topic to Research Question

Your topic is the general, overarching area that you’re interested in, while the research question is a focused, smaller sliver of information you’re questioning within that topic. Topics are broad, while research questions are focused.

Topic: Urban Transportation

Research Questions could be…. “Why do some neighborhoods/communities oppose or advocate against creating bike lanes in their neighborhoods?” or “What factors increase or decrease the likelihood of electronic car adoption in urban environments?”

Topic: Immigration

Research Questions could be… “How has the United States’ handling of immigration changed from the Obama White House to the Trump White House?” and if that question ends up being too large or unwieldy, you can adjust it to something like, “What does living in a ‘Sanctuary City’ actually mean for undocumented students attending college in New York?” or “How have immigration policies affected families that live on either side of the Texas/Mexico border?” You can adjust your question based on what (and how much) information comes up in your searches.

What Makes a Research Question "Researchable"?

Good question! Coming up with a research question that leads you to a manageable paper is challenging and gets easier with practice. It’s a delicate balance between a few variables.

• OPEN questions versus SHUT questions: You want to ask a question that doesn’t have an obvious answer, something you can really grapple with. Your topic should have multiple points of view, aspects of it that people don’t all agree on. When the question is open-ended, you have more to investigate. If your question leads to a single point of view, or an obvious answer, you’re going to have a challenging time writing 10 or so pages about it. Shut question: why are vaccines bad? Open question: Where did the debate around vaccines start and why are some convinced vaccines are harmful? What does the science say about the efficacy of vaccines?
• SPECIFIC , rather than VAGUE . A good question tells you where to start your research right there in the question. A vague one will make you feel like you don’t know where to start, like you could be writing about almost anything. A question like “What does living in a ‘Sanctuary City’ actually mean for undocumented students attending college in New York?” gives you all the terms of the question: sanctuary cities, undocumented people, students, college, NYC. These are your search terms in the library databases! A vague question gives you nothing to hold onto. Vague version: How do folks feel about immigration. AHHHHHHHHH where do I start? Who are the folks? Why might they have feelings? Where are they coming from? Where do they live now?
• FOCUSED , rather than BROAD . The paper your professor wants you to write is not a report. (But you can use reports in your research!) You are not writing an overview of a huge topic, but rather a focused critical essay of close analysis. Your research question needs to be focused too. A broad question will leave you drowning in a sea of information that you can’t possibly synthesize in a few pages. Too broad: what is the history of slavery in the US? Focused: An exploratory analysis of the arguments (pro and con) around removing statues of southern civil war generals. This second question relates to slavery, but cuts the topic down to a focused (and researchable) issue.
• ANSWERABLE , but not OBVIOUS . Some of the universe’s interesting questions are not answerable in a research paper you’re writing in a few weeks (or perhaps at all). Why are there so many vampire movies? (Instead, analyze social themes brought up by one of them.) What makes men attack women? (Instead, investigate strategies people use to break the pattern of domestic abuse in relationships.)

Need ideas for topics? Check out these 2 databases

If you are still not sure what topic you would like to explore, the following 2 databases might help.  Click the Browse Issues button in the database to see an alphabetical list of issues:

Provides access to full text literature about current controversial issues such as abortion, capital punishment, climate change, cloning, gun control, immigration, and more. Available material on each topic includes viewpoint essays, topic overviews, newspaper and magazine articles, statistics, and links to related web sites.

Full text reports written by seasoned journalists about current social, political, and economic issues. Includes topics in health, education, international affairs, public policy, the environment, technology, and the economy. Each report includes a concise overview of an issue, historical background, opposing arguments, statistics and polls, and suggestions for further reading. Great place to begin research on current affairs issues. Coverage Dates: 1991 to present

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• Last Updated: Apr 30, 2024 3:07 PM

Teaching Students How to Formulate Research Questions

When it comes to teaching students how to write a research paper, there is one area where students struggle: writing a guiding research question. Oftentimes, their research questions are either too vague or off-topic.

Teaching high school students how to formulate a research question is an important skill that will help students succeed not only on their research paper assignments but in other areas of their lives as well.

A well-formulated research question helps students focus their research, determine the relevance of the information they seek, and effectively communicate the purpose of their research to others. It is the starting point for teaching students how to write a research paper .

