research skills activity

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Information Literacy Instruction

• Exercises to Build Research Skills
• Formulate a research topic
• Find Information
• Evaluate Information
• Use Information
• Chicago/Turabian
• Citation Tools

Exercises Overview

Library instruction exercises.

The exercises below are designed for students learning to do research. They can be done in class or assigned as homework. They are in Word format so instructors who wish to use them can easily edit or adapt them. When appropriate, they contain an answer key, so instructors should look at the full handout and remove the answer key before sharing with students.

If you would like a librarian to come to your class to lead these exercises or if you would like an exercise customized for your subject area, contact your Library Liaison!

• Formulate a topic
• Find information
• Evaluate information
• Incorporate information
• Cite information
• Writing assignment formats
• Triangulating your research This exercise guides students with a broad topic to identify search terms and narrow their topic, arriving at a research question.
• Formulating a Research Question from a Broad Topic Students often begin their research (and writing) with a very broad topic. This means they waste a lot of time looking for resources that they will never use. Before they begin to research, it is ideal to have a focused question. This 10 minute assignment teaches them how to turn a very broad topic into a focused research question.
• Identifying and Refining a Research Topic Using Concept Maps This exercise is designed to help students think of words and concepts and see how they are related. They create a concept map of their topic, which may help them see ways to narrow their topic and arrive at a research question.
• Identifying and Refining a Research Topic Using Journalistic Questions Journalistic questions are a set of questions you can use to define your topic more clearly. This exercise will help student ask questions about their topic. Having specific questions to answer makes researching the topic easier when you get to that stage.
• Defining Search Terms Students will often try one or two search terms when using a database and assume there’s no information on their topic if it doesn’t work the first time. This exercise gets them thinking about synonyms and related words. This 15 minute exercise may seem simple, but I can almost guarantee that the next time they sit down at a database they will try multiple searches before giving up.
• Identifying Keywords In this exercise, students will practice identifying keywords that might be used to research their topic. The exercise has three parts. First, they will identify the keywords from sample research questions. Then they will brainstorm synonyms for those keywords, demonstrating the need to search using more than just one keyword. Finally, they will complete the exercise for their own research question.
• Information Source Comparison This activity helps students explore the strengths and weakness of Google, Google Scholar, Academic Search Complete and topic specific databases as information sources.
• Understanding Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT In order to apply your keywords to an effective search, you must be able to employ Boolean logic. Those operators are AND OR & NOT. The object of this exercise is to practice your use of those operators by looking at an everyday experience : Ordering food from a fast food restaurant.
• Creating Keyword Searches Using Boolean Operators In this exercise, students will practice selecting search terms and combining them using boolean operators in order to create an effective search.
• Popular, Trade or Peer Reviewed? Great hands-on exercise to teach students about the differences among the 3 types of publications. Students can read the differences in the provided example, but real learning takes place when they have to sift through the actual publications and write down differences. Can be tailored to use any three sources appropriate for your discipline.
• Analyze 4 types of sources This assignment does two things: 1) it makes students find 4 different types of sources rather than just search the Web; 2) it teaches students how to evaluate ALL information and compare and contrast different types of sources.
• Pin the News Source on the Fake News Continuum This activity asks students to research a variety of news sources and place them on a continuum to define their reliability.
• Evaluating Sources Process Cards This is a group activity in which students are given cards with a variety of sources on them. They evaluate the sources based on criteria such as "authority," "ease of creation," "time to creation" etc.
• Evaluating sources writing assignment Requires the student to answer a series of questions about a source they have found. These questions are also a good basis for writing the annotation for an annotated bibliography exercise.
• Article Analysis - upper level This exercise requires students to evaluate a scholarly article for not only its relevance to their research topic but also for its potential to help them find more sources via citation mining and keyword generation.
• Evaluating Web Resources Students choose one of three websites to evaluate. After evaluating the website they must make a judgment on whether it is good or bad for academic research and explain their decision. This assignment can be tailored to use websites related to your subject area. Just ask!

Introductory level - avoid plagiarism by properly using quotes, paraphrases and summaries.

• Evaluating quotes and paraphrases (100/200 level) Students are given a sample citation and 7 easy uses. They judge if the use is appropriate or plagiarism.
• Evaluating quotes, summaries and paraphrases Students are given a sample text and 4 summaries. They judge if the summary is legitimate or plagiarism.
• Quotes, Summaries and Paraphrases from the Purdue Owl This PDF from the Purdue Owl explains what each of these are, how to use them and concludes with a hands on exercise that requires students to summarize and paraphrase several sample original texts.
• Write your own quote, summary, paraphrase Given a single sample text, students are asked to write their own quote, summary, paraphrase for the instructor's evaluation. Can be tailored for any class.

Introductory level - how to integrate quotes, paraphrases and summaries

• Integrating quotes Given a single sample paragraph, students are asked to identify several key methods quotes are integrated into the paragraph.
• Analyzing how to integrate quotes and summaries This exercise has students analyze how and why scholarly authors have integrated quotes and summaries in order to help them learn smooth methods to use quotes and summaries in their own research.
• Analyzing supporting evidence An exercise that asks students to analyze how and why evidence is used in an existing scholarly article.

Introductory level - learning how and why to use sources

• Un-research Project This exercise helps students focus on why they choose sources to support their research.
• Is your paper well supported with evidence A quick, easy and visual exercise to help students determine if their paper arguments are well supported with evidence.

Upper level - synthesizing information

• Updating a literature review This exercise is appropriate to introduce the concept of a literature review and how to synthesize information in one.
• Mini-literature review assignment An introduction to literature reviews. Scaffolded instruction for how to approach your first literature review.
• Synthesis Matrix A beginner's matrix to help students begin thinking about synthesizing their sources.
• Advanced Synthesis Matrix A source synthesis matrix for advanced level writing assignments.

Create a list of sources with improper citations. Have the students attempt to locate the sources.  This should demonstrate to students how citations are used to track down sources and how frustrating it can be for their teachers and fellow researchers when they don’t provide adequate citations. Examples to use here could include books with multiple editions or books with very generic titles.

Breaking citations down: Develop a list of citations. Break these citations down (components: author, date, publisher, title, etc). Type or write them down on larger pieces of construction paper, cardboard, etc. You can utilize a variety of colors, shapes, sizes. Have students work as groups to assemble the parts (you can use pin boards, a wall and tape, magnetic boards, etc). This can easily be turned into a competitive game.

Selecting an Effective Writing Assignment Format

In addition to the standard essay, report or full research paper formats, several other formats exist that might give students a different slant on the course material or allow them to use slightly different writing skills. Here are some suggestions:

Journals. In-class journal entries can spark discussions and reveal gaps in students’ understanding of the material. Having students write an in-class entry summarizing the material covered that day can aid the learning process and also reveal concepts that require more elaboration. Out-of-class entries involve short summaries or analyses of texts, or are a testing ground for ideas for student papers and reports.

Letters. Students can define and defend a position on an issue in a letter written to someone in authority. They can also explain a concept or a process to someone in need of that particular information. They can write a letter to a friend explaining their concerns about an upcoming paper assignment or explaining their ideas for an upcoming paper assignment. If you wish to add a creative element to the writing assignment, you might have students adopt the persona of an important person discussed in your course (e.g., an historical figure) and write a letter explaining his/her actions, process, or theory to an interested person (e.g., “pretend that you are John Wilkes Booth and write a letter to the Congress justifying your assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” or “pretend you are Henry VIII writing to Thomas More explaining your break from the Catholic Church”).

Editorials . Students can define and defend a position on a controversial issue in the format of an editorial for the campus or local newspaper or for a national journal.

Cases . Students might create a case study particular to the course’s subject matter.

Position Papers . These projects ask students to research a topic from a variety of viewpoints, and then use that research to support their own perspective. Students can define and defend a position, perhaps as a preliminary step in the creation of a formal research paper or essay.

Imitation of a Text . Students can create a new document “in the style of” a particular writer (e.g., “Create a government document the way Woody Allen might write it” or “Write your own ‘Modest Proposal’ about a modern issue”).

Instruction Manuals . Students write a step-by-step explanation of a process.

Dialogues . Students create a dialogue between two major figures studied in which they not only reveal those people’s theories or thoughts but also explore areas of possible disagreement (e.g., “Write a dialogue between Claude Monet and Jackson Pollock about the nature and uses of art”).

Collaborative projects . Students work together to create such works as reports, questions, and critiques.

Summary papers These assignments ask students to summarize a key concept from the course, or a reading or set of readings.

Compare/contrast papers Students are asked to compare/contrast theoretical positions from key scholars, reading, methods, or procedures for completing a task, etc.

Reading responses Students are asked to respond to specific questions about course readings. These can take place in reading journals that you occasionally collect, or reading responses on a discussion forum (on Moodle or elsewhere).

Position response papers Students are provided with a position that they must then defend or refute using course concepts and outside research.

Disciplinary problem papers These projects ask students to make an argument for the best solution to a disciplinary problem.

Data analysis papers Students are provided with raw data (or asked to collect raw data themselves) that they must then analyze using a particular methodology from the course.

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• Last Updated: Nov 15, 2023 2:28 PM
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Teaching Research Skills to K-12 Students in The Classroom

Research is at the core of knowledge. Nobody is born with an innate understanding of quantum physics. But through research , the knowledge can be obtained over time. That’s why teaching research skills to your students is crucial, especially during their early years.

But teaching research skills to students isn’t an easy task. Like a sport, it must be practiced in order to acquire the technique. Using these strategies, you can help your students develop safe and practical research skills to master the craft.

What Is Research?

By definition, it’s a systematic process that involves searching, collecting, and evaluating information to answer a question. Though the term is often associated with a formal method, research is also used informally in everyday life!

Whether you’re using it to write a thesis paper or to make a decision, all research follows a similar pattern.

• Choose a topic : Think about general topics of interest. Do some preliminary research to make sure there’s enough information available for you to work with and to explore subtopics within your subject.
• Develop a research question : Give your research a purpose; what are you hoping to solve or find?
• Collect data : Find sources related to your topic that will help answer your research questions. 
• Evaluate your data : Dissect the sources you found. Determine if they’re credible and which are most relevant.
• Make your conclusion : Use your research to answer your question! 

Why Do We Need It?

Research helps us solve problems. Trying to answer a theoretical question? Research. Looking to buy a new car? Research. Curious about trending fashion items? Research! 

Sometimes it’s a conscious decision, like when writing an academic paper for school. Other times, we use research without even realizing it. If you’re trying to find a new place to eat in the area, your quick Google search of “food places near me” is research!

Whether you realize it or not, we use research multiple times a day, making it one of the most valuable lifelong skills to have. And it’s why — as educators —we should be teaching children research skills in their most primal years. 

Teaching Research Skills to Elementary Students

In elementary school, children are just beginning their academic journeys. They are learning the essentials: reading, writing, and comprehension. But even before they have fully grasped these concepts, you can start framing their minds to practice research.

According to curriculum writer and former elementary school teacher, Amy Lemons , attention to detail is an essential component of research. Doing puzzles, matching games, and other memory exercises can help equip students with this quality before they can read or write. 

Improving their attention to detail helps prepare them for the meticulous nature of research. Then, as their reading abilities develop, teachers can implement reading comprehension activities in their lesson plans to introduce other elements of research. 

One of the best strategies for teaching research skills to elementary students is practicing reading comprehension . It forces them to interact with the text; if they come across a question they can’t answer, they’ll need to go back into the text to find the information they need. 

Some activities could include completing compare/contrast charts, identifying facts or questioning the text, doing background research, and setting reading goals. Here are some ways you can use each activity:

• How it translates : Step 3, collect data; Step 4, evaluate your data
• Questioning the text : If students are unsure which are facts/not facts, encourage them to go back into the text to find their answers. 
• How it translates : Step 3, collect data; Step 4, evaluate your data; Step 5, make your conclusion
• How it translates : Step 1, choose your topic
• How it translates : Step 2, develop a research question; Step 5, make your conclusion

Resources for Elementary Research

If you have access to laptops or tablets in the classroom, there are some free tools available through Pennsylvania’s POWER Kids to help with reading comprehension. Scholastic’s BookFlix and TrueFlix are 2 helpful resources that prompt readers with questions before, after, and while they read. 

• BookFlix : A resource for students who are still new to reading. Students will follow along as a book is read aloud. As they listen or read, they will be prodded to answer questions and play interactive games to test and strengthen their understanding. 

• TrueFlix : A resource for students who are proficient in reading. In TrueFlix, students explore nonfiction topics. It’s less interactive than BookFlix because it doesn’t prompt the reader with games or questions as they read. (There are still options to watch a video or listen to the text if needed!)

Teaching Research Skills to Middle School Students

By middle school, the concept of research should be familiar to students. The focus during this stage should be on credibility . As students begin to conduct research on their own, it’s important that they know how to determine if a source is trustworthy.

Before the internet, encyclopedias were the main tool that people used for research. Now, the internet is our first (and sometimes only) way of looking information up. 

Unlike encyclopedias which can be trusted, students must be wary of pulling information offline. The internet is flooded with unreliable and deceptive information. If they aren’t careful, they could end up using a source that has inaccurate information!

How To Know If A Source Is Credible

In general, credible sources are going to come from online encyclopedias, academic journals, industry journals, and/or an academic database. If you come across an article that isn’t from one of those options, there are details that you can look for to determine if it can be trusted.

• The author: Is the author an expert in their field? Do they write for a respected publication? If the answer is no, it may be good to explore other sources.
• Citations: Does the article list its sources? Are the sources from other credible sites like encyclopedias, databases, or journals? No list of sources (or credible links) within the text is usually a red flag. 
• Date: When was the article published? Is the information fresh or out-of-date? It depends on your topic, but a good rule of thumb is to look for sources that were published no later than 7-10 years ago. (The earlier the better!)
• Bias: Is the author objective? If a source is biased, it loses credibility.

An easy way to remember what to look for is to utilize the CRAAP test . It stands for C urrency (date), R elevance (bias), A uthority (author), A ccuracy (citations), and P urpose (bias). They’re noted differently, but each word in this acronym is one of the details noted above. 

If your students can remember the CRAAP test, they will be able to determine if they’ve found a good source.

Resources for Middle School Research

To help middle school researchers find reliable sources, the database Gale is a good starting point. It has many components, each accessible on POWER Library’s site. Gale Litfinder , Gale E-books , or Gale Middle School are just a few of the many resources within Gale for middle school students.

Teaching Research Skills To High Schoolers

The goal is that research becomes intuitive as students enter high school. With so much exposure and practice over the years, the hope is that they will feel comfortable using it in a formal, academic setting. 

In that case, the emphasis should be on expanding methodology and citing correctly; other facets of a thesis paper that students will have to use in college. Common examples are annotated bibliographies, literature reviews, and works cited/reference pages.

• Annotated bibliography : This is a sheet that lists the sources that were used to conduct research. To qualify as annotated , each source must be accompanied by a short summary or evaluation. 
• Literature review : A literature review takes the sources from the annotated bibliography and synthesizes the information in writing.
• Works cited/reference pages : The page at the end of a research paper that lists the sources that were directly cited or referenced within the paper. 

Resources for High School Research

Many of the Gale resources listed for middle school research can also be used for high school research. The main difference is that there is a resource specific to older students: Gale High School . 

If you’re looking for some more resources to aid in the research process, POWER Library’s e-resources page allows you to browse by grade level and subject. Take a look at our previous blog post to see which additional databases we recommend.

Visit POWER Library’s list of e-resources to start your research!

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100 Activities for Teaching Research Methods

• Catherine Dawson - Self-employed researcher and writer
• Description

A sourcebook of exercises, games, scenarios and role plays, this practical, user-friendly guide provides a complete and valuable resource for research methods tutors, teachers and lecturers. 

Developed to complement and enhance existing course materials, the 100 ready-to-use activities encourage innovative and engaging classroom practice in seven areas:

• finding and using sources of information
• planning a research project
• conducting research
• using and analyzing data
• disseminating results
• acting ethically
• developing deeper research skills.

Each of the activities is divided into a section on tutor notes and student handouts. Tutor notes contain clear guidance about the purpose, level and type of activity, along with a range of discussion notes that signpost key issues and research insights. Important terms, related activities and further reading suggestions are also included.

Not only does the A4 format make the student handouts easy to photocopy, they are also available to download and print directly from the book’s companion website for easy distribution in class.

Supplements

Catherine's book is a fantastic resource for anyone who is teaching research methods in the social sciences. Covering all aspects of the research process, it is packed full of innovative ideas, useful tips, and structured activities for use within the classroom. If you are a tutor, teacher, or lecturer who is looking to provide interesting and engaging content for your students, this book is an absolute 'must have'.

Every university with a Social Science department has to deliver research methods in some capacity, but there is no need for us all to sit in our institutional silos and reinvent the wheel. Dawson provides a huge and varied list of pre-designed activities for methods teachers to draw upon covering the whole research process and an eclectic range of methodological approaches. The activities are pedagogically engaging, comprehensively resourced and provide us with an opportunity to rethink how social science research methods can be taught in a more interactive and engaging way.

Preview this book

Sample materials & chapters.

100 Activities for Teaching Research Methods: Listening to Interviewees

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Teaching ELA with Joy

Middle School ELA Resources

6 Ideas for Teaching Research Skills

By Joy Sexton Leave a Comment

When thinking about ideas for teaching research skills, teachers can easily become overwhelmed. That’s mainly because our standards list so many requirements for students to master! If your school requires a major research paper, you might need to start off with some smaller practice pieces. Do your students know how to paraphrase? Can they judge if a website is credible? Do they know how to compose an open-ended question? How about citing sources? Check out these activities that will help your students gain essential practice with research skills.

Ideas for Teaching Research Skills

1. Say It Your Way – One great place to start is getting students in the habit of paraphrasing. Choose an interesting topic and a short article to demonstrate. An online encyclopedia comes in handy here. We worked with information on a particular dinosaur. Project the article and with class participation, highlight 5 pieces of key information. This is the information students will be “taking notes” on. Then query the students how each piece of information could be stated in bulleted notes (without copying full sentences!). Model the bulleted note-taking as students complete their own copy. When the bulleted notes are complete, engage the class in composing new sentences that are paraphrased. Again, model writing this paragraph as students follow suit. Now the process of note-taking and paraphrasing should seem “doable” in their own research.

