1. Research Project
Ballenger, Bruce P. The Curious Researcher: a Guide to Writing Research Papers. New York: Longman, Print.

2. What’s the point? What is research?
The purpose of research is to LEARN or CONFIRM
Research must involve MULTIPLE AUTHORITIES
Research should begin with something YOU already KNOW
You must be able to ask questions on the topic
Research is finding the ANSWERS to QUESTIONS
Research is REPORTING OUT your findings
Research is a LIFE SKILL NOT JUST AN ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT

3. SKILLS Analysis of new material Reading comprehension
Evaluation of authorities
Writing skills
Organization of ideas
Development of ideas
Tying together ideas
Reading comprehension
Finding answers to questions
Summarizing
Paraphrasing
Comparison of facts

4. Where to begin? Summarizing informational reading in own words
Paraphrasing informational reading in own words
Compiling facts from multiple informational readings on same topic
Informational reading assignments on content
Questioning activities on informational reading
Confirming information with multiple sources

5. Practical Application
Have students write questions on topic every day
Have students evaluate questions from worksheets text books
Teach students good questioning
Model good questioning

6. Practical Application
Have students read informational text regularly and frequently (newspaper articles, online articles, textbook, journals, websites)
Use Active Reading Guide for non fiction
Use It Says I Say worksheet
Use Magazine/NEWS worksheets

7. The research project should be an extension of good reading/writing practice that is already being done in class regularly

8. NAME: _______________________________________________________________
Copy citation from article: ( ) {Author, page)
Question:
It Says:
I Say:
So:
Develop questions to ask about your topic that your article answers.
Find information from the text to answer the question. You may use direct quotes, paraphrasing or summarizing. Be sure to record the page number where the information was found.
Write a complete sentence using the information from the text to answer the question.
Where do I go from here?
What other questions do I need to ask?
What other information do I need to know?
What more can I learn about this fact?

9. Active Reading – NonFiction Name __________________________________
Title __________________ by____________________
Predict: Make educated guesses about what you are reading. Preview the topic and the type of nonfiction. You can do this by making inferences from the title and skimming the text. Then try to figure out the author’s main idea by looking for a thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. Also, think about the facts, reasons, and details the author may use to support the main ideas.
What will this selection be about?
What main idea will the writer have about the topic?
What evidence might the writer use to back up his or her ideas?
Connect: Consider what you already know about the topic. Compare people and events with those in your own life. Reflect on any experiences you have had that relate to the topic. Read with the purpose of getting information or a new point of view on the topic.
What have I heard or read about this topic?
Whom or what does this selection remind me of?
When have I been in a situation like the one described here?
Question: As you read, pause occasionally to question anything you do not understand. Reread any section that seems unclear to you. Read on to find answers to your questions. Discuss lingering questions with other readers.
What is the writer’s point here?
Why is the writer giving me these facts?
What does this point have to do with the writer’s main idea?

11. Steps to Research Step One – Topic Step Two – preliminary research
Discover your subject
Develop “working knowledge” of subject
Narrow your subject by finding your focusing question
Step Two – preliminary research
Plan a research strategy
Fine tune search terms
Develop “focused knowledge”
Plan interviews or surveys
Step Three – Refining Research
Completing fact sheets
Midway Research Prompt
Advanced search techniques
Interviews and surveys
Step Four - Writing
Fact sheets to body paragraphs
Step Five – Final publishing
Clarify Purpose and hone in thesis
Writing introduction and conclusions
Revise Draft
Edit, proofread and finalize citations
Final Draft
Evaluation

12. People Places history Jobs hobbies Things Places Trends Technologies
Get Curious!
People
Places
history
Jobs
hobbies
Controversies
Technologies
Things
Places
Trends

13. People Places Jobs history hobbies Things Places Trends Technologies
Choose three titles
People
Make 3 columns, make these the titles of your columns
Places
Jobs
history
hobbies
Controversies
Technologies
Things
Places
Trends

14. People history Places hobbies Jobs Things Places Trends Technologies
5 minutes
BRAINSTORM!
People
What comes to mind when you think about what you know or what you might want to know about this category?
history
Places
hobbies
Controversies
Jobs
Technologies
Things
Places
Trends

15. People history Places hobbies Jobs Things Places Trends Technologies
5 minutes
Out of Ideas?
People
Start a new column with a new topic!
history
Places
hobbies
Controversies
Jobs
Technologies
Things
Places
Trends

16. Review your lists
Is there something on these lists that raises questions that research can help answer?
Are they potentially interesting questions?
Does this item get at something I’ve always wondered about?
Might it open doors to knowledge that I think is fascinating or relevant to my life?
CIRCLE THEM!

17. Is this a good topic?
Does it raise questions I’d love to learn answers to? Does it raise a lot of them?
Do I feel strongly about it? Do I already have some ideas about the topic that I’d like to explore?
Can I find authoritative information to answer my questions? Could I conduct an interview? An informal survey? Internet research?
Will it be an intellectual challenge? Will it force me to reflect on what I think?
Are a lot of people researching this topic or a similar one? Will I have a hard time finding sources in the library?

