Tips and Ideas for our Students

Library Research Skills
The Ratchaboriganukroh EP Library

By A.Matthew Platt,
The English Program, Ratchaboriganukroh School,
Ratchaburi, 2009.

Before starting
I have written this document with 1.5 LINE-SPACING so you can write Thai translations for words or phrases you don’t understand – please make use of the spaces, because I have written some very useful information for your future learning (using years of experience) and it is a good idea to UNDERSTAND it all!

Why learn to do research?

Learning is not only about memorising or understanding information that is directly GIVEN to you (by a teacher, or copied from a friend or a textbook used every day in class)…

An important part of learning is knowing how to collect, sort, choose, order and present (write down, print or say) information. If you go from this school to a college or university, you will often be expected (by your teachers and professors) to find your own information. Lots and lots and LOTS of information is available from information RESOURCES… from books, journals, CD-ROMS, DVD's, magazines, dictionaries and the internet (there are others too). Some of it is useful, lots of it is not (especially on the internet and sometimes also out-of-date books), and it is usually not in a form that is suitable for an assignment/project. For M.3, M. 4 and M. 5, researching a topic will be necessary in your next year of study in Matayom. Research skills will also benefit you greatly in your personal life. Most of all, researching can be a very effective way of learning about a topic! Research is a PROCESS:  you will rarely (a very small number of times) be able to find the exact information you need within the first 5 or 10 minutes of going into the library, or looking on the internet. You need to look around, try different sources (places or things that something comes from, originates from, such as books), different levels of complexity (such as beginner, intermediate, advanced, or by education level – public, M. 1, M. 2, university level etc.) compare them, and find the one (or a few) that provide you with the best and most relevant information. You often need to combine information from different books too, or combine information from books and the internet, or information translated from a Thai book (using a dictionary or Google Translate) and a book written in English, to make sure you have all of the information you need to answer an assignment question, or complete a project. You will almost always need to choose parts of the information from the book, maybe re-write parts, and cut parts out. Then you need to put it together and organize it in a way that is appropriate for the assignment or project you are working on. In M.6 (maybe earlier) and in college/university, you will usually need to REFERENCE the material you used, to show which parts are someone else’s work (from publications), and put the information into a BIBLIOGRAPHY. So...... it takes time, and careful thought, and many, many DECISIONS about the material, and as all of this is happening, you are learning too! Even better, your learning happens at a speed YOU are comfortable with!

Why learn to do research using books in the library?
When you do an assignment/project in school, an excellent source of information is the subject textbook. It is an excellent source because it has gone through a process of being edited (a process of improving the book, by re-reading and correcting, and asking other people to read it so they can check it too), grammar/spelling-checked, and the content made up-to-date and evaluated by other experts in the field (subject-area). In order for it to be published (especially by one of the big publishing companies) it must be well-organized, clearly presented, and have some standard sections, such as:
Contents – located near the front of the book, an outline (maybe followed by a more detailed version) with page numbers and a HIERARCHY of topics and sub-topics, organised into chapters.
Chapter Reviews – a page or more at the end of every chapter that summarises the information (gives the main and essential ideas of each chapter).
Glossary - an alphabetical list of definitions of the major terms used in the book – very, very useful and often a big time-saver for questions that ask for a definition! If the book has a Glossary, it will be located near the end of the book, usually right before the Index.
Index - an alphabetical (organized from A to Z in order using the first letter or the listed word, or using the alphabet and characters of the language the book uses - such as the Thai consonants order ก to ฮ) list in the back of the book that shows all the important terms and sub-topics with all the pages that contain information on them.

The book will only be published if it is of very good quality, and is accurate enough to be used by students for learning. Big publishing companies need their books to be COMPETITIVE: they know (= they are aware) that other books probably exist on the same subject/topic, and will have looked at these first so they can make theirs better! Also, to be competitive (for the last 15 years or so), a book needs to be appealing to students/readers  - they should be helpful, attractive and interesting, doing their very best to make it as easy and fast as possible to find the information the student needs. Books published by international (and many national) organizations are usually of fairly good quality too, though they will not have all of the checks discussed above. Small publishing companies may be less demanding of the author (or authors), so be careful! These books can contain errors in information accuracy, grammar, or spelling (this applies especially to translated books too). Note that at college and university levels, journals and conference papers provide much more current information – for the current year, and even month (it can take a long time for a book to go through the publishing process) but at Matayom level books are considered one of the best sources. Books also have the best diagrams and pictures, plus all the organisational benefits described above. The EP Library has a great variety of English-language books on every subject taught in English in the EP. The best ways to use books is described later in this document.