Here are some steps for teaching high school students how to formulate a research question:

• Start by introducing the concept of a research question. Explain that a research question is a specific question that a student aims to answer through research. It should be focused, clear, and specific, and should reflect the student’s interests and curiosity about a particular topic.
• Next, help students brainstorm potential research questions. Encourage them to think about topics that they are interested in and to consider what they would like to learn more about. Encourage them to be creative and to consider different angles on a topic. One thing I like to do is have students brainstorm on a T-chart: what they know about the subject and what they would like to know about the subject.
• Once students have identified a potential research question, help them refine it. Encourage them to make their question as specific as possible, and to consider the feasibility of answering it through research. For example, a general question like “What is the history of the American Revolution?” is far too open. Instead, it can be refined to a specific question like “How did the role of women in the American Revolution differ from their role in other major revolutions of the time period?”
• Finally, encourage students to test the validity of their research question. Have them consider whether their question is answerable through research, and whether it is relevant to their interests and the broader context of their academic or personal goals. If after a quick search students are not finding anything remotely close that answers their questions, they should go back and refine their research question.

Here are some examples of research questions that high school students might consider:

• How has the role of [topic] changed over the past 50 years?
• What are the effects of [topic] on [topic]?
• How did the [topic] impact the lives of [topic] in the [topic]?
• How have [topic] changed over the past century, and what has influenced those changes?

Remember, the goal of teaching high school students how to formulate a research question is to help them develop the critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are essential for success in academia and beyond. When students truly understand and grasp this skill, they gain far more knowledge than just the stepping stone for writing a great paper. By guiding students through the process of formulating a research question, you can help students become more confident, independent learners.

You might also be interested in the blog post about research paper topics for secondary EL A students. 

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Information Literacy Instruction

• Exercises to Build Research Skills
• Formulate a research topic
• Find Information
• Evaluate Information
• Use Information
• Chicago/Turabian
• Citation Tools

Exercises Overview

Library instruction exercises.

The exercises below are designed for students learning to do research. They can be done in class or assigned as homework. They are in Word format so instructors who wish to use them can easily edit or adapt them. When appropriate, they contain an answer key, so instructors should look at the full handout and remove the answer key before sharing with students.

If you would like a librarian to come to your class to lead these exercises or if you would like an exercise customized for your subject area, contact your Library Liaison!

• Formulate a topic
• Find information
• Evaluate information
• Incorporate information
• Cite information
• Writing assignment formats
• Triangulating your research This exercise guides students with a broad topic to identify search terms and narrow their topic, arriving at a research question.
• Formulating a Research Question from a Broad Topic Students often begin their research (and writing) with a very broad topic. This means they waste a lot of time looking for resources that they will never use. Before they begin to research, it is ideal to have a focused question. This 10 minute assignment teaches them how to turn a very broad topic into a focused research question.
• Identifying and Refining a Research Topic Using Concept Maps This exercise is designed to help students think of words and concepts and see how they are related. They create a concept map of their topic, which may help them see ways to narrow their topic and arrive at a research question.
• Identifying and Refining a Research Topic Using Journalistic Questions Journalistic questions are a set of questions you can use to define your topic more clearly. This exercise will help student ask questions about their topic. Having specific questions to answer makes researching the topic easier when you get to that stage.
• Defining Search Terms Students will often try one or two search terms when using a database and assume there’s no information on their topic if it doesn’t work the first time. This exercise gets them thinking about synonyms and related words. This 15 minute exercise may seem simple, but I can almost guarantee that the next time they sit down at a database they will try multiple searches before giving up.
• Identifying Keywords In this exercise, students will practice identifying keywords that might be used to research their topic. The exercise has three parts. First, they will identify the keywords from sample research questions. Then they will brainstorm synonyms for those keywords, demonstrating the need to search using more than just one keyword. Finally, they will complete the exercise for their own research question.
• Information Source Comparison This activity helps students explore the strengths and weakness of Google, Google Scholar, Academic Search Complete and topic specific databases as information sources.
• Understanding Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT In order to apply your keywords to an effective search, you must be able to employ Boolean logic. Those operators are AND OR & NOT. The object of this exercise is to practice your use of those operators by looking at an everyday experience : Ordering food from a fast food restaurant.
• Creating Keyword Searches Using Boolean Operators In this exercise, students will practice selecting search terms and combining them using boolean operators in order to create an effective search.
• Popular, Trade or Peer Reviewed? Great hands-on exercise to teach students about the differences among the 3 types of publications. Students can read the differences in the provided example, but real learning takes place when they have to sift through the actual publications and write down differences. Can be tailored to use any three sources appropriate for your discipline.
• Analyze 4 types of sources This assignment does two things: 1) it makes students find 4 different types of sources rather than just search the Web; 2) it teaches students how to evaluate ALL information and compare and contrast different types of sources.
• Pin the News Source on the Fake News Continuum This activity asks students to research a variety of news sources and place them on a continuum to define their reliability.
• Evaluating Sources Process Cards This is a group activity in which students are given cards with a variety of sources on them. They evaluate the sources based on criteria such as "authority," "ease of creation," "time to creation" etc.
• Evaluating sources writing assignment Requires the student to answer a series of questions about a source they have found. These questions are also a good basis for writing the annotation for an annotated bibliography exercise.
• Article Analysis - upper level This exercise requires students to evaluate a scholarly article for not only its relevance to their research topic but also for its potential to help them find more sources via citation mining and keyword generation.
• Evaluating Web Resources Students choose one of three websites to evaluate. After evaluating the website they must make a judgment on whether it is good or bad for academic research and explain their decision. This assignment can be tailored to use websites related to your subject area. Just ask!

