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Search an online dictionary written specifically for young students. Kid-friendly meanings from the reference experts at Merriam-Webster help students build and master vocabulary.

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Find Definitions Written for Kids | Merriam-Webster Student Dictionary

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Kid-friendly meanings from the reference experts at Merriam-Webster help students build and master vocabulary.

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Research Websites for Kids - Free electronic resources for student research by Pat Perez | This newsletter was created with Smore, an online tool for creating beautiful newsletters for educators, nonprofits, businesses and more

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What are the essential research strategies for students?

Not so long ago, accessing information required legwork. Actual legwork in the form of actually walking to the library and searching through the numerous books organized using an archaic system called the Dewey Decimal System.

Things are much less complicated these days. In this wired age, accessing information is as simple as pressing a few buttons on a laptop or swiping your finger across a cell phone screen.

While this 24/7 online access to information represents impressive progress, we still need to ensure our students develop the necessary research skills and strategies that allow them to access the correct information, evaluate it for accuracy, and then plan for its use in our own work accordingly - whatever the student's age.

In this article, we will look at solid research skills that will benefit students of all ages. Some of these are evergreen old-school strategies, while others are shiny new. Regardless, each is designed to help students from elementary through to high school make the most of the information to research effectively.

The skills described below represent the essential skills and strategies our students will require. They can begin to develop these in elementary school and build on those foundations as they progress through middle school and high school.

After examining these skills, we provide you with a series of activities organized hierarchically and categorized according to the approximate school stage they correspond to. These can also be dipped into and mixed and matched according to the particular abilities of your specific students.

Online Research Strategies

Research is essential to the writing process; students will stumble at the first hurdle without the necessary skills. Research skills help students locate the required relevant information and evaluate its reliability. Developing excellent research skills ultimately enables students to become their teachers.

Let's now look at the most important of these research skills.
Research Tip # 1. Use Search Engine Shortcuts
Good research begins with asking good questions. This also applies to employing search engines, such as Google, DuckDuckGo, and Yahoo, effectively.

The Internet is an almost inexhaustible collection of information and is constantly growing. Search engines are a tool that helps us filter that information down to the exact piece of knowledge we are seeking. This is achieved primarily through the careful selection of search terms. The specificity of the search terms used is key to successfully navigating the immense ocean of information available on the 'net.

The more refined our search queries are, the more likely the search engine will return relevant information to us and the less time we will waste in the process.

As Google is the most popular search engine out there, here are some quick tips to ensure you and your students are getting the most out of your Google searches. However, note that many of these strategies also work on other search engines.

Placing your search terms inside quotation marks ("") ensures Google searches for the whole phrase, not just occurrences of the individual words in the phrase. This minimizes guesswork on the part of Google and ensures only the most relevant pages are returned to you.

English contains a lot of ambiguity. While this is great for the poets among us, it can make researching some terms problematic. For example, if you search for the term ' toast' meaning speech, you may also get many results related to the much-loved breakfast staple. Simply type ' toast -breakfast' into the search bar to remove results related to this meaning. This tells Google only to return results including 'toast' and to exclude those results also containing the term 'breakfast.'

Sometimes we come across a site that is a real treasure trove of information but where information is poorly indexed on the site menus. Luckily, there is a way to search the content on a specific site. To do this, simply type the search terms into the search bar followed by ' site:' and then the particular site URL. For example, if we wanted to search the Literacy Ideas website for mentions of the term 'Visual Literacy', we would enter:
visual literacy site:literacyideas.com
We highly recommend this resource for using Google search as a research tool with students. It is very comprehensive.
Research Tip # 2. Check Your Sources
The popular Internet meme quoting Abraham Lincoln states, "Don't believe everything you read on the Internet."

In this era of Fake News, we are constantly reminded of the unreliability of much of the information presented as truth on the web. We (and our students) must have some strategies to assess the accuracy and validity of the information we come across.

A good starting point is to ask yourself the following questions when assessing new information:

● Is this information up-to-date?

● Is this information detailed?

● Is the author identified?

● Is the author qualified on the topic?

● Are sources cited?

● Does the information come from a trusted source?

