Re: [LM_NET] Hit: Paperless Research

[Sara Kelly Johns <sarakellyjohns@YAHOO.COM>]

Hi, Mary--I didn't participate in this thread in time
to be included in your hit but I would like to comment
about the senior English project that I am currently
immersed in right at the moment and Jacqui's and
others' comments.

To organize their thesis topics, the students are
using graphic organizers from Joyce Valenza's revised
Power Tools that they received as Microsoft word
files. They are using books,reference books, online
databases and free web sites--whatever is appropriate
for their topics--immersing themselves in their
research by reading and reflecting and then making
their notes (including citations) in Word. Yes, they
are copying and pasting chunks of relevant info from
web sites and online articles, but they also copy and
paste bibliographic information. They've found that it
takes only seconds to copy and paste a URL and it
makes their lives so much easier ;-D.

Their drafts and final papers, including Works Cited
pages, are going to be corrected and e-mailed back to
them by their teacher (I corrected the citations)
using the Word reviewing tool bar.

They are required to include the use of books for
their depth (or at least check for some, including
ILL) but are much more comfortable taking notes from
the books, recording citation info and page numbers
for parenthetical references directly into a word
processing document than taking those note on note
cards and then into a WP processing document. I've
watched students write "fake" note cards for teachers
who still require them after taking good notes using
word processing documents.

Students without computers at home (and those with) do
have access to library and other labs' computers for
typing, saving on the server so they can use computers
anywhere.

We're still tweaking this as we do it, but the teacher
is creative and we have used the development of
authentic questions, pre-research and the use of
graphic organizers (Inspiration would work well but we
don't have a license for enough students yet) to
revise a standard project that is closer to how
students will actually do their research in college in
a few months--with an emphasis on evaluation of
information and the use of all types of sources in
valid ways.

The students' work will be submitted paperlessly (we
plan anyway) but print resources/books are being found
"helpful" by students (to their amazement) since they
don't have to make traditional note cards.

Hopefully, the process will serve them well. It's not
revolutionary but sometimes it takes "dynamite" to
change how a teacher designs a long-time research
project to include 21st-century students' own
techniques and all available resources so I am having
fun with this teacher and these kids!

