Perhaps someone suggested that your “really busy” seven year old should take the drug Ritalin. You realize that it is your responsibility as a parent to make an informed decision about your child’s health so you read some articles and talk to other parents. As you gather information, you hear that some children have experienced serious side effects. Obviously, you need to know more before you make a decision.

Maybe your boss is thinking of buying computers for the office and has asked you to find out what kind to buy and how much they will cost. In all of these cases and many more you will encounter every day, research is essential to making good choices.

Research is a good idea any time you want to know something.

WHERE CAN I FIND THE INFORMATION I WANT?*

Information is all around you and easy to find when you know how. Most people think of the public library when they think about finding information. It is an excellent place to look, but there are many other sources of information in your community that you can explore first.

1. The Dictionary*

The first, and often easiest, place to start researching is in a good dictionary. If you have already completed the module, Dictionary Skills, you know just how much information you can find there. In addition, you will probably save time by checking the definitions of the important words in your question or research project. For example, knowing, before you start researching, that tomatoes are a member of the nightshade family of plants and are really a fruit and not a vegetable might help find the information more quickly.

Perhaps you want to research the drug Ritalin. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Tenth Edition) states that Ritalin is a trade name for methylphenidate. When you look up methylphenidate, you learn that the word was first used in 1958 and that the drug is “a mild stimulant (C14H19 NO2 )of the central nervous system used in the form of its hyperchloride to treat narcolepsy(3) and hyperactive behaviour disorders in children”.

With this basic information, you now have more ways to search for answers to your questions.

3.a condition that causes people to fall asleep at any time