Once you have a topic and some questions to ask and answer, you need to find sources of information. Researchers use sources to learn more. Sometimes researchers also conduct experiments or surveys to help them learn.
When you want to answer your questions, you can:
read a book
read a magazine
read an encyclopedia
look at a photograph
look at a piece of art
look at a graph
look at a map
look at a historical document
look at an artifact
visit a museum, zoo, or aquarium
visit the site where something happened
visit a website
watch a video or television show
ask an expert
conduct an experiment
make a model
try something out
take a survey
There are lots of ways to learn about your topic!
A note about sources
When you choose sources, you have a big job. An important job. A job you need to take seriously as a researcher.
You need to evaluate your sources.
Evaluate is a big word, and you might not have ever heard it before. You might not even know how to say it. Break it up like this: eee - val - you - ate . Now, say it faster.
Some sources of information are really good. The person who wrote the book knows a lot about their topic. You can trust what they are saying. The information they are giving you is true.
But some sources of information are not good. The person who you think is an expert might be making things up from their imagination. They might not know anything about the topic. The information they are giving you might not be true. What they say might just be confusing. The book might have been written at a time when people had wrong ideas about how the world works.
Your big job when you evaluate sources is to decide if your source is a good source or a bad source. You need to be a judge, and decide “Is this information true or not true?”
How do you know?
You might be thinking, “I’m just a kid! How am I supposed to know if my source is good or bad?”
Is it a book? You can trust the information in almost every non-fiction book you find in a library. Books are very reliable sources because there are so many steps to publishing them, and many people check to make sure they are true.
Is it a website? Websites can be tricky. Some websites have lots of good, true information that will help your research. But some websites do not have true information.
It is very easy to make a website. This is good, because it means that lots of people around the world can easily share lots of information. But it also means that you have to be a careful judge. Ask a couple of questions:
- Who made this website? Does this person, group, or company know a lot about the topic?
- Is the website information, or just someone’s opinion?
- Does the author of the website explain their sources?
- Does the information on the website seem real?
- Does the information on the website agree with what you read in a book about your topic?
Remember, anybody in the whole wide world can make a website, even my little brother!
If you have any questions about evaluating a source...
Ask for help! Adults can help you evaluate your sources. Go up to a librarian/family member/teacher/museum adult and say: “Hi. I’m doing research on ________. Is this a good source of information? How do you know the information is true?” and the adult will tell you. (Unless, of course, you do it as your dad is stirring the pasta sauce, taking the cookies out of the oven, and trying to calm down your screaming brother at the same time. Don’t ask them then, they won’t be very helpful.)
Good luck!
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