Starting in on your Inquiry

Okay, let's say you have an inkling of an inquiry question and you're wanting to do some preliminary research -- test the waters to see what's out there on your topic. What do you do next?

One thing you can do is go to infohio.org. The URL is http://www.infohio.org/. This is a collection of research databases and other informational sources that the State of Ohio provides (for free) to all teachers and their students.

If you are working at your school next fall with your students, your internet access will take you directly to the resources available. If you are working at home (or even here at OU for some reason), you will need a username and password. The username for Infohio is "infohio" and the password is "explore."

Once you have access to the databases, try out EBSCO host (which you will find under "core collection"). I will be glad to show you individually how to use this system while we are meeting on Friday, but if you're adventurous, go ahead and try it out. The system is very easy to use and gives you lots of options for refining and narrowing searches for information.