Introductory level - avoid plagiarism by properly using quotes, paraphrases and summaries.

• Evaluating quotes and paraphrases (100/200 level) Students are given a sample citation and 7 easy uses. They judge if the use is appropriate or plagiarism.
• Evaluating quotes, summaries and paraphrases Students are given a sample text and 4 summaries. They judge if the summary is legitimate or plagiarism.
• Quotes, Summaries and Paraphrases from the Purdue Owl This PDF from the Purdue Owl explains what each of these are, how to use them and concludes with a hands on exercise that requires students to summarize and paraphrase several sample original texts.
• Write your own quote, summary, paraphrase Given a single sample text, students are asked to write their own quote, summary, paraphrase for the instructor's evaluation. Can be tailored for any class.

Introductory level - how to integrate quotes, paraphrases and summaries

• Integrating quotes Given a single sample paragraph, students are asked to identify several key methods quotes are integrated into the paragraph.
• Analyzing how to integrate quotes and summaries This exercise has students analyze how and why scholarly authors have integrated quotes and summaries in order to help them learn smooth methods to use quotes and summaries in their own research.
• Analyzing supporting evidence An exercise that asks students to analyze how and why evidence is used in an existing scholarly article.

Introductory level - learning how and why to use sources

• Un-research Project This exercise helps students focus on why they choose sources to support their research.
• Is your paper well supported with evidence A quick, easy and visual exercise to help students determine if their paper arguments are well supported with evidence.

Upper level - synthesizing information

• Updating a literature review This exercise is appropriate to introduce the concept of a literature review and how to synthesize information in one.
• Mini-literature review assignment An introduction to literature reviews. Scaffolded instruction for how to approach your first literature review.
• Synthesis Matrix A beginner's matrix to help students begin thinking about synthesizing their sources.
• Advanced Synthesis Matrix A source synthesis matrix for advanced level writing assignments.

Create a list of sources with improper citations. Have the students attempt to locate the sources.  This should demonstrate to students how citations are used to track down sources and how frustrating it can be for their teachers and fellow researchers when they don’t provide adequate citations. Examples to use here could include books with multiple editions or books with very generic titles.

Breaking citations down: Develop a list of citations. Break these citations down (components: author, date, publisher, title, etc). Type or write them down on larger pieces of construction paper, cardboard, etc. You can utilize a variety of colors, shapes, sizes. Have students work as groups to assemble the parts (you can use pin boards, a wall and tape, magnetic boards, etc). This can easily be turned into a competitive game.

Selecting an Effective Writing Assignment Format

In addition to the standard essay, report or full research paper formats, several other formats exist that might give students a different slant on the course material or allow them to use slightly different writing skills. Here are some suggestions:

Journals. In-class journal entries can spark discussions and reveal gaps in students’ understanding of the material. Having students write an in-class entry summarizing the material covered that day can aid the learning process and also reveal concepts that require more elaboration. Out-of-class entries involve short summaries or analyses of texts, or are a testing ground for ideas for student papers and reports.

Letters. Students can define and defend a position on an issue in a letter written to someone in authority. They can also explain a concept or a process to someone in need of that particular information. They can write a letter to a friend explaining their concerns about an upcoming paper assignment or explaining their ideas for an upcoming paper assignment. If you wish to add a creative element to the writing assignment, you might have students adopt the persona of an important person discussed in your course (e.g., an historical figure) and write a letter explaining his/her actions, process, or theory to an interested person (e.g., “pretend that you are John Wilkes Booth and write a letter to the Congress justifying your assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” or “pretend you are Henry VIII writing to Thomas More explaining your break from the Catholic Church”).

