Organise
Organise is the 4th step of the Research Process
At this stage of the process we should ask:
• Have I enough relevant information for my purpose?
• How can I best organise and categorise my information?
• How can I best bookmark and and retrieve my information sources?
• How can I ensure I understand the information using SQ3R?
• How can I best summarise and paraphrase the information
• How do I use and present this information?
• How do I reference my information sources
At this stage of the process we should ask:
• Have I enough relevant information for my purpose?
• How can I best organise and categorise my information?
• How can I best bookmark and and retrieve my information sources?
• How can I ensure I understand the information using SQ3R?
• How can I best summarise and paraphrase the information
• How do I use and present this information?
• How do I reference my information sources
Categorising
Once you have evaluated your information sources to determine that they are relevant and reliable, you will need to organise them by grouping them into categories. You may want to use a graphic organiser such as a Lotus Chart to help you visualise the categories and sub topics.
How you group them will depend on your particular research project. If undertaking research for a school assessment, it it makes sense to break your assessment task into sub topics and use these as titles for your categories.
Using a hypothetical example: Say your assessment task was:
Analyse the hierarchical social structure and individual roles of Medieval Japanese society under the Shoguns.
Your category titles might be:
- Emperor
- Shogun
- Daimyo
- Samurai
- Ronin
- Peasants/farmers
- Artisans
- Merchants
You would then group your information sources under these headings.
You may prefer to use a graphic organiser such as a Lotus Chart to help you visualise the categories and sub topics and help synthesise the information.
Once you have evaluated your information sources to determine that they are relevant and reliable, you will need to organise them by grouping them into categories. You may want to use a graphic organiser such as a Lotus Chart to help you visualise the categories and sub topics.
How you group them will depend on your particular research project. If undertaking research for a school assessment, it it makes sense to break your assessment task into sub topics and use these as titles for your categories.
Using a hypothetical example: Say your assessment task was:
Analyse the hierarchical social structure and individual roles of Medieval Japanese society under the Shoguns.
Your category titles might be:
- Emperor
- Shogun
- Daimyo
- Samurai
- Ronin
- Peasants/farmers
- Artisans
- Merchants
You would then group your information sources under these headings.
You may prefer to use a graphic organiser such as a Lotus Chart to help you visualise the categories and sub topics and help synthesise the information.
Google Keep Mobile Application. Dreamstime.com -
ID 128079918 © Dennizn
But what if your information sources are online in digital format?
The easiest way to organise your online information is to use an online bookmarking or content creation tool.
A good example of this type of tool is Google Keep.
Google Keep has both a desktop version and a mobile app. Importantly, Google Keep is now officially a part of G Suite for Education and easily integrates with Google Docs and Google Calendar.
When researching, you can use Google Keep to bookmark web pages for easy retrieval. As you save them you can apply a label, or category, to keep your information sources well organised for easy retrieval.
Watch the tutorial to see how easy it is to bookmark and label websites.
In fact, Google Keep has loads more functions to help keep your whole life organised!
Chrome Extension
When using desktop or laptop computers, it is super easy to add the
Google Keep Chrome Extension (even on school or work computers)
[Note you will need to first sign into your Google account]
The easiest way to organise your online information is to use an online bookmarking or content creation tool.
A good example of this type of tool is Google Keep.
Google Keep has both a desktop version and a mobile app. Importantly, Google Keep is now officially a part of G Suite for Education and easily integrates with Google Docs and Google Calendar.
When researching, you can use Google Keep to bookmark web pages for easy retrieval. As you save them you can apply a label, or category, to keep your information sources well organised for easy retrieval.
Watch the tutorial to see how easy it is to bookmark and label websites.
In fact, Google Keep has loads more functions to help keep your whole life organised!
Chrome Extension
When using desktop or laptop computers, it is super easy to add the
Google Keep Chrome Extension (even on school or work computers)
[Note you will need to first sign into your Google account]
Once added to Chrome, the Google Keep extension icon is found at the top right of your Chrome browser.
Below is an example of how you might set up labels in Google Keep to organise information when researching the hypothetical assessment task mentioned above:
Analyse the hierarchical social structure and individual roles of Medieval Japanese society under the Shoguns.
Analyse the hierarchical social structure and individual roles of Medieval Japanese society under the Shoguns.
Watch the following tutorials to learn more about Google Keep functions:
- Google Keep bookmarking and annotations
- 9 Google Keep Tips for Your Phone
- Google Keep bookmarking and annotations
- 9 Google Keep Tips for Your Phone
Information skills for the Organise step
Students should:
• Review the purpose of the task
• Reject any information not relevant to the task
• Bookmark relevant websites in Google Keep or other online bookmarking tool
• Categorise relevant information under labels or subheadings
• Read for understanding using SQ3R
• Highlight important points and take notes using Cornell Note Taking or create a Mind Map
• Summarise and paraphrase the information
• Combine the units of information into a structure or outline
• Review the structure in light of the purpose of the task
• Adjust the structure where necessary
• Collate bibliographic details for referencing
Core Skills
Analyse
Capture
Chart
Categorise
Classify
Collect
Compare
Compose
Describe
Evaluate
Explain
Group
Highlighting
Measure
Note taking
Organise
Paraphrase
Record
Retrieve
Summarise
To the next stage - Present
Back to the Research Process page
Students should:
• Review the purpose of the task
• Reject any information not relevant to the task
• Bookmark relevant websites in Google Keep or other online bookmarking tool
• Categorise relevant information under labels or subheadings
• Read for understanding using SQ3R
• Highlight important points and take notes using Cornell Note Taking or create a Mind Map
• Summarise and paraphrase the information
• Combine the units of information into a structure or outline
• Review the structure in light of the purpose of the task
• Adjust the structure where necessary
• Collate bibliographic details for referencing
Core Skills
Analyse
Capture
Chart
Categorise
Classify
Collect
Compare
Compose
Describe
Evaluate
Explain
Group
Highlighting
Measure
Note taking
Organise
Paraphrase
Record
Retrieve
Summarise
To the next stage - Present
Back to the Research Process page
Our Virtual Library by Cathy Costello is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Cathy Costello teacher librarian virtual library