Abstract of

Guiding Independence: Developing a Research Tool to Support Student Decision Making in Selecting Online Information Sources

Rindi Baildon

Mark Baildon

The development and use of a research tool to guide fourth-grade students' use of information sources during a research project is described in this article. Over a period of five weeks, 21 fourth-grade students in an international school in Singapore participated in a study investigating the extent to which the use of a “research resource guide” improved their independence in the research process. Findings indicate that students became more independent as a result of their use of the research guide. Students demonstrated greater consideration of a source's readability, trustworthiness, and usefulness when deciding whether to use it. The authors describe approaches to support students in making determinations about the readability, trustworthiness, and usefulness of sources of information.

Abstract from Baildon, R., & Baildon, M. (2008, May). Guiding Independence: Developing a Research Tool to Support Student Decision Making in Selecting Online Information Sources. The Reading Teacher, 61(8), 636–647. doi: 10.1598/RT.61.8.5