2. Surprising Facts – A fun way for students to dive into research is to give them a topic and simply task them with finding facts that are surprising . This activity works great with partners. Topics could tie in with a current class novel or story (such as “elephant” from The Giver) or even an author. Surprising facts about Gary Paulsen, Kwame Alexander, or Edgar Alan Poe make an interesting class discussion! Students enjoy sharing their findings. I devised a free handout where students can record the topic, their surprising facts, and the website(s) they used. Grab it in Google Docs and copy to your drive by clicking the link: https://bit.ly/3Nah9UB

3. Give Credit Where It’s Due – Most students understand that sources need to be cited. However, many remain unclear on the process. A demonstration using a citation generator will help. I like www.bibme.org , but if you google “citation generator” you’ll find a slew of them. I open a few tabs in advance with animal websites. To demonstrate, grab the URLs and insert into the generator. Cut and paste the citations to a blank document. Then you can show students how to indent and alphabetize. For practice, give students a list of several websites. You could also include a magazine article and a book. With a partner, have them construct the works cited using a generator, indenting and alphabetizing correctly.

4. Support an Opinion – Students love to voice their opinions , but need practice supporting them with facts . Lucky for us, there are loads of argument topics available free online. You can offer several topic choices, and students choose one and respond with their opinion. Next, have them locate 2-3 important facts or statistics that specifically support their opinion. Make sure to emphasize that the information will need to be paraphrased. And since sources were used, a Works Cited should also be added.

5. Good Question! – One purpose of research is to answer a question, so students need practice in formulating good questions . An open-ended question, one that requires more than just one answer, is the goal. Start by demonstrating the difference between an open-ended question and a “thin”  or “skinny” question (not open-ended). One way is to project an image of a violin on your whiteboard. Then type or write out these questions: 1. How many strings does a violin have? 2. How is a violin made? Ask students which is the open-ended question and why. Then project another image. Ask for volunteers to formulate a thin question, and then an open-ended question.  Once they understand this concept, let all students practice composing both thin and open-ended questions. This activity works well in groups. Each student contributes a topic.

6. Format is Key – A sure-fire way to get students excited about a research project is offering engaging formats for presentation. PowerPoint is well known by most students, but take time to demonstrate some other great options. Canva allows students to create awesome Infographics! Or how about a tri-fold brochure in Publisher? Students can make up a quick template with custom headings. Set a timer for 10-15 minutes and let students experiment with the possibilities. My students have enjoyed a Q & A format, using a template I created with PowerPoint. Even students who prefer typing their report in paragraphs can easily design a poster. Along with the paragraphs, just add images, captions, topic, and headings.

I hope I have broadened your ideas for teaching research skills. I think you’ll agree that students need time and mini-lessons to get comfortable with the procedures we require. A quick graphic organizer coupled with a short activity can help solidify the skills they’ll need.

Here’s another post I wrote that will give you more helpful ideas for teaching research skills: 10 Ideas to Make Teaching Research Easier

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8 Fresh, Fun Ways to Teach Research Skills

• Instructional and Assessment Strategies

While students often struggle to see the relevance of poetic meter or mythological allusions , they can usually appreciate the value of developing research skills. With the glut of information readily available, students often understand the value of being able to determine which information is reliable and which is not. Even as students soak up social media, it’s important for them to think critically about where information comes from, how it’s transmitted, and who it benefits.

However, research can also be an overwhelming proposition for students. Sometimes they struggle with where to begin. Sometimes their research interests are so broad and varied they struggle to narrow down the scope of inquiry. And sometimes students grow frustrated with finding sources that match their hypothesis.

To help students develop their research skills, I have put together 8 fresh, fun ideas for teaching research skills.

Introducing the Research Process

For students, the concept of “research” is often nebulous. For teachers and academics, a lot of the steps in the research process come naturally or have become second nature. It can be easy to forget how long it took us to hone our research skills. With this in mind, it’s important to help students break down the research process into manageable steps.

To help gamify this experience, I have created a card sort to help students manipulate the steps in the research process. Since I have students at different levels, I have included wayyyy more steps than students ever need, but that makes it easy for me to differentiate between groups of students and their needs. Some classes need to focus on the the steps that happen before conducting research. Other groups need to spend more time focused on the process of conducting research.

Bell work is also a great way to introduce research skills. As students enter a unit that focuses on research skills, I will use these research task cards as bell work and exit tickets. This is a great way for me to gauge students’ abilities and prior knowledge. This is also a good way for me to gently introduce research without causing a panic.

Finally, once students have some experience with research skills, it’s important to practice determining a source’s credibility. This source credibility card sort is a fun way to help students practice this skill! If you’re pressed for time, this credibility book mark is a quick reminder for students!

Scaffolding Research Skills

My dad often asks, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer: one bite at a time. This is the perfect mindset for teaching research skills. Here are some strategies to scaffold the research process.

First, unpack the process of writing research questions.

• Model the process of writing a research question.
• Give students a research topic and ask them to work with a partner to write a research question.
• Post the questions around the room, and ask students to complete a gallery walk providing one another with feedback on their research questions.

Similarly, before students engage in large-scale research, find ways to incorporate small research projects. For example, students could research the historical context of a text before they read it. This gives students an opportunity to practice research skills on a small scale before they’re asked to try anything more significant.

For example, my students complete research about the historical context of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby . This gives students time to familiarize themselves with the library’s research tools. They also practice generating search terms and research questions. Once students have a piece of credible research, they use this free collection of graphic organizers to unpack their research. Using graphic organizers is a great scaffold for students.

To practice correct citations, students will then create an annotated bibliography entry for their source. Each student will create their entry in a shared Google Slides presentation, which allows students to see one another’s work and to, in this case, learn about the historical context of our class novel.

Another great graphic organizer for scaffolding research skills is this one that focuses on the difference between quotations, paraphrases, and summaries. This is great for review and for introducing these nuances!

Setting Up Longer Research Projects

At the end of the day, students are always working toward a larger piece of research. In the language arts classroom, that project is often a research paper. Regardless of how you personally feel about teaching the research paper, they remain a staple in many secondary and collegiate classrooms.

In the interest of making the research process more engaging for students, teachers often leave topic selection wide open, encouraging students to research any topic they desire so long as it is school appropriate. I would argue that this approach is often not the best. Instead of providing unlimited choice, use a research unit to support another unit of study. This has a few advantages:

• First, it eliminates the likelihood of a student choosing an inappropriate or weak topic.
• Second, it gives librarians an opportunity to pull together collections of related materials to support students.
• Most importantly, it provides students with opportunities to research collaboratively. If students have similar subjects, they can share research questions, search terms, and sources.

Here are some ways to create engaging research topics within the language arts classroom:

• When preparing to read To Kill a Mockingbird , consider asking students to research different instances of injustice. “Injustice” is such a wide topic that students will have plenty of choice but plenty of ground for collaboration.
• If you’re preparing to read The Great Gatsby , consider asking students to research the development of the American Dream .
• In my world literature class, we often read creation stories, so for our research paper, we went the other direction and investigated different ways the world could end.
• When preparing to read one of Shakespeare’s dramas , consider challenging students to investigate entertainment, communication, gender roles, mental health, etc. There’s so much fertile ground in the realm of Shakespeare that students could choose from a variety of topics.
• If you’re preparing to read Beowulf , encourage asking students to research famous heros, the evolution of the word “hero,” or the development of the hero’s journey.

How do you make research skills fun and fresh for students?

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Empowering students to develop research skills

February 8, 2021

This post is republished from   Into Practice ,  a biweekly communication of Harvard’s  Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning

Terence D. Capellini, Richard B Wolf Associate Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology, empowers students to grow as researchers in his Building the Human Body course through a comprehensive, course-long collaborative project that works to understand the changes in the genome that make the human skeleton unique. For instance, of the many types of projects, some focus on the genetic basis of why human beings walk on two legs. This integrative “Evo-Devo” project demands high levels of understanding of biology and genetics that students gain in the first half of class, which is then applied hands-on in the second half of class. Students work in teams of 2-3 to collect their own morphology data by measuring skeletons at the Harvard Museum of Natural History and leverage statistics to understand patterns in their data. They then collect and analyze DNA sequences from humans and other animals to identify the DNA changes that may encode morphology. Throughout this course, students go from sometimes having “limited experience in genetics and/or morphology” to conducting their own independent research. This project culminates in a team presentation and a final research paper.

The benefits: Students develop the methodological skills required to collect and analyze morphological data. Using the UCSC Genome browser  and other tools, students sharpen their analytical skills to visualize genomics data and pinpoint meaningful genetic changes. Conducting this work in teams means students develop collaborative skills that model academic biology labs outside class, and some student projects have contributed to published papers in the field. “Every year, I have one student, if not two, join my lab to work on projects developed from class to try to get them published.”

“The beauty of this class is that the students are asking a question that’s never been asked before and they’re actually collecting data to get at an answer.”

The challenges:  Capellini observes that the most common challenge faced by students in the course is when “they have a really terrific question they want to explore, but the necessary background information is simply lacking. It is simply amazing how little we do know about human development, despite its hundreds of years of study.” Sometimes, for instance, students want to learn about the evolution, development, and genetics of a certain body part, but it is still somewhat a mystery to the field. In these cases, the teaching team (including co-instructor Dr. Neil Roach) tries to find datasets that are maximally relevant to the questions the students want to explore. Capellini also notes that the work in his class is demanding and hard, just by the nature of the work, but students “always step up and perform” and the teaching team does their best to “make it fun” and ensure they nurture students’ curiosities and questions.

Takeaways and best practices

• Incorporate previous students’ work into the course. Capellini intentionally discusses findings from previous student groups in lectures. “They’re developing real findings and we share that when we explain the project for the next groups.” Capellini also invites students to share their own progress and findings as part of class discussion, which helps them participate as independent researchers and receive feedback from their peers.
• Assign groups intentionally.  Maintaining flexibility allows the teaching team to be more responsive to students’ various needs and interests. Capellini will often place graduate students by themselves to enhance their workload and give them training directly relevant to their future thesis work. Undergraduates are able to self-select into groups or can be assigned based on shared interests. “If two people are enthusiastic about examining the knee, for instance, we’ll match them together.”
• Consider using multiple types of assessments.  Capellini notes that exams and quizzes are administered in the first half of the course and scaffolded so that students can practice the skills they need to successfully apply course material in the final project. “Lots of the initial examples are hypothetical,” he explains, even grounded in fiction and pop culture references, “but [students] have to eventually apply the skills they learned in addressing the hypothetical example to their own real example and the data they generate” for the Evo-Devo project. This is coupled with a paper and a presentation treated like a conference talk.

Bottom line:  Capellini’s top advice for professors looking to help their own students grow as researchers is to ensure research projects are designed with intentionality and fully integrated into the syllabus. “You can’t simply tack it on at the end,” he underscores. “If you want this research project to be a substantive learning opportunity, it has to happen from Day 1.” That includes carving out time in class for students to work on it and make the connections they need to conduct research. “Listen to your students and learn about them personally” so you can tap into what they’re excited about. Have some fun in the course, and they’ll be motivated to do the work.

K-12 Internet Resource Center

A totally free index of Internet resources for the K-12 Community.

50 Mini-Lessons For Teaching Students Research Skills

This post outlines 50 ideas for activities that could be done in just a few minutes (or stretched out to a longer lesson if you have the time!). You’ll find a  PDF summary below too! This post shares ideas for mini-lessons that could be carried out in the classroom throughout the year to help build students’ skills in the five areas of:  clarify, search, delve, evaluate , and  cite . It also includes ideas for learning about  staying organised  throughout the research process.

Today’s students have more information at their fingertips than ever before and this means the role of the teacher as a guide is more important than ever. Posted on  February 26, 2019 by  Kathleen Morris

Attributes: 4-5 6-8 Lesson Plan

Resource Link:  https://www.kathleenamorris.com/2019/02/26/research-lessons/

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100 Activities for Teaching Research Methods

Welcome to the companion website.

Thank you for visiting the companion website for 100 Activities for Teaching Research Methods . Log in to access the instructor resources using the top menu and download the student activity handouts.

About the book

A sourcebook of exercises, games, scenarios and role plays for research methods tutors, teachers and lecturers, this practical, user-friendly guide has been developed to complement and enhance existing course materials. It is full of activities that contain clear guidance about the purpose, level and type of activity, along with a range of discussion notes that signpost key issues and research insights. Important terms, related activities and further reading suggestions are included for each activity.

The book contains 100 ready-to-use activities that provide a complete and valuable resource for educators, all of which are also available to be downloaded online. Innovative and engaging classroom practice is encouraged in seven areas: 

• finding and using sources of information
• planning a research project
• conducting research
• using and analyzing data
• disseminating results
• acting ethically
• developing deeper research skills.  

Disclaimer:

This website may contain links to both internal and external websites. All links included were active at the time the website was launched. SAGE does not operate these external websites and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. SAGE cannot take responsibility for the changing content or nature of linked sites, as these sites are outside of our control and subject to change without our knowledge. If you do find an inactive link to an external website, please try to locate that website by using a search engine. SAGE will endeavour to update inactive or broken links when possible. 

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Getting First Graders Started With Research

Teaching academically honest research skills helps first graders learn how to collect, organize, and interpret information.

Earlier in my career, I was told two facts that I thought to be false: First graders can’t do research, because they aren’t old enough; and if facts are needed for a nonfiction text, the students can just make them up. Teachers I knew went along with this misinformation, as it seemed to make teaching and learning easier. I always felt differently, and now—having returned to teaching first grade 14 years after beginning my career with that age group—I wanted to prove that first graders can and should learn how to research. 

A lot has changed over the years. Not only has the science of reading given teachers a much better understanding of how to teach reading skills , but we now exist in a culture abundant in information and misinformation. It’s imperative that we teach academically honest research skills to students as early as possible. 

Use a Familiar Resource, and Pair it with a Planned Unit

How soon do you start research in first grade? Certainly not at the start of the year with the summer lapse in skills and knowledge and when new students aren’t yet able to read. By December of this school year, skills had either been recovered or established sufficiently that I thought we could launch into research. This also purposely coincided with a unit of writing on nonfiction—the perfect pairing.

The research needed an age-related focus to make it manageable, so I chose animals. I thought about taking an even safer route and have one whole class topic that we researched together, so that students could compare notes and skills. I referred back to my days working in inquiry-based curriculums (like the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program) and had students choose which animal to study. Our school librarian recommended that we use Epic because the service has an abundance of excellent nonfiction animal texts of different levels.

Teach the Basics for Organized Research 

I began with a conversation about academic honesty and why we don’t just copy information from books. We can’t say this is our knowledge if we do this; it belongs to the author. Instead, we read and learn. Then, we state what we learned in our own words. Once this concept is understood, I model how to do this by creating a basic step-by-step flowchart taught to me by my wife—a longtime first-grade and kindergarten teacher and firm believer in research skills.

• Read one sentence at a time.
• Turn the book over or the iPad around.
• Think about what you have learned. Can you remember the fact? Is the fact useful? Is it even a fact?
• If the answer is no, reread the sentence or move onto the next one.
• If the answer is yes, write the fact in your own words. Don’t worry about spelling. There are new, complex vocabulary words, so use your sounding-out/stretching-out strategies just like you would any other word. Write a whole sentence on a sticky note.
• Place the sticky note in your graphic organizer. Think about which section it goes in. If you aren’t sure, place it in the “other facts” section.

The key to collecting notes is the challenging skill of categorizing them. I created a graphic organizer that reflected the length and sections of the exemplar nonfiction text from our assessment materials for the writing unit. This meant it had five pages: an introduction, “what” the animal looks like, “where” the animal lives, “how” the animal behaved, and a last page for “other facts” that could become a general conclusion.

Our district’s literacy expert advised me not to hand out my premade graphic organizer too soon in this process because writing notes and categorizing are two different skills. This was my intention, but I forgot the good advice and handed out the organizer right away. This meant dedicating time for examining and organizing notes in each combined writing and reading lesson. A lot of one-on-one feedback was needed for some students, while others flourished and could do this work independently. The result was that the research had a built-in extension for those students who were already confident readers.

Focus on What Students Need to Practice 

Research is an essential academic skill but one that needs to be tackled gradually. I insisted that my students use whole sentences rather than words or phrases because they’re at the stage of understanding what a complete sentence is and need regular practice. In this work, there’s no mention of citation language and vetting sources; in the past, I’ve introduced those concepts to students in fourth grade and used them regularly with my fifth-grade students. Finding texts that span the reading skill range of a first-grade class is a big enough task. 

For some of the key shared scientific vocabulary around science concepts, such as animal groups (mammals, etc.) or eating habits (carnivore, etc.), I created class word lists, having first sounded out the words with the class and then asked students to attempt spelling them in their writing.

The Power of Research Can Facilitate Student Growth 

I was delighted with the results of the research project. In one and a half weeks, every student had a graphic organizer with relevant notes, and many students had numerous notes. With my fourth- and fifth-grade students, I noticed that one of the biggest difficulties for them was taking notes and writing them in a way that showed a logical sequence. Therefore, we concluded our research by numbering the notes in each section to create a sequential order. 

This activity took three lessons and also worked for my first graders. These organized notes created an internal structure that made the next step in the writing process, creating a first draft of their nonfiction teaching books, so much easier. 

The overall result was that first graders were able to truly grasp the power of research and gathering accurate facts. I proved that young children can do this, especially when they work with topics that already fascinate them. Their love of learning motivated them to read higher-level and more sophisticated texts than they or I would normally pick, further proving how interest motivates readers to embrace complexity.

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Research Skills Worksheets Listed By Specific Topic Area

Research skills are important to a person's educational, professional, and personal life. Did you ever hear a story, but wasn't sure if it was true? Or maybe you saw a word phrase that you didn't quite understand. Researching helps to locate information, and then use that information logically. It's like solving a problem, and in this case it would be finding out whether that story was true/false or discovering the meaning behind the word phrase that you were not able to understand at first.

