Research Writing Ms. Garcia Ms. Wile 6 th Grade Language Arts

Introduction  Do you remember the last time you wanted to learn more about a topic that interested you? Where did you look for information?  There are lots of different resources for information. A resource is any type of material that contains information or helps you find it.  When you use these resources to find out information, you are doing RESEARCH !

Research Writing Tips  In the next few slides, you will find some tips that will help you write your very own research paper.

Tip 1: Library Reference Materials  Almanac-Contains up-to-date facts about all kinds of topics.  Example: Names of people inducted into the baseball hall of fame.  Atlas-A book of maps.  Example: Use an atlas to find bodies of water.  Encyclopedia-Contains facts and information about a wide variety of subjects.  Example: The digestive system.

Tip 1: Library Reference Materials  Newspaper-Contains current news.  Example-Information on weather and sports.  Anthology-Contains articles or stories by one author or on one subject.  Example: The Cat Anthology.  Journal-Contains articles or stories about a certain topic.  Example: Contains articles or stories about health and fitness.

Tip 2: Search Engines  If you plan to use the internet for research, one tool you’ll need is a search engine.  A search engine is a program that collects information from Web sites all over the internet and stores that information.  Example: Google and Yahoo.

Tip 3: Primary or Secondary Source?  Primary sources are direct sources. As a rule, a primary source was somehow directly involved in the event or the issue you are researching.  Example: A letter written by a soldier to his wife during the Civil War.  Secondary sources are indirect.  Example: A history book describing the important battles of the Civil War is a secondary source of information.

Practice-Primary or Secondary?  An encyclopedia entry for New Zealand ______  A chapter in a history book about native tribes in New Zealand ______  A letter written by a New Zealand woman to a soldier fighting in war ______  An internet website that gives a brief history of New Zealand ______

Tip 4: Decide whether sources are accurate and credible  Inaccurate and unreliable information can destroy a research report. Who is going to believe the writer?  Here are some questions to ask yourself to determine the value of your resources:  Where was the information found?  What is the authors purpose?  What makes the author an expert?  Where does the author get his or her information?

Tip 5: Doing Research  When you start getting information from a resource, don’t just copy over whatever the source says about your topic.  That is considered PLAGIARISM!  Try paraphrasing or summarizing the resource instead.

Examples  Original Text (From a definition of color blindness) Visual defect resulting in the inability to distinguish colors. About 8% of men and 0.5% of women experience some difficulty in color perception. Color blindness is usually an inherited sex- linked characteristic, transmitted through, but recessive in, females. Acquired color blindness results from certain degenerative diseases of the eyes. Most of those with defective color vision are only partially color-blind to red and green, i.e., they have a limited ability to distinguish reddish and greenish shades. Those who are completely color-blind to red and green see both colors as a shade of yellow. Completely color-blind individuals can recognize only black, white, and shades of gray. (Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.)

Examples  Paraphrase : Color blindness, affecting approximately 8% of men and.5% of women, is a condition characterized by difficulty in telling one color from another, most often hereditary but in some cases caused by disease. The majority of color-blind people cannot distinguish some shades of red and green, but those who cannot perceive those colors at all see red and green objects as yellow. There are people who cannot see color at all and perceive all objects in a range of black through gray to white. (Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.)

Examples  Summary : Color blindness, usually a sex- linked hereditary condition found more often in men than women and sometimes the result of eye disease, involves limited ability to tell red from green, and sometimes complete inability to see red and green. In a much rarer form of color blindness, the individual sees no colors at all.

Examples  Quotation, Integrated : Color blindness is a "visual defect resulting in the inability to distinguish colors" (Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.). Most often it is a hereditary condition that involves only some shades of red and green, but people with complete red-green color blindness see yellow instead, and some people have no color perception at all. (Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.).

Practice Original Text: The term cloning describes a number of different processes that can be used to produce genetically identical copies of a biological entity. The copied material, which has the same genetic makeup as the original, is referred to as a clone. (

Tip 5: Doing Research  When you want to quote what an author says about a topic, put the words you are quoting into quotation marks. That way, the reader will know that the words are not your own.  Also, it is important to make clear who you are quoting. You can’t just borrow the words without giving proper credit.  Example: In his book Sharks Alive!, author Saj Shimshak describe what it’s like: “Even when you are safe in a cage, it can be frightening to stare at a shark in the face.”

APA Resource  douglas-degelman/apa-style/#title douglas-degelman/apa-style/#title