Writing · Writing: Planning, Drafting, Revising and Publishing

Research I: Locating and Selecting Information

1.3About 70 minutes

Learning goals

I can turn a focused question into specific research questions and keywords.
I can search efficiently with synonyms, AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks and filters.
I can evaluate sources with the CRAAP test.
I can select information that is relevant, reliable and fairly represented, and record citation details as I go.

Words to know

research question
A specific question you can look up that helps answer your focused question.

keyword
An important word from your question that you type into a search.

Boolean operators
The words AND, OR and NOT, used to combine or exclude search terms.

database
An organized, searchable collection of published articles and other sources, often provided by libraries.

CRAAP test
A source checklist: Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose.

cherry-picking
Selecting only the parts of a source that suit you in a way that misrepresents it.

primary source
First-hand information, such as an interview, survey, original data or a diary.

More results is not better results

Type climate change into a search engine and you will get hundreds of millions of results. Type it into your school library's database and you will still get thousands. Nobody can read all of that.

Research is not about finding a lot of information. It is about locating the right information and selecting the pieces that genuinely support your ideas. In this lesson you will build a search plan, search smarter, judge sources quickly and choose the ones worth using.

Remember from Grade 9

In Grade 9 you used keywords, search operators and library databases; sorted primary and secondary sources; checked sources for bias, currency and accuracy; and practised lateral reading (leaving a site to see what other sources say about it). This lesson pulls those skills into one search plan and adds the CRAAP checklist and the skill of selecting what to use.

Step 1: Turn your topic into research questions

Start from your focused question (from the last lesson) and break it into smaller questions you can actually look up.

Focused question: How are Canadian cities using trees and green roofs to reduce extreme heat?

What is an urban heat island?
How much can trees or green roofs lower temperatures?
Which Canadian cities have green-roof rules or tree-planting programs?
Who is most at risk during heat waves?

These smaller questions tell you exactly what to search for and help you notice when a source is off topic.

Step 2: Choose keywords and synonyms

Search engines and databases match words, not ideas. Pull the key nouns out of your questions, then list synonyms and related terms, because authors may use different words: green roof / living roof / rooftop garden; heat / temperature / heat wave; city / urban / municipal.

Step 3: Search smarter

AND narrows: every result must contain both terms.
OR widens: results can contain either term (great for synonyms).
NOT (or a minus sign in many search engines) removes a term.
"Quotation marks" search an exact phrase: "urban heat island".
site: limits a web search to one kind of site: green roofs site:.ca shows Canadian sites (.ca addresses).
Filters in databases let you choose date ranges, source types (magazines, newspapers, academic journals) and reading levels.

The shaded area shows which results you get. AND keeps only the overlap, OR keeps everything in either circle, and NOT removes everything in B.

Step 4: Where to search

Library databases. Your school library and most public libraries give free access to databases of magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias and journals (you usually log in with a library card or school account). Database articles have been published by editors, so they are a strong starting point.
Government and organization websites for statistics and official information.
Books, including e-books from your library.
People: an interview with an expert or someone with lived experience is a primary source.
General web searches, used carefully and checked with the CRAAP test below.

Letter	Question to ask	Warning sign
Currency	When was it published or updated? Is that recent enough for my topic?	Statistics from 15 years ago on a fast-changing topic
Relevance	Does it answer one of my research questions? Is it at the right level?	Interesting, but about another country or a different issue
Authority	Who wrote it? What are their qualifications? Who publishes the site?	No author, no organization, no contact information
Accuracy	Is it supported by evidence? Can I confirm it in another reliable source?	Big claims with no sources; spelling errors; facts that other sources contradict
Purpose	Why does it exist: to inform, teach, sell or persuade? Is it biased?	A company selling green-roof kits telling you green roofs solve everything

The CRAAP test: a quick checklist many librarians teach for evaluating sources.

Follow the plan in order, but expect to loop back: a good source often gives you new keywords to search with.

Step 5: Select what supports your ideas

A reliable source is not automatically a useful source. Select information that:

answers one of your research questions directly;
supports a specific point you plan to make (or a counter-argument you will answer);
comes from a mix of source types (for example, a news article, a government page and an expert interview);
represents the source fairly: do not pull one sentence that says the opposite of the author's main point (this is called cherry-picking).