18. 5 minutes
EXERCISE 1.4
On a large piece of paper write the title of your possible topic
Take a few minutes to describe why you choose this topic
Spend 5 minutes briefly listing what you know about your topic already

19. 10 minutes
EXERCISE 1.4 cont
Spend 10 minutes brainstorming a list of questions about your topic
Make this list as long as possible
Try to see your topic in as many ways as possible
Push yourself  it’s the most important step

20. EXERCISE 1.4 cont Put your paper on the desk
3 minutes
EXERCISE 1.4 cont
Put your paper on the desk
Move around the room reviewing the topics and questions other students came up with
On each paper add a question you would like answered about the topic that is not on the list
On each paper put a  next to the ONE question you find most interesting

21. Exercise 1.5
Write the one question that you think would be most interesting on the top of a clean piece of paper
Build a new list of questions under that question
You may be able to use some of the questions from your classmates

22. “Researchable” questions
Not too big or too small
Focuses on some aspect of a topic about which something has been said
Interests the researcher
People have a stake in the answer; it has something to do with how we live or might live, what we care about, or what might be important for people to know
Implies an approach or different way of answering it
Raises more questions, the answer shouldn’t be simple

23. Interesting Angles to Explore a Topic
People Who has been influential in shaping the ideas in this topic area? Do any have views that are intriguing to you? Could you profile the person or his contributions?
Trends What are the recent developments in this topic? Are any significant? Why?
Controversies What do experts in the field argue about? What aspect of the topic seems to generate the most heat? Which is most interesting to you? Why?
Impact What about your topic currently has the most effect on the most people? What may in the future? How? Why?
Relationships Can you put one thing in relationship to another? What is the relationship between your topic and _____?

24. What is the relationship between ____________ and ____________?
Exercise 1.6
What is the relationship between ____________ and ____________?

25. Other ways to narrow your subject
Time Limit the time frame of your project (month, year, decade, era)
Place Anchor a larger subject to a particular location (state, city, continent, etc.)
Person Use the particulars of a person to reveal generalities about the group
Story Ground a larger story in the specifics of a “smaller” one

26. Decide on a Purpose To Explore (if you don’t know the answer)
Write what you found in your research
Best and truest answers to your questions
To Argue (if you think you know the answer)
State a central claim and make it convincing
To Analyze (test a theory)
Collect data, examine it closely, see how closely it conforms to what you initially thought to be true

27. Step 2 Developing a Research Strategy

28. Research Strategy Find ENOUGH information Find VARIED sources
HOME
Find ENOUGH information
Find VARIED sources
Find QUALITY information

29. Research Strategy Cyber Sources General search engines
Google:
To eliminate .coms, .nets
search term site:gov, edu, org
To find definitions
Define:search term
Yahoo
Bing
Dogpile
Online data bases
Infoohio: ebscohost: select databases, click full text, enter search term, refine if necessary
Subscription sites
Specialized search engines

30. Research Strategy Working Bibliography
Store information from EVERY source consulted during search process
Use for easy autocitations
Cut and paste citations

31. Research Strategy: Defining Search Terms
SEARS book for topic headings
Boolean searching : AND, OR, NOT,
Advance searches

32. Research Strategy: Evaluating sources
Primary vs. Secondary
Objective vs. Subjective
Stable or Unstable
Timely (When was it published?)
Journal articles vs. Magazine articles
Often-cited Authors

33. Research Strategy: Developing focused knowledge
Does this information help create a context for the question I’m posing?
Can it provide background on what has already been said about it and who has said it?
Can it provide background on what is already known and when it was discovered?
Can it provide background on why this is a question worth asking?

34. Research Strategy: Developing focused knowledge
Does the information support or develop an idea or claim I’m making?
Is it evidence that what I’m saying might be true?
Does it help refine or qualify an idea I have about my topic?

35. Research Strategy: Developing focused knowledge
Does the information challenge or complicate what I’ve been thinking about my topic?
Does it raise new questions I hadn’t thought of?
Is it a point of view that is opposed to mine? If so, what do I think about it?
Does this change my thinking in some way?

36. Research Strategy: Exercise 2.1 Press Conference
Prepare a 5 – 7 minute talk on your topic to your class who will then follow up with questions
Focus on what you’ve learned so far that most surprised you, or the most common misconceptions, or give background to explain why your topic is important, tell some personal stories
Don’t read a speech; you can have notes, but avoid reading them
Consider visuals: power point? pictures? Graphs? charts? Maps?
Begin by stating your focusing question

37. Research Strategy: Working Bibliography
Books
Magazine and Journals
Newspaper
MetaSearch Engines
Single Search Engines
Specialized Search Engines

38. Step Three: Refining Research
Completing the fact sheets

39. Subtopic: I II III IV V Question: Fact 1 Fact 3 Fact 2 Fact 4 A B C
D E
Question:
Each fact needs to be a complete sentence, in your own words. No “things” “stuff” “you” “get” “a lot” (or variations of those words). Each fact needs to have a page number or “ws” for website. You must have information from at least 3 sources.
Source
# ____
Fact 1
Fact 3
Fact 2
Fact 4

40. Step Four: Drafting Writing Leads
Anecdote: Think of a little story that nicely frames what your paper is about.
Scene: Begin by giving your readers a look at some revealing aspect of your topic. A paper on the destruction of tropical rain forests might begin with a description of what the land looks like after loggers have left.
Profile: Try a lead that introduces someone who is important to your topic, a case study for example.
Background: Maybe you could begin by providing important and possibly surprising background information on your topic. A paper on steroid use might start by citing the explosive growth in use by high school athletes in the last ten years. A paper on a novel or an author might begin with a review of what critics have had to say.
Quotation: Sometimes, you encounter a great quote that beautifully captures the question your paper will explore or the direction it wil take.
Dialogue: Open with dialogue between people involved in your topic. A paper on the connection between spouse abuse and alcoholism could begin with a conversation between the writer and a woman who had been abused by her husband.
Question: Pointedly ask your readers the questions you asked that launched your research or the questions your readers might raise about your topic.
Contrast: Try a lead that compares two apparently unlike things that highlight the problem or dilemma the paper will explore.
Announcement: Sometimes the most appropriate beginning is one which announces what the paper is about. Though such openings are sometimes not particularly compelling, they are direct. A paper with a complex topic or focus may be well served by simply stating in the beginning the main idea you’ll explore and what play you’ll follow

41. Step Five: Revision and Refinement