In Search of Background Literature Get a packet

But First … Assign project topics Introduce student guide

Why do background research about your topic? To obtain evidence that your project will address a community problem; to answer “who cares”? To have a basis for your hypotheses

Phase I: This Week Start Broad and General Use your general sources to create a rationale for your project – a reason to do it The project needs to address a (community) problem The data you gather should facilitate some kind of improvement in the world You need a foundation; avoid sources that are overly complex. Good beginning sources include Reputable websites Textbooks News periodicals Popular science journals like Psychology Today, Nature, and Science Local experts, including teachers Google is your best friend

Demonstrate

APA Format We will use until/unless you pick a field that consistently uses a different format; then you will learn that. Better to learn it than to trust websites that do it for you; your errors are your errors. Questions: Consult the Research Guide online or Google it

Citations, References, Plagiarism APA format = Citations in the text of your writing to provide the source of information (Author(s), Year). References = A listing of all sources arranged in alphabetical order based on first author’s name that also includes more information than the citations – URL or journal name, article title, etc. Plagiarism Stealing words Stealing ideas The point: put things in your own words!

Citing Online Sources General rule – follow APA format for articles but add Retrieved, the date and from the URL at the end

In Text Citations Much research has shown a positive effect of early exposure to the research process (Oggeri & Weseley, 2014; Weseley, Morin, & Oggeri, 2013; Weseley & Oggeri, 2014). Studies have shown that students who did well in Research Seminar tended to be successful in college and in their careers (Oggeri & Weseley, 2014; Weseley & Oggeri, 2014). In a follow-up study, Weseley et al. (2013) found that research students tended to enjoy higher self esteem and better mental health, and another study (Weseley, 2015) has even shown that research can increase longevity.

References Oggeri, D., & Weseley, A. J. (2014). High school research as a predictor of later life success. The Journal of Wishful Thinking, 18(2), 27-35. doi: xx 459540030 Weseley, A. J. (2015). Research prolongs longevity. Retrieved October 17, 2016 from http://www.cdc.gov/ Weseley, A. J., & Oggeri, D. (2014). Yet more reasons to do research in high school. The American Journal of Education, 4(3), 129-141. doi: xxx 93939820 Weseley, A. J., Morin, A., & Oggeri, D. (2013). Surprising benefits of early academic experiences. Psychological Science, 12(6), 1100-1113. doi: xxx 9347y47478

Homework Let the General Background Research begin! Each team member is responsible for finding, reading and taking notes on 1 article before class tomorrow. Articles must be different from one another’s so email group to claim Bring notes and articles to class tomorrow

Next 5 Slides = Next Group Lesson

Synthesizing what you read What does synthesis mean?

Example: Should We Have the Death Penalty? Your group gathers background from 12 sources. Each person types of a short description of what they read. Your Team Captain pastes those all together into one document and turns it in. Critique

Example: Should We Have the Death Penalty? A SYNTHESIS Approach Your group gathers background from 12 sources. Each person types up a short description of what s/he read in his/her own words. Your team then gets together to look at all the notes on the sources and groups them based on content; a source can be used to support more than one point. The team decides how best to present the background research – what order will take you from your research question to your hypotheses?

The Point Background research should be presented in a logical order; it should move the reader from the research question to the hypothesis. Logical order is important both between and within paragraphs. Good topic sentences are somewhat specific Research shows that the death penalty leads to a decrease in crime Research shows that the death penalty affects the crime rate

The Sources 3 show that crime rates decreased after the institution of the DP 4 show that the DP costs the nation millions of dollars annually in court costs 3 present data about cases in which ppl who were executed were later proven innocent 2 talk about the eye-for-an-eye morality behind the DP How should we order these and why?

Phase 2: Academic Articles Academic = Peer Reviewed Try Google Scholar Use search engines that are relevant to your field (See instructions in Student Guide) PsycInfo ERIC PubMed Science Direct Use your academic sources to understand how researchers in your field have carried out studies on related topics. Take notes on their methods and findings (results v. discussion).

Searching Tips Experiment with different search terms Avoid articles that seem overly long, complex or specific Read the abstract carefully Ask us top approve your abstracts before you invest the time to read the article Once you find a good article, use the “cited by” feature – show example Look for the classic study in the field