When searching, encourage students to consider the importance of domains, such as .com, .org, . gov, and . edu. These are not all created equally. For example, .com and .org domains are classed as 'open,' meaning anyone can register on them. They are usually used for commercial reasons.

Other domains are classed as 'closed,' such as .gov and .edu, and registrantsmust meet specific eligibility requirements to register these. For example, in the case of .edu, registration is limited to accredited post-secondary institutions in the United States.

Depending on the purpose of your search, the domain you choose to search may have implications for the reliability and usefulness of the results returned.

To choose which type of domain to search, type 'site', followed by a colon, and then the domain after your chosen search terms.

For example, if you wish to search for the term ' American presidents' on .edu sites, simply type:
American presidents site:edu
One downside of the widespread instant and free availability of information on the Internet is the erosion of intellectual property rights and the inevitable increase in plagiarism.

To combat this, we must ensure our students avoid plagiarism and respect copyright rights by adequately citing sources used.

When engaged in writing essays, students should be familiar with how to use quotation marks, compile notes, and structure a bibliography. When citing online sources, they should also be familiar with the conventions related to citing URLs.

Just how detailed citations are will depend mainly on the age and ability of the students in question.

Many excellent free online resources help to format citations correctly, some of which can automatically create formatted citations. For example, Citation Machine and Citation Builder provide this service. Google Docs also has an add-on feature that automatically generates bibliographies and footnotes according to various citation styles, e.g., Chicago, APA, MLA, etc.

Research Skills Activities
Elementary School Students
Providing a basic overview of the various research strategies is sufficient for this age group.

Discussions about what research is and why we do it are excellent places to start developing research skills.

These discussions will open up possibilities for students to acquire the necessary vocabulary to develop research skills.

Some topics and areas to focus these discussions on could include:

How to ask questions about simple research topics

The concept of keywords - what are they, and how do they work?

A general overview of search engines, e.g., Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, Yahoo

A basic explanation of sources

Simple note-taking skills

Researching in the library the "old school" way

Elementary Practice Activities
Ask the students to choose their favorite animal for a class presentation at the end. Students can start by generating research questions to fuel their investigations. Areas they might want to look at could include habitat, life cycle, population numbers, diet, etc.

This activity allows the students to engage in basic 'hands-on' research on the Internet. This will allow them to practice using keyword search terms to locate helpful information.

Organize the students into 'research groups' and provide the groups with a simple topic and a list of questions to research online. For example, the topic might be The Solar System, and some questions they might research could include:

How many planets are in the solar system?

What is the name of the closest planet to the sun?

Which is the most giant planet in the solar system?

Which is the smallest?

How many moons does Jupiter have?

How long does it take for Venus to orbit the sun?

What is the name of the planet furthest from the sun?

The winning team will be the team to find all the correct answers the quickest.

Another variation of the individual research project is to do a whole class project on a larger scale. For example, students could choose a favorite holiday, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Eid, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, etc., and research multiple aspects of it. For example:

What are the roots of this festival?

What is its significance?

What types of gifts are given?

What food is associated with this holiday?

Are certain clothes, customs, or traditions associated with it?

The findings of this research could form classroom displays, presentations, exhibits, etc.
Middle School Students
Students are ready to begin using more sophisticated research skills and strategies at this age. Some things to focus on with middle school-aged students include:

A more detailed explanation of sources and how to determine their credibility

Examination of online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia - explore how they may not always be reliable but can be a good resource for locating other more credible sources.

The use of domains such "edu" "org" "gov" and how they can be used to identify sources

Practice using simple shortcuts that can be used when searching online

Discussions on planning and keeping organized notes, e.g., journals, checklists, templates, etc.

Middle School Practice Activities
As students begin dealing with more complex and larger volumes of information, they'll need to develop strategies to help them condense and record information for later use in the writing process.

To help them develop this skill, set the students a how-to research task. Choose a task suited to your students' ages and abilities, for example, anything from How to Bake Cookies to How to Construct a Bridge.

This is an opportunity for your students to develop their note-taking abilities helping them record the important information from their research activities. You may also want them to make visualizations such as diagrams, infographics, and charts, which are valuable techniques for recording the fruits of the research labor.

