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Prologue:
Mr. Woods has assigned you a research paper on Shakespeare's life and works. This web page is to assist you in completing this assignment by providing you a step-by-step guide through the research process. Understanding the research process is one of the most important concepts you will need to be successful after high school. Whether you are buying a car, looking for an apartment, interviewing for a job, doing research in school, or -- doing all four, or making any other kind of decision, you will have to decide:
And there in a nutshell you have a research process! At first, it can be very difficult understanding the research steps and how they fit together, but as you use them and gain competence in the process, the better you will become at understanding what is required to put together research to answer a multi-layered question. With practice you will be completing the steps with out even thinking about the process. That is when you will have gained mastery in the ability to do research. For this exercise we will be using a process called the Big 6 Information Literacy model©. Although the words are different from what you see above, the process isn't, so let's get started! Anything you see in red is a helpful hint for doing research on this project. |
Use the menu below to navigate this page:
| Let's Get Started: Step #1 | Search Engines |
| Step #2 and #3 | Step #4 |
| COWS | Step #5 |
| Current Reference/OPAC | Step #6 |
| Online Resources | Help! |
| Webliography |
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Use the Big 6 Research Paper Organizer © (1999) or the Assignment Organizer © (1999) to help you complete your assignment. They use the Big 6 format and keep your research organized and focused for you. Follow the directions given in the organizer and by Mr. Woods. You can type directly on the organizers and then download the information to a disc or print it out. There is a section for each of the six steps of research. There are also links to important information to help you complete your research. A Writing Process Organizer can be printed out and used to develop a successful writing project! Step #1: Task Definition A good way to get started. What does your teacher want you to do? Make sure you understand the requirements of the assignment. In order to define your task you must form your task around an essential question. Once you have formed your essential question you must decide what information you think you will need to support that question. You do this with supporting questions. To learn more about supporting questions look at "What kinds of questions did you ask today?" Remember there are several types or levels of supporting questions: Memory questions (Level 1), Convergent Thinking questions (Level 2), Divergent Thinking questions (Level 3), and Evaluative questions (Level 4). There is a worksheet you can print out to help you form your questions. Make sure your supporting questions use more that one type or level of question!
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Step #2: Information Seeking Strategies This means that you need to make a list of all the possible sources of information that will help you answer the questions you wrote in Task Definition above. AND: Step #3: Location & Access Figure out where you will get these sources. Beside each source, write its location. If it is a web site, list its web address. Try to use those that your teacher or librarian have linked or bookmarked. This will save you time. If your source is a person, figure out how you will contact him or her and make a note of this. |
For Step #2 and Step #3 you should use the COWS information literacy model. COWS is an acronym to help you remember the ORDER you should look for information.
And if all else fails:
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When doing research, always start with current reference books, textbooks and non-fiction library books. Learn some basic information about your subject and start a list of "keywords" you can use to gain more information on your topic. Use the library's OPAC to check your resources. To find a list of titles in our library that apply to this project type in "Woods/Shakespeare" in OPAC and select the "Categories" icon.
Remember: When doing research you need to look at the second page of cataloging and review the "notes" section of the page to find out information about the book. Also use the "subject" section of the page and look at the subject headings listed for the book. Using these subject headings is an excellent way to narrow or broaden your subject search. They can also provide you with additional keywords to use in searching for your topic. Use your bookbag while doing research using OPAC. It helps keep your research on track, provides you bibliographic information for your project, and will save you time Hints!
