Junior High Lesson Plans for the Library
In junior high, students begin to conduct research for their school assignments. Since research is an important component of most high school courses, students need to perfect the skill in order to succeed in high school. Teachers can show students how to conduct research effectively by utilizing library resources.
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Electronic Research
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Many research sources are available electronically. Most school libraries allow students to search for books in the library through the library website. Many libraries also subscribe to academic journals and magazines, which students can also access through a library's website. In addition, students can use library computers to search the Internet. Boolean operators, techniques that help users narrow electronic searches (for example, typing "NOT" before a word will exclude a term from a search) can serve as a helpful lesson for students searching a library catalog for the first time. Provide students with a list of books, journal articles and Web pages on the Internet, some more obscure than others, that students have to find using Boolean search terms and then briefly summarize their content.
The Cataloging System
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Students will benefit from understanding how a library is organized. Normally, books in a library are numbered according to the Dewey Decimal System (DDS), which students can use to find books the references for which they found on a library website search engine. Libraries generally categorize books by genre, such as fiction and nonfiction. After touring the library with students, pair them off and--with only a list of Dewy Decimal references--have them write down the book titles. You can even make it a competition to see which pair finds all the books first--but have the students do the books in different orders so not all students are going for the same book at once.
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Evaluating Research
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Students need to learn that not all sources are created equal. Many pages on the Internet are not acceptable sources of authority, particularly when there is no way to verify an author's credentials. Teaching a lesson about how to evaluate web sources will help students find sources that are scholarly or legitimate. Websites that end in ".edu," ".ac" or ".gc" are generally considered reliable sources of information. Students should avoid pages like chat rooms, forums and social networking sites when researching. Give students a topic for which they have to find five credible sources for during class.
Copyright and Plagiarism
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Any lesson on research is incomplete without covering copyright and plagiarism. A copyright protects an author's writing by making it illegal to photocopy that person's book in full. Plagiarism--using someone else's ideas without crediting them--is a serious offence that is often met with severe consequences, such as a grade of zero for an assignment. Students will need to know how to properly cite research using MLA or APA citation. Show students quotations and references taken from articles and ask whether they have been properly cited or not.
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References
Resources
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