TURN IN A SOLID RESEARCH
PAPER
CHAPTER 14
DECIDE WHAT TO INVESTIGATE
• Choose a subject
• Do preliminary research first!
• Narrow your topic
• Most important ideas
• Find a focus
• Research questions guide research
• Use concept Maps!
GATHER INFORMATION
• Know where to look
• Review Library Resources
• Use online databases
•
Pop quiz – what’s a Boolean search?
• Use real books too!
• Bibliographies!
• Annotations
• Notecards (p. 365)
• Online resources like Evernote
• Take notes!
• Also on notecards! (They’re for more than just flashcards, people. (p. 267)
DEVISE A FRAMEWORK
• Decide on a premise
• What is your point? How will you get to it?
• If it’s argument, which viewpoint offers the majority of the evidence?
• Cluster your notes!
• This is the fun part
• Outline using the notes
• Write the paper
• Just write! (the first draft, anyway)
• Annotate for revision
• Revise and edit
•
Read out loud!
•
Make sure you are supporting your information
•
Fine tune grammar and writing style
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE
• Don’t plagiarize!
• Use in-text citation
• Supply a bibliography
• MLA – “Works Cited”
• APA – “References”
• Final edits
• Fine-tune intro and conclusion
• Choose a good title
• Print a copy to proof-read!
RESEARCH PAPER DON’TS
(AKA, YOU’RE TOO OLD FOR THIS)
• “Hello, My name is…”
• Who are you talking to?
• “Have you ever...?”
• NEVER include rhetorical questions!
• “Today I’m going to talk about…”
• Nope
• Any casual conversational language
• “well,” ”actually,” and the like. Also, no ”like”
• Save the snark for your brutal take down of Boomers