The Nature of the Research
Paper
Research in the Electronic Age
Research Assignment—”OMG, What
Should I do Now?”
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Topic
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What will I write about?
Can I focus on a precise topic?
Information
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How will I find good information?
Is everything I need from the library and elsewhere
available online on my home computer?
Can I use Library Online Databases?
What are "primary and secondary sources?"
Other than my instructor, who else can assist with the
research and writing?
Research Assignment—”OMG, What
Should I do Now?” (cont’d)
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Evidence/Evaluation
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How do I choose appropriate resources?
There are thousands upon thousands of
books and articles and Web sites on
different aspects of the Vietnam War, how
do I avoid feeling overwhelmed?
How do I evaluate a good resource from
a poor one?
How do I evaluate evidence to use in my
paper?
Research Assignment—”OMG, What
Should I do Now?” (cont’d)
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Citation
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How do I prepare the bibliography/works cited
section?
How do I cite an article from the ChinaTimes?
What about articles from an electronic journal?
My uncle fought in the 8-23 Battle. How do I cite
a long e-mail message from him relating these
experiences?
How do I cite government statistics about the
War discovered online?
What is the most effective way to take research
notes?
Research Assignment—”OMG, What
Should I do Now?” (cont’d)
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Paper
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What sections must all research papers include?
Should I write an outline first?
What about preparing a schedule?
Do I include a literature review?
What are the differences between databases
and indexes and catalogs?
How do I know when I've done enough research?
When is it time to start writing?
How do I avoid accusations of plagiarism?
Must I write an executive summary or abstract?
Approach to Academic Research
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Plan. Know the steps involved in any academic
project.
Action. Do the research. Intuition and/or common
sense won't make a research paper appear.
Intuition. Insight is of little use without examining
appropriate evidence. Intuiting that Alexander the
Great was a great general is not enough; research
the topic.
Common sense. Common sense is not as common
as believed and by itself won't produce a research
paper. Asserting that something makes common
sense, without providing research to prove it, falls
short.
Types of Research
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Experimental Research
Survey Research
Observation Research
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Naturalistic observation or ethnography
Obtrusive or participant observation
Case Studies
Historical Research
Evaluative Research
Types of Information Sources (To be
Covered next week)
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Print Materials in Libraries
Journal Articles
Databases
Scholarly Books and
Monographs
Conference
Papers/Proceedings
Abstracts
Working Papers
Citation Indexes
Newspapers and News
Services
Microforms
Bibliographies
Book Reviews
Encyclopedias
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Reference Titles Online
Almanacs
Atlases
Biographical Information
Quotations
Dissertations
Business Information
Statistical Information
Archives and Manuscripts
Media Sources
Govt. Agency Data
Other Government/Political
Databases
Legal Sources
Other Resources
Bibliographies & Encyclopedias
Statistical Information
Govt. Agency Data
Using the Internet for Research: A
Caution
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Developing the mental framework necessary to
successfully deal with such an evanescent tool as
the Internet is the researcher's first step.
Constant growth keeps the Internet in flux. Greater
variability in the quality of information on the Internet
differentiates it from traditional library resources.
In addition, vast quantities of what can be easily
accessed electronically is useless, so researchers
must carefully evaluate any document on the 'Net
A Step by Step Guide to
Researching Your Paper
Topic Choice
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What interests you?
Capitalize on your intellectual and knowledge
strengths.
Use course textbooks
Encyclopedias.
Browse current periodical shelves
Recommendations
Conversation
Brainstorming
Internet
Subject headings
Example of Generating a Topic
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Try going into the online database.
Do a simple subject search with the word
related to your interest.
Start with a very broad search in a database.
Look carefully at the subject headings and
descriptors; ideas to bring the search into
focus may be right in front of you.
Factors for Topic Selection
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Interest: Don’t bore others and YOURSELF!
Overdone topics. Topics on capital
punishment, OCB, CRM, global warming, and
other very popular subjects have been covered
countless times. If you select any of these
issues, choose an innovative angle so your
account stands out. Avoid clichés and trite
conclusions.
