Learning Goal:
I can explore possible topics for my SEL research project and utilize search strategies to help me find information.
3-2-1 Research Organizer
3-2-1 Research Organizer | SAMPLE - 3-2-1 Research Organizer |
Brain-dumping
What? Brain-dumping is taking pen to paper and getting all your thoughts out of your brain. It’s taking every thing you’re worrying about, questioning, feeling, needing to do, and organizing those thoughts OUT of your brain and putting them somewhere ELSE.
Why? Brain dumping is a focusing activity that helps you organize your thoughts.
How? Take 5 minutes to write about and/or express creatively negative thoughts and emotions
Exploring Topics (15 Minutes)
WebMD | Psychology Today |
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Asking Questions - (7 minutes)
Brainstorming:
Asking questions builds critical thinking skills and empowers you to feel confident about your ideas.
Brainstorming Questions: Take 3 minutes to write down as many questions as you can think of about the three topics you explored.
Rules for Producing Questions
* Write down as many questions as you can in 3 minutes.
* Don't stop to judge your questions.
* If you write down a statement, turn it into a question.
Narrowing Your Focus:
Choose TWO questions that you are most interested in answering.
Write them down on your 3-2-1 worksheet.
Using Keywords and Search Strategies - Working Smarter NOT Harder!
Keywords | Search Strategies |
Keywords are terms related to your topic. They are the BIG or MAIN IDEA WORDS related to your topic. For example, if your topic is depression, some related keywords might be: mental health antidepressants serotonin Keywords might also be related ideas that you are interested in exploring with regards to your topic: symptoms exercise transcendental meditation electroconvulsive therapy Research Connection: Use your questions to create a list of keywords.
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The act of combining keywords, common words and terms to conduct your searches is call a search strategy. Two powerful search strategies are: 1.) Combines keywords and/or phrases using AND, OR, and NOT Example: Depression AND Exercise 2.) Putting quotation marks around phrases to search for an exact phrase Example: "mental health" or "teen anxiety"
Example searches: teens AND depression depression AND symptoms teens AND depression AND treatment |
Keep track of where you found your information. Recording the name of the website and name of the page, helps you stay organized and on track with your research.