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Some of the Reference Books you could use are:
| R 031 - - - | General Encyclopedias |
| R 016.8 MAG | Magill's Bibliography of Literary Criticism: selected sources for the study of more than 2,500 outstanding works of Western literature |
| R 808.81 POE | Poetry for Students: presenting analysis, context and criticism on commonly studied poetry |
| R 820.9 BRI | British Writers (vol. 1) |
| R 820.9 OXF | The Oxford Companion to English Literature |
| R 822.33 BOY | Shakespeare A to Z: the essential reference to his plays, his poems, his life and times, and more (*Good Resource) |
| R 822.33 CAM | The Reader's Encyclopedia of Shakespeare |
| R 822.33 SHA | The Riverside Shakespeare |
| R 822.33 SHA | The Standard Book of Shakespeare Quotations |
| R 822.33 SHA | Shakespeare for Students (**Excellent Resource) |
| R 822.33 SHA | Shakespeare's Characters for Students (**Excellent Resource) |
| R 822.33 SHE | Shakespeare's Language: a glossary of unfamiliar words in Shakespeare's plays and poems |
| R 920 KUN | British Authors Before 1800: a biographical dictionary |
| R 940.2 ART | Arts & Humanities Thought the Eras (1600-1800) (*Good Resource) |
| R 940.2 EUR | European Renaissance and Reformation, 1350-1600 (**Excellent Resource) |
| R 940.2 REN | Renaissance & Reformation (**Excellent Resource) |
| R 940.2 REN | Arts & Humanities Thought the Eras (1300-1600) (*Good Resource) |
| R 940.21 ENC | Encyclopedia of the Renaissance (***Outstanding Resource) |
| R 942.05 EME | The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in Renaissance England (**Excellent Resource) |
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Use these resources every day! If you need them the usernames and passwords are provided. Our online resources are:
and
These are password protected databases that you can access 24/7 from school or home. Get the URLs, usernames, and passwords from your librarian. They work like a search engine but contain information that is not available for free on the World Wide Web. College students use similar databases for their research projects. The Gale Group resources has five different databases:
and
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W = The Artchive: Renaissance Art: The Elizabethan Theatre: http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/englisch/shakespeare/spear.html A Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Instruments: The Internet Public Library: Music History 102: The Internet Renaissance Band: Music of the Renaissance: Investigating the Renaissance: Medieval & Renaissance Music: A Brief Survey: http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/beginlst/nocds.html Renaissance Architecture: A Selection of Renaissance Music: WebMuseum, Paris: La Renaissance: British History: http://www.great-britain.co.uk/history/history.htm Clothing: http://www.lepg.org/clothing.htm Discovery and Exploration: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/dsxphome.html
Elizabeth (1533-1603): http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/eliza.htm
Elizabeth I Queen of England: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/aboutElizabeth.htm
The Elizabethan Theatre: http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/englisch/shakespeare/spear.html The European Voyages of Exploration: The Fifteenth and Folger Shakespeare Library(Select "Discover Shakespeare" for biography): http://www.folger.edu/ A Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Instruments: Henry VIII: http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/tudor.htm Historical Weapons: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Renaissance: http://www.iep.utm.edu/r/renaiss.htm The Internet Renaissance Band: Music of the Renaissance: Latitude: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~feegi/ Malaspina Great Books: Ye Olde Renaissance Map: (Great site for everyday life) Plague and Public Health in Renaissance Europe: Renaissance: http://renaissance.dm.net/ Renaissance: http://www.learner.org/exhibits/renaissance/ Renaissance: The Elizabethan World: http://renaissance.dm.net/ Renaissance: Exploration and Trade: Renaissance Danceware: Delectable Morsels of Information Regarding Historical Attire: http://www.renaissancedancewear.com/morsels.html A Selection of Renaissance Music: The Stuarts: http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page74.asp Tudor History: http://tudorhistory.org/ Virtual Renaissance: A Journey through Time: http://www.twingroves.district96.k12.il.us/Renaissance/ WebMuseum, Paris: La Renaissance: Shakespeare: His Literature and Life Absolute Shakespeare: http://absoluteshakespeare.com/ The Cambridge History of English and American Literature: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: The Elizabethan Theatre: http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/englisch/shakespeare/spear.html Encyclopedia Britannica's Guide to Shakespeare: Folger Shakespeare Library: http://www.folger.edu/ Humanism: http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/c-humanism/Humanism.html The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Renaissance: http://www.iep.utm.edu/r/renaiss.htm Luminarium: 16th Century Renaissance English Literature Malaspina Great Books: The McGill Shakespeare Resources Page: Mr. Dowling's electronic passport: http://www.mrdowling.com/704renaissance.html Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet: Ye Olde Renaissance Map: Renascence Editions: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/ren.htm The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust: http://www.shakespeare.org.uk/
Shakespeare Globe USA: http://www.sgc.umd.edu/
The Shakespeare Mystery:
Shakespeare Resource Center: http://www.shakespeare.org.uk/homepage
Shakespeare's Globe Research Database:
Sites on Shakespeare and the Renaissance: http://ise.uvic.ca/Annex/links/index.html
The Works of the Bard: http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/~matty/Shakespeare/
The Black Death: http://history.boisestate.edu/westciv/plague/ Hospital of Innocents: (Medicine): Institute and Museum of the History of Science: (Check the Exhibits&Learning, News and Explore links -- several video and interactive sections are available): http://www.imss.fi.it/index.html A Journey through the Renaissance: Malaspina Great Books: Renaissance Science: http://www.malaspina.com/site/results_c9_p18_page1.htm Museum of the History of Science (England): (Select "Online Exhibits" on the left hand side of the home page.) Plague and Public Health in Renaissance Europe: Hint!
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(Pre-selected web sites)
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