Organize students into suitably sized groups and provide them with a topic to investigate. Countries work well. Each group will assign a team member to research a specific aspect of their country, and they will pool their findings at the end to develop a presentation or classroom display. Some aspects worthy of research may include:
High School Students
At this stage, the focus moves on from merely finding sources of information to actually processing them. Here, the students should be encouraged to engage more closely with what their research uncovers and begin to dig beneath the surface to evaluate material and sources more critically.

To develop these abilities, students will need to:

Begin asking more probing questions to initiate their research

Examine the sources of information more critically

High School Practice Activities

Become more precise and methodical in choosing search criteria

Use multiple resources - online, news articles, documentaries, podcasts, youtube

Keep records of sites visited and books, journals, and articles referred to for citation later

Cite sources correctly

Incorporate more sophisticated tricks when searching online:

quotation marks for searching exact phrases/words

minus symbol(-) for excluding certain words

asterisk(*) used to broaden a search by finding words that begin with the same stem

"site" for site-specific search

Evaluate sources for reliability, relevance, accuracy, and how current they are

Develop more organized note-taking methods - focus on quality over quantity

Plan effectively - utilize strategies to compile information that will help in the final presentation of findings.

As students learn to deal with the increasing breadth and complexity of research topics, they'll need to know how to narrow their focus by developing more specific research questions.

This activity provides students with a list of topics to choose from; this can be an excellent opportunity for forging cross-curricular links. For example, you might suggest history or physical education topics, such as The Vietnam War or Cardiovascular Exercise.

Then, ask students to choose a topic and develop research questions on it for aspects they would like to explore further. For example, they might ask questions like How did the Vietnam War start? Or, What effect does cardiovascular exercise have on mood?

Students can then research the answers to their most interesting research questions and share their findings with the class.
"A goal without a plan is just a wish."
Debates are a great way to illustrate the power of research in practical terms - and they are a lot of fun to boot!

In this activity, organize students into debating groups of three. Assign each pair of groups a debate motion and a position. Students will then need to go away and research their topic thoroughly before writing their speeches and delivering their arguments. To learn more about preparing a debate-winning speech, check out our article here.
1. Collaboration
Research Strategies

So, what do students do with all these finally-tuned research skills now at their fingertips?

If the boy scouts have taught us anything, it is essential to be prepared. To that end, let's look at planning strategies to help students get the most from their well-honed research skills.
2. The Round Robin
In our rapidly changing world, it is impossible to accurately predict the nature of the jobs our students will undertake in the future.

However, what does seem sure is that the so-called soft skills, which are transferable between jobs, will be much in demand in the working world of tomorrow. Collaboration is one of these important skills.

Collaboration involves working together to achieve a common goal. It promotes high levels of interaction and communication between students and colleagues. Collaboration exposes each individual to diverse perspectives and encourages higher-level thinking. Incorporating collaboration at the planning stage helps ensure the success of teaching and learning projects.

Brainstorming is a tried and tested means of beginning the planning process. There are many variations in brainstorming techniques. The Round Robin, which we will look at here, lends itself well to our previous collaboration strategy.

In the Round Robin, the students sit in a circle to discuss the topic.
3. The Mind Map
One by one, go around the circle, encouraging each student to share one idea until everyone has had a chance to speak. While this happens, an appointed person can keep a record of each shared idea.

Ideas must be shared first without initial discussion or criticism. Evaluation and debate should occur only after each person has had an opportunity to share their ideas.

This is an excellent strategy to ensure each person has had an opportunity to share their ideas. It also avoids any one voice dominating a collaborative planning session.
4. Use an Online Calendar
Mind Maps are simply diagrams that visually represent ideas. They can be done individually or collaboratively using words, pictures, or both.

With much in common with brainstorming, Mind Maps are an excellent way to begin the planning process, as they are a superb means of organizing complex ideas.
5. Create Checklists
Many people use paper and pens to create Mind Maps for their projects. However, people are increasingly turning to technology to help their development. There are now many paid and free options online, providing templates and tools to help you develop your own Mind Maps.

Homework deadlines. Exam timetables. College applications. The demands on students and teachers alike are many and varied. It may, at times, seem impossible to keep track of everything.
Research Thoroughly. Implement Effectively!
Using an online calendar, such as those pre-installed on many cell phones, helps ensure you keep track of your to-do list, and many will even provide regular reminders as those deadlines loom near.