We provide a bunch of printable worksheets to help students with their research skills. Students will learn the benefits of using the Internet as a tool for research. We also have pretty cool worksheets to get students interested in the stock market, and to research the ins and outs of the famous Wall Street. It takes students a great deal of time to become proficient at using tools for research. This set of printable worksheets helps students focus and hone these skills.

• Antonyms - Students determine which word is not an antonym.
• Biography Identification - Who might have said these words?
• Choosing Resources - Help students identify reference materials.
• Dictionary Skills - A good warm-up for spelling.
• Do the Research! - A variety of activities for getting students engaged in the research process.
• The Internet - A variety of activities for proper use of the Internet as an educational tool.
• Synonyms - Students determine which word is not an synonym.
• Stock Market - Research the Stock Market.
• Student Reminders - Help organize students with these reminders.
• Study Skills Worksheets - Great for test preparation.
• Using The Parts Of A Book - Learn to navigate a book.

How Students Can Become Better Researchers

The basis of everything we know is research. For students to understand the world around them, they must develop the skill of gathering, organizing, analyzing, and interpreting information. Conducting research will take them a long way in their educational and professional careers. The sheer volume of information available to us due to the rapid rise in technology has made it easier than ever to access information with the click of a button anywhere in the world.

It is also crucial for students to filter out fake information or a mere misrepresentation of facts. Students must be taught how to plan their research in a judicial manner, which will pave the way for them to become better researchers along with better decision-makers and influencers.

When a student has successfully developed the skill of conducting research, they will answer and solve any question or problem that arises. They will not have to look upon their peers and superiors for answers and ultimately become their teachers.

Research requires patience as an essential part of the writing process for students, and without this skill, they are likely to stumble at the first hurdle. Here are a few simple ways to help your students develop better research skills.

1. Be curious and ask more questions

Curiosity instills in us a powerful urge to ask questions and seek answers. By encouraging students to become curious, they will step out of their comfort zones and begin to see the world from a different perspective. A hunger for knowledge makes students better listeners and more receptive to information, ideas and perspectives around them. This will immensely add to their knowledge. There is no right or wrong question, and students must not be discouraged from either. Be patient, help them explore, and reach their conclusions to things.

2. Make the best use of the Internet and other sources

One can never underestimate the sheer volume of data and information that the Internet has in store for us. The foundation of good research is knowing when and how to ask the right questions. Making the best use of search engines like Google and Yahoo can make research easier for students.

A greater volume of data does not necessarily mean that the facts and sources are authentic. Students must gather data from reliable sources and filter out any misleading, deceptive, and ambiguous information. Students must check their facts from multiple sources to validate their authenticity. It is also essential to know how to cite the data gathered from the Internet. The trick is to refine search queries as much as possible, which will increase the chances of the search engine returning information that is more relevant to the research. To get the best possible results from Google or any other search engine, students must use quotation marks around their search words to ensure that the search engine shows results for the entire phrase and not just individual words in the phrase. Another way is to search for reliable and well-known sites by typing the URL in the search bar. Click here for a comprehensive guide on effectively using Google as a research tool.

The Internet is not the only place where students can find a data pool and information. Visiting libraries can be a big stepping stone towards becoming a good researcher. Reading books, magazines, newspapers, and journals add so much to your knowledge. Libraries are the best places for future researchers as they offer the best space for learning and growth. The library staff also helps students locate significant material on their research topics.

3. Establish SMART goals

To conduct any research, students must first establish their desired goal. Then they must ensure that their goals bring together two parameters: structure and tractability. Research goals and objectives should be:

• Specific: Goals must be crisp, precise, and identifiable.
• Measurable: Goals should be trackable and quantifiable. That makes it easier for them to be measured against results.
• Achievable: Goals should be attainable, manageable, and realistic. Students should not have goals that are beyond their capacity.
• Relevant: Ensuring that the goals are important to you.
• Time-bound: The time frame for the goal to be achieved must be specified.

4. Participate in debates

Debating is a powerful tool that helps people exhibit their research power in practical terms. Debates also allow you to think critically. It is a whole experience that will require students to find, analyze their topic, brainstorm ideas, note down the facts and present them in the form of a speech or argument. By dividing the class into groups and assigning topics to them, healthy competition can be made out of it, allowing students to conclude their research in a few lines and improve their power of expression. It will give them confidence and promote future research and critical thinking, which will help them in their education and professional lives.

5. Avoid Plagiarism at all times

Students need to understand that plagiarism raises red flags. If you need to quote someone or use their work, you must know proper citation. There are several citation websites present on the Internet. You can enter the web page URL where you want to use your research. It automatically generates a citation in different styles like APA, Harvard, etc., which you can add to your research. It also adds authenticity to your wiring and gives the reader a good impression. If students are writing essays, they should know how to use quotation marks around quotes to highlight the text they are copying. Hence, concluding that research is not a difficult task if you know how to ask the right questions, organize your information, use credible sources, filter out misleading facts, analyze your data and then present it in a concise and consolidated form. It is also important to remember to ask for feedback from your supervisors or teachers, which will benefit you greatly.

Top Research strategies for Students

What are the essential research strategies for students?

Not so long ago, accessing information required legwork. Actual legwork in the form of actually walking to the library and searching through the numerous books organized using an archaic system called the Dewey Decimal System. 

Things are much less complicated these days. In this wired age, accessing information is as simple as pressing a few buttons on a laptop or swiping your finger across a cell phone screen. 

While this 24/7 online access to information represents impressive progress, we still need to ensure our students develop the necessary research skills and strategies that allow them to access the correct information, evaluate it for accuracy, and then plan for its use in our own work accordingly – whatever the student’s age.

In this article, we will look at solid research skills that will benefit students of all ages. Some of these are evergreen old-school strategies, while others are shiny new. Regardless, each is designed to help students from elementary through to high school make the most of the information to research effectively.

The skills described below represent the essential skills and strategies our students will require. They can begin to develop these in elementary school and build on those foundations as they progress through middle school and high school.

After examining these skills, we provide you with a series of activities organized hierarchically and categorized according to the approximate school stage they correspond to. These can also be dipped into and mixed and matched according to the particular abilities of your specific students.

COMPLETE TEACHING UNIT ON INTERNET RESEARCH SKILLS USING GOOGLE SEARCH

Teach your students ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF THE INFORMATION ERA to become expert DIGITAL RESEARCHERS.

⭐How to correctly ask questions to search engines on all devices.

⭐ How to filter and refine your results to find exactly what you want every time.

⭐ Essential Research and critical thinking skills for students.

⭐ Plagiarism, Citing and acknowledging other people’s work.

⭐ How to query, synthesize and record your findings logically.

Online Research Strategies

Research is essential to the writing process ; students will stumble at the first hurdle without the necessary skills. Research skills help students locate the required relevant information and evaluate its reliability. Developing excellent research skills ultimately enables students to become their teachers.

Let’s now look at the most important of these research skills.

Research Tip # 1. Use Search Engine Shortcuts

Good research begins with asking good questions. This also applies to employing search engines, such as Google , DuckDuckGo , and Yahoo, effectively.

The Internet is an almost inexhaustible collection of information and is constantly growing. Search engines are a tool that helps us filter that information down to the exact piece of knowledge we are seeking. This is achieved primarily through the careful selection of search terms. The specificity of the search terms used is key to successfully navigating the immense ocean of information available on the ’net. 

The more refined our search queries are, the more likely the search engine will return relevant information to us and the less time we will waste in the process. 

As Google is the most popular search engine out there, here are some quick tips to ensure you and your students are getting the most out of your Google searches. However, note that many of these strategies also work on other search engines.

• Use Quotation Marks

Placing your search terms inside quotation marks (“”) ensures Google searches for the whole phrase, not just occurrences of the individual words in the phrase. This minimizes guesswork on the part of Google and ensures only the most relevant pages are returned to you.

• Exclude Words with a Hyphen

English contains a lot of ambiguity. While this is great for the poets among us, it can make researching some terms problematic. For example, if you search for the term ‘ toast ’ meaning speech, you may also get many results related to the much-loved breakfast staple. Simply type ‘ toast -breakfast’ into the search bar to remove results related to this meaning. This tells Google only to return results including ‘toast’ and to exclude those results also containing the term ‘breakfast.’

• Search a Specific Site

Sometimes we come across a site that is a real treasure trove of information but where information is poorly indexed on the site menus. Luckily, there is a way to search the content on a specific site. To do this, simply type the search terms into the search bar followed by ‘ site: ’ and then the particular site URL. For example, if we wanted to search the Literacy Ideas website for mentions of the term ‘ Visual Literacy ’, we would enter:

visual literacy site:literacyideas.com

We highly recommend this resource for using Google search as a research tool with students. It is very comprehensive.

Research Tip # 2. Check Your Sources

The popular Internet meme quoting Abraham Lincoln states, “Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.”

In this era of Fake News, we are constantly reminded of the unreliability of much of the information presented as truth on the web . We (and our students) must have some strategies to assess the accuracy and validity of the information we come across.

A good starting point is to ask yourself the following questions when assessing new information:

●      Is this information up-to-date?

●      Is this information detailed?

●      Is the author identified?

●      Is the author qualified on the topic?

●      Are sources cited?

●      Does the information come from a trusted source?

A Complete Teaching Unit on Fake News

Digital and social media have completely redefined the media landscape, making it difficult for students to identify FACTS AND OPINIONS covering:

Teach them to FIGHT FAKE NEWS with this COMPLETE 42 PAGE UNIT. No preparation is required,

Research Tip # 3. Select Domains Wisely

When searching, encourage students to consider the importance of domains, such as .com , .org , . gov , and . edu . These are not all created equally. For example, .com and .org domains are classed as ‘open,’ meaning anyone can register on them. They are usually used for commercial reasons. 

Other domains are classed as ‘closed,’ such as .gov and .edu , and registrants must meet specific eligibility requirements to register these. For example, in the case of .edu , registration is limited to accredited post-secondary institutions in the United States. 

Depending on the purpose of your search, the domain you choose to search may have implications for the reliability and usefulness of the results returned.

To choose which type of domain to search, type ‘site’, followed by a colon, and then the domain after your chosen search terms. 

For example, if you wish to search for the term ‘ American presidents ’ on .edu sites, simply type:

American presidents site:edu

Research Tip # 4. Citation

One downside of the widespread instant and free availability of information on the Internet is the erosion of intellectual property rights and the inevitable increase in plagiarism. 

To combat this, we must ensure our students avoid plagiarism and respect copyright rights by adequately citing sources used. 

When engaged in writing essays , students should be familiar with how to use quotation marks, compile notes, and structure a bibliography. When citing online sources, they should also be familiar with the conventions related to citing URLs.

Just how detailed citations are will depend mainly on the age and ability of the students in question. 

Many excellent free online resources help to format citations correctly, some of which can automatically create formatted citations. For example, Citation Machine and Citation Builder provide this service. Google Docs also has an add-on feature that automatically generates bibliographies and footnotes according to various citation styles, e.g., Chicago, APA, MLA, etc.

Teaching Resources

Use our resources and tools to improve your student’s writing skills through proven teaching strategies.

Research Skills Activities

Elementary School Students

Providing a basic overview of the various research strategies is sufficient for this age group. 

Discussions about what research is and why we do it are excellent places to start developing research skills.

These discussions will open up possibilities for students to acquire the necessary vocabulary to develop research skills. 

Some topics and areas to focus these discussions on could include:

• How to ask questions about simple research topics
• The concept of keywords – what are they, and how do they work?
• A general overview of search engines, e.g., Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, Yahoo 
• A basic explanation of sources
• Simple note-taking skills
• Researching in the library the “old school” way

Elementary Practice Activities

• Individual Research Project

Ask the students to choose their favorite animal for a class presentation at the end. Students can start by generating research questions to fuel their investigations. Areas they might want to look at could include habitat, life cycle, population numbers, diet, etc.

• Collaborative Hands-On Research

This activity allows the students to engage in basic ‘hands-on’ research on the Internet. This will allow them to practice using keyword search terms to locate helpful information.

Organize the students into ‘research groups’ and provide the groups with a simple topic and a list of questions to research online. For example, the topic might be The Solar System, and some questions they might research could include:

• How many planets are in the solar system?
• What is the name of the closest planet to the sun?
• Which is the most giant planet in the solar system?
• Which is the smallest?
• How many moons does Jupiter have?
• How long does it take for Venus to orbit the sun?
• What is the name of the planet furthest from the sun? 

The winning team will be the team to find all the correct answers the quickest.

• Class Project

Another variation of the individual research project is to do a whole class project on a larger scale. For example, students could choose a favorite holiday, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Eid, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, etc., and research multiple aspects of it. For example:

• What are the roots of this festival?
• What is its significance?
• What types of gifts are given?
• What food is associated with this holiday?
• Are certain clothes, customs, or traditions associated with it?

The findings of this research could form classroom displays, presentations, exhibits, etc.

Middle School Students

Students are ready to begin using more sophisticated research skills and strategies at this age. Some things to focus on with middle school-aged students include:

• A more detailed explanation of sources and how to determine their credibility
• Examination of online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia – explore how they may not always be reliable but can be a good resource for locating other more credible sources.
• The use of domains such “edu” “org” “gov” and how they can be used to identify sources
• Practice using simple shortcuts that can be used when searching online
• Discussions on planning and keeping organized notes,  e.g., journals, checklists, templates, etc.

Middle School Practice Activities

• Information Recording

As students begin dealing with more complex and larger volumes of information, they’ll need to develop strategies to help them condense and record information for later use in the writing process.

To help them develop this skill, set the students a how-to research task. Choose a task suited to your students’ ages and abilities, for example, anything from How to Bake Cookies to How to Construct a Bridge .

This is an opportunity for your students to develop their note-taking abilities helping them record the important information from their research activities. You may also want them to make visualizations such as diagrams, infographics, and charts, which are valuable techniques for recording the fruits of the research labor.

• Group Project

Organize students into suitably sized groups and provide them with a topic to investigate. Countries work well. Each group will assign a team member to research a specific aspect of their country, and they will pool their findings at the end to develop a presentation or classroom display. Some aspects worthy of research may include:

• Customs and traditions
• Tourist attractions

High School Students

At this stage, the focus moves on from merely finding sources of information to actually processing them. Here, the students should be encouraged to engage more closely with what their research uncovers and begin to dig beneath the surface to evaluate material and sources more critically.

To develop these abilities, students will need to:

• Begin asking more probing questions to initiate their research
• Examine the sources of information more critically
• Become more precise and methodical in choosing search criteria
• Use multiple resources – online, news articles, documentaries, podcasts, youtube
• Keep records of sites visited and books, journals, and articles referred to for citation later 
• Cite sources correctly
• quotation marks for searching exact phrases/words
• minus symbol(-) for excluding certain words
• asterisk(*)  used to broaden a search by finding words that begin with the same stem 
• “site” for site-specific search
• Evaluate sources for reliability, relevance, accuracy, and how current they are
• Develop more organized note-taking methods – focus on quality over quantity
• Plan effectively – utilize strategies to compile information that will help in the final presentation of findings.

High School Practice Activities

• Develop Research Questions

As students learn to deal with the increasing breadth and complexity of research topics, they’ll need to know how to narrow their focus by developing more specific research questions.

This activity provides students with a list of topics to choose from; this can be an excellent opportunity for forging cross-curricular links. For example, you might suggest history or physical education topics, such as The Vietnam War or Cardiovascular Exercise .

Then, ask students to choose a topic and develop research questions on it for aspects they would like to explore further. For example, they might ask questions like How did the Vietnam War start? Or, What effect does cardiovascular exercise have on mood?

Students can then research the answers to their most interesting research questions and share their findings with the class.

• Hold a Debate

Debates are a great way to illustrate the power of research in practical terms – and they are a lot of fun to boot!

In this activity, organize students into debating groups of three. Assign each pair of groups a debate motion and a position. Students will then need to go away and research their topic thoroughly before writing their speeches and delivering their arguments. To learn more about preparing a debate-winning speech, check out our article here .

Research Strategies

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

So, what do students do with all these finally-tuned research skills now at their fingertips?

If the boy scouts have taught us anything, it is essential to be prepared. To that end, let’s look at planning strategies to help students get the most from their well-honed research skills.

1. Collaboration

In our rapidly changing world, it is impossible to accurately predict the nature of the jobs our students will undertake in the future. 

However, what does seem sure is that the so-called soft skills , which are transferable between jobs, will be much in demand in the working world of tomorrow. Collaboration is one of these important skills.

Collaboration involves working together to achieve a common goal. It promotes high levels of interaction and communication between students and colleagues. Collaboration exposes each individual to diverse perspectives and encourages higher-level thinking. Incorporating collaboration at the planning stage helps ensure the success of teaching and learning projects.

2. The Round Robin

Brainstorming is a tried and tested means of beginning the planning process. There are many variations in brainstorming techniques. The Round Robin , which we will look at here, lends itself well to our previous collaboration strategy.

In the Round Robin , the students sit in a circle to discuss the topic. 

One by one, go around the circle, encouraging each student to share one idea until everyone has had a chance to speak. While this happens, an appointed person can keep a record of each shared idea.

Ideas must be shared first without initial discussion or criticism. Evaluation and debate should occur only after each person has had an opportunity to share their ideas.

This is an excellent strategy to ensure each person has had an opportunity to share their ideas. It also avoids any one voice dominating a collaborative planning session.

3. The Mind Map

Mind Maps are simply diagrams that visually represent ideas. They can be done individually or collaboratively using words, pictures, or both. 

With much in common with brainstorming, Mind Maps are an excellent way to begin the planning process, as they are a superb means of organizing complex ideas.

Many people use paper and pens to create Mind Maps for their projects. However, people are increasingly turning to technology to help their development. There are now many paid and free options online, providing templates and tools to help you develop your own Mind Maps .

4. Use an Online Calendar

Homework deadlines. Exam timetables. College applications. The demands on students and teachers alike are many and varied. It may, at times, seem impossible to keep track of everything. 

