Developed to help students guide themselves through the research journey as they incorporate ideas and guidance from peers, teachers, and experts.

Have news in your area of research sent directly to you as it is published or blogged. Subscribe to RSS feeds. You can set up a blog widget for each of your feeds. Look for the widget in the presentation area. You might search Bloglines or Google Blog Search to help find relevant blogs.

As your evidence begins to take shape, use the space in this category to explore the information patterns as you see them.  Begin to create an outline. 

What sections/paragraphs and subsections do you see the information forming in your project?  Begin to craft topic sentences for these sections.  You may use this space to collect quotes and to paraphrase important points.  Consult Summarizing, Paraphrasing and Quoting for tips.

You might want to visit Weaving Quotes into your Writing.

What else is important to know for the topic of study? For instance, for a topic relating to travel, you might add categories like currency converters, airfare, hotel directories, or translating services. You might also use additional categories to organize your specific arguments or evidence., in a kind of outline style.

After using the databases, Google Scholar, Windows Academic, newspapers, trade journals, etc, cite and annotate those specific articles that offered the most relevant, credible evidence to suit your information need.

This is perhaps the most important area of your research log. Describe your process here–your process along the way as well as your final evaluation of the journey. Let your audience–your teachers and fellow researchers–understand that journey, its successes and pitfalls. What did you enjoy, hate, worry about, learn?

How well did you use your time during each phase of the process? How well did you make use of the human resources available to you: the librarian, your teacher, classmates, others?   If you had the opportunity to do this project again, what changes would you make in how you went about the search and research process?

With your new knowledge, what advice would you give to others who are beginning research in this area? What strategies worked? What did not?

What else is important to know for the topic of study? For instance, for a topic relating to travel, you might add categories like currency converters, airfare, hotel directories, or translating services.

Give credit here to anyone who helped along the way. Describe your collaborations with your mentors. Who helped you brainstorm your questions or thesis or keywords? Who helped proofread, revise, edit your work? Who led you to solid sources? Be generous and let everyone know about your networking efforts!

Be sure to be specific about what each person contributed.  For examples:  Dr. Smith led me an important online biology journal.  John Doe helped me revise by telling me I needed a better opening sentence and suggesting that I quote a line from a rap song.

Here’s a sample acknowledgment statement. 

Your classroom teacher and librarian, as well as your classmates, will be visiting this area to guide you as issues and concerns arise. Please keep us up to date!

Are there any major guide sites relating to your subject on the Web? If so, annotate the most relevant so users will know why they should be visited first. You might find these gateway sites by searching directories of specialized search engines. LII.org should help you locate some of these portals. Examples: Multnomah County Libary offers a portal for Social Issues research. Internet Public Library offers a portal for many subjects including literary criticism .  Labyrinth is Georgetown University’s portal for medieval studies.