1. The Research Process

LILO will help you develop "Information Literacy."

People who are "Information Literate" know:

  1. When information is needed to solve a problem
  2. Where and how to look for information
  3. How to verify if an information source is reliable, accurate and useful
  4. How to properly integrate the information found with his or her own ideas
  5. How to ethically use the information created by others in a paper, and avoid plagiarism ("idea theft")
  6. How to construct citations to source documents used so others can find the originals if necessary

Research is often a cyclical process. Researchers study a problem, propose solutions and test them, and then evaluate the results. Results can prompt more questions, and the process of creating solutions, testing, and evaluation repeats. When a researcher is satisfied that the data is stable and reliable enough to share with others, s/he publishes it in journal article and book form, and looks forward to comments and suggestions from other experts in the field.

The short video in the Related Link above demonstrates the cyclical nature of research conducted on an event about school violence and the psychology of alienated youth.