Research Assignments

1. Research Assignments Tips on Completing a Successful Research Paper

2. Analyzing the Assignment: Things to consider • Purpose of the assignment • Is it informational or persuasive? • Audience • Your stance • The scope of your research • Length of the project • Deadlines

3. Picking a Topic • If you have a choice, pick something that intrigues you. • Make sure you can limit your topic to a very specific question or prompt. • E.G. “Invasive species” • Invasive species in Michigan • Zebra mussels • The economic effect of zebra mussels in Michigan

4. What do you already know? • List these questions and answer them: • What do you know about your topic? • What should you know? • What do you need to research? • Where will you look for that information? • Start listing possible sources

5. Organizing your Plan • Using the computer: • Create a new folder for your research paper • Create documents or folders for: • Deadlines • Hypothesis and research question • Working Bibliography • Images and visuals • Draft 1 • Etc.

6. Steps to Complete • Annotated bibliography • Note cards • Outline • Completed bibliography • Rough draft of the paper • Works cited • Final paper

7. Necessary Materials • Research folder • 3x5 Note cards • The assignment sheet • Notebook

8. Annotated Bibliography • **KEEP TRACK OF YOUR SOURCES • Write down all the necessary citation information • Any information necessary to relocate the source • Write down a brief summary of the source • Any memorable quote you may use later

9. Bibliography • Include all the necessary citation information • List sources in alphabetical order by whatever comes first in the citation. • Do not use bulleted lists, numbers, or outline formatting. • Single spaced with no extra spaces b/w lines. • You will need to change the default to remove this space. • Remember proper indentations

10. Lessons from Experience • DO NOT PROCRASTINATE • Know the assignment • Know the deadlines • Save early, save often • Keep track of your sources • Research before you write

11. Beginning Research Preliminary Research Focused Research Understanding Types of Sources Note cards

12. Preliminary Research • Encyclopedias – look in the bibliographies • Bound encyclopedias • Wikipedia • Indices • Acknowledgements • Reviews

13. Focused Research • Search a variety of sources • Books • Internet • Journals • Scholarly articles • Studies • Interviews

14. Types of Sources • Print and internet sources • Bound sources = books • Primary vs. Secondary Sources • Primary = basic sources of raw material • Secondary = Descriptions of, interpretations of or reactions to primary sources • Scholarly vs. Popular Sources

15. Evaluating Sources • Websites can be helpful or hurtful. • .gov vs. .com vs. .org • Look for the sponsor of a website. • Look for author’s credentials. • In surveys, look for sample sizes. • Try to discover the bias of the source. • Try to find corroborating evidence.

16. Note Cards - Bibliography • List citation information • To keep track of information • To organize your sources

17. Note Cards - Annotations • List brief citation information • To organize your thoughts • You can arrange these to help you build your outline • Also to match up information to your outline

18. Annotated Bibliography • What to include: • Citation information • Summary • Important Quote • Reaction or opinion

19. Writing the Paper

20. Outlining • Make a detailed outline first. • The problem will likely be eliminating information not adding more. • It is usually best to move from general to specific and then make a general application. • You must learn to stay on topic.

21. Formatting • 1” margins • Name or title on top of page • Title page? • In-text citations or footnotes

22. Persuasive vs. Informational • Informational will be a reorganizing of available information. • If you find your own information, make sure that is readily available or repeatable. • Remember to keep your opinions professional and based in sound research.

23. Including Sources • Signal phrases work well for citations. • Anything that is not common knowledge to your peers must be cited. • Paraphrases must be cited. • Direct quotes must be marked.

24. Including Sources • If you change anything in a quote, use brackets. [changed phrase] • To omit from the middle of a quote, use an ellipsis. “Mr. Kleyn is … cool.” • If the source made an error, include (sic). • Remember that the reader wants to read your paper not a collection of quotes.

25. Citations • Ask your teacher/professor for specific citation requirements. • Don’t blindly trust automatic citation websites. • Make sure that every piece of information has a source.

26. Citations General Guidelines MLA APA Chicago

27. Components • Title page – ask for specifications • Dates – British format • Day Month Year • No commas • Parenthetical references • MLA = (Name page) • APA = (Name, date) • Footnotes or Endnotes

28. Components • Bibliography • All the sources that you researched. • Works cited • The sources that you use in your paper. • Block quotes – 40 words or 4 lines

29. General Citation Guidelines • Remove all hyperlinks. URLs should be black and not underlined • No commas in the British format of dates, • Double spaced but no extra lines between sources • Sources must be in alphabetical order by whatever comes first

30. MLA • Modern Language Association • Used primarily in humanities: • English • Philosophy • History • Standard book: Kleyn, Andrew. English Rocks. Lansing: MSU Press, 2010.

31. APA • American Psychological Association • Used primarily in sciences. • Standard book: Kleyn, A. (2010). English rocks. Lansing: MSU Press.

32. Chicago • Used primarily in history or the arts. • Uses footnotes or endnotes. • Standard book: Footnote: • Andrew Kleyn, English Rocks (Lansing: MSU Press, 2010), 184. Bibliography: Kleyn, Andrew. English Rocks. Lansing: MSU Press, 2010