Editorials . Students can define and defend a position on a controversial issue in the format of an editorial for the campus or local newspaper or for a national journal.

Cases . Students might create a case study particular to the course’s subject matter.

Position Papers . These projects ask students to research a topic from a variety of viewpoints, and then use that research to support their own perspective. Students can define and defend a position, perhaps as a preliminary step in the creation of a formal research paper or essay.

Imitation of a Text . Students can create a new document “in the style of” a particular writer (e.g., “Create a government document the way Woody Allen might write it” or “Write your own ‘Modest Proposal’ about a modern issue”).

Instruction Manuals . Students write a step-by-step explanation of a process.

Dialogues . Students create a dialogue between two major figures studied in which they not only reveal those people’s theories or thoughts but also explore areas of possible disagreement (e.g., “Write a dialogue between Claude Monet and Jackson Pollock about the nature and uses of art”).

Collaborative projects . Students work together to create such works as reports, questions, and critiques.

Summary papers These assignments ask students to summarize a key concept from the course, or a reading or set of readings.

Compare/contrast papers Students are asked to compare/contrast theoretical positions from key scholars, reading, methods, or procedures for completing a task, etc.

Reading responses Students are asked to respond to specific questions about course readings. These can take place in reading journals that you occasionally collect, or reading responses on a discussion forum (on Moodle or elsewhere).

Position response papers Students are provided with a position that they must then defend or refute using course concepts and outside research.

Disciplinary problem papers These projects ask students to make an argument for the best solution to a disciplinary problem.

Data analysis papers Students are provided with raw data (or asked to collect raw data themselves) that they must then analyze using a particular methodology from the course.

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Steps in the Research Process: Developing Research Questions Worksheet

• Research Process Overview
• Finding a Topic
• Refine Your Topic
• Background Information
• Developing Research Questions Worksheet
• Identify Keywords
• Find Books and Media
• Find Articles in Library Databases
• Website Evaluation
• Google Scholar
• Citation/Plagiarism

Developing Research Questions

Types of Research Questions

Good academic communication should include an introduction in which your topic and thesis is clearly defined, an analysis of your topic, and a clear conclusion.

Start out by introducing your topic, communicating to your audience why the topic is important, and providing enough background information to allow your audience to understand the analysis that is about to take place. Your introduction is also the logical place to embed your thesis.

Examples of defining/introductory questions:

o What is _________________?

o Why is ____________ an important issue?

o What background information is necessary to understand ______________?

o What are the different types of ____________?

All academic research demands analysis. Some projects lend themselves well to a cause/effect structure ("What caused hip-hop to emerge and what are some of the effects its had on American culture?), while other assignments require a pro/con format ("What are the positive aspects of stem cell research? What are some of the negative implications?). Some projects can easily conform to both modes.

Examples of analytical/body questions:

o What are the causes of ________________?

o What are the effects of ________________?

o What are the “pro” arguments about_______________?

o What are the “con” arguments about ______________?

o How can I refute arguments about ______________?

o What is being done about ______________?

Your conclusion allows you to demonstrate to your instructor that you have synthesized the information you found and clearly answered your thesis question (informative projects) or effectively proven your thesis statement (persuasive/argumentative assignments).

Examples of concluding questions:

o What do I think should be done about ________________?

o Based on my research what do I think about ________________ and why?

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The Research Paper: Developing Historical Questions

A way to teach students how to develop historical questions. This is the beginning of a multi-step research paper process that encourages sophisticated historical thinking.

It’s no secret that high schools across the country are turning away from the decidedly “old-school” research paper in favor of shorter writing assignments or a variety of “new-school” technology based projects like blogs or webpages. While these types of assignments are great for building historical thinking skills, we firmly believe that the research paper has been around for a long time for a reason: it’s the best way to engage students in sophisticated historical reasoning and prepare them for the academic world beyond high school. We have developed a comprehensive process with clear steps that walk the students through the creation of a research paper. The first step is for students to create a context-based historical question, giving their research a solid foundation and focus.