Library Resources
Here are the resources you can find in the EP Library that may be useful to your research:

• Subject (eg. Biology) textbooks (in English)
• Subject textbooks in Thai – including Thai textbooks used in the Ordinary Program or set by the government, and other reference texts in Thai
• Subject Key-points books
• The Internet (for example, Google, online dictionaries, Google Translate)
• CDs/CD-ROMs
• DVD's
• Newspapers/Magazines (though less useful for some subjects and topics)

Using books for research

English-language books
Start by choosing EASY books. Even if you are in M. 6, you can start by looking at simpler books for lower levels (M. 1 to M. 3), because it may help give you easy-to-understand definitions and descriptions, an outline, or some useful pictures. For each subject, there will be a range of books from simple to advanced.
“KEY POINTS” books are good for starting too. These are available for many subjects, though not all. Social Science most probably would not have a key points book, as it is such a large field, with huge amounts of information. There may, however, be books on topics within the area of Social Science, such as Religion and History. Key points books are often available for RANGES of levels, such as lower (M. 1-3) and upper (M. 4-6) secondary. They provide useful definitions, and an outline of a topic. You will be able to see the important sections that the topic is divided into. Some details will be included, though it is usually important just to use these as GUIDELINES, so that you can use these details to show you what to look for in more comprehensive (provide a deep and wide level of detail, giving all essential information and often a lot more) books. Some examples available in the EP library are:

Biology:
GCE ‘O’ Level Biology Key Points, by A. R. Sebastian (2004). Redspot Publishing, Singapore.
Physics:
Roadmap to O Level Physics, by H. W. Luen, & T. Ho (2005). Longman/Pearson Education, Singapore.
Chemistry:
Effective Guide to ‘O’ Level Chemistry, by L. E. Wah (2001). Longman/Pearson Education, Singapore.
Mathematics:
IGCSE Mathematics, by K. Morrison (2002). Cambridge University Press.
IGSE Mathematics is quite a long book, and is mostly useful for lower-secondary (M. 1 to M. 4) students. A better one for use by upper-secondary students may be available. Ask the Library Officer and/or your teacher!

Thai-language subject books
Okay, yes, this is an English Program. But, it’s important to understand what you are learning in English in your FIRST language too, especially if it’s possible that you will go to a Thai school/college/university and study in Thai, and the topic is difficult or advanced. I think you’ll notice that you usually need to translate what you read and hear in English anyway, and this is natural. No point in learning words in English to describe something if you don’t know the meaning and how it is used – and how to use it again in the future. For each subject taught in the EP, the Thai Ordinary Program/government-set books are available for each Matayom year level. It is very useful for any topic to look at these to familiarise (help yourself become familiar) yourself with that topic, before or while learning it in English. This will increase (or even kick-start!) your understanding, and therefore your ability to write about, answer, and speak about the topic in English.

Which parts of the book should I start with?
The best way to find the right book is to look in the library index. Alternatively, just browse (look slowly at every book) the bookshelves for your subject. For most subjects in the EP, hardback, large textbooks written in English and published by big publishing companies are on the top shelf, with paperback books (English-language) on the second shelf, and Thai–language books on the lower shelves or on the right of the second shelf from the top. Find a title that looks like it will include your topic. When you find one that looks useful, you can open it at the Contents page or Index, to see whether it really does (= it does in fact) contain information on your assignment/project topic. Both the Contents pages and the Index will give you page numbers to look at, and the Index will give you ALL pages where the topic (or a term from the topic) is printed. Sometimes you can find material for your topic using TERMS (important words used in your topic), even if the topic isn’t mentioned (a different word or phrase may be used). Then look at the Glossary, to find definitions of the terms used in your topic (or the topic name). For example, if your assignment topic is “Mutations”, you may find it in a book as part of chapters on “Heredity” or “Inheritance” or even “Genetics” in a biology book - you can look all these up in the Glossary, as well as terms important in describing mutations, such as “mutagen” and “radiation”. Most importantly, you need to UNDERSTAND what all the terms mean, so you can identify the headings and chapter names that you need to look at (for example, Heredity, Inheritance, Genetics, Evolution, Variation). Also, have a look at the Chapter Review, because it might give you a nice outline to show you clearly how the topic is organised in your subject.

