Research and Note Taking Unit 3

Writing Background Research Questions Construct questions to cover everything needed to conduct the experiment. There should be at least one research question for each of the following categories: 1. Entity * types that can be easily studied * its structure and function * handling/care/safety ethics within a controlled environment

Writing Background Research Questions 2. Independent variable * structure and function * how its going to be manipulated 3. Dependent variable * structure and function * best way to observe, measure, record 4. Connections between entity, IV, and DV * learn what is known about relationships

For example… Blue Birds and Nesting Materials 1.Entity * Genus and species of Eastern blue bird * Normal range, habitat, nesting season 2.IV * typical nesting materials * advantages/disadvantages of the materials you have chosen 3.DV * common nesting material choices * methods you will use to collect data regarding nesting materials 4.Connections * how does nest construction change with introduced materials * how has this topic been studied in the past?

For Everyone Research project should have between 4 and 6 research questions: * entity- 2 * IV- 1 * DV- 2 * connections- 1 Upload the first draft of research questions to Google Docs so that partners have access to them Remember: Preliminary research, developing good research questions and writing a well-constructed proposal are the most challenging part of experimental research

Free Scholarly Databases Google Scholar- Open access journals- Medscape- National Science Digital Library-

Documenting Research Documentation: practice of referencing/citing works *credit ideas, information of others *occurs in parentheses within the narrative of your text *occurs in “Literature Cited” page at the end of your work

Avoiding Plagiarism Plagiarism: presenting ideas, information as your own * take notes in your own words (don’t copy info word for word) * keep track of information source as you go (easier to keep up than back track) * work that cannot be paraphrased must be in enclosed in quotation marks

Citing Research Follow the handout!!