Our research paper process guides students using a system with a seven-part structure. In the first part, rather than simply asking students to choose a topic, we ask them to start with a topic of interest, narrow it down to possible subtopics, choose a subtopic, and develop an open-ended historical question to guide their research.

Identify and model the qualities of good historical questions, as described in Handout 1 , throughout the course (e.g. as lecture openings, test essays, class discussions, and at the beginning or end of structured debates). As they gain understanding, have students develop good questions as part of classroom activities. When the students seem to have grasped the fundamentals of historical writing, (i.e. thesis, claim, logic, evidence) begin the research paper effort.

• Each student develops a list of subjects about which she is interested (e.g.     music, politics, arts, family life). The student then browses reference     sources such as textbooks and encyclopedias to identify broad topics of     interest.
• The student reads reference sources to establish the basic facts about the     broad topics (who did what, where, and when).
• The student narrows the broad topics into manageable subtopics for     which evidence (documents, images, etc.) is likely available.
• The student chooses the subtopic that interests her the most but keeps     other subtopics on a list in case the chosen subtopic does not have     sufficient evidence.
• The teacher models creating good historical research questions. Students     practice improving weaker historical questions using Handout 2 .
• Students develop historical questions about their chosen subtopics. They     work in small groups to improve their questions.
• Students write a passage that identifies the historical context and the     historical question. These are turned in to the faculty member for     feedback before moving on to locating primary and secondary sources.     Remember: questions can and will change as the student does more     research.

As part of preparing students for Step 7 of the process above, show kids Handout 3 so that they can see a completed template.

• Some students will skip the preliminary research step. You can usually tell     that this happened when their topic description is lacking in detail and     specificity. This often results in overly broad questions that will confuse     students later. Don’t hesitate to send students back to Step 2 above and     reinforce the importance of following all the instructions.
• Some students will develop cultural history questions that may capture     their interest, but which are difficult to answer with clear evidence. An     example is: “What effects did popular music of the 1960s have on U.S.     foreign policy?” Many students choose this because they like the music of     the '60s, find the anti-war movement interesting, and assume there is a     connection between the music of the era and the choices the U.S. made in     Vietnam. However, if held to a strict standard of evidence and logic, only     the strongest students are going to be able to convincingly argue any     connection between the two. Although it can be a time-consuming     process, requiring students to edit and resubmit Step 7 until it works is     worth it over the long haul. Even slight changes in the wording of a     question will help students avoid dead-ends in their research and     ultimately write a better paper.
• Students can be drawn toward modern topics that veer into other social     science disciplines and lack a historical perspective. For example, a     student might come up with the question: “What is the status of women     in U.S. politics?” You might recommend an alteration of this question that     connects to the original topic: “What are the origins of the feminist     movement in the U.S.?” or “What were the effects of the women’s suffrage     movement?”

For more information

Fischer, David. Historians' Fallacies: Toward A Logic of Historical Thought . London: Routledge and K. Paul, 1971.

Furay, Conal, and Michael J. Salevouris. The Methods and Skills of History: A Practical Guide . Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 2000.

Schmidt, John, and Jeffrey Treppa. Historical Thinker .

The Concord Review , an organization that publishes students’ history research papers.

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Research Worksheets and Handouts

• Getting Started
• Evaluating Sources
• General Research

Getting Started Having trouble getting your research rolling? These handouts and worksheets can get you past that initial hurdle.

Topic Identification worksheet (pdf) This graphic organizer will help you understand your assignment, identify and focus your topic, create a search strategy and find sources in 6 easy steps! For more information about research topics, visit www.codlrc.org/research101/topics

Developing Your Research Question (pdf) An infographic of journalistic questions that can help you brainstorm potential research questions.

Finding Evidence worksheet (pdf) Before you start your research, consider what evidence you’ll need to support your claims and think about how to find it.

Subject vs. Keyword Searching (pdf) Learn how to use keyword searching and subject searching together to find what you're looking for in the Library catalog and article databases.

Boolean Logic, Truncation, and Nesting (pdf) An introduction to advanced search techniques you can use to help you find information efficiently and effectively.

Advanced Research Search Strategies and Techniques (pdf) A quick reference for the types of advanced searching techniques you can use in databases, the Library catalog and in search engines.

Tips for Evaluating Information (pdf) Whether a resource is print or electronic, text-based or image-based, researchers must carefully evaluate the quality of the source and the information found within. When evaluating the quality of resources, here are some things to consider.

CRAAP Test (pdf) Do your sources pass the CRAAP Test? Use this guide to help you consider whether a source is appropriate for your research needs.

