M.O.M.S. Library
  • About
    • About Our Library
    • Calendar
    • After School
    • Exercise Machines
    • Peer Tutoring
    • M.O.M.S. Film Studio
    • Adobe Digital Art Studio
    • Music Production Studio
    • Animal Club >
      • Animal Club Sign Up >
        • Animal Club Sign Up
    • SciFi Convention
    • Returns
    • Survey
  • Read
    • Find a Book (Destiny)
    • Resources >
      • How to Research >
        • How to Research
        • Databases
        • Site Evaluation
        • Thesis Statement
        • Plagarism
        • Paraphrasing
        • Primary Sources
        • Perspective & Bias
        • MLA Citations
      • Pathfinders
      • Web 2.0 Tools
      • Audio & Video
      • Online Reference
      • Research Websites >
        • Sciences >
          • Animals
          • Science
          • Health
        • Arts & Literature >
          • Music
          • Authors
        • History & Politics >
          • Causes
          • Authors
          • Current Events
          • Timelines
          • Reference
        • People & Places >
          • Countries
          • Ancient Civs
          • People
          • Multicultural
          • Careers
    • Find an E-Book
    • Rewards
  • Tech
    • Research @ M.O.M.S.
    • Google Apps >
      • Google Docs
      • Google Presentations
      • Google Sheets
      • Google Forms
      • Google Calendar
      • G-mail
    • Cite Sources (EasyBib)
    • Student Tech Team
  • Surveys
    • Web Design - PreTest
    • Tech Startup Pretest
  • Skypes

Research How-To

_There are many different models to explain how people do research. One of the most universally accepted, and most relevant to 21st Century research and thinking is called "Berry Picking."

What is Berry Picking?

Picture
_Berry Picking is a metaphor for how people research in the 21st Century. When picking through a field of berries, there's just so many of them from which to choose, and you have to choose what you like most. When you find a good one, it often is growing near other ripe berries, and that way leads you to more of what you're seeking.

Similarly, when doing 21st Century research, the problem is not typically finding information, it's evaluating it and selecting it. Information has become so abundant, but most of what's available is not of high quality. From this point of view, the key questions have evolved. No longer is the only relevant question, "How do I find information?"

Picture
_Other important questions requiring attention include:

1. How do I choose a research topic that interests me? Or how can I fine-tune my assigned topic to be something about which I can excited?

2. How do I know useful information from what is incorrect, misleading or just plain useless?

3. Why do I need to cite sources? And why does the quality of those sources matter?

4. How do I use multiple types of media and sources to best track down relevant and high quality information?

5. What is the point of writing a research paper? Outside of pleasing my teachers, for what are these skills used and why is it relevant in life?
Picture
__

  • When poor information is so abundant and easy to find, motivation, focus, and purpose become especially important. And with Wikipedia and Google so readily available, the assignment becomes much easier to do, but much more difficult to do well.



References:

Bates, Marcia J. "Berrypicking." Theories of Information Behavior. By Karen E. Fisher, Sanda Erdelez, and Lynne McKechnie. Medford, NJ: Published for the American Society for Information Science and Technology by Information Today, 2005. 58-62. Print.