ISASP Research and Inquiry Skills 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A student is researching the effects of pollution on Iowa rivers for a science report. Which source would be MOST credible?
- A blog post written by an anonymous author two years ago
- A report published by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (Correct answer)
- A social media post with many likes from an environmental group
- A Wikipedia article about river pollution in general
Correct answer: A report published by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Government agencies like the Iowa Department of Natural Resources publish peer-reviewed, official data, making them highly credible sources for environmental research.
Question 2: When a student copies a paragraph from a book and puts it in a report without quotation marks or a citation, this is called:
- Paraphrasing
- Summarizing
- Plagiarism (Correct answer)
- Synthesizing
Correct answer: Plagiarism
Plagiarism is using someone else's words or ideas without giving them proper credit, which includes failing to use quotation marks or citations.
Question 3: A primary source is best described as:
- A textbook that summarizes historical events
- A documentary film about a historical period
- An original diary written by a Civil War soldier (Correct answer)
- An encyclopedia entry about the Civil War
Correct answer: An original diary written by a Civil War soldier
A primary source is an original, firsthand document or artifact created during the time being studied, such as a diary written by someone who experienced the events.
Question 4: Which search term would MOST likely return the most specific results when researching the history of Iowa's state capital?
- Iowa
- State capitals history
- Des Moines Iowa capital history (Correct answer)
- American cities
Correct answer: Des Moines Iowa capital history
Using multiple specific keywords like 'Des Moines Iowa capital history' narrows the search to return results directly relevant to the topic.
Question 5: A student reads two articles about school lunch policies. One says healthy lunches improve grades; the other says there is no proven link. What should the student do?
- Use only the first article because it was read first
- Ignore both articles and find a different topic
- Choose the article written by a more well-known author
- Look for additional sources to compare and evaluate the evidence (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Look for additional sources to compare and evaluate the evidence
When sources disagree, researchers should seek additional sources to gather more evidence and make a better-informed conclusion.
Question 6: Which of the following is an example of a fact, NOT an opinion?
- Iowa is the most beautiful state in the Midwest.
- Iowa became the 29th state admitted to the Union in 1846. (Correct answer)
- Iowa's weather is better than Minnesota's weather.
- Iowa's corn is the tastiest in the country.
Correct answer: Iowa became the 29th state admitted to the Union in 1846.
The date Iowa became a state (1846) and its order of admission (29th) are verifiable historical facts, unlike subjective opinions about beauty or taste.
Question 7: To properly credit a website in a works cited list, a student should include:
- Only the URL of the website
- The author's name, title of the page, website name, and date accessed (Correct answer)
- Only the title of the article and the date
- The author's name and the number of words on the page
Correct answer: The author's name, title of the page, website name, and date accessed
A complete website citation typically includes the author's name, article title, website name, and the date it was accessed, following standard citation formats.
ISASP Research and Inquiry Skills 1
A student is researching the effects of pollution on Iowa rivers for a science report.
Which source would be MOST credible?