Choosing the information (content) to put in your assignment
Remember that often not all of the information in the paragraph you find will be useful or relevant to your assignment. Actually, putting information that is not relevant will reduce the quality of your assignment. It shows that you don’t fully understand what the assignment is asking for. So... only give the information that the assignment asks for!
Here is an example of choosing only relevant content:

Assignment instruction: Define (write a definition for) OUTBREEDING.
Paragraph in book: “Outbreeding – This is carried out in order to improve existing varieties. Where two individuals of a species each have their own beneficial feature they are often bred together in order to combine the two. A racehorse breeder, for example, might cross a fast mare with a strong stallion in the hope of attaining a strong, fast foal. Outbreeding frequently produces tougher individuals with a better chance of survival, especially where many generations of inbreeding have taken place. This is known as hybrid vigour. Extreme examples of outbreeding occur when individuals of different species are mated. Only rarely is this successful. When it is, the resulting offspring are normally sterile. These sterile hybrids may still be useful. Mules, produced from a cross between a horse and a donkey, have strength and endurance which make them useful beasts of burden”.
Relevant material: If only a definition is asked for, most of the paragraph above will NOT be relevant. However, it does provide (give, offer) an example, which may be useful for answering assignment questions. The example given above is: “A racehorse breeder, for example, might cross a fast mare with a strong stallion in the hope of attaining a strong, fast foal”.
To give just a definition, ONLY the following is relevant: “Outbreeding – This is carried out in order to improve existing varieties. Where two individuals of a species each have their own beneficial feature they are often bred together in order to combine the two”.
You could add “Outbreeding frequently produces tougher individuals with a better chance of survival, especially where many generations of inbreeding have taken place” too.

Now the scary part for ESL (English as a Second Language) students! It won’t help you LEARN if you just copy the information from the book and write (or print it out and stick it) in your assignment, if you don’t understand it. You need to show that you understand what it is telling you, and some good ways of doing this are:

• Linking the content to diagrams copied from the book (and especially the words and parts) on the diagram

• Linking the content to your own diagrams or charts (an excellent technique!) It’s important in these diagrams to use LABELS (words used in diagrams to show what the parts of a diagram are. For example, in a diagram of an animal cell, you could have the labels “Nucleus”, “Cytoplasm”, “Cell membrane”, “Mitochondrion”. Labels can be located in the diagram, or around the diagram, with lines – or numbers – to show what part they refer to) and a TITLE for the diagram

• Writing your own examples (maybe relevant to Thailand/Ratchaburi/your class/your school if appropriate?!)

• Writing the information in your own words - including easier/simpler/alternative words. For example:

“Cholera is transmitted (passed on) by ingestion (taking into the body) of water or food contaminated with faecal (from faeces) material containing the pathogen… carriers (organisms that carry the pathogen) who show no symptoms (signs of disease) may unwittingly (without knowing or doing it on purpose) spread the disease.”
It is often necessary to re-structure (re-build, re-write in a slightly different way) the sentence so that the grammar is correct (this is necessary for the Cholera example above).
Of course, you need to learn new (and more advanced) words too, and all subjects have some TERMS that you should learn, and SHOW that you have learnt! Maybe you could write down a simpler explanation in brackets = ( )! For example: “When, by chance, a variety (many different types) of plant or animal arose (started to appear) which possessed (had, showed) some useful character, it was bred with its close relatives in the hope of retaining (keeping) the character for future generations”.
Alternatively (a different way of doing something), you could write definitions/explanations under that paragraph in your assignment. It’s important not to lose the meaning of the word from the book… don’t replace (use a different word) if the simpler or alternative word you know doesn’t have EXACTLY the same meaning!

The next section talks about the use of the internet in your research.

Using the Internet for research
The most important thing to remember when taking information from the ‘net is: IS THE INFORMATION FROM AN AUTHORITATIVE SOURCE? This means, is the person that created and/or published the information an EXPERT in the subject? An expert can include teachers, professors, some companies. organizations, and sometimes people with an interest in the field (such as a hobbyist in the subject). Information from this last group, hobbyists, must be considered (thought about) VERY carefully – is there enough information on the website to show that this person has a strong understanding and lots of experience and training in the subject? Some websites show their level of expertise. For example, Wikipedia has boxes at the top of each of its topics showing whether the article has been written and edited by experts, or what it needs in order for it to be considered authoritative. So, if there is nothing on the webpage (or website) telling you if experts wrote it, then you should be VERY, VERY careful when deciding if to use the material in your assignment/project. A large number of education websites also exist, often written by teachers, professors, university departments, various ministries of Education (in different countries), TV stations, and dedicated (focused on a single subject or theme, and spends all of the time on that subject) online publishing companies.
A major issue about the use of internet material is the use of copying-and-pasting. Just copying information and pasting it into your assignment document (or printing it out) may be acceptable for some assignments, but usually it doesn’t demonstrate (show a procedure, technique, method or process to someone, often for assessment of learning) that you understand and have learnt the information. The importance of using relevant material, written above in the section about books, applies (is relevant for) internet resources too… Remember: the teacher doesn’t need the information from your assignment/project for themselves: they want you to research the to help you LEARN, and then SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW!

NOTE:
Biology examples from:
New Understanding Biology for Advanced Level (4th Ed). Toole, G. & S. Nelson Thornes: Cheltenham, UK.
(I was born in Cheltenham!)