There are a number of skills students should master by the time they start making the transition to college. A big one is how to conduct research for the inevitable amounts they’ll have to do over their next four years! A student’s experience with research typically starts in middle school, perhaps with a Wikipedia article or a vague google search. The stakes get a little higher in high school, where criteria for research sources becomes a bit more strict. Once students reach college, Wikipedia likely won’t be accepted as a legitimate source (although it depends on the professor). The level of access middle and high school students have to teacher support probably won’t be available to the same extent beyond 12th grade either. Simply put, students will be largely on their own when it comes to conducting research for college projects. And a lot of college students struggle with this.
According to Library Journal, a 2017 study found that fewer than 1 in 3 college Freshmen were equipped to carry out a research project successfully. That’s a pretty staggering statistic, considering all college students will need to do them at one point or another! Here are a few tips to get college-bound students ready to navigate the vast world of college-level research.
Mastering the Art of the Google Search
A popular place to start any 21st century search for information is google. But conducting productive searches is not as easy as it may seem. There’s an art to crafting the right search phrase. Include too many words and you’re not likely to see many results. But be too broad in your search terms and many of your results won’t fit your needs. An effective type of search is called the “Boolean Search.” This is where search phrases combine two or more terms with “AND,” “OR,” or “NOT,” in order to make searches more or less inclusive of content, or to exclude certain content from results. This is a helpful tool in making sure searches are as relevant as possible to what you’re looking for.
Take Advantage of the Campus Library
While lots of students still use good old-fashioned hard cover books for their research, library use is declining. As internet convenience increases, students would much prefer to conduct their research from the comfort of their home or dorm than have to trek out to the library. Still, the resources there are often worth the time spent. Librarians are also a valuable and under-utilized resource. In fact, since books are central to a librarian’s job, they may even be a more useful resource than a professor in finding material relevant to a student’s topic. They can point you in the right direction and help determine which books are and are not likely to contain anything useful. Research librarians are also expert at navigating online databases of journal articles that could be helpful to you.
A Note on Avoiding Plagiarism
Every student would ideally learn the lesson on avoiding plagiarism early, and the easy way—not by committing it, but by heeding the warning. Those who commit plagiarism in high school will receive anything from a zero for their grade, to a meeting with parents, to suspension. But when college students commit blatant plagiarism, the consequences are usually less reformative and more final. Students may fail the course, be removed from the course altogether, or be expelled from the college completely. This is not the way we want our students to learn not to plagiarize!
In addition to warning them against plagiarizing, give students opportunities to practice avoiding it. For any information they are including in their project that is NOT quoted, show them how to paraphrase multiple times to ensure thorough re-wording. Also teach them explicitly when to cite information, and how to format their citations. Review this often. A lot of accidental plagiarism happens because students are unclear on exactly when and how to include citations in their writing!
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