Helping students become independent researchers

When I was a student, I remember groaning when it was time for the once-a-year research project.  Pick a topic, find some dusty old reference books, and write a paper.  Yay.

Nowadays, researching no longer involves old reference books that you have to take notes on in the library because they cannot be checked out.  More and more reference books and research databases are available online for students.  Many of them still have the same encyclopedia-style articles, but there are also databases that include multimedia as well.

And here’s the best part:  Remember when you were almost done and the last thing you had to do was… the bibliography?  I remember painstakingly writing out the detail for every book on index cards.  Now, most of the online databases have easy citation tools built in – so students can easily cite any article, photo, or video, with just a click of the mouse.

One of the databases I really like is Discovery Education, because of the student-friendly interface and the wealth of videos and images offered.  If you would like to learn more about Discovery Education, see my screencast below.

http://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cDfQnG1zi9

 Happy researching!