Using an online calendar, such as those pre-installed on many cell phones, helps ensure you keep track of your to-do list, and many will even provide regular reminders as those deadlines loom near.

5. Create Checklists

Not only are checklists a great way to ensure you have fulfilled all the criteria of a given task, but they are also an effective means of planning out all the points you need to hit to complete a project successfully.

A good checklist should contain all the essential elements for a successful piece of work. When the descriptions of these items are kept generic rather than detailed and specific, they can serve as templates for a particular genre to be reused each time your students engage in that type of work.

Research Thoroughly. Implement Effectively!

Research skills are the bridge between the idea and its implementation in writing. The more students develop their research skills, the more authoritative their writing will become. With practice, these two sides of the blade will become razor-sharp.

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What are Research Skills? How to Improve Your Skills in Research

Learn strategies and techniques to improve your research skills. Avoid common mistakes and implement proven methods for efficient research. This article offers practical tips to enhance your ability to find and evaluate high-quality information.

Are you struggling to find relevant and reliable information for your research? Do you want to avoid getting lost in a sea of sources and needing help knowing where to start? Improving your research skills is essential for academic success and professional growth.

In today's information age, effectively conducting research has become more important than ever. Whether you are a student, a professional, or simply someone who wants to stay informed, knowing how to find and evaluate information is crucial.

Fortunately, some strategies and techniques can help you improve your research skills and become a more efficient and effective researcher. By avoiding common mistakes and implementing proven methods, you can enhance your ability to find high-quality information and make the most of your research endeavors. This article will explore some practical tips and tricks to help you improve your research skills and achieve better results.

What is Research?

Research is a critical part of learning, problem-solving, and decision-making. It is an essential process used in every field for both the individual and collective’s mutual benefit and success. Research involves systematically gathering data from primary or secondary sources, analyzing it, interpreting it, and communicating its findings to researchers and other interested parties.

Research can be divided into two main categories: quantitative research, which uses numerical data to describe phenomena, and qualitative research, which seeks to understand people's beliefs, opinions, values, or behaviors. Quantitative research often involves applying model-based approaches that can predict outcomes based on observations. It is one of the most powerful methods of discovering information about the world, as it allows for testing hypotheses in a systematic manner. Qualitative research is more exploratory in nature by focusing on understanding the motivations behind what people do or think rather than developing models or producing statistics in order to conclude behavior and relationships between variables. This type of research usually relies more on observation and engagement with people instead of using statistical models.

What are Research Skills?

Research skills are the abilities and talents required to focus on an objective, gather the relevant data linked to it, analyze it using appropriate methods, and accurately communicate the results. Taking part in research indicates that you have acquired knowledge of your subject matter, have digested that knowledge, and processed, evaluated, and analyzed it until you can resolve a problem or answer a query. It is highly beneficial for employers to hire people with strong research skills since they can provide valuable insights and add value to the company’s performance. Therefore, researching effectively has become crucial to securing a job in most industries.

Why Do Research Skills Matter?

Research skills are essential if one intends to succeed in today's competitive world. With technology ever-evolving and a need to stay ahead of the competition, employees who possess research skills can prove invaluable to their employers. These skills include researching, analyzing, and interpreting data and making informed decisions based on that information.

Employers value workers who can quickly develop a thorough understanding of any changes or trends in their field of work through accurate research. Knowing how to assess customer needs, recognize competition, write reports, improve productivity, and advise on investments can also benefit any business. With the help of research skills, companies can uncover ways to adapt their services or products that better serve their customers’ needs while helping them save money at the same time. This makes overall operations more efficient as well as helps a company remain ahead of its competitors.

Essential Research Skills :

Here is a list of essential research skills:

Data Collection

Data collection is an important part of comprehending a certain topic and ensuring reliable information is collected while striving to answer complex questions. Every situation differs, but data collection typically includes surveys, interviews, observations, and existing document reviews. The data collected can be quantitative or qualitative, depending on the nature of the problem at hand. As students advance through university and other educational institutions, they will need to read extensively into a particular field and may even need to undertake comprehensive literature reviews to answer fundamental questions.

The skills acquired through data collection during university are invaluable for future roles and jobs. Gaining experience in understanding complex topics, reading widely on a given subject matter, collecting relevant data, and analyzing findings - all these activities are integral when dealing with any type of project within the corporate sector. Therefore, embarking on various research projects enhances a person's education level and brings about significant professional experience.

Goal-Setting

Setting goals is an important skill for any successful research project. It allows you to stay focused and motivated throughout the process. Goals are also essential in helping with direction: they provide a path to organize our thoughts, narrow our focus, and prioritize the tasks we need to undertake to achieve our desired result. The concept of goal-setting is inherent in most research processes, as everything needs to have something to strive for — whether that’s gaining knowledge about a particular topic or testing a theory.

When it comes to creating and setting goals during the research process, you must have clear and specific objectives in mind from the outset. Writing down your thoughts helps define these objectives, which can inform the data collection process; moreover, thinking about short-term and long-term goals can help you create manageable steps toward achieving them. Learning how to break up larger projects into smaller “mini-goals effectively” can make all the difference when tackling complex investigations — allowing researchers to monitor their progress more easily and culminate results further down the line.

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is an integral part of the modern workplace. To succeed, one must be able to look at a situation objectively and make decisions based on evidence. The information examined needs to come from various sources, such as data collection, personal observation, or analysis. The goal should then be to take all this information and form a logical judgment that informs an action plan or idea.

Someone who displays strong critical thinking skills will not just accept proposed ideas at face value but instead can understand how these ideas can be applied and challenged. Accepting something without consideration means making the wrong decision due to a lack of thought. Critical thinkers understand how brainstorming works, assessing all elements before forming any decision. From negotiating with colleagues or customers in adversarial scenarios to analyzing complex documents such as legal contracts in order to review business agreements - critical dedicated apply their knowledge effectively and are able to back up their evaluation with evidence collected from multiple sources.

Observation Skills

Observation skills are necessary for conducting any form of research, whether it be in the workplace or as part of an investigative process. It is important to be able to pick up on the details that might otherwise pass unnoticed, such as inconsistencies in data or irregularities in how something is presented, and to pay careful attention to regulations and procedures that govern the company or environment. This can help researchers to ensure their processes are accurate and reliable.

As well as analyzing what we see around us directly, many research methodologies often involve calculated statistical analyses and calculations. For this reason, it’s important to develop strong observation skills so that the legitimacy of information can be confirmed and checked before conclusions are formed. Improving this skill requires dedication and practice, which could include keeping a journal reflecting on experiences, posing yourself questions about what you have observed, and seeking out opportunities in unfamiliar settings to test your observations.

Detail Orientation

Detail orientation is an important research skill for any scientific endeavor. It allows one to assess a situation or problem in minute detail and make appropriate judgments based on the information gathered. A detail-oriented thinker can easily spot errors, inconsistencies, and vital pieces of evidence, which can help lead to accurate conclusions from the research. Additionally, this skill allows someone to evaluate the quality and accuracy of data recorded during an experiment or project more efficiently to ensure validity.

Spotting small mistakes that may otherwise have been overlooked is a crucial part of conducting detailed research that must be perfected. Individuals aiming for superior outcomes should strive to develop their skill at detecting details by practicing critical analysis techniques, such as breaking down large bodies of information into smaller tasks to identify finer points quickly. Moreover, encouragement should also be made for elaborate comparison and analysis between different pieces of information when solving a complex problem, as it can help provide better insights into problems accurately.

Investigative Skills

Investigative skills are an essential component when it comes to gathering and analyzing data. In a professional setting, it is important to determine the accuracy and validity of different sources of information before making any decisions or articulating ideas. Generally, effective investigation requires collecting different sets of reliable data, such as surveys and interviews with stakeholders, employees, customers, etc. For example, if a company internally assesses possible challenges within its business operations environment, it would need to conduct more profound research involving talking to relevant stakeholders who could provide critical perspectives about the situation.

Data-gathering techniques such as comparison shopping and regulatory reviews have become more commonplace in the industry as people strive for greater transparency and more accurate results. Knowing how to identify reliable sources of information can give individuals a competitive advantage and allow them to make sound decisions based on accurate data. Investing time in learning different investigative skills can help recruiters spot applicants dedicated to acquiring knowledge in this field. Developing these investigative skills is also valuable for those looking for executive positions or starting their own business. By familiarizing themselves with their application process, people can become adept at collecting high-quality data they may use in their research endeavors.

Time Management

Time management is a key skill for any researcher. It's essential to be able to allocate time between different activities so you can effectively plan and structure your research projects. Without good time management, you may find yourself hastily completing tasks or feeling stressed out as you rush to complete an analysis. Ultimately, managing your time allows you to stay productive and ensure that each project is completed with the highest results.

Good time management requires various skills such as planning ahead, prioritizing tasks, breaking down large projects into smaller steps, and even delegating some activities when possible. It also means setting realistic goals for yourself in terms of the amount of research that can be achieved in certain timestamps and learning how to adjust these goals when needed. Becoming mindful of how you spend the same hours each day will propel your productivity and see positive results from your efforts. Time management becomes especially relevant regarding data collection and analysis – it is crucial to understand precisely what kind of resources are needed for each task before diving into the research itself. Knowing how much time should be dedicated to each step is essential for meeting deadlines while still retaining accuracy in the final outcomes of one’s study.

Tips on How to Improve Your Research Skills

Below are some tips that can help in improving your skills in research:

Initiate your project with a structured outline

When embarking on any research project, creating an outline and scope document must first ensure that you remain on the right track. An outline sets expectations for your project by forming a detailed strategy for researching the topic and gathering the necessary data to conclude. It will help you stay organized and break down large projects into more manageable parts. This can help prevent procrastination as each part of the project has its own timeline, making it easier to prioritize tasks accordingly.

Using an outline and scope document also allows for better structure when conducting research or interviews, as it guides which sources are most relevant, what questions need to be answered, and how information should be collected or presented. This ensures that all information received through research or interviews stays within the confines of the chosen topic of investigation. Additionally, it ensures that no important details are overlooked while minimizing the chance that extraneous information gets included in your results. Taking this time upfront prevents potential problems during analysis or reporting of findings later.

Acquire expertise in advanced data collection methods

When it comes to collecting data for research purposes, a range of advanced data collection techniques can be used to maximize your efficiency and accuracy. One such technique is customizing your online search results with advanced search settings. By adding quotation marks and wildcard characters to the terms you are searching for, you are more likely to find the information you need from reliable sources. This can be especially useful if, for instance, you are looking for exact quotes or phrases. Different search engines require different advanced techniques and tactics, so learning these can help you get more specific results from your research endeavors.

Aside from using online searches, another standard methodology when conducting research is accessing primary information through libraries or other public sources. A specific classification system will likely be in place that can help researchers locate the materials needed quickly and easily. Knowing and understanding this system allows one to access information much more efficiently while also giving them ample opportunity to increase their knowledge of various topics by browsing related content in the same category groups. Thus, by learning about advanced data collection techniques for both online and offline sources, researchers can make substantial progress in their studies more efficiently.

Validate and examine the reliability of your data sources

Collecting reliable information for research can be a challenge, especially when relying on online sources. It is essential to remember that not all sources are created equal, and some sites may contain false or inaccurate data. It is, therefore important to verify and analyze the data before using it as part of your research.

One way to start verifying and analyzing your sources is to cross-reference material from one source with another. This may help you determine if particular facts or claims are accurate and, therefore, more valid than others. Additionally, trace where the data is coming from by looking at the author or organization behind it so that you can assess their expertise in a particular field and authority on the topic at hand. Once these steps have been completed, you can confidently use this trusted information for your project.

Structure your research materials

Organizing your research materials is an integral part of any research process. When you’re conducting a project or study and trying to find the most relevant information, you can become overwhelmed with all the data available. It’s important to separate valid from invalid materials and to categorize research materials by subject for easy access later on. Bookmarking websites on a computer or using a digital asset management tool are two effective methods for organizing research information.

When researching, it’s critical to remember that some sources have limited value and may be outside the scope of your topic. Recognizing reliable material versus trustworthy resources can be complex in this sea of information. However, sorting data into appropriate categories can help narrow down what is necessary for producing valid conclusions. This method of classifying information helps ensure that vital documents aren't overlooked during the organization process as they are placed in folders shortcutted for quick access within one centralized source whenever needed. Separating valuable sources also makes it easier to reference later on when writing reports or giving presentations - material won't get lost among irrelevant data, and conclusions will be backed by sound evidence.

Enhance your research and communication capabilities

Developing research and communication skills is essential for succeeding academically and professionally in the modern world. The key to improving these skills lies in rigorous practice, which can begin with small projects such as resolving common issues or completing a research task that can be made into a personal project. One way to do this is to volunteer for research projects at work and gain experience under the guidance of experienced researchers. This will improve your research skills and help you develop communication skills when working with others on the project. Another option is to turn a personal project into a research task. For example, if you plan on taking a holiday soon, you could create an objective method to select the best destination by conducting online research on destinations and making informed decisions based on thorough analysis. Practicing in this way enables you to complete any research task confidently and communicate efficiently with ease.

How to Articulate Research Skills on Your Resume

Research projects require commitment and perseverance, making it an important skill to include on a resume. Even if you have had limited research experience throughout your education or previous job, including this in your resume assesses these qualities to potential employers. It's important to consider the extent of your research experience when deciding how to add this part of your background to your resume. If you have been involved with multiple in-depth research projects, it might be best to highlight this by including it as its own section. On the other hand, if the amount of research you have completed is more limited, then try including it in the skills section instead.

When adding research experience and accomplishments into either section of your resume, be sure to emphasize any specific roles or contributions you made during the process instead of just describing the project itself. Furthermore, remember to quantify any successes where possible - this showcases both communication and technical proficiency strengths, which can help make your resume stand out even more. By properly articulating research skills within a resume, employers will likely be more interested in what job seekers have accomplished in their careers.

How to Apply Research Skills Effectively in Your Workplace

Research skills are an invaluable set of abilities to bring to your workplace. To make sure you use them properly, a good place to start is by taking time to plan the project you have been assigned. Whether it’s writing a report or analyzing data, mapping out what tasks you need to do and how long they should take helps to understand the project timeline better. This also makes setting aside dedicated time for research easier too.

To ensure that the decisions made are sound and informed, reading up on the subject area related to the project remains one of the premier ways of doing this. This will help to ensure that any problems arising can be solved quickly and effectively, as well as provide answers before any decisions are actually put into practice. By arming yourself with knowledge gathered through reading about a particular topic, it can give you more confidence when formulating plans or strategies in which direction to take your work in.

Final Thoughts

Research skills are increasingly important in the modern world, and gaining proficiency in this area can significantly benefit a person's career. Research skills are essential for success in many different roles and fields, including those within business and industry, education, science, and medicine. Developing a deep understanding of research allows us to identify problems better and critically evaluate potential solutions. It also bolsters our problem-solving abilities as we work to find creative solutions that meet our efforts' objectives.

By improving your research capabilities, you can impress employers during an application process or when joining a team at work. Research skills are considered soft skills by potential employers since they signal that you have attention to detail while simultaneously demonstrating your ability to learn new things quickly. Employers regard these skills highly, making them one of the key graduate career skills recruiters seek. Furthermore, being able to add ‘research skills’ to your CV will be looked upon favorably by employers and help drive up your employability significantly. Demonstrating that you possess these sought-after traits makes it easier for recruiters to give you the opportunity you've been looking for, so it's worth investing the time into developing these life-long learning tools today.

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• NorQuest Library Home
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Library Tutorials

• Research Skills: Practice Activities
• Orientations
• Finding Articles
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• Using Databases
• Research Skills
• Introduction to Misinformation
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• Embed Tutorials in Moodle This link opens in a new window
• Linking to Library Resources Guide

About the activities:

These research activities are designed to help you learn important research skills.  Read the associated PDF files for a skill overview and/or watch the recorded lectures. Then practice your research skills using the interactive activities.

Paraphrasing Skills

• Paraphrasing: Skill Overview
• Video: Paraphrasing Skills (recorded lecture) Recording of the NorQuest library presentation on paraphrasing skills.
• Paraphrasing Skills Practice Using the six steps for effective paraphrasing, practice your paraphrasing skills using three sample sources. You'll also practice in-text citations for paraphrases.

Source Types & Characteristics

• Source Types & Characteristics: Skill Overview
• Video: Source Types and Characteristics (recorded lecture) Recording of the NorQuest library presentation on source types and characteristics
• Source Types & Characteristics Practice There are many different types of sources, and different characteristics that can be ascribed to them. Learn about which sources are most suitable for academic assignments, and how to identify them.

Search Strategies: Keywords & Boolean Operators

• Search Strategies: Skill Overview
• Video: Keywords and Search Strategies (recorded lecture) This video gives you an introduction to using keywords when searching a database (like the ones available through the library's catalogue) and some strategies to search more effectively and efficiently.
• Boolean Card Game Try out this card game to practice using AND, OR, and NOT Boolean Operators.
• Using Keywords Practice Practice selecting and joining keywords to create effective search terms.

Pre-Research: What type of Researcher are you?

• Pre-Research Activity In this interactive tutorial, learn about research behaviors and what type of researcher you are. Note this activity does not have a corresponding skill overview reading.

Evaluating Sources

• Evaluating Sources: Skill Overview
• Video: Evaluating Sources (recorded lecture) This video will teach you how to evaluate a source for credibility and reliability.
• Evaluating Sources Practice Learn about how to critically evaluate information that you find online. Then practice your critical thinking skills using live website examples.

Developing Research Questions

• Research Questions: Skill Overview
• Video: Research Questions (recorded lecture) A recording of a lecture about the how-to's of research questions: creation, parts of, and how to make a high quality research question.
• Research Questions Practice Writing a good research question is an important early step in creating a research essay. Learn about the structure of research questions, and practice identifying good quality research questions.

Database Searching

• Database Searching: Skill Overview
• Video: Database Searches and Advanced Techniques (recorded lecture) Teaching you how to search the library's databases with keywords and a few tips and tricks for getting the most out of your research.
• Database Searching Practice Learn about techniques for efficient database searching, and practice applying them.
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• Last Updated: Jun 22, 2023 2:50 PM
• URL: https://libguides.norquest.ca/tutorials

• Research Skills

How to Teach Online Research Skills to Students in 5 Steps (Free Posters)

Please note, this post was updated in 2020 and I no longer update this website.

