Researching your Subject Warm-up:

Why do Research? “A concept map…will only help you identify possible causes. You need to do research to determine whether these causes actually exist” (Johnson-Sheehan & Pain, 2015, p.131). The goal is to figure out which of the ideas on your map are worth pursuing in your paper. You need to look for legitimate causes/effects for your topic.

Explore with Electronic Sources Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. Use key words from your concept map Start with your topic and work your way out Topic (effect): “Why do college students get tattoos?” Causes: Marking life changes Self-expression Create identity The “in” thing Possible searches: “tattoos as self-expression,” “tattoos to create identity,” and “tattoos to mark life changes” Chapter 16 contains information to help you determine the reliability of web sources.

Explore with Print Sources Visit a library (you do now have access to the WilmU library!) Use their computers to do a similar search to the one you would complete to look for web sources. Use Google Scholar! Why do college students get tattoos?

Explore with Empirical Sources “You can interview an expert, create a survey, or conduct field observations to better understand the topic you are investigating” (Johnson-Sheehan & Pain, 2015, p.131). Of course, this depends on your topic, but do not discount the effectiveness of consulting an expert or carrying out a survey.

Miscellaneous… Research is a necessary component to completing the Causal Analysis essay. What you discover during your research may clarify/strengthen the ideas on your map, or identify weaknesses. Your concept map will have 2-5 causes/effects for you topic, but your paper is only going to be 2-3 pages long – you have to cut down your ideas somehow. Boom. Research. No evidence, no support, weak evidence, or weak support should be an indication to not bother with that cause/effect.

Note! “As you are researching your topic, collect any images on your topic that you find particularly interesting. Photographs or drawing are especially helpful for illustrating the causes and effects of a trend, event or phenomenon” (Johnson-Sheehan & Pain, 2015, p.131). Also, create a graphic for your data if you conduct a survey! All of these things will help when we work on Style and Design for the final draft.