Useful research strategIES video TUTORIALS OTHER GREAT ARTICLES TO SUPPORT RESEARCH SKILLS
Not only are checklists a great way to ensure you have fulfilled all the criteria of a given task, but they are also an effective means of planning out all the points you need to hit to complete a project successfully.

A good checklist should contain all the essential elements for a successful piece of work. When the descriptions of these items are kept generic rather than detailed and specific, they can serve as templates for a particular genre to be reused each time your students engage in that type of work.

Research skills are the bridge between the idea and its implementation in writing. The more students develop their research skills, the more authoritative their writing will become. With practice, these two sides of the blade will become razor-sharp.

The content for this page has been written by Shane Mac Donnchaidh. A former principal of an international school and English university lecturer with 15 years of teaching and administration experience. Shane's latest Book, The Complete Guide to Nonfiction Writing, can be found here. Editing and support for this article have been provided by the literacyideas team.

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Top 5 Research Strategies for Students and Teachers

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Boost academic research strategies for students with effective strategies. Find reliable sources, organize information & excel academically. Explore now

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Between the Lines: June Member Spotlight

Esmeralda Majors Librarian and Media Specialist Creighton Elementary, Conroe ISD What inspired you to become a librarian? I've always been a bookworm, but I was inspired to become a librarian after teaching bilingual 4th grade for several years. There was so much testing involved that many of my students thought reading was something you [...]

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You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience. Between the Lines: June Member Spotlight Esmeralda Majors Librarian and Media Specialist Creighton Elementary, Conroe ISD What inspired you to become a librarian? I've always been a bookworm, but I was inspired to become a librarian after teaching bilingual 4th grade for several years.

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Summer Reading Challenge startsJune 1st - July 31st! Catch a wave AND great books with Brazoria County's Summer Reading Challenge. Oceans of Possibilities has something for all ages! Visit https://bclstx.beanstack.org to create your account. Find our activities listed here https://bcls.lib.tx.us/src/ Join Brazoria County Library System this summer for" Oceans of Possibilities "!

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Kid Thesaurus - Search for kid friendly synonyms - Kid Thesaurus

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Kid thesaurus. Find synonms using this online kid thesaurus. A kid thesaurus is helpful for students to find kid friendly synonyms.

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Citation Machine®: Format & Generate - APA, MLA, & Chicago

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Citation Machine® helps students and professionals properly credit the information that they use. Cite sources in APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, and Harvard for free.

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Ready to do some animal research? Finding trustworthy and appropriate animal websites for students to use can be a challenge. Below are my go-to websites that you can feel confident having your students go to. Most of these sites also have videos, games and other educational activities as well.

These websites below do have some advertisements on them.

Ready to research and use these animal websites for students?

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Ready to do some animal research? Finding trustworthy and appropriate animal websites for students to use can be a challenge. Below are my go-to websites that you can feel confident having your students go to. Most of these sites also have videos, games and other educational activities as well.

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Find definitions for over 300,000 words from the most authoritative English dictionary. Continuously updated with new words and meanings.

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a first person narrative told by the title character, Huckleberry Finn, as he accompanies a runaway slave...

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Fair use is an affirmative defense that can be raised in response to claims by a copyright owner that a person is infringing a copyright. Fair use permits a party to use a copyrighted work without the copyright owner's permission for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. These purposes only illustrate what might be considered as fair use and are not examples of what will always be considered as fair use. In fact, there are no bright-line rules in determining fair use, since it is determined on a case-by-case basis. But copyright law does establish four factors that must be considered in deciding whether a use constitutes a fair use. These factors are:

The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit educational purposes;

The nature of the copyrighted work;

The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Although one factor or another may weigh more heavily in a fair use determination, each of the factors must be considered and no one factor alone can determine whether the use falls within the fair use exception. However, the factors that are usually the most influential are the first and fourth factors.

Factor 1: The Purpose and Character of the Use

The first factor mostly focuses on whether the use is commercial or non-commercial and whether the use is transformative. If a use is commercial it is less likely to be fair use and if it is non-commercial it is more likely to be fair use. Transformative uses are those that add something new, with a further purpose or different character, and do not substitute for the original use of the work. If the use is transformative it is more likely to be fair use and if it is not transformative it is less likely to be fair use.

