The Research Cycle

Here I am at the beginning of an inquiry adventure!  I am going to use the Research Cycle by Jamie McKenzie to explore repurposing and upcycling furniture and other home decor.  I think that the Research Cycle will help me narrow down what I actually want this information for, as well as organize it in a useful way.  The Research Cycle features the following steps:  Questioning, Planning, Gathering, Sorting & Sifting, Synthesizing, Evaluating, and Reporting.  McKenzie developed this process in order for students to become more information literate.  In an article in School Library Media Activities Monthly, McKenzie points out: "When presented with a topic, students tend to dive headfirst into research, gathering up all they can find, without discriminating on the basis of accuracy, authority, currency, and other pertinent criteria" (22). What McKenzie described is something I've been guilty of MANY times in the past.  I think that it's very common with young students, and they tend to just type something in on Google and use whatever comes up on the first page.  This process stresses the importance of deciding what it is you are actually looking for before you start looking for it, as well as examining and evaluating search results.  I'm looking forward to using his process to explore something I'm interested in!  

Here is a link with more information:
The Research Cycle



Milam, Peggy. "Moving Beyond Technology With Strategic Teaching: Jamie Mckenzie's RESEARCH CYCLE." School Library Media Activities Monthly 19.4 (2002): 22. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.