Record the citation information (author, title, website or publisher, date, URL or page numbers) at the moment you take the note. Hunting for it later wastes hours.

Worked example

Let's build and test a search

Plan a search for the research question How much can green roofs lower temperatures? and test one source.

Keywords and synonyms: green roof OR living roof; temperature OR heat; urban or city.
Search string for a database: ("green roof" OR "living roof") AND temperature AND urban. The brackets group the synonyms, the quotation marks keep each phrase together, and AND makes every result include all three ideas.
Filter: published in the last 10 years; source type: newspapers, magazines and academic journals.
Test a result with CRAAP. Suppose you find a blog post titled Green roofs make your whole street 10 degrees cooler! posted by a company that installs green roofs, with no date and no sources.
Currency: unknown (no date). Relevance: yes, on topic. Authority: a company, no named expert. Accuracy: a big claim with no sources. Purpose: to sell a product.
Decision: do not use it as evidence. Use the claim as a lead: search for a study or a government report that measured temperatures, then compare the numbers.

A precise search string, a filter, and a quick CRAAP check that rejects a selling-focused source while still using it as a clue for better research.

Hands-on activity

Search showdown

You need: a computer or tablet with internet access, a public-library or school-library login if you have one, and a grown-up nearby.

Choose a question you are curious about (for example, Do bike lanes make streets safer?).
Search for it in plain words in a regular search engine. Write down the first 3 results and who published each one.
Now search with a plan: use quotation marks, AND/OR, and site:.ca or a library database. Write down the first 3 results again.
Run the CRAAP test on your best two results. Give each letter a score of 0, 1 or 2 (out of 10 in total).
Explain to your grown-up which source you would actually use and why.

What to look for: the planned search should give more relevant, more authoritative results; CRAAP scores should be backed by a reason for each letter, not guesses.

Just for fun

Search engines are like very literal friends. Ask for "cold" AND "remedies" and they help. Ask how do I stop being cold and you may get 4 000 000 ads for parkas.

Your turn

Write a search string for sources about plastic pollution in Lake Ontario that includes the synonym microplastics.

Which operator gives you more results: AND or OR?

A website about vaccines has no author, no date and sells supplements. Which CRAAP letters does it fail?

Is an interview you do with a local farmer a primary or secondary source?

Why should you record citation information while you take notes?

What does site:.ca do in a web search?

More practice: warm-up

What do the letters CRAAP stand for?

What do quotation marks do in a search?

Which operator removes a term from your results?

Name one place, other than a regular search engine, to look for sources.

What is cherry-picking?

More practice: on your own

Break the focused question How does part-time work affect high school students? into three research questions.

Give two synonyms or related terms for each keyword: teenager, anxiety.

A 2009 article gives smartphone-use statistics for teens. Should you use it for a 2026 essay? Explain.

A reliable government report about climate change has a section on Arctic ice. Your essay is about heat in cities. Should you use it? Explain.

Your source is an opinion column by a well-known scientist. What should you keep in mind when using it?

Challenge

Design a full search plan (research questions, keywords with synonyms, one search string, two places to search) for Should Ontario schools start later in the morning?

Two sources disagree: a news article says a program cut litter in half, and the city's own report says litter fell by 20%. How do you decide what to write?

Explain why selecting information fairly matters, using an example of cherry-picking that could mislead a reader.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which search would give the fewest results?

In the CRAAP test, Authority asks:

Which is a primary source?

A reliable source that does not answer any of your research questions should be:

What does "urban heat island" in quotation marks do in a search?

Why should you note citation information at the same time as the note?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Expectation 1.3 asks students to locate and select information that appropriately supports their ideas, using print, electronic and other resources. The key word is select: Grade 10 students are expected to choose relevant, reliable information, not copy whatever appears first.

How to help: if you have a public library card, explore the library's online databases together; many are free with a card. When your teen finds a source, ask Who made this, and why? Help them notice when a site is trying to sell something.

Common difficulties:

Typing whole questions into a search engine and using the first result.
Trusting a source because it looks professional.
Using reliable but off-topic information to fill space.
Losing track of where notes came from.