How often does this scenario play out in your classroom?

You want your students to go online and do some research for some sort of project, essay, story or presentation. Time ticks away, students are busy searching and clicking, but are they finding the useful and accurate information they need for their project?

We’re very fortunate that many classrooms are now well equipped with devices and the internet, so accessing the wealth of information online should be easier than ever, however, there are many obstacles.

Students (and teachers) need to navigate:

• What search terms to put into Google or other search engines
• What search results to click on and read through (while avoiding inappropriate or irrelevant sites or advertisements)
• How to determine what information is credible, relevant and student friendly 
• How to process, synthesize, evaluate , and present the information
• How to compare a range of sources to evaluate their reliability and relevancy
• How to cite sources correctly

Phew! No wonder things often don’t turn out as expected when you tell your students to just “google” their topic. On top of these difficulties some students face other obstacles including: low literacy skills, limited internet access, language barriers, learning difficulties and disabilities.

All of the skills involved in online research can be said to come under the term of information literacy, which tends to fall under a broader umbrella term of digital literacy.

Being literate in this way is an essential life skill.

This post offers tips and suggestions on how to approach this big topic. You’ll learn a 5 step method to break down the research process into manageable chunks in the classroom. Scroll down to find a handy poster for your classroom too.

How to Teach Information Literacy and Online Research Skills

The topic of researching and filtering information can be broken down in so many ways but I believe the best approach involves:

• Starting young and building on skills
• Embedding explicit teaching and mini-lessons regularly (check out my 50 mini-lesson ideas here !)
• Providing lots of opportunity for practice and feedback
• Teachers seeking to improve their own skills — these free courses from Google might help
• Working with your librarian if you have one

💡 While teaching research skills is something that should be worked on throughout the year, I also like the idea of starting the year off strongly with a “Research Day” which is something 7th grade teacher Dan Gallagher wrote about . Dan and his colleagues had their students spend a day rotating around different activities to learn more about researching online. Something to think about!

Google or a Kid-friendly Search Engine?

If you teach young students you might be wondering what the best starting place is.

I’ve only ever used Google with students but I know many teachers like to start with search engines designed for children. If you’ve tried these search engines, I’d love you to add your thoughts in a comment.

💡 If you’re not using a kid-friendly search engine, definitely make sure SafeSearch is activated on Google or Bing. It’s not foolproof but it helps.

Two search engines designed for children that look particularly useful include:

These sites are powered by Google SafeSearch with some extra filtering/moderating.

KidzSearch contains additional features like videos and image sections to browse. While not necessarily a bad thing, I prefer the simple interface of Kiddle for beginners.

Read more about child-friendly search engines

This article from Naked Security provides a helpful overview of using child-friendly search engines like Kiddle.

To summarise their findings, search-engines like Kiddle can be useful but are not perfect.

For younger children who need to be online but are far too young to be left to their own devices, and for parents and educators that want little ones to easily avoid age-inappropriate content, these search engines are quite a handy tool. For older children, however, the results in these search engines may be too restrictive to be useful, and will likely only frustrate children to use other means.

Remember, these sorts of tools are not a replacement for education and supervision.

Maybe start with no search engine?

Another possible starting point for researching with young students is avoiding a search engine altogether.

Students could head straight to a site they’ve used before (or choose from a small number of teacher suggested sites). There’s a lot to be learned just from finding, filtering, and using information found on various websites.

Five Steps to Teaching Students How to Research Online and Filter Information

This five-step model might be a useful starting point for your students to consider every time they embark on some research.

Let’s break down each step. You can find a summary poster at the end.

Students first need to take a moment to consider what information they’re actually looking for in their searches.

It can be a worthwhile exercise to add this extra step in between giving a student a task (or choice of tasks) and sending them off to research.

You could have a class discussion or small group conferences on brainstorming keywords , considering synonyms or alternative phrases , generating questions etc. Mindmapping might help too.

2016 research by Morrison showed that 80% of students rarely or never made a list of possible search words. This may be a fairly easy habit to start with.

Time spent defining the task can lead to a more effective and streamlined research process.

It sounds simple but students need to know that the quality of the search terms they put in the Google search box will determine the quality of their results.

There are a LOT of tips and tricks for Googling but I think it’s best to have students first master the basics of doing a proper Google search.

I recommend consolidating these basics:

• Type in some simple search terms using only the important keywords
• If the initial results aren’t what you want, alter the search terms and get more specific  (get clues from the initial search results e.g. you might see synonyms that would work or get ideas from the “People Also Ask” section)
• Use quotation marks if you want your keywords in an exact order, e.g. “raining cats and dogs”
• use your best guess with spelling (Google will often understand)
• don’t worry about punctuation
• understand that everyone’s results will be different , even if they use the same search terms (depending on browser history, location etc.)

📌 Get a free PDF of this poster here. 

Links to learn more about Google searches

There’s lots you can learn about Google searches.

I highly recommend you take a look at  20 Instant Google Searches your Students Need to Know by Eric Curts to learn about “instant searches”.

Med Kharbach has also shared a simple visual with 12 search tips which would be really handy once students master the basics too.

The Google Search Education website is an amazing resource with lessons for beginner/intermediate/advanced plus slideshows and videos. It’s also home to the  A Google A Day classroom challenges. The questions help older students learn about choosing keywords, deconstructing questions, and altering keywords.

Useful videos about Google searches

How search works.

This easy to understand video  from Code.org to explains more about how search works.

How Does Google Know Everything About Me?

You might like to share this video with older students that explains how Google knows what you’re typing or thinking. Despite this algorithm, Google can’t necessarily know what you’re looking for if you’re not clear with your search terms.

What about when the answer comes up in Google instantly?

If you’ve been using Google for a while, you know they are tweaking the search formula so that more and more, an answer will show up within the Google search result itself. You won’t even need to click through to any websites.

For example, here I’ve asked when the Titanic sunk. I don’t need to go to any websites to find out. The answer is right there in front of me.

While instant searches and featured snippets are great and mean you can “get an answer” without leaving Google, students often don’t have the background knowledge to know if a result is incorrect or not. So double checking is always a good idea.

As students get older, they’ll be able to know when they can trust an answer and when double checking is needed.

Type in a subject like cats and you’ll be presented with information about the animals, sports teams, the musical along with a lot of advertising. There are a lot of topics where some background knowledge helps. And that can only be developed with time and age.

Entering quality search terms is one thing but knowing what to click on is another.

You might like to encourage students to look beyond the first few results. Let students know that Google’s PageRank algorithm is complex (as per the video above), and many websites use Search Engine Optimisation to improve the visibility of their pages in search results. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the most useful or relevant sites for you.

As pointed out in this article by Scientific American ,

Skilled searchers know that the ranking of results from a search engine is not a statement about objective truth, but about the best matching of the search query, term frequency, and the connectedness of web pages. Whether or not those results answer the searchers’ questions is still up for them to determine.

Point out the anatomy of a Google search result and ensure students know what all the components mean. This could be as part of a whole class discussion, or students could create their own annotations.

An important habit to get into is looking at the green URL and specifically the domain . Use some intuition to decide whether it seems reliable. Does the URL look like a well-known site? Is it a forum or opinion site? Is it an educational or government institution? Domains that include .gov or .edu might be more reliable sources.

When looking through possible results, you may want to teach students to open sites in new tabs, leaving their search results in a tab for easy access later (e.g. right-click on the title and click “Open link in new tab” or press Control/Command and click the link).

Searchers are often not skilled at identifying advertising within search results. A famous 2016 Stanford University study revealed that 82% of middle-schoolers couldn’t distinguish between an ad labelled “sponsored content” and a real news story.

Time spent identifying advertising within search results could help students become much more savvy searchers. Looking for the words “ad” and “sponsored” is a great place to start.

4) Evaluate

Once you click on a link and land on a site, how do you know if it offers the information you need?

Students need to know how to search for the specific information they’re after on a website. Teach students how to look for the search box on a webpage or use Control F (Command F on Mac) to bring up a search box that can scan the page.

Ensure students understand that you cannot believe everything you read . This might involve checking multiple sources. You might set up class guidelines that ask students to cross check their information on two or three different sites before assuming it’s accurate.

I’ve written a post all about teaching students how to evaluate websites . It includes this flowchart which you’re welcome to download and use in your classroom.

So your students navigated the obstacles of searching and finding information on quality websites. They’ve found what they need! Hooray.

Many students will instinctively want to copy and paste the information they find for their own work.

We need to inform students about plagiarism  and copyright infringement while giving them the skills they need to avoid this.

• Students need to know that plagiarism is taking someone’s work and presenting it as your own. You could have a class discussion about the ethics and legalities of this.
• Students also need to be assured that they can use information from other sources and they should. They just need to say who wrote it, where it was from and so on.

All students can benefit from learning about plagiarism, copyright, how to write information in their own words, and how to acknowledge the source. However, the formality of this process will depend on your students’ age and your curriculum guidelines.

Give students lots of practice writing information in their own words. Younger students can benefit from simply putting stories or recounts in their own words. Older students could investigate the difference between paraphrasing and summarising .

There are some free online tools that summarise information for you. These aren’t perfect and aren’t a replacement from learning the skill but they could be handy for students to try out and evaluate. For example, students could try writing their own summary and then comparing it to a computer summary. I like the tool SMMRY as you can enter text or a URL of an article. Eric Curts shares a list of 7 summary tools in this blog post .

Students also need a lot of practice using quotation marks and citing sources .

The internet can offer a confusing web of information at times. Students need to be shown how to look for the primary source of information. For example, if they find information on Wikipedia, they need to cite from the bibliography at the bottom of the Wikipedia article, not Wikipedia itself.

There are many ways you can teach citation:

• I like Kathy Schrock’s PDF document which demonstrates how you can progressively teach citation from grades 1 to 6 (and beyond). It gives some clear examples that you could adapt for your own classroom use.

Staying organised!

You might also like to set up a system for students to organise their information while they’re searching. There are many apps and online tools to curate, annotate, and bookmark information, however, you could just set up a simple system like a Google Doc or Spreadsheet.

The format and function is simple and clear. This means students don’t have to put much thought into using and designing their collections. Instead, they can focus on the important curation process.

Bring These Ideas to Life With Mini-Lessons!

We know how important it is for students to have solid research skills. But how can you fit teaching research skills into a jam-packed curriculum? The answer may be … mini-lessons !

Whether you teach primary or secondary students, I’ve compiled 50 ideas for mini-lessons.

Try one a day or one a week and by the end of the school year, you might just be amazed at how independent your students are becoming with researching.

Become an Internet Search Master with This Google Slides Presentation

In early 2019, I was contacted by Noah King who is a teacher in Northern California.

Noah was teaching his students about my 5 step process outlined in this post and put together a Google Slides Presentation with elaboration and examples.

You’re welcome to use and adapt the Google Slides Presentation yourself. Find out exactly how to do this in this post.

The Presentation was designed for students around 10-11 years old but I think it could easily be adapted for different age groups.

Recap: How To Do Online Research

Despite many students being confident users of technology, they need to be taught how to find information online that’s relevant, factual, student-friendly, and safe.

Keep these six steps in mind whenever you need to do some online research:

• Clarify : What information are you looking for? Consider keywords, questions, synonyms, alternative phrases etc.
• Search : What are the best words you can type into the search engine to get the highest quality results?
• Delve : What search results should you click on and explore further?
• Evaluate : Once you click on a link and land on a site, how do you know if it offers the information you need?
• Cite : How can you write information in your own words (paraphrase or summarise), use direct quotes, and cite sources?
• Staying organised : How can you keep the valuable information you find online organised as you go through the research process?

Don’t forget to ask for help!

Lastly, remember to get help when you need it. If you’re lucky enough to have a teacher-librarian at your school, use them! They’re a wonderful resource.

If not, consult with other staff members, librarians at your local library, or members of your professional learning network. There are lots of people out there who are willing and able to help with research. You just need to ask!

Being able to research effectively is an essential skill for everyone . It’s only becoming more important as our world becomes increasingly information-saturated. Therefore, it’s definitely worth investing some classroom time in this topic.

Developing research skills doesn’t necessarily require a large chunk of time either. Integration is key and remember to fit in your mini-lessons . Model your own searches explicitly and talk out loud as you look things up.

When you’re modelling your research, go to some weak or fake websites and ask students to justify whether they think the site would be useful and reliable. Eric Curts has an excellent article where he shares four fake sites to help teach students about website evaluation. This would be a great place to start!

Introduce students to librarians ; they are a wonderful resource and often underutilised. It pays for students to know how they can collaborate with librarians for personalised help.

Finally, consider investing a little time in brushing up on research skills yourself . Everyone thinks they can “google” but many don’t realise they could do it even better (myself included!).

You Might Also Enjoy

Teaching Digital Citizenship: 10 Internet Safety Tips for Students

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8 Ways Teachers And Schools Can Communicate With Parents

How To Evaluate Websites: A Guide For Teachers And Students

14 Replies to “How to Teach Online Research Skills to Students in 5 Steps (Free Posters)”

Kathleen, I like your point about opening up sites in new tabs. You might be interested in Mike Caulfield’s ‘four moves’ .

What a fabulous resource, Aaron. Thanks so much for sharing. This is definitely one that others should check out too. Even if teachers don’t use it with students (or are teaching young students), it could be a great source of learning for educators too.

This is great information and I found the safe search sites you provided a benefit for my children. I searched for other safe search sites and you may want to know about them. http://www.kids-search.com and http://www.safesearch.tips .

Hi Alice, great finds! Thanks so much for sharing. I like the simple interface. It’s probably a good thing there are ads at the top of the listing too. It’s an important skill for students to learn how to distinguish these. 🙂

Great website! Really useful info 🙂

I really appreciate this blog post! Teaching digital literacy can be a struggle. This topic is great for teachers, like me, who need guidance in effectively scaffolding for scholars who to use the internet to gain information.

So glad to hear it was helpful, Shasta! Good luck teaching digital literacy!

Why teachers stopped investing in themselves! Thanks a lot for the article, but this is the question I’m asking myself after all teachers referring to google as if it has everything you need ! Why it has to come from you and not the whole education system! Why it’s an option? As you said smaller children don’t need search engine in the first place! I totally agree, and I’m soo disappointed how schooling system is careless toward digital harms , the very least it’s waste of the time of my child and the most being exposed to all rubbish on the websites. I’m really disappointed that most teachers are not thinking taking care of their reputation when it comes to digital learning. Ok using you tube at school as material it’s ok , but why can’t you pay little extra to avoid adverts while teaching your children! Saving paper created mountains of electronic-toxic waste all over the world! What a degradation of education.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Shohida. I disagree that all schooling systems are careless towards ‘digital harms’, however, I do feel like more digital citizenship education is always important!

Hi Kathleen, I love your How to Evaluate Websites Flow Chart! I was wondering if I could have permission to have it translated into Spanish. I would like to add it to a Digital Research Toolkit that I have created for students.

Thank you! Kristen

Hi Kristen, You’re welcome to translate it! Please just leave the original attribution to my site on there. 🙂 Thanks so much for asking. I really hope it’s useful to your students! Kathleen

[…] matter how old your child is, there are many ways for them to do research into their question. For very young children, you’ll need to do the online research work. Take your time with […]

[…] digs deep into how teachers can guide students through responsible research practices on her blog (2019). She suggests a 5 step model for elementary students on how to do online […]

Writing lesson plans on the fly outside of my usual knowledge base (COVID taken down so many teachers!) and this info is precisely what I needed! Thanks!!!

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The Most Important Research Skills (With Examples)

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Research skills are the ability to find out accurate information on a topic. They include being able to determine the data you need, find and interpret those findings, and then explain that to others. Being able to do effective research is a beneficial skill in any profession, as data and research inform how businesses operate.

Whether you’re unsure of your research skills or are looking for ways to further improve them, then this article will cover important research skills and how to become even better at research.

Key Takeaways

Having strong research skills can help you understand your competitors, develop new processes, and build your professional skills in addition to aiding you in finding new customers and saving your company money.

Some of the most valuable research skills you can have include goal setting, data collection, and analyzing information from multiple sources.

You can and should put your research skills on your resume and highlight them in your job interviews.

What are research skills?

Why are research skills important, 12 of the most important research skills, how to improve your research skills, highlighting your research skills in a job interview, how to include research skills on your resume, resume examples showcasing research skills, research skills faqs.

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Research skills are the necessary tools to be able to find, compile, and interpret information in order to answer a question. Of course, there are several aspects to this. Researchers typically have to decide how to go about researching a problem — which for most people is internet research.

In addition, you need to be able to interpret the reliability of a source, put the information you find together in an organized and logical way, and be able to present your findings to others. That means that they’re comprised of both hard skills — knowing your subject and what’s true and what isn’t — and soft skills. You need to be able to interpret sources and communicate clearly.

Research skills are useful in any industry, and have applications in innovation, product development, competitor research, and many other areas. In addition, the skills used in researching aren’t only useful for research. Being able to interpret information is a necessary skill, as is being able to clearly explain your reasoning.

Research skills are used to:

Do competitor research. Knowing what your biggest competitors are up to is an essential part of any business. Researching what works for your competitors, what they’re doing better than you, and where you can improve your standing with the lowest resource expenditure are all essential if a company wants to remain functional.

Develop new processes and products. You don’t have to be involved in research and development to make improvements in how your team gets things done. Researching new processes that make your job (and those of your team) more efficient will be valued by any sensible employer.

Foster self-improvement. Folks who have a knack and passion for research are never content with doing things the same way they’ve always been done. Organizations need independent thinkers who will seek out their own answers and improve their skills as a matter of course. These employees will also pick up new technologies more easily.

Manage customer relationships. Being able to conduct research on your customer base is positively vital in virtually every industry. It’s hard to move products or sell services if you don’t know what people are interested in. Researching your customer base’s interests, needs, and pain points is a valuable responsibility.

