Crusaders' Marketplace!
Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Presentation | Credits |

Process:  We're using The Big 6 for Research at TAS!         

            
Click here to reach the Big Six Web Site

1.  Task Definition:  

It's QUESTION TIME because we are involved in INQUIRY!

After you have scanned the instructions on this Web Activity, make sure you understand what your task ahead is.  Ask questions until you are really sure you know what you need to learn and what you need to do!  Then...

Develop at least 3 focus questions that will help you get the information you need to do your project.  Remember that the best questions for research are FAT Questions that are open-ended and have complex answers. 

Our library lesson teaches us that the Prime Questions are great fat questions for research!  These are the Prime Questions: How...?  Why...? and Which...?

Prepare a project proposal for your humanities teacher by completing the proposal sheet.

Here are some sample projects from past Marketplaces.  These ideas are acceptable.  You can also propose researching and presenting a different artifact.  Challenge yourself!

2.  Information Seeking Strategies:
This is when you brainstorm the kinds of resources that can help you find the information you need and decide which resources to use first.  Here's help with this step:

Always plan to explore our reference sources first to get an overview of the period you are studying and the topic you might research further.  Reference sources help you develop a list of keywords for further searching.  The library provides advice on using reference sources in a video tutorial about references sources.  Using reference sources is a REQUIREMENT for this project and you can use print and online reference source (databases.)

Plan to use web sites as well as books from our non-fiction section when you are ready to go deeper and more detailed with your research. 

Pay careful attention to the recommended resources that have been pulled together by your teachers and librarian. 

Never, never, never go to Google or Wikipedia first.  They are always your LAST RESORT and wise researchers know that Google can cost you a lot of time.  Wikipedia often has inaccurate or misleading information because ANYONE can change its pages.

3.  Location and Access:  

Plan ahead:  You will need to record your resources as you locate them.  To get your works cited document started, you need to "create a new list" at Noodlebib which has a link at our library's RESOURCES web page.  You need to login using your student ID and password.  See Mrs. Carpenter's Noodlebib slide show and Noodlebib Demonstration Video if you need a reminder of steps for access.

You will locate and access resources much faster when you move in order through the resources as we suggest below.

First:  Reference Books and Reference Databases There are excellent reference books about the Crusades and Middle Ages in the REF - 900s and described at the top of this pathfinder. Here are our favorites:

 

Find great online databases at the Library' Resources Page.  Our online databases (World Book Online and Britannica are reference databases.   Our databases require passwords to use from home, so make sure you have a copy of the bright green password list from the library.  

Second:  Use key words to search in the library's catalog called DESTINY to locate nonfiction books.  We've put many titles on the Middle Ages on the red shelves at the front of our library to help speed your research.  They are on reserve during the course of this unit, so you may only use them in our library.  No check-outs till the unit's over.

Third: "Go deeper" into research with more detailed resources in EBSCO's Student Research Center .  Employ key words and Boolean Search Operators like AND and OR to speed your searches.  This 14-minute video gives instruction for fast searching and collecting articles within Ebsco. (Please have patience... the video downloads slowly.)

Fourth:  You may also consult the web sites that we recommend in our pathfinder.  Using the sites that we already found for you is faster than starting at zero with a search engine like Google.

4.  Use of Information: 
 

Engage with the resources:  Read!  Listen! View!  With your focus questions in the front of your mind, get ready to gather and record answers!

Extract and record the information that answers your focus questions.  You must take notes using the format taught in your lesson with the library.  You can take those notes on sticky notes if you like or notecards. 

For a review of the guidelines and models of proper notecards, download and click through the powerpoint presentation from the library and consult the handout used during the notetaking lesson.  You are required to complete a MINIMUM of 15 notecards for submission. Ask your teacher to look over your first 4 cards (so that we can help you improve your cards if there is anything you are not getting right.)
 

5.  Synthesis: 

Pull your information together to create the following projects for Market Day on June 3:

• an ARTIFACT (object) that you will "sell";
   

• a USER'S GUIDE with great details from your notes to give clear information about your artifact.  The USER'S GUIDE should contain: 
  
  a)  background information about your artifact,
  
  b)  physical description (this may be a diagram)
  
  c)  an explanation of the role your artifact played in the Crusades;
  
  d)  a Works Cited list in proper format that documents the sources that you used while you researched
  
  e)  a set of at least 15 notecards in proper format that you compiled while researching the answers to your focus questions.  Have them on hand because people might have questions to ask you.
   

• ADVERTISING DISPLAY POSTER.   The rubric in the next section provides design guidelines.
   

6. Evaluation:  The rubric in our "evaluation" section of this web activity (next page) provides design guidelines and criteria to help you reflect on your learning.  We hope you feel really proud of your efforts.  As you evaluate your efforts, you want to

• judge your result.  How effectively does your project show answers to the questions you were seeking information to answer?
   
• judge the process you used above.  How efficiently did you complete your research?

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Last updated on 1 May 2008 18:23:15. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page