Best, Sara Kelly Johns
>
>
>
>
> --- Mary Willen <marywillen@THESTJOHNSCHOOL.ORG>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi Everyone,
> > The response to this query was amazing and
> Ireceived
> > loads of ideas. This really is the best listserv.
> > Many thanks to Beth and Jacqui for letting me
> quote
> > them and the links. I apologize for taking so long
> > to get this up.
> >
> > Original Request: I thought if this has been done
> > anywhere it was done here! Has anyone
> > taught a research class to middle school students
> > where there is nopaper used? It is all done on the
> > computer. Students cut and paste cites from the
> > Internet, hi-light their information, write
> outlines
> > and thencomplete their paper all on the computer.
> Is
> > this an effective way to teach these skills? Does
> > the risk of plagiarism increase? I would love to
> > hear from anyone who has tried it. If there is any
> > interest I will post a hit.
> >
> > Some people had some of the following
> > questions/concerns?
> > a)Have they all learned keyboarding well enough so
> > they don't think
> > better with the pencil?
> > b)What do they write the outlines on?
> >
>
***********************************************************************
> > Responses: From Beth
> > We are trying this in a collaborative lesson that
> I
> > am doing with a history
> > teacher. However, it is not required that the
> final
> > project be paperless-
> > but they do have to provide an electronic project
> to
> > me for uploading to the
> > website, and they are supposed to be using the
> forms
> > that we give them
> > online to organize their project.
> >
> > We're still fine tuning the project, but I've
> > "hidden" it on my website so
> > that the teacher and I can both look at it. If you
> > go to
> > www.pelhamweb.org/phslibrary
> > Then scroll down and click on strauss at the
> bottom,
> > you'll come up to the
> > first page of it.
> > Thanks Beth
> >
>
************************************************************************
> > From Jacquie – Thanks so much!
> > I am very interested in this concept. I was hired
> to
> > do some research this summer and I realized just
> how
> > much the internet has changed research. It made me
> > realize that teaching research
> > withoutacknowledgement of these changes is not a
> > good idea. The biggest thing that I question is
> the
> > use of note cards. Kids have been ignoring this
> step
> > for decades - and with the advent of the computer
> -
> > it is even more irrelevant. I think teachers feel
> > that if they encourage students to take notes by
> > copying and pasting & typing notes directly into
> > word documents - they will be encouraging
> > plagiarism. But - bottom line -
> > cut and paste and writing rough drafts and notes
> > directly on the computer are here to stay.
> Students
> > will do their research this way - regardless of
> what
> > teachers and librarians teach them. I think that
> > teachers need to catch up with the realities of
> > internet research.
> >
> > I will say this though. I have a problem with
> > students doing EVERYTHING on the computer. I know
> > that we would like to save paper. But doing
> > everything on the computer just does not allow the
> > thinking time that students need to do thoughtful
> > research. Doing everything on the computer is
> > assembling research - not processing the facts and
> > opinions into real knowledge and creating
> something
> > new with that
> > information. To do that, students should be
> printing
> > out articles, reading books, copying pertinent
> > sections of the books and then going away from the
> > computers, printers and copiers to READ what they
> > have printed and THINK about what they have
> printed.
> > As they read, ideas will come to them. As these
> > ideas present themselves - students should write
> the
> > ideas in the margins, highlight pertinent sections
> > in the readings etc. Then - when they go back to
> the
> > computer, hopefully they will be able to put
> > subheadings into their note-taking file and start
> > typing their notes & citations under the headings.
> > Students should be learn to be ever vigilant about
> > using quotes if quoting directly and using
> citations
> > if what they are typing came from a particular
> > source. Once the notes are taken, students should
> be
> > taught to step away from the computer again for
> some
> > more thinking/organizing time. This will be the
> time
> > that they really formulate their own opinions
> about
> > their research and decide exactly how they will
> > present it and where they will put their own
> > thoughts and interpretations. They will do this by
> > printing their notes and reading them and taking
> > margin notes again. Then they will go back and use
> > their notes to start writing.
> > Here is another problem - the issue of those
> > students who do not have access to computers at
> > home. They will have to do the long-hand method of
> > note taking etc. Here is where the "digital
> divide"
> > needs to be addressed. Still - it hardly seems
> > efficient to not teach anyone to use technology
> for
> > writing research papers because a few do not have
> > home computers. Obviously the "few" will be much
> > larger in low income areas.
> > I posted a hit on this topic last summer. Here is
> > the link to it:
> >
>
http://www.eduref.org/plweb-cgi/fastweb?getdoc+listservs+LM_NET+202093+45+wAAA+Jacquie%26Henry
> >
>
************************************************************************
> > It is possible I've done it on a small schedule
> (one
> > paragraph) I do think however that I prefer having
> > kids take notes hand written first unless they
> > already have
> > exceptional ability to taking brief, concise
> notes.
> >
>
***********************************************************************
> > I think if a student knows how to take notes,
> > they'll be fine.I might start off with a quick
> note
> > taking lesson (one note per index card, or on the
> > computer divide a Word document into subjects and
> > keep notes like that).You'll have to excuse me --
> I
> > don't really take notes.I have been writing on
> > nutrition, a topic I know well, so I'm able to
> just
> > write
> > about it.Then I find the articles that support my
> > position and add in the information.
> >
>
***********************************************************************
> > If I was a seventh grader, I would divide a Word
> > document up into subjects and I would make a brief
> > outline on the topic I wanted to include in my
> > paper.Then I would brainstorm all of the ideas I
> > could muster about each topic and put a few
> > paragraphs together.
> >
>
***********************************************************************
> > The best thing has been a purchase of a formatting
> > program called
> > StyleEase (www.styleease.com).You can buy it with
> > APA formatting or two other
> > choices.
> >
>
**********************************************************
> > I am not sure if this is the one, but I like
> > NoteStar (http://notestar.4teachers.org/) created
> by
> > the PT3 grant in Kansas. It is really easy to use,
> > safe, and amazing! They have lots of great tools
> at
> > http://hprtec.org which is one of the many reasons
> > to fight hard for
> > the funding not to change.
> >
>
**********************************************************************
> > I have seen teachers use Inspiration for the
> > notetaking (diagram view),
> > and outlining / organizing stages (outline
> view).The
> > outline is then
> > used as a plan for writing the essay in word.
> >
>
*********************************************************************
> > Inspiration has been highly recommended for note
> > taking but if you can’t afford it the University
> > of West Florida has a good free alternative at
> > http://cmap.ihmc.us/. It allows you and your
> > students to share your maps across the Internet.
> > FreeMind and Open Mind are two additional free
> > alternatives. ClaiMaker
> > (http://claimaker.open.ac.uk/) is specifically
> > designed for academics to construct arguments and
> > debates. One possibility is to have each student
> up
> > a space at Web Collaborator (free and private
> > http://www.webcollaborator.com/) to store notes
> that
> > are editable. They can also be downloaded as Word
> or
> > PDF documents later.
> >
> > A program that I find helpful with brainstorming
> is
> > Inspiration.Inspiration is good because it makes
> the
> > students focus on the key ideas - if they copy and
> > paste too much the bubbles get too large!It's also
> > very easy to organize all the ideas once they are
> > collected, into the format for the essay.The only
> > tricky bit is keeping track of the
> > sources of the information - note view seems to
> work
> > OK for that.
> > This was done with final year high school students
> > who did have some understanding of the concepts of
> > note taking and essay planning.
> >
> >
>
************************************************************************
> > Plagiarism, which can be a problem whether you use
> > paperless research or not. Do a web search on
> > “antiplagiarism strategies” or “preventing
> > plagiarism” and you’ll get plenty of good
> > suggestions for designing your project. Some tools
> > to check for plagiarism once projects are the free
> > Plagiarism Sleuth (http://tinyurl.com/6bsh2) or
> the
> > not-free TurnItIn (www.turnitin.com) or EVE2 at
> > http://www.canexus.com/eve/index.shtml for
> detecting
> > plagiarism and it is only $20.00
> >
>
***********************************************************************
> >
> >
> > Mary Willen
> > Teacher/Librarian
> > The St. John School on Gifft Hill
> > PO Box 1657
> > St John USVI 00831
> > Phone (340) 776-1730
> > Fax (340) 775-2455
> > email: marywillen@thestjohnschool.org
> > website: www.thestjohnschool.org
> >
> >
> >
>
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>
>
> Lake Placid Middle/Senior HS LMC
> 34 School Street
> Lake Placid, NY 12946
> 518-523-2474, ext. 4132
> FAX: 518-523-4861
> johns@northnet.org
> SaraKJohns@aol.com
>
> "Information is the currency of democracy." --
> Thomas Jefferson
>


Lake Placid Middle/Senior HS LMC
34 School Street
Lake Placid, NY 12946
518-523-2474, ext. 4132
FAX: 518-523-4861
johns@northnet.org
SaraKJohns@aol.com

"Information is the currency of democracy." -- Thomas Jefferson

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