Save money. Whether your company is launching a new product or just looking for ways to scale back its current spending, research is crucial for finding wasted resources and redirecting them to more deserving ends. Anyone who proactively researches ways that the company can save money will be highly appreciated by their employer.

Solve problems. Problem solving is a major part of a lot of careers, and research skills are instrumental in making sure your solution is effective. Finding out the cause of the problem and determining an effective solution both require accurate information, and research is the best way to obtain that — be it via the internet or by observation.

Determine reliable information. Being able to tell whether or not the information you receive seems accurate is a very valuable skill. While research skills won’t always guarantee that you’ll be able to tell the reliability of the information at first glance, it’ll prevent you from being too trusting. And it’ll give the tools to double-check .

Experienced researchers know that worthwhile investigation involves a variety of skills. Consider which research skills come naturally to you, and which you could work on more.

Data collection . When thinking about the research process, data collection is often the first thing that comes to mind. It is the nuts and bolts of research. How data is collected can be flexible.

For some purposes, simply gathering facts and information on the internet can fulfill your need. Others may require more direct and crowd-sourced research. Having experience in various methods of data collection can make your resume more impressive to recruiters.

Data collection methods include: Observation Interviews Questionnaires Experimentation Conducting focus groups

Analysis of information from different sources. Putting all your eggs in one source basket usually results in error and disappointment. One of the skills that good researchers always incorporate into their process is an abundance of sources. It’s also best practice to consider the reliability of these sources.

Are you reading about U.S. history on a conspiracy theorist’s blog post? Taking facts for a presentation from an anonymous Twitter account?

If you can’t determine the validity of the sources you’re using, it can compromise all of your research. That doesn’t mean just disregard anything on the internet but double-check your findings. In fact, quadruple-check. You can make your research even stronger by turning to references outside of the internet.

Examples of reliable information sources include: Published books Encyclopedias Magazines Databases Scholarly journals Newspapers Library catalogs

Finding information on the internet. While it can be beneficial to consulate alternative sources, strong internet research skills drive modern-day research.

One of the great things about the internet is how much information it contains, however, this comes with digging through a lot of garbage to get to the facts you need. The ability to efficiently use the vast database of knowledge that is on the internet without getting lost in the junk is very valuable to employers.

Internet research skills include: Source checking Searching relevant questions Exploring deeper than the first options Avoiding distraction Giving credit Organizing findings

Interviewing. Some research endeavors may require a more hands-on approach than just consulting internet sources. Being prepared with strong interviewing skills can be very helpful in the research process.

Interviews can be a useful research tactic to gain first-hand information and being able to manage a successful interview can greatly improve your research skills.

Interviewing skills involves: A plan of action Specific, pointed questions Respectfulness Considering the interview setting Actively Listening Taking notes Gratitude for participation

Report writing. Possessing skills in report writing can assist you in job and scholarly research. The overall purpose of a report in any context is to convey particular information to its audience.

Effective report writing is largely dependent on communication. Your boss, professor , or general reader should walk away completely understanding your findings and conclusions.

Report writing skills involve: Proper format Including a summary Focusing on your initial goal Creating an outline Proofreading Directness

Critical thinking. Critical thinking skills can aid you greatly throughout the research process, and as an employee in general. Critical thinking refers to your data analysis skills. When you’re in the throes of research, you need to be able to analyze your results and make logical decisions about your findings.

Critical thinking skills involve: Observation Analysis Assessing issues Problem-solving Creativity Communication

Planning and scheduling. Research is a work project like any other, and that means it requires a little forethought before starting. Creating a detailed outline map for the points you want to touch on in your research produces more organized results.

It also makes it much easier to manage your time. Planning and scheduling skills are important to employers because they indicate a prepared employee.

Planning and scheduling skills include: Setting objectives Identifying tasks Prioritizing Delegating if needed Vision Communication Clarity Time-management

Note-taking. Research involves sifting through and taking in lots of information. Taking exhaustive notes ensures that you will not neglect any findings later and allows you to communicate these results to your co-workers. Being able to take good notes helps summarize research.

Examples of note-taking skills include: Focus Organization Using short-hand Keeping your objective in mind Neatness Highlighting important points Reviewing notes afterward

Communication skills. Effective research requires being able to understand and process the information you receive, either written or spoken. That means that you need strong reading comprehension and writing skills — two major aspects of communication — as well as excellent listening skills.

Most research also involves showcasing your findings. This can be via a presentation. , report, chart, or Q&A. Whatever the case, you need to be able to communicate your findings in a way that educates your audience.

Communication skills include: Reading comprehension Writing Listening skills Presenting to an audience Creating graphs or charts Explaining in layman’s terms

Time management. We’re, unfortunately, only given 24 measly hours in a day. The ability to effectively manage this time is extremely powerful in a professional context. Hiring managers seek candidates who can accomplish goals in a given timeframe.

Strong time management skills mean that you can organize a plan for how to break down larger tasks in a project and complete them by a deadline. Developing your time management skills can greatly improve the productivity of your research.

Time management skills include: Scheduling Creating task outlines Strategic thinking Stress-management Delegation Communication Utilizing resources Setting realistic expectations Meeting deadlines

Using your network. While this doesn’t seem immediately relevant to research skills, remember that there are a lot of experts out there. Knowing what people’s areas of expertise and asking for help can be tremendously beneficial — especially if it’s a subject you’re unfamiliar with.

Your coworkers are going to have different areas of expertise than you do, and your network of people will as well. You may even know someone who knows someone who’s knowledgeable in the area you’re researching. Most people are happy to share their expertise, as it’s usually also an area of interest to them.

Networking involves: Remembering people’s areas of expertise Being willing to ask for help Communication Returning favors Making use of advice Asking for specific assistance

Attention to detail. Research is inherently precise. That means that you need to be attentive to the details, both in terms of the information you’re gathering, but also in where you got it from. Making errors in statistics can have a major impact on the interpretation of the data, not to mention that it’ll reflect poorly on you.

There are proper procedures for citing sources that you should follow. That means that your sources will be properly credited, preventing accusations of plagiarism. In addition, it means that others can make use of your research by returning to the original sources.

Attention to detail includes: Double checking statistics Taking notes Keeping track of your sources Staying organized Making sure graphs are accurate and representative Properly citing sources

As with many professional skills, research skills serve us in our day to day life. Any time you search for information on the internet, you’re doing research. That means that you’re practicing it outside of work as well. If you want to continue improving your research skills, both for professional and personal use, here are some tips to try.

Differentiate between source quality. A researcher is only as good as their worst source. Start paying attention to the quality of the sources you use, and be suspicious of everything your read until you check out the attributions and works cited.

Be critical and ask yourself about the author’s bias, where the author’s research aligns with the larger body of verified research in the field, and what publication sponsored or published the research.

Use multiple resources. When you can verify information from a multitude of sources, it becomes more and more credible. To bolster your faith in one source, see if you can find another source that agrees with it.

Don’t fall victim to confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is when a researcher expects a certain outcome and then goes to find data that supports this hypothesis. It can even go so far as disregarding anything that challenges the researcher’s initial hunch. Be prepared for surprising answers and keep an open mind.

Be open to the idea that you might not find a definitive answer. It’s best to be honest and say that you found no definitive answer instead of just confirming what you think your boss or coworkers expect or want to hear. Experts and good researchers are willing to say that they don’t know.

Stay organized. Being able to cite sources accurately and present all your findings is just as important as conducting the research itself. Start practicing good organizational skills , both on your devices and for any physical products you’re using.

Get specific as you go. There’s nothing wrong with starting your research in a general way. After all, it’s important to become familiar with the terminology and basic gist of the researcher’s findings before you dig down into all the minutia.

A job interview is itself a test of your research skills. You can expect questions on what you know about the company, the role, and your field or industry more generally. In order to give expert answers on all these topics, research is crucial.

Start by researching the company . Look into how they communicate with the public through social media, what their mission statement is, and how they describe their culture.

Pay close attention to the tone of their website. Is it hyper professional or more casual and fun-loving? All of these elements will help decide how best to sell yourself at the interview.

Next, research the role. Go beyond the job description and reach out to current employees working at your desired company and in your potential department. If you can find out what specific problems your future team is or will be facing, you’re sure to impress hiring managers and recruiters with your ability to research all the facts.

Finally, take time to research the job responsibilities you’re not as comfortable with. If you’re applying for a job that represents increased difficulty or entirely new tasks, it helps to come into the interview with at least a basic knowledge of what you’ll need to learn.

Research projects require dedication. Being committed is a valuable skill for hiring managers. Whether you’ve had research experience throughout education or a former job, including it properly can boost the success of your resume .

Consider how extensive your research background is. If you’ve worked on multiple, in-depth research projects, it might be best to include it as its own section. If you have less research experience, include it in the skills section .

Focus on your specific role in the research, as opposed to just the research itself. Try to quantify accomplishments to the best of your abilities. If you were put in charge of competitor research, for example, list that as one of the tasks you had in your career.

If it was a particular project, such as tracking the sale of women’s clothing at a tee-shirt company, you can say that you “directed analysis into women’s clothing sales statistics for a market research project.”

Ascertain how directly research skills relate to the job you’re applying for. How strongly you highlight your research skills should depend on the nature of the job the resume is for. If research looks to be a strong component of it, then showcase all of your experience.

If research looks to be tangential, then be sure to mention it — it’s a valuable skill — but don’t put it front and center.

Example #1: Academic Research

Simon Marks 767 Brighton Blvd. | Brooklyn, NY, 27368 | (683)-262-8883 | [email protected] Diligent and hardworking recent graduate seeking a position to develop professional experience and utilize research skills. B.A. in Biological Sciences from New York University. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Lixus Publishing , Brooklyn, NY Office Assistant- September 2018-present Scheduling and updating meetings Managing emails and phone calls Reading entries Worked on a science fiction campaign by researching target demographic Organizing calendars Promoted to office assistant after one year internship Mitch’s Burgers and Fries , Brooklyn, NY Restaurant Manager , June 2014-June 2018 Managed a team of five employees Responsible for coordinating the weekly schedule Hired and trained two employees Kept track of inventory Dealt with vendors Provided customer service Promoted to restaurant manager after two years as a waiter Awarded a $2.00/hr wage increase SKILLS Writing Scientific Research Data analysis Critical thinking Planning Communication RESEARCH Worked on an ecosystem biology project with responsibilities for algae collection and research (2019) Lead a group of freshmen in a research project looking into cell biology (2018) EDUCATION New York University Bachelors in Biological Sciences, September 2016-May 2020

Example #2: Professional Research

Angela Nichols 1111 Keller Dr. | San Francisco, CA | (663)-124-8827 |[email protected] Experienced and enthusiastic marketer with 7 years of professional experience. Seeking a position to apply my marketing and research knowledge. Skills in working on a team and flexibility. EXPERIENCE Apples amp; Oranges Marketing, San Francisco, CA Associate Marketer – April 2017-May 2020 Discuss marketing goals with clients Provide customer service Lead campaigns associated with women’s health Coordinating with a marketing team Quickly solving issues in service and managing conflict Awarded with two raises totaling $10,000 over three years Prestigious Marketing Company, San Francisco, CA Marketer – May 2014-April 2017 Working directly with clients Conducting market research into television streaming preferences Developing marketing campaigns related to television streaming services Report writing Analyzing campaign success statistics Promoted to Marketer from Junior Marketer after the first year Timberlake Public Relations, San Francisco, CA Public Relations Intern – September 2013–May 2014 Working cohesively with a large group of co-workers and supervisors Note-taking during meetings Running errands Managing email accounts Assisting in brainstorming Meeting work deadlines EDUCATION Golden Gate University, San Francisco, CA Bachelor of Arts in Marketing with a minor in Communications – September 2009 – May 2013 SKILLS Marketing Market research Record-keeping Teamwork Presentation. Flexibility

What research skills are important?

Goal-setting and data collection are important research skills. Additional important research skills include:

Using different sources to analyze information.

Finding information on the internet.

Interviewing sources.

Writing reports.

Critical thinking.

Planning and scheduling.

Note-taking.

Managing time.

How do you develop good research skills?

You develop good research skills by learning how to find information from multiple high-quality sources, by being wary of confirmation bias, and by starting broad and getting more specific as you go.

When you learn how to tell a reliable source from an unreliable one and get in the habit of finding multiple sources that back up a claim, you’ll have better quality research.

In addition, when you learn how to keep an open mind about what you’ll find, you’ll avoid falling into the trap of confirmation bias, and by staying organized and narrowing your focus as you go (rather than before you start), you’ll be able to gather quality information more efficiently.

What is the importance of research?

The importance of research is that it informs most decisions and strategies in a business. Whether it’s deciding which products to offer or creating a marketing strategy, research should be used in every part of a company.

Because of this, employers want employees who have strong research skills. They know that you’ll be able to put them to work bettering yourself and the organization as a whole.

Should you put research skills on your resume?

Yes, you should include research skills on your resume as they are an important professional skill. Where you include your research skills on your resume will depend on whether you have a lot of experience in research from a previous job or as part of getting your degree, or if you’ve just cultivated them on your own.

If your research skills are based on experience, you could put them down under the tasks you were expected to perform at the job in question. If not, then you should likely list it in your skills section.

University of the People – The Best Research Skills for Success

Association of Internet Research Specialists — What are Research Skills and Why Are They Important?

MasterClass — How to Improve Your Research Skills: 6 Research Tips

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Sky Ariella is a professional freelance writer, originally from New York. She has been featured on websites and online magazines covering topics in career, travel, and lifestyle. She received her BA in psychology from Hunter College.

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• Career Advice >
• Hard Skills >
• Research Skills

What are research skills?

Last updated

26 April 2023

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Broadly, it includes a range of talents required to:

Find useful information

Perform critical analysis

Form hypotheses

Solve problems

It also includes processes such as time management, communication, and reporting skills to achieve those ends.

Research requires a blend of conceptual and detail-oriented modes of thinking. It tests one's ability to transition between subjective motivations and objective assessments to ensure only correct data fits into a meaningfully useful framework.

As countless fields increasingly rely on data management and analysis, polishing your research skills is an important, near-universal way to improve your potential of getting hired and advancing in your career.

Make research less tedious

Dovetail streamlines research to help you uncover and share actionable insights

What are basic research skills?

Almost any research involves some proportion of the following fundamental skills:

Organization

Decision-making

Investigation and analysis

Creative thinking

What are primary research skills?

The following are some of the most universally important research skills that will help you in a wide range of positions:

Time management — From planning and organization to task prioritization and deadline management, time-management skills are highly in-demand workplace skills.

Problem-solving — Identifying issues, their causes, and key solutions are another essential suite of research skills.

Critical thinking — The ability to make connections between data points with clear reasoning is essential to navigate data and extract what's useful towards the original objective.

Communication — In any collaborative environment, team-building and active listening will help researchers convey findings more effectively through data summarizations and report writing.

What are the most important skills in research?

Detail-oriented procedures are essential to research, which allow researchers and their audience to probe deeper into a subject and make connections they otherwise may have missed with generic overviews.

Maintaining priorities is also essential so that details fit within an overarching strategy. Lastly, decision-making is crucial because that's the only way research is translated into meaningful action.

• Why are research skills important?

Good research skills are crucial to learning more about a subject, then using that knowledge to improve an organization's capabilities. Synthesizing that research and conveying it clearly is also important, as employees seek to share useful insights and inspire effective actions.

Effective research skills are essential for those seeking to:

Analyze their target market

Investigate industry trends

Identify customer needs

Detect obstacles

Find solutions to those obstacles

Develop new products or services

Develop new, adaptive ways to meet demands

Discover more efficient ways of acquiring or using resources

Why do we need research skills?

Businesses and individuals alike need research skills to clarify their role in the marketplace, which of course, requires clarity on the market in which they function in. High-quality research helps people stay better prepared for challenges by identifying key factors involved in their day-to-day operations, along with those that might play a significant role in future goals.

• Benefits of having research skills

Research skills increase the effectiveness of any role that's dependent on information. Both individually and organization-wide, good research simplifies what can otherwise be unwieldy amounts of data. It can help maintain order by organizing information and improving efficiency, both of which set the stage for improved revenue growth.

Those with highly effective research skills can help reveal both:

Opportunities for improvement

Brand-new or previously unseen opportunities

Research skills can then help identify how to best take advantage of available opportunities. With today's increasingly data-driven economy, it will also increase your potential of getting hired and help position organizations as thought leaders in their marketplace.

• Research skills examples

Being necessarily broad, research skills encompass many sub-categories of skillsets required to extrapolate meaning and direction from dense informational resources. Identifying, interpreting, and applying research are several such subcategories—but to be specific, workplaces of almost any type have some need of:

Searching for information

Attention to detail

Taking notes

Problem-solving

Communicating results

Time management

• How to improve your research skills

Whether your research goals are to learn more about a subject or enhance workflows, you can improve research skills with this failsafe, four-step strategy:

Make an outline, and set your intention(s)

Know your sources

Learn to use advanced search techniques

Practice, practice, practice (and don't be afraid to adjust your approach)

These steps could manifest themselves in many ways, but what's most important is that it results in measurable progress toward the original goals that compelled you to research a subject.

• Using research skills at work

Different research skills will be emphasized over others, depending on the nature of your trade. To use research most effectively, concentrate on improving research skills most relevant to your position—or, if working solo, the skills most likely have the strongest impact on your goals.

You might divide the necessary research skills into categories for short, medium, and long-term goals or according to each activity your position requires. That way, when a challenge arises in your workflow, it's clearer which specific research skill requires dedicated attention.

How can I learn research skills?

Learning research skills can be done with a simple three-point framework:

Clarify the objective — Before delving into potentially overwhelming amounts of data, take a moment to define the purpose of your research. If at any point you lose sight of the original objective, take another moment to ask how you could adjust your approach to better fit the original objective.

Scrutinize sources — Cross-reference data with other sources, paying close attention to each author's credentials and motivations.

Organize research — Establish and continually refine a data-organization system that works for you. This could be an index of resources or compiling data under different categories designed for easy access.

Which careers require research skills?