Source Evaluation Worksheet (pdf) Use this form to help you determine if a source is appropriate for your research. For more information about evaluating sources, visit www.codlrc.org/evaluating/sources

Research Article Anatomy (pdf) Reading research gets easier once you understand and recognize the pieces and purposes of research studies, from abstract to references.

Reading (and Understanding) Research (pdf) Adapted from How to Read and Understand a Scientific Paper: A Guide for Non-Scientists by J. Raff.

Introduction to College Research (pdf) Helpful resources for every stage of the research process.

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Research Topics: How to Select & Develop: Developing a Research Question

• Understanding the Assignment
• Choosing a Research Topic
• Refining a Research Topic
• Developing a Research Question
• Deciding What Types of Sources You Will Need
• Research Help

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• Video Transcript
• Supplemental Worksheet

List What You Already Know

Write down what you already know or don't know about the topic

List Questions that Interest You

Develop a list of relevant questions that interest you about the topic. Being interested in what you write about will make writing the paper less tedious. Use probing questions such as why? how? what if? should? Avoid questions that can be answered with yes or no.

If you're not very familiar with your general topic, do a little background reading to get an idea of the issues that relate to it. 

Narrow Your List of Questions

Narrow down your list of questions to topics that aren't too narrow or general, depending on the length requirement of your paper. You won't be able to find enough information on a question that is too specific. A very broad topic will yield way too much information to work with.

Refine Your Question

Conduct a preliminary search for information relating to your question. Use search engines, library databases, and the library catalog to be sure that there are enough resources available to you in order to research this question.

Refine your research question to give it a clear, direct focus based on your preliminary research. For example, "How did the U.S. get involved in the Vietnam War?" is better than "What role did the U.S. play in the Vietnam War?" because it is focused on a specific part of a very broad issue. You'll have an easier time writing your paper if your research questions are specific, because you'll use your research question(s) to guide you in writing a thesis for your paper.

Ask your instructor to look over your research questions to be sure you are focused in the right direction.

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• Last Updated: Jan 4, 2024 9:55 AM
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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!

Developing A Solid Research Question

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Worksheet: Evaluate Your Own Research Question

Ask the following 8 questions to evaluate the quality of your research question and the ease with which you should be able to answer it:

• Does the question deal with a topic or issue that interests me enough to spark my own thoughts and opinions?
• Is the question easily and fully researchable?
• statistics on airline crashes before and after
• statistics on other safety problems before and after
• information about maintenance practices before and after
• information about government safety requirements before and after
• Is the scope of this information reasonable (e.g., can I really research 30 online writing programs developed over a span of 10 years?)
• Given the type and scope of the information that I need, is my question too broad, too narrow, or okay?
• What sources will have the type of information that I need to answer the research question (journals, books, Internet resources, government documents, people)?
• Can I access these sources?
• Given my answers to the above questions, do I have a good quality research question that I actually will be able to answer by doing research?

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• 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

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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.

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Research Skills Worksheets

This is a vital skill to any job or project worth having in the real world. We expect to see the concept and process of research being emphasized much more in education at all levels.

In just about any job having solid and actionable research skills make the different between being a leader and being a follower. Researching skills are now more needed than ever with all the media that we constantly and involuntarily taking in. What is real and what is fake? If you can use your skills to find out the truth, you will be in high demand in the future. These worksheets will help develop those research skills for all your students.

Answering Research Focused Questions - This is a great exercise to dive into with your students before you start working on full blown projects.

Conflicting Information - How do you weigh which is a better source? We focus ourselves on validating sources and differentiating between them.

Conflicting Viewpoints - We explore how to completely avoid this when are creating your own work.

Gather Relevant Search Information - A great section to learn how to develop a set of background information and see what has already been explored with your topic.

Grade 3 Research Projects - A good time to get your feet wet with the basics.

Grade 4 Research Projects - The focus here is on planning.

Grade 5 Research Projects - We start asking students to examine a great deal more material.

Grade 6 Research Skills - This is the first time that we are letting students completely loose on the entire project.

Grade 8 Research Projects - There is a fold over between this series and grade 7 work. This is where students begin to take flight with the topic.

Grade 9 Research Projects - These are full on projects at the high school level that we ask students to get after.

Experiential Writing - This form of writing finds itself being monumentally helpful when we are exploring the results and discussion section.