Knowledge. Interest in a topic does not
necessarily mean you know much about the
subject at the outset. The research process
mines new knowledge.
Factors for Topic Selection (cont’d)
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Guidelines. Carefully follow the instructor's
guidelines. Is the research paper quantitative
or qualitative? Will you use survey research
methodology or primarily historical research?
Follow directions.
Breadth of topic. How broad is the topic's
scope? Too broad a topic is unmanageable, for
example, "The History of Mankind," or
"Cancer," "The Influence of Shakespeare on
Modern Literature," or "Computers in the
Workplace." On the other hand, too narrow
and/or trivial a topic, e.g., "My Breakfast", is
uninteresting and extremely difficult to
research.
Focusing on a Topic
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An Excessively broad topic. "Life and Times of
Matthew Arnold."
More focused topics. (Though still too broad.)
"Poetic Theories of Matthew Arnold," or "An
Examination of Matthew Arnold's Views on the
Three Main Social Classes in England."
Specific and manageable topics. "Imagery in
Matthew Arnold's The Scholar Gypsy"; "Matthew
Arnold and the Optimal School Curriculum;"
"Matthew Arnold and His Idea of the Clergy."
Excessively narrow topic. "Matthew Arnold and
His Dogs."
Select a Realistic Timetable
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Practical logistics. Allow enough time to choose a
sample, to prepare and distribute a survey
questionnaire, to wait for the returned
questionnaires, to analyze the responses, to write
the paper and conclusion.
Resources. Have enough resources readily
accessible (library, people, museum artifacts, etc.).
Very new topics. Is your topic so new that few
resources are readily available? Technology makes
this less of a problem. However, instructors usually
require you to cite many peer-reviewed articles, and
very recent topics may cause a problem. It takes
time for refereed scholarly articles to appear in print.
Select a Realistic Timetable (cont’d)
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Length of paper.
Qualifications. You should be qualified in some
way to write about a topic. With no knowledge of
Ancient Greek, it is nearly impossible to write a term
paper on Ionic and Doric dialect usage in the
Homeric epics.
Final observation. Most instructors do not allow a
student to submit the exact same paper in two
courses. Some may allow students to work on an
earlier paper, for example, to expand its scope or to
bring it up-to-date, etc. The product of this rewrite is
essentially a different paper. If you wish to revise a
paper written for another course, discuss this with
your instructor.
Schedule—Set dates for:
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Topic choice and research proposal.
Completion of literature research.
Completion of data collection.
Completion of data analysis.
Fully organized notes.
Completion of first, revised and final drafts of
paper.
Submission of final paper (if no date has
been set).
Find Background Information
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If you choose a topic you know very little
about, begin by gathering some general
background knowledge. Start with your notes,
textbooks, reserve reading, and
encyclopedias.
Decide on Proportion of Resources
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Determine what use you will make of each of
these main resource categories: preliminary,
primary, and secondary
Online Databases or Print Indexes
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Remember.
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Most types of material utilized a couple of
decades ago still exist in print format and remain
essential resources.
All the resources useful for research purposes are
not available on the Web.
Walk around the libraries. Look at the hundreds of
thousands of books and journals. Only a tiny
percentage of the full-text contents of these books
and journals are accessible electronically.
For most research papers in most disciplines it will
be necessary to come into the main library (or
other libraries) and consult traditional print
material.
Internet for Other Resources
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A word of caution.
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The internet has limitations. Read carefully the
material in “Organizing Research Step by Step”
on evaluating material found on the Internet.
Material within the four walls of any of libraries
has been selected by librarians. While
occasionally some peripheral items end up on the
shelves, most material has scholarly and
academic credibility. The immense range of types
of material on the Net means it is not always easy
to ascertain who authored, published, or posted
the material. Some of the material is total rubbish.
The fact that a great majority of material on the
Net is of more recent vintage also limits the scope
of its value.
Organizing Research Step by
Step
Evaluating the Worth of a Resource
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Be on guard and skeptical when dealing with
material found on the Web.
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Remember the old saying, “Don‘t believe
everything you read in print.” （盡信書不如無書）
Today, it's "Don't believe everything you read on
the Web." Anyone can post anything. There is no
filtering or refereeing process. Consequently, all
that wonderful, highly valuable research material
is often mixed with a plethora of nonsense.
