Doing Research Chapter 19

Not Just a Tradition  Teaches you how to manage longer pieces of writing  Teaches you how to use the library  Makes you an expert on your subject  Prepares you for success in other courses

Choosing Your Subject  Unfamiliar & interesting  Sparks curiosity  You must remain open-minded  Avoid subjects that require technical knowledge  Use free association

Why have a thesis statement? 1) Investigate to find facts 2) Interpret those facts 3) Persuade the reader that your opinion/interpretation is correct 4) Don’t just state the facts—use them to support your opinion

Developing Your Thesis  Keep purpose and audience in mind when researching  Easy to forget the point  Researching may cause you to change/modify your original thesis  Preserve your opinion—don’t let it vanish

Preliminary Reading  “Reading around”  Verify that your subject is still interesting  Begin with an encyclopedia  Initiate reference/note-taking  Refrain from using the Internet—begin with reliable/trustworthy resources

Research on the Internet  “Yahoo” and “Google”  Don’t assume that all info on the internet is reliable—.gov,.org, etc.  Look carefully at the author or sponsor of the website  Use preliminary info to “snuff out” bad websites

Research on the Internet  Determine purpose and audience of website  Look for dates  Look for sources of info  Check for appropriate breadth  Ensure that website has adequate evidence to support its findings

Your Preliminary Outline  Preliminary outline = scratch outline  Indicates major divisions of paper  Not elaborate

A Working Bibliography  Works cited—an alphabetical listing of the books, articles, and other sources  Working bibliography—promising resources from early stages of research  Use index cards to record authors’ names, titles, and publication data  Final list includes only sources used in paper

Making Bibliography Cards  Make a card for any resource that may be helpful  Make notes also in order to remember the source

Taking Notes  Note cards provide a space for evidence and supporting details  You’ll organize paper according to necessity of notes, not by book  One note per card

Taking Notes: Content  Look for facts, ideas, or opinions  Take more than you need  Weed out your notes after you’ve finished researching  May take notes as soon as you start researching

Preparing Note Cards  Every note should contain two kinds of info: 1)The fact, idea, or opinion 2)The exact source of the info  Avoid plagiarism—using someone else’s words and/or ideas without acknowledging their source

Quotation of Sources  When quoting a source, use the exact wording (even errors) from that source  Must use quotation marks

Quotation of Sources  Use brackets [ ] when clarifying a note  Instead of “He…”  Use “[Name]…”  If you leave out words/sentences, use ellipses (...), but do not use them to—  Alter the meaning of the sentence  Omit important elements like subjects or verbs

Summary and Paraphrase of Sources  Quote sparingly  Instead use  the summary method—a short restatement of the original source in your own words  OR the paraphrase method—more expanded summary, often contains words taken from the original

Disagreements: Fact and Opinions  Be careful to distinguish between a writer’s statement of fact and expression of opinion  Use encyclopedias or standard sources to do background checks  OR acknowledge difference of opinions in paper

Outlining  Arrange notes in piles according to headings  Write a slug—a brief heading that indicates the content of each note  Planning on proving a thesis—best to use sentence outline