Writing A Research Paper
Finding a Topic
Here are some tips for coming up with a research topic:
- Pick a field that interests you: Look through books,
magazines, and newspapers to find a topic that catches your attention and
makes you want to find out more about the subject.
- Choose a topic for which lots of sources are available:
Make a list of preliminary sources available on your topic. If the
list is too short or the sources are not credible, find another topic.
- Avoid topics that are too broad: If you start with
a broad category, you’ll need to narrow it down. For example,
you might narrow the broad topic of drugs, to drug testing, or even further
to drug testing in the workplace.
- Come up with a research question: If your topic
were media coverage of terrorism, you might ask the following questions
to brainstorm and narrow your subject further: What are the affects of media
coverage of terrorism? Is freedom of speech absolute? Should the media
regulate themselves? Coming up with research questions will also help
you determine whether your research paper will be informative or persuasive.
Finding Sources Online
Here are some tips for finding information online for your
research paper:
- Search using different words and phrases: Use related
terms in combination or alone. If your search is too broad because
you are using only one word or term, try combining two words like food
AND chefs.
- Use several different Web search engines: No search
engine catalogues the entire Web. Different search engines will be
more useful, depending on your topic. Here are several search engines
you can try:
- Find library information, books, and government publications
online. You can find many traditional library books online.
Evaluating Sources
Keep in mind the following points when evaluating online sources:
-
The depth of the site: Sometimes
an older book can provide more in-depth information on a topic than a cursory
Web site. Don’t rely on a Web page just because it’s convenient.
Try to find the most authoritative and thorough source. Look for information
that is well supported with evidence.
-
The timeliness of the information:
Check to see when the site was created or last updated. If the material
is out of date, you can eliminate the source from consideration.
-
The bias of the source: Look to
see if there is a tilde (~) in the URL. This often means the information
is coming from someone’s personal web site. Even if the person
is credible, the information may be biased. You need to look at different
sources on a topic in order to identify bias in certain sites. Any
anonymous web site should be suspect.
-
The publishing company: Check the
URL to see if it ends in com, gov, org, or edu.
Valuable information can be found on all types of sites, but knowing if
the site is from the government or a commercial business can help determine
the nature of the material.
Go to the following web sites for additional
help on evaluating online sources:
http://www.lib.vt.edu/research/libinst/evalbiblio.html
Created by the University of Vermont, this site contains numerous links and
resources to help you evaluate Internet resources.
http://gateway.lib.ohio-state.edu/tutor/les1/checklist.html
The Ohio State Universities Libraries site provides a tutorial on how to evaluate
Internet sources.
Managing the Project
A research paper is the result of weeks or months of gathering,
evaluating, and synthesizing information. Due to the extended time frame
for a research project, it’s important to manage your time wisely.
You can make out a schedule and keep a research journal and/or log of your
activities, or you can print out the following table and fill in the dates
for your own personal deadlines and those of your instructor.
Click on the sample project schedule,
which may be of aid to you.
Here are some tips to help you manage the research process:
-
Establish research questions: You'll
want to ask and answer the following questions: What do I want to
know about my topic? What are some key words to use in online research?
Where will I find the most information about my topic?
-
Write at every stage: Take notes
as you do your research. Summarize key findings, outline articles,
and take notes during interviews. These notes will be useful as you
organize your material and write your first draft.
-
Prepare a working bibliography:
See if your library or the Internet has a special bibliography on your topic.
Such a reference bibliography is the result of someone else's work on the
subject. Using someone else's list of sources on a subject is easier
than starting from scratch. For example, see http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/subguides.html
for a broad subject bibliography guide.
-
Check your sources:
You need to determine whether the source is biased or fair, current,
and appropriate. Double-check your information with more than one
source if possible.
Taking Notes from Sources
Here are some tips for note-taking, quoting, and paraphrasing:
-
Noting all bibliographic
information for all sources: When you find a
source that contains information you think you might use in a paper, write
down all the bibliographic information so you can accurately document it
at a later time. See the Blair
e-book to find out what bibliographic information you will need
to note.
-
Quoting material: If you quote
a source, select only passages that are distinctively expressed. Place
all passages in quotation marks, even those of only one sentence.
Be sure to list the source information for all quoted material.
-
Paraphrasing material: Paraphrasing
means putting the material in your own words. Your paraphrased notes
may be almost as long as the original text because you are generally following
the original source’s order and structure, and you are including most
of the details. Paraphrase material when you need to make something clearer
for your audience. Even if you put the information into your own words,
you should still take complete source notes on where you found the material.
-
Summarizing material: Summarizing
means condensing a long passage by stating its main point in your own words.
A summary is about one-third the size of the original text or paraphrased
material. Use summary when your audience needs to know the main point
but not all the supporting evidence.
