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STUDY SKILLS GUIDE

Ecole Active Bilingue Jeannine Manuel Study Skills Guide

Using the internet for research

  1. For 6th grade (6ème) students, the internet should only be used if the teacher has specifically requested it, or if the information required could not be found in a reference book. Teachers  will give precise instructions and website addresses for students to consult, directing them to sites with appropriate content.
     

  2. Using the internet is not any easier than using a book, and printing out a page from a website is not acceptable as homework. To properly use a website, the information on it must be read, understood and then applied to the homework exercise.
     

  3. If your homework assignment is more general research, using search engines such as Google or Yahoo can be very useful, but be sure to search intelligently.identify the key words in your research topic, and use them as search words.

    Example:      
    Assignment – write a paragraph about the climate of Kenya. Be sure to include temperature, precipitation and humidity in your answer. Your Google search should be “climate Kenya”.     
     

  4. Once you have found some websites, you need to assess which ones are most useful to you. If you can see 5 words that you do not understand, the site is probably to difficult for you.
     

  5. Unlike books, many websites are never edited or verified, so sometimes the information they contain can be wrong. However, many sites are excellent and contain reliable up-to-date information. You need to learn to recognise the good sites from the bad ones. There are 3 clues to recognise a good site: you should be able to scroll down to the bottom of the site and see the name of the person who is responsible for the site and the date on which it was last updated.

    If the last updated date is recent, it means that the site is still being regularly checked and the information is up-to-date. If the site is an 'official' site of an organisation, a school or a company, the information is more likely to be correct than a personal website.  You will need this information about the website to write your bibliography, so you just need to check the site before you start reading and taking notes. 

Note to parents

Please try to encourage your children to use their dictionary, textbook and encyclopaedia. The Internet, when correctly used, is a good source of information but, quite often, it is easier and quicker to use a book reference source. Try not to give the answer to a question your child asks you but encourage research. Help your child use the correct source. It may take more time but it will get your child used to research work and become more independent.