Participation in Government
Current Events - Ukrainian Crisis Museum Display Project
Accessing and Searching Quality Sources Using Library Databases & Resources
Database Passwords - each database has a unique username and password (note - some only require a password, not a username)
From home you will need to enter a username and/or password - in school, the databases should be geolocated and you should not need a password.
What is your question? All good research starts with an essential question.
Ex: How will world relations be affected if Russia does invade the Ukraine?
What are your keywords? Searching a database requires entering search terms or keywords related to your search. Consider phrases, tag words, synonyms (don't be afraid to think outside the box).
Ex: "Ukraine" AND "Russia" AND "conflict"
Set up your search: Choose where in the document the database should search for your keywords:
Stick to Keyword or Entire Document
Read the Abstract/Summary: Most articles contain one which gives you an overview of the article
Learn from what you have: Skimming articles may lead to discovering new search terms
You are unlikely to get all the information you need from a single source: Pull what you need from each resource to bolster your evidence and answer your essential question as well as to create new knowledge
The overall purpose of research is to create something new!
Questions to consider:
What is the context and history of the conflict? How is geography and geo-political positioning important here?
Who is involved? (Both individuals and peoples) What is their stake in the conflict?
What are the issues?
What are the potential outcomes? What is the role of the United States?
Product: We will create a museum display in the showcase cabinet at the end of the hall. Our display will have a combination of physical and text based displays to tell the story of Russia, Ukraine and the United States and how we got to this position today.
Process:
Choose a Question to Consider that you will investigate and research and build an “artifact” around.
Using a variety of resources, begin to answer the organizing question. (See LibGuide)
Create an artifact that visually demonstrates the research that you did. This may take the form of an object and captions, a poster, timeline or any other representation that you feel.
Choose Your Search Limiters: Always choose "full document" - there is nothing worse than finding what could be the perfect resource, then discover you do not have access to the full article, only the abstract (summary).
Additional Search Limiters: You can further limit your search by date and document type (the type of documents that are searchable can vary by database - unless you need something very specific (primary source, newspaper article, map) you do not have to use this limiter. Similarly using the date limiter is optional, but can be useful especially if you need current information
NoodleTools: Online research management platform that promotes critical thinking and authentic research. It will help you organize your information, build accurate citations, archive source material, take notes, outline topics, and prepare to write. NOTE: When creating a new project keep it on ADVANCED under citation level. Sign in with your WHS email. Need help creating an account? Watch this video.
Adapted from T. McDonald's guide Social Action Research Project: Advanced Searching in Databases