Help! I’m stuck!

I can’t find any info!

Don’t use words that are too specific or have other words that mean the same thingo E.g. What was the economic impact of the 2011 Rugby World Cup – You’d probably want to search

for “economic impact” “Rugby World Cup”. BUT there are hardly any websites that you’ll find a page saying ‘economic impact’. Try searching for a broader term, like in this case just economy “Rugby World Cup”

Make sure you spell words out. o “New Zealand” works much better than NZ

Look in books. Sometimes there isn’t actually any good info on your topic on the internet! o To find info, look in the contents page and index of the book for your key words

Make sure you’re using quote marks in the right places. When you use quote marks Google looks for THAT EXACT PHRASE.

o So if you’re searching for someone’s name quote marks work really well, e.g. “Kate Sheppard”. o But “Changes Maori society Europeans contact” won’t find anything useful, because there won’t be

any websites with that random word jumble in that exact order. Make sure you’re using the right key words. These are usually the who, what, when, where from the

question. o What were the causes of the outbreak of war in the Waikato and Tauranga?

Try going to encyclopaedia websites first and searching there. o Good ones are http://www.nzhistory.net.nz and http://www.teara.govt.nz for New Zealand

Look around websites. You may see a heading that relates to your topic.o If I am looking for information about the Gallipoli campaign I know it was during WW1, so this could

be useful

That link leads us to this page. Have a look for your key words. Use Ctrl+F so search on the page.

Ooh! My topic!

That leads us to this page

Hmmm . . . it doesn’t really give me much information – so now I’ll keep looking around the page for links. These ones on the right look like they’ll lead to more info. I know my question is about NZ’s involvement in the Gallipoli campaign, so I won’t both looking at background or preparation. I’ll go straight to 25 April 1915.

Wow! Heaps of info! I’ll use this in my assignment.

What do I put in the definitions box?

Any words that you don’t know the meaning of. Go to www.dictionary.com and look up the definition, then copy and paste the definition in to this box.

What do I put in the middle box?

Copy and paste the relevant section of the website here. Just pick the best part of the website so you’re not copying more than a page. If the section you have selected doesn’t fill the box you’ll need to find a more detailed website that does.

For books you can photocopy the best page from the book or write it in by hand.

Ok, now what?

Now highlight or underline the sections that answer your question. Read each sentence one by one. If you could answer the focus question with that sentence then underline it. Most of the text should be highlighted – if not, go back and find another source that has more useful information.

How do I make notes in my own words?

Look at your highlighted sections. Try to summarise each sentence down to a few words. Aim to use half as many words as the original.

Just put bullet points with the most specific info – names, places, dates, statistics (number of people involved, etc). Don’t write whole sentences.

Imagine you were telling a friend about what was in the source. Use those words.

Try reading the text, then covering it up. Then type in what you can remember from the source in the My Notes box. Go back and check that you have all the info correct.

What do I put here?

Tell me why you have chosen this source. How does it help you answer the focusing question? Is it detailed? Or does it give you a good overview? Does it tell you about one specific thing, or many? Does it have a different perspective from your other sources?

You need to decide this for yourself – you won’t be able to find the answer anywhere.

What do I put here?

Answer the reliability PEAR questions:

Purpose – Say why the website or book was made. To inform? To make you think a certain way?

Evidence – does the source have evidence to back up what they are saying? Look in the text you have selected from the source. Does it have specific evidence? For example, does it say ‘Heaps of people went’ or ‘3496 people went’? The more specific they are the better.

Author – Who wrote it? It may be at the top of the page. Try looking around the website for an ‘About Us’ or ‘Site Information’ section. In a book look on the inside covers. Then look at the qualifications the author has. Decide if they are qualified to write about the topic.

References – Does the source say where they found their info? Look for a bibliography. In a book this will be near the back, just before the index. On a website scroll down to the bottom of the page. Look through the references and decide if they are good – someone who has been referring to newspapers and books will be more informed that someone who is referring to Weet-bix cards.

What goes here?

For a website: Put the author (if shown), copy the whole web address and put the date you visited.

For a book:

Author, Title of book, place of publication, date of publication, page number.

E.g. Smith, J. How to Eat and Ice Cream, Auckland, 1997, p. 262.

To find the place and date of publication look in the first few pages of the book – usually it’s the other side of the title page with a whole load of stuff about copyright.