Transcript Step One: Task Definition

Step One: Task Definition
Define the Information Problem:
What does your teacher want you to
know?
1.1
Make sure you understand the assignment and the
teacher’s requirements.
Ask the teacher if you are confused about anything
Restate the assignment in your own words to make
sure you completely understand
Step One: Task Definition
1.2 What information do you need in order to complete
the assignment?
 Many times, the teacher will tell you what information
you need
 If not, you might want to write a list of questions to
look up
 Example Assignment: Your teacher has asked you to
choose a Greek god or goddess to research. Your first
question may be:
Which god or goddess do I want to research? Is there
a list to choose from?
After that, some questions may be:
What are they the god/goddess of?
What is there physical description?
What are their interactions with mortals?
Step One: Task definition
Graphic Organizers may be useful for
this step
 Ask your librarian if tools such as
“Inspiration” (www.inspiration.com)
are available.
 Free graphic organizers for different
types of assignments can also be
found at http://www.big6.com/
Step Two: Information Seeking
Strategies
2.1 Make a list of all the possible sources you
could use to answer your questions.
Consider the following:
 Books
 Encyclopedias
 Ask your librarian about any websites your
library subscribes to
 Interviews
 Observations
 Free websites
Step Two: Information Seeking
Strategies
2.2 Evaluate the different possible sources in order to
select the best ones
 Look at the list of sources and circle the ones that are
available to you and easy to use
 Next, evaluate your sources:
 Is the author an expert on the subject?
 Is the information current?
 Is the information accurate?
 Is the website sponsered by and linked to credible
sources?
 Is the information source objective or are they trying
to “sell” you something?
 Ask your teacher, librarian, or parents if you need help
using a source
Step Three: Location and Accesss
3.1 Locate your sources
 Where will you get your sources?
 Write the location by your source
 If it’s a website, write its address
 If it’s a person, write how you will contact them
 Example:
 Mythology websiteshttp://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/euro
pe/greek/ (if it’s a site your teacher has linked
or a site your library subscribes to)
-or Book-school library
Step three: Location and Access
3.2 Finding the information within the sources:
How do you find the answers to your questions
within the sources?
 Make a list of words that will help you find the
information you are looking for. These are called
keywords.

Example: “Greek Mythology” or “Zeus” (if that is the god
you have chosen)
 Different sources have different ways to find information:
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Books have an index or a table of contents
Encyclopedias have an index volume that is usually the last
volume in the set
Subscription websites (Gale, Worldbook Online, etc) use
keywords in the search box as does general Internet search
engines. You may have to try keywords alone or in
different combinations to get the results you want.