By: Aubrey Thompson and August Fitch Chapter 7 The Research Process

What Research Means RESEARCH: it is an investigation into a topic Ex.) You began with a problem and will look to a variety of sources that have the info that you need to solve your problem. REASEARCH PAPER: can inform the reader about a topic, or it can attempt to convince the reader the feel a certain way or take a certain action Ex.) Persuading a reader the recycling is the right thing to do.

Choosing a Topic Choosing your topic is the first step in the research process. Choose a topic that you are interested in, not something that will be hard for you to research. Formulate research questions that will help you with investigating your topic. You can define the specific topic you will research by asking a series of questions in order to arrive at your research question.

Research Sources After you’ve chosen your topic, the next step is to find the answers to your research questions. There are many types of research sources; websites, newspapers, magazines, and books. You need to check over all the sources that you can so you can make sure you get the full picture of what you are researching There are two types or sources, primary and secondary. PRIMARY SOURCE: is a document that is document that was created during the time you are investigating Ex.) Diary entries, poems, stories, historical documents like the Declaration of Independence

Research Sources Cont. SECONDARY SOURCE: provides an interpretation of or commentary about a primary source. Ex.) encyclopedia entries, magazine articles, critical reviews) Common types of sources: encyclopedias, almanacs, journals, news sources, interviews, field studies, technical documents and microfiche. Some sources might be biased, meaning they favor one side over another. Be aware that sources have different perspectives on the same topics, and also look for the credibility of the author.

Using Sources Your research paper should reflect the ideas about the research question you developed. You should write out a detailed outline or rough draft of your paper before you produce your final copy. Support the info that you discovered in your primary and secondary sources throughout your paper.

Organizing Your Info A good way to organize your information is to write it on note cards. By doing this, you can have all of your ideas and information whenever you need it. You can also use anecdotal scripting to organize your ideas. Lastly, you can create an annotated bibliography to record all of your information and the sources that you got it from.

Integrating Source Information Into Your Text First you want to sort your information by your topics and use only what you need Use your draft to help find what info you need to put in your paper. Direct quotations- exact words from the original author or speaker Ex.) At the beginning of “Masque of the Red Death,” Poe describes the prince as, “happy,” “dauntless,” and “sagacious.” Paraphrasing- (indirect quote) is restating the words of another person in your own words. Ex.) Original material: William Seward, Lincoln`s SOS, commented on the limitations of the Emancipation Proclamation. He said, “we show our sympathy with slavery by emancipating slaves where “we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free. Paraphrase: Lincoln`s SOS William Steward recognized that the Emancipation Proclamation created no actual change for slaves at the time.

Cont…. Summarizing: the process of putting the author’s main idea in your own words. Ex.) The Declaration of Independence states the reasons that the colonists sought independence from England.

Documenting Sources In-text citations used within a document to provide information about a source. Ex.) Emily Post admonished in her 1922 handbook of etiquette that one should never take more than one’s share of food at the table (38). You need to put all of your information into a bibliography or a works cited Ex.) Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth. New York: Macmillan Press, 1987.

Formatting and Publishing a Research Paper You need to follow the guidelines that your teacher has given you. Ex.) MLA or APA format Make sure your spacing, margins and title page follow the guidelines you were given.