Teaching Students the Research Process

In my humanities department, one of the teacher's favorite assignments are current events or student-led research projects. Both teachers and students enjoy these projects, that usually end in discussion, presentation, or a speech, particularly because students get to select what they research. One of the common problems I see as a student support is that students spend an enormous time on research that they do not need to. I notice students tend to struggle with choosing relevant texts based on their research question, and oftentimes that they do not know how to look for valid texts. 

ISTE standard 4 explains that Students will:

1. Use technology to help identify and define problems for investigation.
2. Plan and manage projects with the help of digital graphic organizers.
3. Utilize technology to collect and analyze data, identify possible solutions, and make informed decisions.
4. Explore and compare solutions with various technology tools.

Research projects are just one way that students can use technology to help them manage a project (based on a question), support investigation, and explore solutions. But according to Fan-Ray Kuo, Nian-Shing Chen, and Gwo-Jen Hwang, even university students struggle to evaluate websites and to find strong sources based on their lack of resources to use (Kuo, Chen, Hwang). If university students struggle with the research process, I wanted to know how educators could scaffold and teach the research process to students. 

Leslie Harris O' Hanlon had many practical suggestions in her article Teaching Students Better Online Research Skills. She had three easy to apply ideas. First, she suggested modeling the research process to students. She did this by choosing one student every day to be the "searcher." Through students, she modeled the process of research, confirming good practices and pointing out common misconceptions. Second, O' Hanlon teaches students the research process by having students identify key words from their research question. Then, she encourages them to use google scholar, a close resource to what students use in their everyday research (google). She explains "[Students] will go on Google and type a word, and that is the extent of their research skills" (O' Hanlon). But by introducing them to a similar resource, she helps expand student's network. It is also a great technique because it is so similar to what students already use. Finally, she worked with students to evaluate websites, partially when she modeled the research process. Rather than only having students use certain websites, she has them focus on the perspective of each site, that way the student can evaluate the meaning behind the text. These are three easy way to scaffold and simply to teach the research process to students to encourage better research and quicker research as well. 

I hope to use research in my own work as an ELA or ELL teacher particularly because it allows students to select a topic that interest them. By using some of these strategies, students can achieve the objectives of ISTE standard 4. As our world continues to become more digital, it is essential that students have a wide variety of networks to find online resources, as well as skills to evaluate them and to find sources related to what they are looking for. Hopefully, as we apply some of these teachings into our day to day, students will be more prepared for the college research process. 

Kuo, F.R., Chen, N.S., Hwang, G.J. (2013). A Creative Thinking Approach to Enhance the Web Based Problem Solving Performance of University Students. Elsevier, 72. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5W5P9bQJ6q0YVI0R0ltM1RFYTg/view

O'Hanlon, L.H. (2013). Teaching Students Better Online Research Skills. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/05/22/32el-studentresearch.h32.html.