Evaluating the Worth of a Resource
(cont’d)
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Be conscious of the differences between print
and electronic documents.
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There are many electronic versions of print
journals. Sometimes the electronic version is not
as complete as the original print document and
may contain errors or omit tables, graphs, and
pictures.
Evaluating the Worth of a Resource
(cont’d)
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Authorship
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The author's academic background, experience in
the discipline, and previous publications provide
useful clues about the quality of the source.
Check one of the citation indexes. Have other
authors cited this particular author and her/his
work? Scholars sometimes cite another author's
work as an egregious example of poor research.
Generally, however, the more frequently cited
works do possess some merit.
Authorship
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Ask:
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Is the author of the Web or print document
qualified to write on this topic?
Who wrote the item? (No author listed? Then
wonder why.)
Recognize the author's name? Read anything
else by her or him? Has your professor mentioned
this author? Have other types of publications
made references to this author? Scholars often
cite other good authors.
Is the information provided merely the author's
opinion?
Do the author's credentials, education, position
held, age, experience relate to the topic?
Authorship
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Ask:
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Has the author written a book in this area? Do an
author search in online library to find books by the
author. Check appropriate database(s) for any
written articles.
Is the author the original creator of the piece?
Has the author provided ways to be contacted?
Phone, e-mail, etc.? Is there a Mail-To link?
Any details about her or his research methods?
Can you be sure that the document was not
composed by someone who probably has little
authority in the field?
Is anonymous data from an electronic newsgroup
of any worth?
Evaluating the Worth of a Resource
(cont’d)
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Objective Reasoning
Ask:
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Is the information in the source a fact, an opinion
or propaganda?
Is the information well researched? Or is it
questionable and not based on reasonable
evidence?
Is the language inflammatory or full of bias?
Evaluating the Worth of a Resource
(cont’d)
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Personal Biases
Acknowledge your own personal biases and
how they influence perceptions of others'
writings, results, and research.
People tend to consult material they find
congenial, i.e., material that supports their
viewpoints. Creationists, for example, may
tend to read more articles by those who
disbelieve theories of evolution, and so on.
Evaluating the Worth of a Resource
(cont’d)
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Date of Publication
For Web material, ask:
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When was the research gathered and the piece first
composed?
When was the site last revised and updated (look at the
end of the page)?
Is a copyright date provided?
If the author provides any links, do they work, and if so, are
they up-to-date? If the links do not work, it might indicate
the information has not been recently updated.
If the piece includes tables, charts, graphs, statistics are
dates provided?
Writing an Outline
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Outlines are useful for different reasons at
different times.
Sketching an outline at the beginning of a
research project, even without knowing much
about the topic, helps to get you started.
Outlines become more useful, as the initial
research stages evolve. Don’t fool yourself
and hope that just by putting index cards or
notes into some logical order and proceeding
a good research paper will somehow emerge.
Taking Notes
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Underlining books and articles serves some limited
use, but only in small judicious amounts. Take notes
instead of underlining. Writing notes reinforces and
solidifies the argument's point or quotation. Writing
summaries on cards forces you to be succinct, to
get "to the point."
Don’t trust your memory. Record all research. If you
consult twenty or thirty sources you'll never
remember who said what. Few researchers have
keen photographic memories.
Option: Use 4" x 6"index cards to take content notes
and 3" x 5" cards for the bibliography. Increasingly,
researchers use lap-top computers for notes, though
these are not always as convenient or as portable
as index cards. Still, lap-tops are getting smaller and
handier. PDAs are also particularly useful for notetaking.
Taking Notes (cont’d)
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Always include the relevant citation (don't forget the
page number(s) as they are necessary for the
footnotes and bibliography), whether you use index
cards or a computer. For Internet citations, note the
electronic address.
Keep a word-processing file of the bibliography,
whether you use index cards or a computer. As each
source is consulted, keep an alphabetical list for the
paper's bibliography. Assign the proper citation to
each card or note.