Especially in today's world, most careers require some, if not extensive, research. Developers, marketers, and others dealing in primarily digital properties especially require extensive research skills—but it's just as important in building and manufacturing industries, where research is crucial to construct products correctly and safely.

Engineering, legal, medical, and literally any other specialized field will require excellent research skills. Truly, almost any career path will involve some level of research skills; and even those requiring only minimal research skills will at least require research to find and compare open positions in the first place.

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Research Skills: What they are and Benefits

Research skills play a vital role in the success of any research project, enabling individuals to navigate the vast sea of information, analyze data critically, and draw meaningful conclusions. Whether conducting academic research, professional investigations, or personal inquiries, strong research skills are essential for obtaining accurate and reliable results.

LEARN ABOUT:   Research Process Steps

By understanding and developing these skills, individuals can embark on their research endeavors with confidence, integrity, and the capability to make meaningful contributions in their chosen fields. This article will explore the importance of research skills and discuss critical competencies necessary for conducting a research project effectively.

Content Index

What are Research Skills?

Important research skills for research project, benefits of research skills.

• Improving your Research Skills

Talk to Experts to Improve Skills

Research skills are the capability a person carries to create new concepts and understand the use of data collection. These skills include techniques, documentation, and interpretation of the collected data. Research is conducted to evaluate hypotheses and share the findings most appropriately. Research skills improve as we gain experience.

To conduct efficient research, specific research skills are essential. These skills are necessary for companies to develop new products and services or enhance existing products. To develop good research skills is important for both the individual as well as the company.

When undertaking a research project, one must possess specific important skills to ensure the project’s success and accuracy. Here are some essential research skills that are crucial for conducting a project effectively:

Time Management Skills:

Time management is an essential research skill; it helps you break down your project into parts and enables you to manage it easier. One can create a dead-line oriented plan for the research project and assign time for each task. Time management skills include setting goals for the project, planning and organizing functions as per their priority, and efficiently delegating these tasks.

Communication Skills:

These skills help you understand and receive important information and also allow you to share your findings with others in an effective manner. Active listening and speaking are critical skills for solid communication. A researcher must have good communication skills.

Problem-Solving:  

The ability to handle complex situations and business challenges and come up with solutions for them is termed problem-solving. To problem-solve, you should be able to fully understand the extent of the problem and then break it down into smaller parts. Once segregated into smaller chunks, you can start thinking about each element and analyze it to find a solution.

Information gathering and attention to detail:

Relevant information is the key to good research design . Searching for credible resources and collecting information from there will help you strengthen your research proposal and drive you to solutions faster. Once you have access to information, paying close attention to all the details and drawing conclusions based on the findings is essential.

Research Design and Methodology :

Understanding research design and methodology is essential for planning and conducting a project. Depending on the research question and objectives, researchers must select appropriate research methods, such as surveys, experiments, interviews, or case studies. Proficiency in designing research protocols, data collection instruments, and sampling strategies is crucial for obtaining reliable and valid results.

Data Collection and Analysis :

Researchers should be skilled in collecting and analyzing data accurately. It involves designing data collection instruments, collecting data through various methods, such as surveys or observations, and organizing and analyzing the collected data using appropriate statistical or qualitative analysis techniques. Proficiency in using software tools like SPSS, Excel, or qualitative analysis software can be beneficial.

By developing and strengthening these research skills, researchers can enhance the quality and impact of their research process, contributing to good research skills in their respective fields.

Research skills are invaluable assets that can benefit individuals in various aspects of their lives. Here are some key benefits of developing and honing research skills:

Boosts Curiosity :

Curiosity is a strong desire to know things and a powerful learning driver. Curious researchers will naturally ask questions that demand answers and will stop in the search for answers. Interested people are better listeners and are open to listening to other people’s ideas and perspectives, not just their own.

Cultivates Self-awareness :

As well as being aware of other people’s subjective opinions, one must develop the importance of research skills and be mindful of the benefits of awareness research; we are exposed to many things while researching. Once we start doing research, the benefit from it reflects on the beliefs and attitudes and encourages them to open their minds to other perspectives and ways of looking at things.

Effective Communication:

Research skills contribute to practical communication skills by enhancing one’s ability to articulate ideas, opinions, and findings clearly and coherently. Through research, individuals learn to organize their thoughts, present evidence-based arguments, and effectively convey complex information to different audiences. These skills are crucial in academic research settings, professional environments, and personal interactions.

Personal and Professional Growth :

Developing research skills fosters personal and professional growth by instilling a sense of curiosity, intellectual independence, and a lifelong learning mindset. Research encourages individuals to seek knowledge, challenge assumptions, and embrace intellectual growth. These skills also enhance adaptability as individuals become adept at navigating and assimilating new information, staying updated with the latest developments, and adjusting their perspectives and strategies accordingly.

Academic Success:

Research skills are essential for academic research success. They enable students to conduct thorough literature reviews, gather evidence to support their arguments, and critically evaluate existing research. By honing their research skills, students can produce well-structured, evidence-based essays, projects, and dissertations demonstrating high academic research rigor and analytical thinking.

Professional Advancement:

Research skills are highly valued in the professional world. They are crucial for conducting market research, analyzing trends, identifying opportunities, and making data-driven decisions. Employers appreciate individuals who can effectively gather and analyze information, solve complex problems, and provide evidence-based recommendations. Research skills also enable professionals to stay updated with advancements in their field, positioning themselves as knowledgeable and competent experts.

Developing and nurturing research skills can significantly benefit individuals in numerous aspects of their lives, enabling them to thrive in an increasingly information-driven world.

Improving Your Research Skills

There are many things you can do to improve your research skills and utilize them in your research or day job. Here are some examples:

• Develop Information Literacy: Strengthening your information literacy skills is crucial for conducting thorough research. It involves identifying reliable sources, evaluating the credibility of information, and navigating different research databases.
• Enhance Critical Thinking: Critical thinking is an essential skill for effective research. It involves analyzing information, questioning assumptions, and evaluating arguments. Practice critical analysis by analyzing thoughtfully, identifying biases, and considering alternative perspectives.
• Master Research Methodologies: Familiarize yourself with different research methodologies relevant to your field. Whether it’s qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods research, realizing the strengths and limitations of each approach is crucial.
• Practice Effective Time Management: Research requires dedicated time and effort. Develop good time management skills to ensure that you allocate sufficient time for each stage of the research process, including planning, data collection, analysis, and writing.
• Embrace Collaboration: Collaborating with peers and colleagues can provide a fresh perspective and enrich your research experience. Engage in discussions, share ideas, and seek feedback from others. Collaborative projects allow for exchanging knowledge and skills.
• Continuously Update Your Knowledge: Stay informed about your field’s latest developments and advancements. Regularly read scholarly articles, attend conferences, and follow reputable sources of information to stay up to date with current research trends.

There is plenty of information available on the internet about every topic; hence, learning skills to know which information is relevant and credible is very important. Today most search engines have the feature of advanced search, and you can customize the search as per your preference. Once you learn this skill, it will help you find information. 

Experts possess a wealth of knowledge, experience, and insights that can significantly enhance your understanding and abilities in conducting research. Experts have often encountered numerous challenges and hurdles throughout their research journey and have developed effective problem-solving techniques. Engaging with experts is a highly effective approach to improving research skills.

Moreover, experts can provide valuable feedback and constructive criticism on your research work. They can offer fresh perspectives, identify areas for improvement, and help you refine your research questions, methodology, and analysis.

At QuestionPro, we can help you with the necessary tools to carry out your projects, and we have created the following free resources to help you in your professional growth:

• Survey Templates

Research skills are invaluable assets that empower individuals to navigate the ever-expanding realm of information, make informed decisions, and contribute to advancing knowledge. With advanced research tools and technologies like QuestionPro Survey Software, researchers have potent resources to conduct comprehensive surveys, gather data, and analyze results efficiently.

Where data-driven decision-making is crucial, research skills supported by advanced tools like QuestionPro are essential for researchers to stay ahead and make impactful contributions to their fields. By embracing these research skills and leveraging the capabilities of powerful survey software, researchers can unlock new possibilities, gain deeper insights, and pave the way for meaningful discoveries.

Authors : Gargi Ghamandi & Sandeep Kokane

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Providing Research Education Experiences to Enhance Inclusivity for a Diverse Substance Use and Addiction Scientific Workforce (R25 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)

The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The overarching goal of this R25 program is to support educational activities that encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, to pursue further studies or careers in research.

To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this NOFO will support educational activities with a primary focus on:

• Courses for Skills Development
• Research Experiences

Letter of Intent Due Date(s): 30 days before application due date

Application Due Dates: May 14, 2024; Aug 13, 2024; Nov 13, 2024; May 14, 2025; Aug 13, 2025; Nov 13, 2025; May 14, 2026; Aug 13, 2026; Nov 13, 2026

AIDS Application Due Dates: May 14, 2024; Aug 13, 2024; Nov 13, 2024; May 14, 2025; Aug 13, 2025; Nov 13, 2025; May 14, 2026; Aug 13, 2026; Nov 13, 2026

PAR-24-048 Expiration Date November 14, 2026

The sponsoring institution must assure support for the proposed program. Appropriate institutional commitment to the program includes the provision of adequate staff, facilities, and educational resources that can contribute to the planned program.

Institutions with existing Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) institutional training grants (e.g., T32) or other Federally funded training programs may apply for a research education grant provided that the proposed educational experiences are distinct from those training programs receiving federal support. In many cases, it is anticipated that the proposed research education program will complement ongoing research training occurring at the applicant institution.

The PD/PI should be an established investigator in the scientific area in which the application is targeted and capable of providing both administrative and scientific leadership to the development and implementation of the proposed program. The PD/PI will be expected to monitor and assess the program and submit all documents and reports as required.

Although the size of the award may vary with the scope of the research education program proposed, budgets may not exceed $250,000 in direct costs per year and must reflect the actual needs of the proposed project.

The maximum project period is 5 years.

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Be bold about your future: challenges to challenge you and challenges for change

12 April 2024

Want to work on a real-life issue? On something exciting that has impact? In a way that we guarantee employers want to see? Check out some activities and opportunities in April–June for you to gain hands-on experience, develop skills and expand your knowledge.

You could develop your: 

• Team working skills   – you may be working with people you’ve never met before, against the clock.
• Leadership skills   – empower yourself to think creatively and lead the change.
• Non-academic communication skills  – you could be working with a charity, or community partner where academic language needs to be left at the door. 
• Confidence in negotiating and decision-making   – your team will have to agree what you’re doing. 
• Networks and connections – you could be working with a diverse group of fellow students, community experts or SMEs. 

Open to all students, but spaces are limited. Find your challenge below then follow the link to register. 

Sustainability Leadership Conference

Thursday 18 – Friday 19 April.  Apply for a place at the conference .

The Sustainability Leadership Conference, co-delivered by Sustainable UCL and Students' Union UCL, will bring together students, experts, and organisations to discuss the biggest issue facing the world today, and how to tackle it. The next generation of climate leaders are studying at UCL today and the Sustainability Leadership Conference will empower students to find sustainable solutions to global issues.

The conference aims to inspire, upskill, and empower students to become climate leaders. 

The day is themed around three key strands:

• Understanding climate change and environmental sustainability.
• Sustainability leadership
• Skills development including communication skills.

Evaluation Training: Community Consultancy 

Dates: Thursday 2 May 10.00-12.00, Thursday 9 May 10.00-12.00, Thursday 16 May 10.00-12.00, Thursday 23 May 10.00-12.00, Thursday 30 May 10.00-12.00, 6 June 10.00-12.00

Evaluation skills training for students to empower them to consult with Community Partners in a meaningful and mutually beneficial way. Students will learn in an experiential way, in groups with a charity to work on the challenge How do you measure social value? Find out more information  Audience: Postgraduate Taught Students 

UCL Advanced Research Computing (ARC) Cluster Club 

Wednesday 24 April, Wednesday 29 May, or Wednesday 31 July all at 2:30pm in Cruciform B1.15A

An opportunity for students at all levels across UCL to develop their computing skills with professionals in the field. Develop a range of programming skills and experience in using high performance and cloud computing. 

Sessions take place on campus on the last Wednesday afternoon of each month from April to July but you don’t need to every session. 

In the future there will also be exciting opportunities to take part in a range of events including the CIUK Cluster Challenge, and the potential to represent UCL at the Supercomputing conference in the USA! Everyone welcome, regardless of experience. 

For more details and to book on visit the Events page.

The Big Social Challenge Day

Thursday 6 June. Join various events including: 

Ask yourself, what can I achieve in an afternoon? Now ask yourself, what can we achieve together in an afternoon? 

Register to attend

The Giant Social Hackathon is where innovation meets altruism; where creativity merges with compassion! Join the brightest minds gather to spark change and redefine the world we live in. 

Expect an atmosphere charged with the collective drive to make a real difference. Teams will form, strong connections will be made, and expertise from different disciplines and backgrounds will blend. Here, there are no boundaries, only opportunities to collaborate and innovate.  

UCL students from all across globe, armed with their laptops, life journeys, skills and boundless enthusiasm, will come together at our event, ready to tackle societal challenges head-on.  

What to expect: 

• A fun venue: Set in the historical and beautiful Quad, steeped in knowledge and learning, our Marquee offers a fun and informal atmosphere that fuels inspiration and collaboration. Free refreshments will keep you fuelled up to work at pace! 
• Diverse challenges: From sustainability to education, our hackathon features a wide array of challenges that cater to every passion and interest.  
• Expert mentors: Gain invaluable insights and guidance from non-profit sector leaders and mentors who are passionate about empowering the next generation of innovators. 
• Prizes and recognition: Pull on your unique team t-shirt and compete for exciting prizes for your non-profit Challenger. Gain recognition for your innovative solutions that have the potential to make a real-world impact. 
• Networking opportunities: Connect with like-minded individuals, form meaningful relationships, and expand your professional network in an inclusive and supportive environment. 

Is this for me?  

Are you passionate about driving positive change through innovation? Join us and contribute to tackle pressing challenges. A change-maker? If you're committed to making a difference in the world, this is your chance to be part of a community that shares your vision and values. 

Whether you're a seasoned hacker or a first-time participant, our event welcomes students from all backgrounds and levels of experience.  

Don’t know anyone going? No worries – there will be lots of super friendly faces from the Students’ Union’s Volunteering team, ready to welcome you in and help you meet other students.  

Don’t think you’ve got the skills? It’s simply not true. The beauty of a Hackathon is that everyone has something to offer and the magic is in the mix! 

Ever get asked by your family or friends, what is your research about? Struggle to get them to understand? This is more common than you think and is a super good indicator that you’re ready to work on your science communication skills! Register to attend .

Unlock the power of your scientific voice at our Science Communication Slam ! Join us for dynamic training sessions throughout May that provide a crash course in effective science communication. Choose from a menu of options and build yourself your own learning pathway, based on what you need.

Take the opportunity to put into practice your new skills in our very first Slam! This is your chance to present a piece of your work through a captivating 3-minute talk. It’ll be your toughest test yet – a panel of experts from the non-profit sector.

One Slamming student will take home a £50 Love-To-Shop voucher.

Watch this space for exciting workshops leads and keynote speakers!

Careers Nano Consultancy Projects

Monday 10 – Friday 21 June, with orientation event on Thursday 6 June.

Want to solve a real-life industry problem with your peers? Do you want a flexible opportunity which can fit around your busy summer schedule? 

Join us for a two-week UCL Careers Nano Consultancy Project in partnership with Practera! 

We will be offering up to 50 places. This opportunity is open to all students. Registration links, along with more information, will be shared in term 3.

 What will I be doing? 

• Working remotely as a student consultant team across different year groups and disciplines, responding to a real business challenge. 
• Receiving a digital badge and certificate upon successful completion of the project.
• Accessing supportive content and tasks through a gamified learning platform. 
• Interacting with a real international employer and receiving industry feedback on your work. 
• Presenting your findings in a professional report. 
• Completing market research and analysis for your client. This might be improving your client’s sustainability, sharing trends and insights for business growth, bringing together an effective marketing strategy or supporting your client’s growth in a new geography.  

What’s the commitment? 

• A compulsory Orientation Session on 6 June at Bloomsbury campus (exact time tbc) 
• A compulsory Project Briefing with your industry client on 10 June, 1 – 2.15pm, online  
• 25 hours over two weeks, 10 June – 21 June  
• A Post-Project Evaluation online session (week commencing 1 July, exact date TBC) 

Entrepreneurship events  

Throughout April to June, events free for students and will take place either online or at Base KX.  

Tuesday 11 June, 2pm 

Discover your entrepreneurial mindset and develop skills that will help you in your future career with this free 3 hour introductory workshop.

Find out more and sign up for this workshop Audience: all students

Tuesday 30 April 4pm  Learn what social entrepreneurship is and how to set up your own social enterprise with this free 2 hour beginnners' workshop. 

Tuesday 23 April 3pm 

Learn how to tell powerful stories to sell your business idea with this free 2 hour beginners' workshop. 

• 15 to 26 April (Evening course)
• 13 to 24 May 

Provides a practical introduction to entrepreneurship. You’ll learn how to establish an impactful startup or social enterprise, or an enterprising project within a bigger organisation (academia or industry).

Find out more and sign up for this workshop Audience: Doctoral students and early career researchers

• Friday 10 May 9-5pm
• 16 April - 21 May
• Tuesdays 4-6.30pm

This free 6 week programme will help you start to turn your idea or passion into a viable business or social enterprise. You'll also have the chance to win a share of £3,000.

• 8 May - 26 June
• Wednesdays 4.30-6.30pm

This free 8 week programme will help you take practical steps to develop your business idea or social enterprise. You'll also have the chance to win £3,000.

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Importance of Play in Early Childhood

Explore the different definitions of play and why it is so important in this News You Can Use. This is useful information for home visitors, program staff, caregivers, and others serving infants and toddlers through Early Head Start and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start. Play benefits every aspect of child development as infants and toddlers explore their world and their bodies, while also learning about and mastering relationships and social skills.