Factor 2: The Nature of the Copyrighted Work

The second factor considers the nature of the underlying work, specifically whether it is more creative or more factual. Use of a more creative or imaginative underlying work is less likely to support a claim of fair use, while use of a factual work would be more likely to support a fair use claim. This factor also looks at the publication status of the copyrighted work. When the copyrighted work is unpublished the use is less likely to be a fair use.

Factor 3: The Amount Used

The third factor considers the amount of the copyrighted work that was used compared to the copyrighted work as a whole. Where the amount used is very small in relation to the copyrighted work, this factor will favor a finding of fair use, but where the amount used is not insignificant, this factor will favor the copyright owner. This factor also considers the qualitative amount of the copyrighted work used. If the portion used was the "heart" of the work, this factor will likely weigh against a finding of fair use even if that portion was otherwise a very small amount.

Factor 4: The Effect of the Use on the Market

The fourth factor not only considers whether the defendant's activities may harm the current market, but also considers whether the use may cause any harm to potential markets that could be exploited by the copyright owner if the use were to become widespread. If the use harms the copyright owner's current or potential market then it will weigh against fair use. Along with the first factor, this factor is one of the most important in the fair use analysis.

For more information, see the fair use in the Copyright Law Explained section of the site.

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Fair use is an affirmative defense that can be raised in response to claims by a copyright owner that a person is infringing a copyright. Fair use permits a party to use a copyrighted work

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If you did not purchase a 2019-2020 Yearbook last year and still would like one - you can go to www.balfour.com and put in our school information to make a purchase.

Immunizations are still required for school enrollment, whether your student is an online or in-person learner. If you've been unable to get your child their immunizations from the Health Dept., we have the answer for you! Please see the flyer below for fast and affordable immunizations right in our own backyard.

Dear Parents,
We recognize that many of you may still be struggling to make the decision whether to send your child to WCE in person, or remotely, for the 2020-2021 school year. For that reason, we are releasing our DRAFT WCE Return to School Plan for 2020-2021, which we hope will answer many of your questions, and aide you in your decision-making process. Many things in this document will likely be revised or changed before August 25th, as new information from the State, TEA or our local health agencies is released. Please note that the BOLD MAROON text is specifically for WCE. It is embedded in the CBISD Return to School Plan for your quick and easy reference. If you have additional questions, please email Mrs. Bolton or Mrs. Thoe. If you haven't yet completed the Skyward online enrollment update for your child, please do so as soon as possible, so that we are able to finalize our plans in plenty of time for our teachers to prepare. If you have questions about registration, please contact our registrar at goldie.hernandez@cbisd.com or call 979.799.1760.
Thank you,
Mrs. Bolton

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If you did not purchase a 2019-2020 Yearbook last year and still would like one - you can go to www.balfour.com and put in our school information to make a purchase. Immunizations are still required for school enrollment, whether your student is an online or in-person learner.

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Now students can follow the latest news. All tailored to their reading level. To explore the kids' website, select a grade and discover new stories each week.

View articles by grade level

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Now students can follow the latest news. All tailored to their reading level. To explore the kids' website, select a grade and discover new stories each week. View articles by grade level

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Not Right For WatchKnowLearn

WatchKnowLearn ratings are intentionally harsher than what you might find on YouTube, for example. Most of our videos have been imported by people who want to use them with kids, not by the creators of the videos. We take a hard-nosed attitude toward quality. Four and five stars should be reserved for really excellent quality. Three stars isn't bad. Two is often watchable and shouldn't be ruled out.

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Reasonably helpful, perhaps a bit amateurish in production or has some other problem; there is nothing wrong with a 3-star rating for amateur work!

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Minimally helpful; not completely worthless or inappropriate; you can see how it might be useful to some people.

1 star = Not Right for WatchKnowLearn.
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Free K-12 educational videos ... organized. Tens of thousands of excellent, educational videos in a huge, intuitive directory. Organized, reviewed, rated, and described by teachers. Ideal as a supplement to a curriculum or for independent study. Designed for teachers, students, parents, homeschoolers, educators ... and all life-long learners!