Research Tools – CTHS Library

The Information Skills Process (ISP) is a tool to help you with your research. Follow the steps of the ISP to develop and hone your skills for any task which requires you to find and present information.

Click on each heading for links to more information:

Defining What do I really want to find out?	Steps in the process • What is my purpose? • Why do I need to find this out? • What are the key words and ideas of the task? • What do I need to do?
Locating Where can I find the information I need?	Steps in the process • What do I already know • What do I still need to find out? • What sources and equipment can I use?
Selecting What information do I really need to use?	Steps in the process • What information can I leave out? • How relevant is the information I have found? • How credible is the information I have found? • How will I record the information I need?
Organising How can I use this information?	Steps in the process • Have I enough information for my purpose? • Do I need to use all this information? • How can I best combine information from different sources?
Presenting How can I present this information?	Steps in the process • What will I do with this information? • With whom will I share this information?
Assessing What did I learn from this?	Steps in the process • Did I fulfil my purpose? • How did I go - with each step of the information process? • How did I go - presenting the information? • Where do I go from here?