Step One

an essay question:

How has information technology changed education?

Discuss.

Identify the key words in this question.

Step Two

With close reference to the library help resource (below) conduct a search in the library data base.

For this search we are going to use the APAFT data base.

• To go to the La Trobe library homepage and up the top where it says SEARCH click on the DATABASES tab.
• When it takes you to SUBJECT AREA, scroll down the pull down menu until you get to HUMANITIES. Scroll down until you find AUSTRALIAN STUDIES/HISTORY.
• When you click GO, it will take you to a list of data bases.
• The second one on the list is APAFT (Informit). This is the data base you choose.

Step Three

Now you have your data base, you need to enter your key words. A suggestion is that initially you enter just one key term like 'information technology' and connect it to just one key word until you see what your results are. Remember to put 'information technology' in quotation marks so it gets treated as a term in the search. If you have thousands of results then keep adding key terms separated by AND until you filter them down to a manageable number. Remember to select the 'full text' option so that you are only linked to articles that you can actually access and read. Remember also to sort by date. Try to select resources that are not more than 3 years old.

Step Four

Once you have a manageable number of appropriate resources then scroll through and identify the most relevant. Then scroll through your shortlist and select the most useful of those. You may have to read a few to make an informed decision.

Step Five

Once you have made your final selection, read through the article carefully using academic reading strategies (Link here toreading strategies in a..e@uni). Make notes from the article . In the template provided, (linkhere) record the full reference in APA 6 (remember to link to the referencing guide if you need help). Using the template provided above and working from your notes, summarise the articleWhenyour summary is complete, the explanation of how appropriate the article would be to a student researching the essay question.

Step Six

Now you need to repeat all of the previous steps except using Google Scholar instead of the data base. Guidance for using Google Scholar can be found here -View Support for using Google Scholar

Some useful tips are:

• In Google Scholar you will get many more results so you will probably need to keep refining with key terms to get manageable and properly filtered results.
• To check that you have the most recent publications (choose within the last 3-5 years), you can also select from the date sorting on the left hand side.
• Remember again to use quotation marks and to capitalise the 'AND'.

Step Seven

Once you have identified a manageable number of appropriate resources then repeat steps four and five. Your selected resource needs to be entered in the template just as you did previously.

Step Eight

Now that you have recorded and annotated your references in the template, you need to reflection on theprocess of doing research. Remember that this is not about the essay topic but about the research process. short (approximately) reflection on the differences you have identified between doing a wikipedia search (assessment 2) and engaging in scholarly research (Assessment 3). Your response should also answer the following questions:

• Did you find the research easier than you thought or more difficult?
• Which search terms did you use to find your articles and how much filtering/search adjustment did you need to do (please detail the process of each search)?
• Had you ever previously used this type of research process?
• What do you think made it so?
• Were you able to get help and advice when you needed it?
• Next time you need to do research would you be more likely to use the data bases or to use Google Scholar?
• Why?
• Before you enrolled at university, were you aware that doing your own research would be such a large and important part of the journey?