 Research question – Monday, Feb. 24th  Source cards (need 6) – Friday, Feb. 28th  Note cards, 1 st check – Friday, March 7th  Thesis (your research question answered) – Friday, March 7th  More note cards – Friday, March 14th  Outline – Friday, March 21st  Rough draft – Wednesday, April 2nd  Works Cited – Wednesday, April 2nd  Final Copy – Monday, April 14th

 Set up an account on Student Research Center to save your articles › Go to Infohio › Click on Grades 9-12 › Click on EBSOhost › Click on Student Research Center › Click on Sign In (at top) › Click on Create an Account (under log in)  Remember your username and password!

 Interesting – holds your interest and that of your audience; it’s something you want to learn about  Manageable – you only have a limited amount of time and resources available, so choose a topic you can handle  Worthwhile – choose something of substance, something that matters  Original – a good topic is not just a rehashing (like Abe Lincoln’s childhood); a better topic is how books he read as a child influenced his political decisions

 Too broad – Ice Age is too broad; the role of the Ice Age in the formation of the Great Lakes is better  Too narrow – avoid a topic for which little information is available (metric cooking conversions is too narrow)

 Too trivial – every driver’s manual will name same laws of the road  Too subjective – you need to set personal preferences aside to respond objectively  Too controversial – hotly contested arguments can bog you down with information  Too familiar – you’ll be bored  Too technical – the research is difficult in itself; don’t try to learn a whole new language  Too factual – shouldn’t be a recitation of facts  Too new – may have insufficient research  Too regional – localized topics won’t have enough

 Example: I'm thinking of doing a paper on "education." This topic could develop in many different ways. Hint: Ask Yourself Questions About Your Topic: What do you know about it? What don't you know? What aspects or sub-points of your topic interest you: historical, sociological, psychological, etc.? What time period do you want to cover? What is controversial about this topic?

    General Topic:Education Time span:20 th and 21 st century Place:US Person or group:Youth/High School Controversial Aspects: Year-round schooling, standardized testing, zero tolerance policies, school choice Research Questions: Is year-round schooling particularly beneficial for low-income students? Does standardized testing limit the development of creative thinkers? Have zero tolerance policies improved student behavior?

 Check out your topic in an encyclopedia (Infohio, Worldbook Advanced or an Internet encyclopedia) to get key ideas/terms  Check out your topic on Instagrok (topic and organization ideas)  Do a general search on an Infohio database according to the subject of your topic -- just look for magazine articles  Search your topic on the Internet (.net,.gov, and.org tend to be more reliable sites); any information you find must be credible (you must prove it)

 When searching for your topic, be considerate of the different ways you can rephrase/reword your topic.  Using synonyms for key words can help you narrow or broaden your topic  Check out this link for examples: php?pid=444743&sid=

 Start with a topic  Narrow and focus your topic  Formulate a question you want to ask about your topic  Narrow the question if possible

 Ask specific questions about your topic that could lead to a debate/argument.  For example – (Topic) Animal Testing  1. When products are tested on animals, are safety precautions used?  2. Are there any existing laws which gives animals rights against harmful testing?  3. Have animals died or suffered adverse side effects as a result of product testing?

 Reflects the purpose of your paper  Is a clear, focused, concise, complex and arguable question  How are online users experiencing or addressing privacy issues on such social networking sites as MySpace and Facebook?  What are common traits of those suffering from diabetes in America, and how can these commonalities be used to aid the medical community in prevention of the disease?  After research, you will answer your question in the form of a thesis statment

 Your information should be current – avoid sources that are more than 5 years old  You need to reference at least six resource in your paper – find eight to give yourself leeway  Make an account on Ebscohost so you can save articles that look promising instead of printing everything out

 On Infohio, check only magazines/periodicals at first  Log in to Student Research Center › Save promising articles to your folder  When you print an article, be sure to click the Citation Format and from pull down menu, select MLA  Create a word document Works Cited  As you print articles, copy and paste the citation into your Works Cited page and save  The citations are not always perfect; you will need to double check at OWL at Purdue

 You need to make a source card for each of your resources (the citation and number each source)  You need to take notes on your research on notecards (follow guidelines for setting up a notecard)  See Notetaking document for specifics

 Research question – Monday, Feb. 24th  Source cards – Friday, Feb. 28th  Note cards, 1 st check – Friday, March 7th  Thesis (your research question answered) – Friday, March 7th  More note cards – Friday, March 14th  Outline – Friday, March 21st  Rough draft – Wednesday, April 2nd  Works Cited – Wednesday, April 2nd  Final Copy – Monday, April 14th