Research Tools

A school that focuses mainly on experiential education has to recognize that a big part of learning from an experience is often using the ideas and experiences of others, either for technical knowledge, historical context, or comparison of information. That is what research is. The trick is to figure out just what you need to know, then to find this knowledge/context/information and decide what parts of it are useful to you. (Not surprisingly, this is also more or less what you have to do with the results of your own experiences.) The first part (figuring out your need) is really part of the PRIORITIZATION process (G.3), or possibly the LEARNING PLAN (A.2). The last part (picking and choosing) of this is mostly dealt with in the large section ORGANIZATIONAL TOOLS (G), especially the NOTE-TAKING section (G.6). The middle (finding) part of it is dealt with here.

Two important points dealing with research in general:

First, ALWAYS give credit where credit is due. Books, periodicals, encyclopedias, interviews, and pamphlets all have their own kinds of BIBLIOGRAPHY entries (section E).
Second, it is probably helpful to know that many academicians think that three sources is a good number to have when researching a topic. That way, you are somewhat less likely to be fooled by some author who didn't know what he was talking about, and you are more likely to be able to synthesize several points of view into a new vision.

Here are the topics in this section:
F.1. LIBRARIES
F.2. SCHOOLS
F.3. GOVERNMENT AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS
F.4. COMPUTER NETWORKS
F.5. INTERVIEWS
F.6. OBSERVATION

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