1. The Confident Writer Chapter 7: Researching for Writing

2. “It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Plagiarism Buster” by Gillian Silverman “Plagiarism is the purloining of ideas or languages from another source.” What does this mean? Why are students tempted to plagiarize? What are some of the consequences of plagiarism?

3. Plan Your Research Paper Research begins with a topic: An issue A problem to solve Research requires: Time Planning

4. Plan Your Research Paper Manage Your Time Effectively Choose & Narrow a Topic Make a plan to complete your research Give yourself deadlines! Start early Be realistic. Choose a significant topic. Choose a topic of personal interest. Ask your instructor for ideas.

5. Plan Your Research Paper Determine Audience & Purpose Write Your Thesis Statement General or specific audience? Opposing viewpoints? Audience awareness: Why is my topic important? What do my readers know about my topic? What more should they know about my topic? How will their lives be affected by what I’ve learned in my research? Purpose: inform or persuade? Preliminary (working) thesis To write a thesis, answer these questions: ◦What is my narrow topic (issue)? ◦What questions do I have about my topic/issue? ◦What is my answer? A good thesis control’s a research paper’s development!

6. Research Your Topic Benefits of a library ◦Librarian ◦Online catalogs ◦Online databases ◦Collections of books ◦Collections of periodicals Ask a librarian Use online catalogs Check your library’s website Use reference tools ◦Indexes ◦Databases ◦Other sources Search the internet Evaluate online sources ◦Reliability ◦Objectivity ◦Usefulness Interview an expert

7. Research Your Topic Working Thesis Let’s do some research! Texas denies same-sex couples many of the rights enjoyed by heterosexual couples. Library catalog Databases Internet

8. Notes to Avoid Plagiarism

9. Assemble Your Research Paper

10. In-Text CitationsWorks Cited