1. Researching

2. How Creativity Works
Ayn Rand said you have to “fill the well”. Freewriting Brainstorming Drawing pictures/Doodling Collecting photos and pieces of words/phrases Preliminary digital research Read (poetry/ads/books/newsletters/love letter) Watch something (comedy especially) Generate questions; start with what you don’t know Move your body (dance/walking/running)

3. Re:Searching Researching is to search again
Your aim in researching is not to support your existing position, but to complicate that position and to bring into dialogue what you know with new information
Always aim your research toward something that interests you

4. The Research Process Find a topic Narrow the topic Develop questions
Find sources
Engage sources
Decide on argument
Evaluate sources

5. Sources Academic Sources (can incld. primary or secondary)
Credentialed experts
Peer reviewed
Includes helpful bibliography
Purpose to spread knowledge
Thoroughly examined topics
Examples include academic journals
Popular Sources (can incld. primary or secondary)
Journalists or reporters; often without subject expertise
Sources almost never listed or attributed
Purpose is quick information/entertainment
Can help you (through anecdotal evidence) gain overview of topic
Examples include magazines, newspapers, blogs
Sources

6. Finding a Topic
Step 1
General area of interest like abstinence programs or road rage
What matters to you?
What matters to others?
What’s going on in the world?
Talk to others
Go online

7. Narrow the Topic
Step 2
Quick, online, popular sources help you narrow your focus
Being a parent > The best age to become a parent now in the USA
Economic policies > Tax policy and income distribution in 2013
Social networking > How social networking shapes the abilities of first-year college students to solve interpersonal conflict

8. Step 3 Questions = Sources Questions of fact Definition Interpretation
Who, what, where, when, why, how
Definition
What is the thing in question?
Interpretation
How can we make sense of what happened?
Consequence
What caused it to happen?
Value
Is what is at stake good/useful/worthy of praise or blame?
Policy
What should we do?

9. Questions Lead to Sources
Step 4
Questions of fact
Stats/hard news/first-hand accounts/maps
Definition
Dictionaries/disciplinary dictionaries
Interpretation
Editorials/partisan news/position statements/Bios
Consequence
Stats/historical accounts/photos of aftermath/documentary
Value
Corporate mission statements/surveys + polls/voting results
Policy
Government decisions/business records/academic journals

10. Step 5 Engage Sources Read to find answers to your questions
Read rhetorically/critically
Read for opinions that differ from yours
Read actively + annotate
Questions to ask of sources
What is at stake?
How is the issue framed?
How is this source in dialogue with other sources?
Does this source propose new questions?
Does this source ask me to change my mind?

11. Annotated Bibliographies
A list of the sources you use and a summary of each source. Annotated bibs help you summarize and reflect on your sources as well as organize and correctly cite sources.

12. An Example
Bejou, David. “Treating Students like Customers.” BizEd Mar.—Apr.2005: Print. This article’s author is “professor of marketing and dean of the School of Business at Virginia State University in Petersburg.” He advocates that schools take up customer relations management because it takes as a given that “While some administrators find it difficult to accept he idea of students as consumers, in reality, that’s what they are (44).”(If I hadn’t read other articles, I wouldn’t have realized that this author doesn’t speak about how education and learning fit into the CRM model.)

13. Citations 101 Don’t Cite Cite Common & Shared Knowledge
Facts that are available in a wide range of sources
The results of your own field research
Someone else’s exact words
Your paraphrases/summaries of other’s words
Unknown facts/ideas
Photos/charts/graphs

14. Example MLA citation
Tuchman, Gaye. Wannabe U: Inside the Corporate University. Chicago: Chicago UP, Print.

15. Example APA citation
Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General format. Retrieved from resource/560/01/

16. Decide on your Argument
Step 6
Your thesis statement is your overarching argument (remember, this can be verbal or visual)
The thesis statement must have a claim + evidence + warrant (implied)
Example:
Treating students as customers damages their education because education requires students to take active responsibility for their learning, wait for rewards, and be challenged and uncomfortable in the process.

17. Step 7 Evaluate your Sources Sources should be relevant and credible
Relevance = timeliness of the source
Is the pub date appropriate?
Is the source on topic?
Source say something interesting?
Credibility = sufficient authority
Who published the source?
What evidence is given? Is it adequate?
Does it sound reasonable + incorporate other POVs?

18. Practice
Select a topic. Conduct basic Internet research and find a one source on the subject. Create an annotated bibliography for that single source. Read the source. Conduct and write out a short (as in two-three sentences) source evaluation. Be sure to cite your work appropriately using APA or MLA.

19. In-Class Exercise

20. Homework
Wiki
Discussion