Introduction

Did you know that in every culture, all over the world, children play? The United Nations even considers play to be the right of every child. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published a report about how important play is and lists some of the benefits of play: 

• Play supports healthy brain development
• Play is one way infants and toddlers engage in and interact with their environment
• Play allows children to safely explore their fears and practice adult roles
• Play is a way that children build relationships with their peers and caregivers

Play is a pretty important part of life. We have a biological drive to play, very much like our biological need to sleep. Satisfying the need to play can be very fulfilling. Play can bring deep joy for both children and adults.

What is Play?

When you think of play, what comes to mind? For adults, it might be organized sports or a hobby. For older children, it can be a world of make believe. For toddlers and infants, it can be delighted rolling back and forth on the floor, banging objects together, pouring water, or just running around in circles.

Play is different for everyone. For example, to some, a room full of infants and toddlers is a really playful place, whereas for others, it can be pretty scary!

Play, put very simply, is an activity that is fun and engaging for the player. Play is freely chosen by the player, although play opportunities may be provided by others.

Play and Exploration

Exploration is where play begins. When infants and toddlers explore new objects they will often try to discover what each object is and what it does.  For example, young infants might explore a rattle by mouthing, shaking, banging, pulling, and throwing it. Toddlers have more experience with exploring new objects. Toddlers, given an empty but closed container, might try to open, shake, turn over, look at the object, or even ask a caregiver for help.

Generally, exploration happens before play. Exploration is how we come to know an object. Once we have some understanding, then we can play with the object. Once the infant understands that shaking the rattle makes a noise, he can shake for the pure delight of shaking! The toddler who has discovered how to open and close the container can move on to playing with it by putting smaller toys inside the container and closing it up.

Often while children play, they discover something new about the object they are playing with. Maybe while shaking the rattle, the baby accidentally hits a mobile hanging over her head. Perhaps the toddler just discovered that while some toys fit into the container there are many that do not. When toddlers play, it brings them to a deeper understanding of the objects and to a place where there is more to learn.

Theories About Learning Through Play

Another very important aspect of play, especially for infants and toddlers, is that play is a way they learn about and make sense of their world. Through play children can:

• Manipulate and understand the physical properties of objects
• Use and hear new language
• Build their relationships with caregivers and peers
• Use their bodies in new ways

The idea of learning through play can make more sense by understanding some of the theories about how people learn. Theories are ideas about how things work, and there are many theories about learning. The following are theories put forth by two famous people in the world of child development. In fact, you’ve probably heard of them before. Don’t forget your own expertise, ideas, and experience. You probably have some of your own ideas about learning through play from spending time with infants and toddlers.

• Jean Piaget (1896–1980) studied how people learn. He was very interested in how children use play to learn about their world. Piaget believed that children learn through actively engaging in their environment. He believed that through play, children are practicing new skills and ideas until they really understand them, or as he put it, “constructing knowledge.”  Piaget believed that play is the most important way children learn.
• Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) also believed that children learn through play. While Piaget focused mainly on how children manipulate objects, Vygotsky felt that the adults who supported play were just as important. Vygotsky thought that while young children could learn some things by themselves, they would learn much more if helped by an adult. The difference between what a child can do alone and what a child can do with help is called the “zone of proximal development.” When adults help children through this zone of what they can almost do, but not quite, it is called “scaffolding.” For example, think of a baby who can almost roll over, but gets stuck because his arm is in the way. An adult can scaffold, or help with their rolling over, by tucking in his arm.

Your Own Cultural Lens for Looking at Play

Play is a part of every young child’s life. How we play is different depending on our home life and culture.  Some cultures provide lots of free time for play; whereas in other cultures, children spend less time playing. In some cultures, children’s play is more cooperative; in others it is more competitive. Some families believe that play objects should be educational or store bought; other families might prefer or only be able to afford homemade toys. Just as children learn to speak the language they hear around them, the people and objects in their lives will provide structure for their play. Play is one way children learn and practice the values that are important to their families, how to interact with one another, and how to use the objects and language of their communities.

Take a moment to think about some of the messages you heard about play from your family growing up. How was play valued in your family? Did your parents, grandparents, siblings, or other family members spend time playing with you? Did you have lots of “educational” toys or store-bought items? Did you have many hours of unsupervised play or were you mostly involved in activities?

Why is Play so Important?

Play benefits every aspect of child development. The act of play comes so naturally it seems to be little more than a simple, joyful experience. Many child development experts believe that play is how infants and toddlers learn about their world. Play provides children with opportunities to learn about and master relationships, language, math, science, problem solving, and their bodies. Let’s look more deeply at all the ways play contributes to development.

Building Relationships Through Play

One of the most important things that young children learn through play is how to form and maintain relationships with others.

Play Builds Caregiver Relationships

Three-month-old Cayden lies in the lap of his in-home family caregiver, Julisa. Cayden stares at her and then coos. Julisa watches Cayden and repeats the sound he makes. Cayden smiles and wiggles as Julisa smiles back. Both Cayden and Julisa clearly enjoy their play together.

Even very young babies enjoy play. They make eye contact and sounds to their parents and caregivers. When the adult responds back to them, they might wiggle or coo. These back and forth interactions are the first steps toward forming a relationship, and are the “play” of very young infants.

Play is an important part of the relationship between babies and caregivers. Babies who have nurturing relationships in their lives have better play skills. These close relationships support infant’s and toddler’s play.

Play Builds Peer Relationships

Twelve-month-old Isaiah is standing at the door clapping his hands. He shouts “Hi” down the hallway. His caregiver, Elisa, comes to see who he is talking to. She realizes that 15-month-old Heidi is arriving with her mom. While Elisa greets them both, Heidi and Isaiah smile at each other and say, “Hi.” Isaiah toddles off to get a ball and turns to see if Heidi is following him. She is! He gets the ball and says to her, “Ball,” and hands it to her. Heidi takes the ball, and they begin to play by passing it back and forth.

Isaiah and Heidi might seem pretty young to be playing together. When babies have many opportunities to play together they begin to form early friendships. Have you ever noticed how even very young infants are interested in other babies? Maybe you’ve seen babies roll toward each other until they are close enough to touch. You may have noticed that some babies even seem to form friendships with each other. They might seek each other out every day, or you might notice they are pleased to spend time together. Each play episode adds a little bit more to the friendship, building up over time until children play easily together.

Play Builds Social Skills

Thirteen-month-old Alliah takes her baby doll and brings it over to the chair where she and her friends eat. Alliah puts the baby in the chair and asks her caregiver for a spoon and bowl by pointing to the objects she wants. Alliah takes the spoon and scoops into the bowl and pretends to feed her baby. As she brings the spoon to the doll’s mouth she says, “Mmmm.”

Tasia and Jo Jo are 2-year-olds who love the toy vacuum cleaner in their child care provider’s home. If one of them has it, the other wants it. Jo Jo found it first today, and Tasia came over and tried to grab it from him. Their caregiver walked over to the struggling toddlers and said, “Tasia you really want the vacuum cleaner, but Jo Jo is playing with it right now. Can you ask him if you can have a turn when he is done?” Tasia and Jo Jo have been through this before. Tasia turns to Jo Jo and says, “Turn?” Jo Jo nods yes and continues to play for a moment, then brings the vacuum over to Tasia with a grin and says, “Here you go!”

Think about something you are really good at. Maybe it’s changing a diaper on a wiggling baby. This is a skill that probably took some practice before you were such an expert. Play is a way children “practice” doing what they see the adults around them do. Older toddlers are likely to be found in the dramatic play area imitating the roles and routines they see around them every day.

It is not unusual to see a child feeding a baby doll and practicing other types of caregiving. Even younger babies might be seen chatting on a toy phone or gently holding a doll. Caregivers and parents can support this sort of play by providing props like dolls, dishes, and phones.

While it is always preferable to have multiples of a popular toy, sometimes it doesn’t work out. Sometimes a toy that sat on the shelf for months without being noticed is suddenly a hot item! When two children both want the same toy, consider it one of the many opportunities presented through play for learning new social skills such as waiting and being patient. It is not developmentally appropriate to expect infants and toddlers to share a single toy. However, as they get older, they can understand the concept of taking turns. When toddlers are taking turns it can help for an adult to point out how patient they are while they wait for their toy. In the mean time, adults might offer the toddlers another play opportunity while waiting for their turn.

A sensitive adult can help children play successfully with each other. A child who has a difficult time playing with peers might play better with a little bit of help. The adult can also help toddlers’ continue to play together. Much like the Tasia and Jo Jo’s story earlier, it is not unusual for infants or toddlers to want a toy someone already has. When someone else is playing with a toy, it’s like a commercial that just makes that toy look like so much fun!

Sometimes kids can work these differences out without help. It can be very interesting to watch the negotiation! However, if it looks like children might start hurting each other, then an adult will need to step in and encourage children to find ways to solve the conflict. Very young children may need suggestions from an adult to come up with possible solutions to work out their negotiations. A caregiver may suggest children can trade toys, do something else until their friend is done with the toy, or ask the child for the toy when she is done.

Learning About the World Through Play

Play is an important way that infants and toddlers interact with the people and objects around them. Through these interactions they learn about their world.

Understanding Concepts Through Mastery Play

At drop-off, 9-month-old Hannah cries as her mother hands her over to her caregiver, Jenna. Hannah has spent the past six months with Jenna and knows her well. Jenna explains to Hannah’s mother that at nine months, Hannah is just starting to understand that her mother is still “out there somewhere,” even when she cannot see her. This makes Hannah sad that she can’t be with her mother all of the time. After Hannah is calm, Jenna plays peek-a-boo with her. Jenna chooses this game because it helps Hannah begin to understand that while a person may “disappear,” he or she will come back. Hannah delights in the disappearance and reappearance of her beloved teacher.

Mastery play is when play is used to practice (or master) skills and ideas.  An example of that is in the previous vignette. At about 8 to 10 months, babies may begin to show signs of separation anxiety. A baby who may have been very happy going to child care might suddenly have a hard time saying good-bye to her family. This is because the baby has begun to master the concept of object permanence—a person or object continues to exist even when it can no longer be seen. Not surprisingly, babies at this age seem to enjoy the game of peek- a-boo, which gives them a chance to practice and test out this new idea. Playing also gives children a sense of control, which can be comforting. In the previous vignette, Hannah cannot stop her mother from leaving, but she can hide herself under a blanket and reappear whenever she likes.

Another important concept babies develop through play is cause and effect, or learning that an action can cause something to happen. Some of the first cause-and-effect experiences are when babies cry and someone comes to comfort them. Babies are learning that crying brings adults to care for their needs. Another way babies learn about cause and effect is by playing with objects; for example, if you push a ball it will roll away from you. If you shake a maraca, it makes a sound. Play is a way that infants and toddlers learn about complicated ideas through simple and repeated experiences.

Play and Problem Solving

Three-month-old Diego lies on his back and mouths a rattle. He loses his grip on the rattle and it falls on his chest. Now he must find the rattle in order to keep playing with it.

Thirteen-month-old Samora understands a lot about blocks. She’s spent a great deal of time knocking down towers built by her mom and home visitor, but now she is trying to build one of her own. She has two stacked and is placing a third block on the pile. Before she even lets the block go, the tower falls down!

Two-year-old Micah is running outside with his friends to play. Both he and Jayla run to the same bike. The two each try to climb onto the bike at the same time.

These children are all at the threshold of learning. What an exciting place for them to be! Will Diego find his rattle? Will Samora build her block tower? Who will get the bike, Jayla or Micah? These exciting episodes of discovery are happening every day in your group and during socializations. Children are using the skills they have in play, and their curiosity and interest push them to a point where they are going to have to learn something new in order to continue their play.

It might seem very difficult to watch Diego struggle with his rattle. He might seem frustrated and confused about what to do next. Observe him for a moment; let the frustration lead him toward a solution. The moment where his hand brushes the rattle on his chest is a thrilling moment of discovery for him! Of course, if a baby gets stuck or might get hurt, an adult should keep them safe. When you give babies a chance to solve the problems they create through play, it helps them learn new skills.

Play and Language

During a home visit 3-month-old Dejah is making gurgles and coos to her mother. Her mother, Donna, waits for a quiet moment and then copies the sounds Dejah makes. The two have a playful conversation back and forth while their home visitor smiles nearby.

Mayanna sits on the floor with the babies. Ten-month-old Nita crawls into her lap. Nita grabs Mayanna’s hands and begins to clap them. Mayanna says, “You want to play patty cake!” as they clap and sing together. Mayanna ends the chant with the phrase,“Put it in the oven for Nita and me!”

Twenty-eight-month-old Christian’s favorite part of coming to socializations is the dramatic play area. He goes over and puts on his favorite hat and grabs a briefcase. He walks back over to his mom and says, “I go.” His mother, Christina, says, “You are going somewhere. Where are you going?” Christian says, “Work.” Christina responds, “You are going to work. What will you do there?” Their conversation continues with Christian giving small answers to her questions and his mother listening and responding to him.

As children grow and learn, their ability to understand and use language in play is growing as well. Even at the earliest stages of language development babies enjoy playing with sounds and hearing others make playful sounds too. Infants and toddlers love to hear songs especially when their names are used.

Play activities that involve adults are opportunities to use language with infants and toddlers. When playing with young babies, try repeating the sounds they are making. Babies can then make a sound with their voice and hear the same sound in your voice. They are likely to enjoy this game for many turns, and why not? This is an early form of conversation.

When infants’ and toddlers’ lives are full of songs and playful language they are likely to learn more words and have a better understanding of how to use them. It is important that adults who join in pretend play with children ask meaningful questions the child can answer in lots of different ways. Notice how Christian’s mother turned his one-word answers into sentences and then asked him where he was going. She was asking open-ended questions. Open-ended questions don’t have a specific answer and the child can say whatever she likes and be “right.” Some examples of open-ended questions are as follows: “Where is your car going?” or “What do you think happens next?” Open-ended questions encourage children to think and give them the opportunity to express their own ideas. 

Learning About Our Bodies Through Play

As babies grow toddlers they are gaining so many skills that help them move their bodies around. Play is a fun way to learn about what your body can do and to be motivated to try new things.

Play and Movement

During one of their first few home visits Kayla talks to her home visitor, Diane, about her 8-month-old son Nate. She is concerned because Nate does not sit up well or crawl at all. Diane has noticed this as well and has been hoping for an opportunity to talk to Kayla about it. Diane notices that Kayla keeps Nate in his carseat for socializations. When Diane has gone on home visits Nate is often in a swing or an exersaucer. Diane begins gently by suggesting to Kayla that she give Nate more play time on the floor, at least half an hour a day to start. She shares that he might need more practice with using the muscles he will need in order to sit up or crawl.

In the first three years of life, infants and toddlers go from having little control over their bodies to becoming running, jumping, climbing, pushing, pulling, digging, active little people. That is a huge accomplishment! Babies are very motivated to learn how to use their bodies, and do so through active, physical play.

The National Association for Sports and Physical Education (NASPE)  recommends that infants and toddlers have at least 30 minutes a day of physically active play. NASPE points out that although infants and toddlers are ready to be active, they need the support of the adults in their lives. That means limiting the amount of time babies spend contained in carseats, swings, or bouncy chairs. Make sure that even very young infants have supervised tummy time and opportunities for free movement. Tummy time can be more appealing if it is playful and there is an adult on the floor nearby.

Rough and Tumble Play

Hattie’s dad José is the star of the socialization! He began by picking up Hattie and lifting her into the air saying, “You’re flying!” Soon other children were begging for a turn to “fly” too. Jose turned some of the older children upside down much to their giggling delight. Many of the children at the socialization really enjoyed and even seemed to crave this sort of exciting play.

Toddlers Kenny and Molly are outside playing a game of chase that ends in catch and wrestle. Their squeals of laughter can be heard throughout the playground! Their caregiver Lisa is keeping a close eye on what they are doing, but she is not stopping their play.

The type of play called rough and tumble play involves giggling, chasing, wrestling, running, and flying. Teachers or home visitors might have different reactions to this sort of play. Caregivers might wonder if they can keep all of the children safe when there is such active play or wrestling going on. Rough and tumble play does need to be supervised to make sure children are enjoying it. As long as everyone is still smiling and having fun, there is little need for an adult to step in.

Another benefit of rough and tumble play is that it can appeal to children who aren’t as good at joining groups in play. Energetic play can be easier to join than a group already involved in the dramatic play area or building in the block area. Adults can help children keep this play in safe areas such as on a mat or outside, and make sure that everyone who is playing is having fun.

Now that you know more about play, it is time to use what you have learned! As you observe infants and toddlers at play, think what they are learning about the people in their lives and the world around them. How might you build on and expand their learning and exploration? You can share with parents and colleagues all that you have learned about how play supports the healthy development of infants and toddlers. Most important, find some time to play yourself. Playing helps all of us feel better, learn new things, and stay curious about the world around us.

Words You Can Use  

Cause and effect:  Understanding an action can cause something to happen. When a baby pushes a ball and it rolls away, he is learning that his action caused the ball to roll.

Mastery play:  Play that is an opportunity to practice skills and ideas. When toddlers pour water into containers they are practicing, or learning to master, their pouring skills.

Object permanence:  Knowing that an object, or a person, exists even when he or she is out of sight. Understanding object permanence begins around 8–10 months and may be accompanied by separation anxiety.

Open-ended materials:  Toys that can be used in many different ways, toys that encourage imagination such as blocks, pieces of fabric, water, and sand.

Rough and tumble play:  Play that involves contact between children sometimes in the form of chasing and wrestling.

Scaffolding:  When adults support a child in learning a new skill. When a baby is learning to walk, adults often help them (scaffolding) by holding her hand before she is able to walk by herself.

Separation anxiety:  When a baby has a difficult time leaving, or separating from, his family or caregiver. These fears can begin around 8 months and intensify between 10 and 18 months.

Symbol:  A symbol is a word or an object that stands for something that is real such as when a toddler uses a block as a phone.

Zone of proximal development:  The difference between what a child can do alone and what a child can do with adult help. For example, a child who cannot walk yet will first be able to walk with the help of an adult.

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Resource Type: Article

National Centers: Early Childhood Development, Teaching and Learning

Age Group: Infants and Toddlers

Series: News You Can Use

Last Updated: April 1, 2024

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