MLA Citations - This is one of the most popular forms of listed and stating the resources that were used. We explain it in entirety.

Shared Research Writing Projects - These are done by complete group and each of the participants has their own distinct set of tasks.

Shared Research and Writing Projects (Kindergarten) - These are very basic in nature and are great for getting into the spirit of inquiry.

Sorting Evidence When Writing - It is all about determining which of the facts speaks volumes to support your thesis.

Technology Assisted Writing - A must for when you are composing your final product. Yes, some people still handwrite their first draft.

Using Dictionaries and Glossaries - When you run into terms that you may be unfamiliar with. We explore the quickest method for using these tools.

Using Evidence to Support Claims - We explore how to heighten your argument so that it is practically a no brainer.

Using Multiple Sources For Writing - Where do you get them and how do you cite them?

Using Reference Tools to Find Answers - Take some time to scrutinize all the different tools that you have at your disposal.

Using Text and Search Features - This is helpful for when you are looking for specific pieces of evidence that you may discount along the way.

Validating Arguments - We approach this from many different angles and give you time to get after it.

Writing a Research Paper - We help you put it all together in this comprehensive section.

How to Improve Your Research Skills

At some point in your academic life, you will be asked to investigate and probe a specific topic. Good research skills will make your article stand out. Here are some tips that will help you in improving your investigation skills.

Ask Good Questions

This is the most important tip to improve your research skills. This is because you should be well aware of what you want to delve into before you start. You should ask yourself plenty of questions like what are you expecting out of this inquisition process. What is it exactly that you want to prove? What knowledge do you want to share? What field interests you? What sources you will opt for? All of these questions will give you a clear direction for your research. You can do it better once you are sure of what you want to do.

Think Carefully About the Sources

Research is all about providing information and knowledge on different aspects of several fields of study. When you are beginning the process, you should pay attention to the sources. This is because the sources will decide the quality of your work. Give yourself plenty of time to find out the best sources that are available. This is a big mistake that many people make, they are not patient to look at all possible sources. They should not be biased or outdated. You should also confirm the information that you get from one source. All of your information should be completely accurate.

There will be many times through out your life that you will be exploring something that is new to you. As time goes on, you will learn how to compile a great many different sources. This means that you will be getting plenty of information that you will need to sift through. To avoid getting overwhelmed with all the information, you can organize all of it. If most of your research is on the Internet, you can use bookmarks and folders to organize the data. You can also get them printed if you like things to be right in front of you.

Ideas for Middle School Projects

Middle school is the most important phase of a student's academic life since the knowledge gained during this academic year will help the student throughout high school as well as in his or her professional life. Therefore, students must work hard during this grade to be successful in their future prospects. For most of the students, eighth grade is that first academic year where they are asked to do a research project. Eighth graders encounter a little difficulty in choosing a good starting topic that is informative as well as easy. One thing that eighth-graders must keep in mind while choosing a topic is that the topic must be of their interest so that they can enjoy working on it.

Given below are some basic ideas that will help the eighth-graders in choosing a research idea that is easy and informative:

Evaluation of Languages

To do an investigative project regarding the origin and evaluation of languages is one of the best and enjoyable topics. Middle school students can include formation, history, development, and phases of their development while focusing on either their native language or any other foreign language. This idea, chosen as research project, will help the middle school students to enjoy their research project alongside learning something useful.

Literary Writers' Contributions Towards Languages

Literary writers play a vital role in the development of any language. Middle school students can highlight the contributions to any of the languages by their respective literary writers in their research project. This topic is appreciated by the literature teachers as it is a combination of two topics: personalities and evaluation of language.

Impact of Media On Language

After scholars the media, either print or electronic, also has a significant impact on the development of any language. As media is quickly changing the ways of communication, students can look in on those ways and can include them in their end projects.

How to Gather Relevant Search Information (For Research Papers)

Writing a good research paper requires a writer to gather a lot of relevant data and read it carefully to use it as a guide for his or her project as well as to be able to quote the relevant information from the published works in the paper being written to substantiate it. However, collecting the right amount and nature of data that suits our research work is not an easy task. Most of the students fail badly in their field work because of their inability to gather relevant and useful information for their topic of interest.

Here are a few tips for such students that can help them find the most relevant information for their chosen topic:

Write Your Requirements Clearly and Briefly

Searching for the relevant data on the web must be done by entering a clear command into the browser. Add precise phrases and ideas so that you can get the most relevant thoughts through to your audience. To do this, you first need to be very clear about the idea you are doing your investigation on and the relevant data you want. Once you are clear on your idea, try to search for the relevant data using the keywords search method and make sure the phrases you add in the search bar are short and clear too.

