Pre-Search   Tags: pre-search, research  

Virginia Rankin's book titled The Thoughtful Researcher: Teaching the Research Process to Middle School Students provides advise for the activities that lead up to searching for information.  Her suggestions can be used to gain a more solid foundation before launching into the larger information search assignment.

Pre-Search Strategies

• Learn to read for highlights, key words, and definitions.
• Build a vocabulary of names and nouns that will likely take you to more information.
• Relax, read, and reflect / read reference materials, popular materials, items that help to feed your curiosity and that you understand.
• Brainstorm, take initial notes, categorize terms and ideas.

Generate Workable Questions

• Consider questions that interest you and will likely interest others.
• Derive questions from pre-search reading, but be prepared to revise questions as you explore more.
• Find a balance between topics that are too broad and too narrow.  Take into consideration the time you have and resources available to you.
• Consider options for presenting your findings.  What format is assigned?  What is best suited to your skills?  What is most likely to convey a meaningful presentation?  Will the format determine the kinds of illustrations, figures, and charts that you might include?