Remember: one major point per card. Take a
minimalist approach. Don't fill each card or note with
all important points or themes in an article, or book,
or you will be overwhelmed.
Taking Notes (cont’d)
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Use abbreviations to save space and time. If the
research concerns Walt Whitman write W.W.
Don't waste time noting well known facts. When
reading Mary Smith’s History of World War II do not
include that Professor Smith stated that Word War II
took place between 1939 and 1945.
Too many notes are better than too few. All notes
don't have to be used.
Carefully distinguish between scholarly
interpretation, the personal opinion of an author, and
the research facts.
Taking Notes (cont’d)
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Sometimes personal comments are made on the
index card, e.g., "electronic commerce is here to
stay" or "Romanesque cathedrals are more aweinspiring than Gothic ones." Be sure to label the
index card or computer reference with a note:
personal interpretation or some similar abbreviation.
Otherwise, you might later on mistake your opinion
for that of the book or article's author.
Write all direct quotations precisely, word-for-word,
as the original. Use quotation marks, so it can be
recognized as a directly quoted text and not a
paraphrase. Failure to put a direct text in quotation
marks or to credit the author sets the stage for
plagiarism.
Taking Notes (cont’d)
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Avoid copying too many direct quotations. Take
down the substance of the author's idea in your own
words, i.e. paraphrase. Most of the paper should be
primarily in your own words with appropriate
documentation of others’ ideas.
Do not take too many notes from just a single
source or two. Admittedly some sources will be more
valuable than others; one source in particular may
support your thesis or argument. Still, always
provide evidence you consulted and used a wide
range of resources.
Write a headline in capitals on the top of each card.
Succinctly indicate the card’s main subject-matter.
Arrange the cards in a logical sequence to reflect
the paper’s main organization.
Taking Notes (cont’d)
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For a contentious topic, present as equally as
possible opposing positions. Be objective. Do
not overemphasize one side.
Always note the book's or journal's call
number for future reference.
If you have used different libraries, jot the
name of the library where you located the
source and took notes.
Stop Researching
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It is impossible to thoroughly cover every
facet of the research question and to read all
the secondary literature.
Know when to quit, when to stop collecting
data, and to look for fresh leads. Know when
to begin writing. Design a comprehensive
research proposal with a well-planned
schedule to minimize writer’s block and
procrastination.
Plagiarism
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Plagiarism is taking another’s work and
passing it off as your own.
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We all do it each day when we take ideas from
others without acknowledging the original source.
However, more often than not, we don’t even
know the original source. And even if we did,
generally we do not make a point of attributing
routine quotes of others.
Plagiarism in research is quite different. True
plagiarism is stealing.
Different Types of Plagiarism
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Copy text.
Quotation. A direct quotation from an author must
be placed in quotation marks and then referenced in
the bibliography or works cited. Forgetting quotation
marks could result in accusations of plagiarism.
Paraphrase. Paraphrasing another’s passage but
doing a poor job of it by keeping very close to the
original text is not genuine paraphrasing. Also,
paraphrasing a passage or presenting someone
else’s ideas in their own words, but failing to give the
proper references or citations to the original author
is cheating.
A Step by Step Guide to
Writing Your Research Paper
Writing the First Draft
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Go back to your outline. Read it carefully. Ask
yourself, does it still make sense?
Read over your research notes. Arrange
them in logical order. Keep the topic and the
requirements of the paper in mind.
Some notes fit the introduction; others
support the argument's affirmative position;
still others challenge the thesis.
Selecting the Audience
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Brevity, logic, and clarity always strengthen a paper
as does omitting unnecessary jargon and avoiding
emotional expressions and excitable tones.
Don't assume everyone shares your interest in the
topic. Your challenge is to generate interest in your
readers.
Avoid abstruse language and convoluted structures.
Always ask a friend or classmate to critique your
paper. Don’t try to impress your instructor with
excessive sources, materials, and too many quotes.
Customary Parts of a Research Paper
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Refer to the textbook
Revising Your Paper
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Time to Revise
Thesis/Argument
Organization and Coherence of the Paper
Revise the Paper with a Word Processing
Program
Proofreading
Text Presentation