Go Through the Specific Journals

Successful research writers get published in various journals depending upon the topic they have written on and the specific niche of their study. Try to find the journal that is well known for the publications related to your topic of interest and search for your requirements in those journals.

Search for Specific Researchers

Know the most famous researchers in your field who keep on getting their works published and try to search for their papers to get accurate results.

Steps of a Research Project

A research project is an academic piece of writing the students are bound to submit and clear with good grades within the given deadline. It is based on its writer's knowledge base on a particular topic. Given below are few important steps of a research project that will help the researcher to come up with a good enquiry project easily:

Select a Good Topic

While choosing a topic, one should select a topic that is according to his or her interest so that he or she can enjoy working on it. Secondly, the selected topic should be informative and a good quantity of information, data, and facts must be gathered related to it so one can use them to come up with a good body of work.

Develop Background Information

Once you have selected your topic of research, develop background information about that topic to broaden your knowledge and to have a better understanding of information that can be added in your research.

Develop a Thesis Statement

A thesis statement provides a clear idea about the research project. The background information you have gained will help you to come up with a good thesis statement. The thesis statement will guide you throughout your project and will help you to stay focused during your investigation therefore, it must be very clear and well-written.

Create a Rough Draft

Do the preliminary research and come up with a rough draft. Include only the necessary information that will support your topic.

Write Your Paper

After organizing the information in the rough draft, start writing your paper properly. Remember to write it in an appropriate format, use strong academic language, correctly punctuate it and follow all the rules of grammar.

Add References

An important part of the research project is proper referencing and citations. Remember to cite the resources you have used over the course of your writing at the end of your project. Use APA or MLA format to cite resources.

How to Answer Research Focused Questions?

As the students grow up and reach their higher-level educational years, the focus of teacher's shifts from the course books and related material to research activities. Answering research-focused questions at that time becomes a great issue for the students who are not taught the ways to do so before. Simply defined, the research focused questions are the questions that are based on some work done by other scholars and the students have to either read those whole researches or try finding the direct answers to those questions over the internet. Some basic steps to follow to answer such questions are as follows:

Understand the Question

Being clear on the question you are being asked is the first step to answering a research-focused question correctly. You must be able to understand where the question came from, what type of previous work can be read to find out the answers to it, and what it exactly and precisely means. Once you are all clear about the question, only then you can answer it right and effectively.

Search the Internet

Most of the times, the specific research paper that has the answer to the questions given are known by the students. However, in cases otherwise, the students have to search the web using focused keywords and precise queries to know their answers. It is better to add a search query that is short but clear so that you have the answers to the questions easily.

Read the Paper and Write Your Answers

If you have got a lot of time, you should read the complete paper yourself and answer your questions. However, in case you do not have enough time, you can simply read an abstract to find the answers to the question and write your answer precisely and in an informative way.

Tips for Preparing Research Papers

A research paper is a text in academic writing that includes both theoretical and factual data. Writing a research paper might seem like a tiring exercise but it becomes easy overtime and with practice. Many students do not have enough knowledge regarding preparing a presentable research paper. Given below are some important tips that will help one to write efficient research papers easily:

Selecting a Topic

To prepare a research paper, it is very important to first select a topic that is of your accord or interest. Choosing an interesting and informative topic to conduct a research on is very helpful. It is enjoyable for one to research on the topic that is according to his or her interest.

Collecting Reliable Sources

Before beginning to write the main body of the research paper, it is advised to collect all the information, facts, figures, and other proven statistics. Collecting information before writing a research paper helps one to stay focused while writing the paper.

Writing a Rough Draft

After collecting all the necessary information, start writing a rough draft. Introduce all the ideas you want to include in the final research paper. Do care for the grammar, spellings, and punctuation marks even if it is only a rough draft because it will serve as the basis for your final paper.

Writing Main Body

During this stage, one organizes the ideas according to some sequence. Rewrite the rough draft, following the rules of grammar, using correct spellings, and punctuation marks. Also, remember to add the references of the sources used in the research paper.

Before submitting the research paper, remember to read it completely. Recheck your paper for grammatical errors, spelling errors and other literary elements. Ask an honest friend to read your paper and ask for his or her advice regarding how to further improve the document.

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