IB Extended Essay

Brianna Smrke achieved the perfect score of 45 for her International Baccalaureate Diploma, a feat achieved by less than one percent of IB students internationally. Here, Brianna tells students who they can maximize the return on their educational effort by cultivating three habits of mind: focus, resourcefulness and 'stacking' - approaching a task with an eye to what else it might be used for in addition to the stated purpose. These strategies directly respond to the challenges of 21st Century education, but are also crucial to future career success. A mixture of anecdotes, references to pedagogical and cognitive research, and practical strategies are perfectly woven together to convey these ideas

Every day researchers face an onslaught of irrelevant, inaccurate, and sometimes insidious information. While new technologies provide powerful tools for accessing knowledge, not all information is created equal. Valuable information may be tucked away on a shelf, buried on the hundredth page of search results, or hidden behind digital barriers. With so many obstacles to effective research, it is vital that higher education students master the art of inquiry. Information Now is an innovative approach to information literacy that will reinvent the way college students think about research. Instead of the typical textbook format, it uses illustrations, humor, and reflective exercises to teach students how to become savvy researchers. Students will learn how to evaluate information, to incorporate it into their existing knowledge base, to wield it effectively, and to understand the ethical issues surrounding its use. Written by two library professionals, it incorporates concepts and skills drawn from the Association of College and Research Libraries' Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and their Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Thoroughly researched and highly engaging, Information Now offers the tools that students need to become powerful consumers and creators of information. Whether used by a high school student tackling a big paper, an undergrad facing the newness of a university library, or a writer wanting to go beyond Google, Information Now is a powerful tool for any researcher's arsenal.

Direct, informative and accessible the new edition of Gary Thomas's bestselling title is essential reading for anyone doing a research project. Packed full of relevant advice and real world examples the book guides you through the complete research process. Using refreshingly jargon-free language and anecdotal evidence it is a witty, easy to follow introduction that will answer your questions, set out best practice and walk you through every stage of your project step-by-step. It covers: - How to choose your research question - Project management and study skills - Doing an effective literature review - Methodology, theory and research design - Design frames - Ethics and access - Tools for data collection - Effective data analysis - Discussing findings, concluding and writing up The expanded, insightfully redesigned second edition has a fully integrated companion website including student worksheets, annotated examples and links to SAGE Journals. Gary Thomas also has an exciting new video in which he explains what's new to this Second Edition. This popular book is ideal for anyone undertaking a research project in the applied social sciences. Available with Perusall--an eBook that makes it easier to prepare for class Perusall is an award-winning eBook platform featuring social annotation tools that allow students and instructors to collaboratively mark up and discuss their SAGE textbook. Backed by research and supported by technological innovations developed at Harvard University, this process of learning through collaborative annotation keeps your students engaged and makes teaching easier and more effective. Learn more. 

We live in an information-saturated environment and spend far too much time searching, surfing, skimming, contributing, and organizing the information in our lives. We spend too little time immersing ourselves in reliable high quality information. We are often so buried in information and strapped for time that we grab information like it was fast food, without bothering to evaluate its quality. Finding Reliable Information Online: Adventures of an Information Sleuth uses stories or information adventures to illustrate the best approaches to searching for information and to help us develop our aptitude for locating high quality resources in a rapidly changing digital environment that is becoming proficient at monopolizing our attention with useless or unreliable information. This book is about taking charge of the search process and not handing over the reins to search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo to dictate what information we consume. Each chapter focuses on a quest for different types of information while digging deeper into the complexities of finding credible places to look for information and ways to think about evaluating it. As the Internet evolves and becomes more sophisticated, our strategies for finding and evaluating information need to evolve as well. The stories in this book range from investigating challenging research questions to exploring health issues and everyday life questions like finding a reliable restaurant or product review. These chapters go beyond the simple and more mechanical checklist approach to evaluating information, though these factors are also discussed."

As a best-selling introductory book on the basics of social research, The Good Research Guide provides an accessible yet comprehensive introduction to the main approaches to social research and the methods most commonly used by researchers in the social sciences. This edition has been updated to account for recent developments in the field such as: The emergence of mixed methods approaches Increased use of internet research More frequent use of methods such as triangulation and focus groups Developments in research ethics Written for anyone undertaking a small-scale research project, either as part of an academic course or as part of their professional development, this book provides: A clear, straightforward introduction to data collection methods and data analysis Explanations of the key decisions researchers need to take, with practical advice on how to make appropriate decisions Essential checklists to guide good practice This book is perfect for the first-time researcher looking for guidance on the issues they should consider and traps they should avoid when embarking on a social research project.

An invaluable tool for anyonecarrying out a research project We all learn to do research by actually doing it,but a great deal of time and effort can be wastedand goodwill dissipated by inadequate preparation.This book provides beginner researcherswith the tools to do the job, to help them avoidsome of the pitfalls and time-wasting false trails,and to establish good research habits. It takesresearchers from the stage of choosing a topicthrough to the production of a well-planned,methodologically sound, and well-written finalreport or thesis on time. It is written in plainEnglish and makes no assumptions about previousknowledge. This new edition ofDoing Your ResearchProjectincludes: Coverage of latest techniques such asgrounded theory A new chapter on ethics Increased examples from health studies New referencing, library searching, andliterature review chapters Completely updated references throughout This book serves as a guide to good practice forbeginner researchers in any discipline embarkingon undergraduate or postgraduate study, andfor professionals in such fields as social science,education, and health.

This is an invaluable, concise, all-in-one guide for carrying out student research and writing a paper, adaptable to course use and suitable for use by students independently, it successfully guides students along every step of the way. Allows students to better manage their research projects Exercises and worksheets break down the research process into small steps and walk students through each stage of the research project Offers real-world and lively examples that are attractive and relevant to students Based on twenty years of experience in teaching research techniques to students in a way that avoids the methodology overkill from encyclopaedic and intimidating textbooks Accompanying website includes powerpoint lecture slides for instructors and helpful links to video resources for student. Visit www.wiley.com\go\wang\researchreportwriting

"They Say / I Say" identifies the key rhetorical moves in academic writing, showing students how to frame their arguments in the larger context of what others have said and providing templates to help them make those moves. And, because these moves are central across all disciplines, the book includes chapters on writing in the sciences, writing in the social sciences, and--new to this edition--writing about literature.

This book remains the book of choice for students with essays to write! How to read selectively How to take notes effectively How to understand the 'academic speak' in essay questions How to structure your work How to use and cite your sources accurately Peter Levin has comprehensively updated the book to incorporate student feedback and has included significantly more information on the kinds of material that are available online, and on coping with the attentions of the plagiarism police. The book clarifies all the key issues that students cite as blocks to the development of their writing skills and will help improve the grades of any student who takes the time to adopt the techniques offered. No student with essays to write should be without a copy!

This book takes the reader carefully through each stage of essay writing from interpretation of the question, to the research, planning, writing, and revision. The book shows how to improve not just study skills like note-taking, reading, organization, and writing, but thinking skills as well. Readers will learn how to analyze difficult concepts, criticize and evaluate arguments, use evidence, and develop more of their own ideas. This book gives clear practical advice, with a troubleshooting section that deals with a range of common problems.

The academic essay is the mainstay of assessment from the sixth-form upwards. Yet formal training in this complex area is rarely given and students spend unnecessary time struggling to get it right. This title addresses this issue.

easy-to-follow methods on researching and writing essaysclear, broken-down advice on gathering and developing information, structuring, and claritytime management, printing and editing the final draft, presentation, deadlinesexcellent for exam practicemakes a potentially dry subject fun