Research skills: where and what
ATL research skills is a general grouping and once the concept of research skills is examined or analysed, it becomes clear it is a complex grouping of related - but sometimes isolated - processes, stages, skills and aptitudes. Given this, we've looked at different features of the very broad grouping that is ‘research skills’ in different parts of this website. This page is to identify those and suggest that, whilst they apply in different aspects of the Diploma Programme, they nevertheless also relate to ATL research skills.
Aspects of research skills are looked at in several parts of this database and this page indicates where those are.
Research isn't just about finding and locating resources, it is about thinking about the inquiry the student wants to undertake and how to go about it, plus evaluating potential sources of information and using those sources, recording the sources and acting in an ethical manner throughout the process.
Teaching and learning section
Apart from this specific part - Approaches to Teaching and Learning - there are other pages in this overall main section about teaching and learning which relate to research skills:
Scope & sequence and curriculum mapping
Critical thinking: evaluating authority and bias in sources
Ways the library/ian can support DP subjects
Individual student support by the DP librarian and Independent use of the school library by DP students
Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy and Prompt design or engineering
Academic integrity section
For librarians, academic integrity can be a separate topic (and that can be true for how others in the school DP community see us). Nevertheless, there is a symbiotic relationship between academic integrity and research, so relevant pages in the academic integrity main section of this website include:
Choosing a citation and referencing style
Effective citing and referencing
Introducing referencing skills to DP students
Extended essay section
Given that the ‘EE’ is a main (but not the only) vehicle for students to use their research skills, naturally there are a number of pages that relate to research, but the content of the pages, being about research, can mostly be relevant to other research needs in the DP. These pages include:
Student perspective
Research and inquiry in the Extended Essay
Preliminary investigation stage
Academic article and Literature review
Using other academic libraries for the EE
Library resources and the library space
In this section, we look in detail at ways the librarian can provide resources and information for the benefit of the Diploma Programme. Naturally, resources (print, digital and other information) relate to research, so aspects of those pages can relate to research. Also, the section on Databases might be relevant, together with Using LIS infrastructure (university libraries, etc.)
Use of the library space can have an impact on research skills, so relevant pages in this section include:
Inquiry & research and library space
IBDP librarian
As being a librarian in an IB school can focus considerably on inquiry and research, it is tempting to say much of this section relates in some way to ATL research skills. However, specific pages might include:
Copyright, fair use and referencing
DP librarian core functions and characteristics
Who to work with to promote effective learning through library/ian support for the IBDP
IB philosophy
In this section, links to research might be considered more diffuse, but relevant pages include:
Values of IB and the school library
IB Learner Profile and the librarian
Library support for international mindedness and Resources reflecting international-mindedness
In the IB Ideal Libraries sub-section, Multiliteracies and 6+1 framework
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