Big6 Skill 3-Location and Access

Kids at work in the library in the background while Teacher and Librarian discuss in the foreground.

Teacher:

I think this project is going very well, don’t you?

Librarian:

Yes, definitely. But the third Big6 skill, of Location and Access can stump some students. I think we should each make sure that everyone is successful in locating sources and finding their information within the sources.

Teacher:

Good idea, I’ll start with Paul.

Teacher:

Hi Paul, are you finding some good information in the encyclopedias?

Paul:

Yes, I think so. I’m really just skimming right now, but I think this article on the Middle East gives me some good background stuff.

Teacher:

Great start. Did you use the index?

Paul:

No, I just pulled out the M encyclopedia.

Teacher:

Well, I’m glad you found information, but to access all the information in the encyclopedia you should check the index. Here let me show you. Grab the last volume in this encyclopedia set. (Kid 2 brings a book) Okay, we’ll look up Middle East in the index. Look here it says that you can find information in the M encyclopedia, which you’ve found, but it also says see also, Israeli-Arab Wars. That information is in the "I" volume. And it also says that there is information under Islam, peace process, and Persian Gulf War.

Paul:

I never would have thought to look up all those articles.

Teacher:

And that is why you should use the index, especially when you’re trying to locate information within reference sources.

Paul:

Great!

***

Librarian:

How are you doing, Ronald? Why are you just sitting there?

Ronald:

Well, I’ve printed out all the WebPages that you linked to the library homepage on the Middle East. So I guess I’m done.

Librarian:

You're done?

Ronald:

Yep.

Librarian: First, did you even look at any of those web pages that you printed out? Did they answer any of your research questions? Remember the point is not to accumulate the most paper, but to answer the research questions.

Ronald:

Well, I didn’t really read them yet. I just printed them out. I can read them at home.

Librarian:

Part of step three in the Big6 research process is finding the information within a source. That means that you at least skim through it to see if it has information that helps you. I’m going to leave you alone for a while and I want you to skim through these pages and see if any of it answers some of your research papers.

Ronald:

You want me to read these?!

Librarian:

Well, Ronald, you’ve located your sources, but the other very important step is to find information within the sources. So I don’t want you to read it word for word at this point, but I want you to skim it and see if it is helpful information for this project. Otherwise, you will have to lug all that paper home. Learn to work smart!

Ronald:

Okay.

___

Teacher:

Hi, Elana. What have you done to locate and access some information?

Elana:

I contacted my neighbor and he’s going to let me interview him tonight, but I don’t know what to ask him.

Teacher:

Well, what about starting with your research questions.

Elana:

Yeah, I had planned on that, but I don’t want to sound dumb when I do this interview and some of those research questions are pretty vague.

Teacher:

I understand what you are saying. You need to find some background information.

Elana:

I guess so, but I’ve seen what Paul is finding in the reference books and I think I need something a little more specific and updated.

Teacher:

Have you looked in a magazine database?

Elana:

No. I don’t know if I’ve ever used that.

Teacher:

Let’s get Mrs. L to show us.

Elana:

All right.

___

Librarian:

I think that you will find some good information from magazine and newspaper articles. We have several different periodical databases to choose from, such as Electric Library, Infotrac. Each has strengths and weaknesses. I’d like you start your search using Ebsco which is an excellent source when you need to find information on world issues. (Show EBSCO SOFTWARE)

Elana:

Do you search this just like the Internet or the library catalog?

Librarian:

Exactly. Of course, each database allows you to search a little differently. For example, EBSCO allows you to limit your search to specific article dates.

Elana:

That will help me find just recent information.

Librarian:

True. You can also use the index to search for your topic.

Elana:

Which is better?

Librarian:

Sometimes you will need to try it both ways, but personally, I will always search the index first. If you find information using the index, it will be on the topic. That isn’t always the case when you search using a keyword. Remember when we had false hits when we searched by keyword on the Internet? Just because the word shows up in the article doesn’t mean that the article accurately answers your research questions.

Elana:

Okay, let’s try it. (SHOW SEARCH)…

What luck, this article, right here looks like it will be helpful.

Teacher:

Great, you should get your bibliography information at this point. Since you are using an online magazine database, you need to write down the information for the print magazine and the online information. (SHOW ON SCREEN) See here it shows you what the magazine title is, the date, and the author. You’ll need that. You will also need the information for EBSCO as you see it here.

Elana:

I get it.

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Librarian:

Okay Ronald, how useful was that information you printed out?

Ronald:

Well, so far, this stack isn’t any good. This stack has information I can use. I wish I hadn’t printed all this other stuff out, but remember the last time I did a research project; I found good stuff and then didn’t print it and couldn’t find it again.

Librarian:

That’s a common problem, Ronald. Try printing out just your search results, or your hit list. Let me show you (SHOW ON COMPUTER). Do your search again, just like you did before.

Ronald:

Okay…. There.

Librarian:

Okay, now you know that some of these will be helpful and some won’t be. But at this point you usually don’t know which is which, so if you print out this list, like so (SHOW ON COMPUTER) you will have the title and URL to go back to if you run out of time to print out the good ones now! You can make your hand written notes on this print out too.

Ronald:

Good idea, Mrs. L!

_____

Paul:

Hey Mrs. L, I think I found some good information in the encyclopedia and I found a few books on the topic too.

Librarian:

Great. (to everyone). Okay people the bell is about to ring. Gather up your resources and clean up after yourselves. Join us here at the front of the library.

Teacher:

We have a few minutes left, so let’s review how you did on BIG6 step #3? What did you do well?

Ronald:

I printed out my results list so I’ll remember how to get back to my good Internet resources!

Elana:

I found a good site and e-mailed myself the URL so I can look at it more at home

Paul:

I found out that the search engine Google automatically highlights all the keywords in every WebPages it finds so it is really easy to find out if your hits are good or not.

Librarian:

Wow that is helpful, I didn’t know that. What could have gone better for you?

Ronald:

I printed out a lot of stuff I didn’t need, because I didn’t take the time to skim through it and see if it was helpful or not.

Elana:

Some of the websites I went to were down.

Paul:

Some of the books I would have liked to use were already checked out.

Librarian:

Sometimes, research can be frustrating, but overall, I’m very impressed with how you are doing.

Teacher:

We’ll meet back here tomorrow. Remember to bring any information you found today as well as highlighters, notecards, pencils, and any other research tools you can think of. See you tomorrow.