Books Encyclopedias or other reference books Internet sites Personal interviews Magazine articles

1. Picking a topicMake sure your topic is one which has plenty of sources. A source is a piece of information about your topic and can include • Books • Encyclopedias or other reference books • Internet sites • Personal interviews • Magazine articles

2. Sample • Topic - George Washington Possible Sources: • 1.Encyclopedia Americana - VOL 28; pages 384-395 • 2.Internet Sites: • ◦http://www.white house.gov/history/presidents/gw1.html • ◦http://sc94.ameslab.gov/TOUR/gwash.html ◦http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/gw1/about/washingt.htm • 3.Books: • ◦Washington, Jacobs, Ben • ◦Story of George Washington, Meadowcroft, Terry • ◦George Washington: Frontier Colonel, North, Angela • ◦Many other books • 4.Reference Books • ◦Facts About Presidents, REF KAN ◦The History of the Presidents REF AME

3. Step 2 Asking questions • What is important to know? • Come up with a list of questions to try to answer. The amount of questions you should list depends on how long your research project is expected to be. • The more information you need to know, the more questions you need to ask. • Remember this just gives you a starting point for doing research. As you search to answer the questions, you can add information you weren't looking for originally to add to your report.

4. Asking questions sample • Topic - George Washington • Question List: • 1.When was George Washington born? • 2.Where was George Washington born? • 3.Where did GW die? • 4.How old was GW when he became president? • 5.How many children did GW have? • 6.Did GW really tell the truth about chopping down the cherry tree when he was a boy? • 7.How many years did GW serve as president? • 8.What was the most important event that happened while GW was president? • 9.What was GW famous for before he became president? • 10.Who was vice president under GW? • 11.Did GW own slaves? • 12.How did GW become so popular that they wanted to make him president?

5. Step 3 Creating Note Cards • Once you have created a list of questions, you should then take a stack of note cards and place one question on a note card. • Remember to always have a few extra note cards once you begin searching for information so that you can either write down extra questions that you think of, or to write down information that you find is extra that your questions didn'tcover.

6. Sample Note cards • Front • Where was George Washington born?

7. Step 4 - Citing Your Sources • Now it is time to begin answering the questions you put on each note card. • When you find the answer to a question, the first thing to do is to write on the back of the note card all of the bibliographic information you will need. • You do not need to place the whole bibliographic information on each note card unless it is a new source. • In other words, the first time you use a book, put all the information on that card, but if another question is answered using the same source, just put an abbreviation to show it was found from the same source.

8. Example • Back of the note card

9. Step 5 - Answering Questions • After you have put the source bibliographic information on the back of a note card, answer the question in a COMPLETE sentence or sentences on the front of the note card. (It is very important later that this be done in a complete sentence now.) This answer should not be just copied directly from the source, but should be paraphrased. • Front of note card

10. Step 6: Creating categories (sub-topics) • When you are finished with all your note cards (this could take quite a long time gathering the information), you should then take out a piece of paper and list sub-topics that your information can be sorted into. • For example if you were doing a research project on a state of the United States, you could list categories such as • ”geography" • "history" • "economics" • "government" • "points of interest". • You can always add categories to fit a note card that doesn't fit in with your original sub-topic list

11. Examples Looking at the note cards you have produced, come up with at least four or five subtopics that you can divide your cards into. Write each on a slip of paper and place them on a table or desk top

12. Step 7: sorting the note cards • After you have created your categories, cut them out and place them on a desktop or table. • Take your stack of note cards in your hands and look at the top note card. • Read the information, decide which category this note card would best go in. • Place that note card next to that category slip. • Go on to the next note card and place that in a category.Keep going until all note cards have been placed in piles next to each category slip. • If a note card doesn't seem to have a category, you may create another category (sub-topic) to fit a note card as you go along. • When you are done, put an abbreviation or symbol on each note card in a stack to show that it belongs in a category. This needs to be done so that if the cards get accidentally mixed you can get them together again. It might also be a good idea at this point to rubber band your note cards together in their stacks.

13. Sample: sorting the note cards

14. Step 8: Ordering the Note cards • Now that you have note cards sorted into category stacks, take one stack and unband it. • Spread out the stack of note cards on a desktop or table. Looking at the note cards, decide which card would best be presented first. • The rule of thumb is, go from "general" information to "specific" information. Once you decide on a first card, next to your abbreviation or symbol for that category on the note card, put a 1 next to it. • On the next card, put a 2 onit and so forth until all the cards in the stack have been numbered. • When you have finished the first stack of cards, do the same for the next stack until all your stacks have been ordered and numbered

15. Sample: ordering the cards • Now that you have note cards sorted into category stacks, take one stack and unband it. Spread the stack of note cards on a table or desktop. Looking at the note cards, decide which cards should be presented first. The rule of thumb, is go from general to specific information General Example - Fact about the overall life of George Washington Specific Example - an exact event in George Washington's life.

16. Step 9: Creating a “first draft” • Now comes the easy part for all your hard work, creating the "First Draft". • Decide which stack or category you think would best be presented first in your "Research Paper". • Take that stack and unband it. Using paragraph form, indent the first line and copy down the 1st note card answer on the paper. • Then go to the next card and copy the answer down. (This will be easy IF you wrote your answers in complete sentences.) • Once you have a stack finished, begin a new paragraph and start copying down the note cards from the next stack. • When you are done you will have one paragraph for each sub-topic or category you created.

17. Step 10: Blending your “first draft” • When you go back and reread your "First Draft", you will probably find that some of it doesn't sound well. • What you need to do is to blend the sentences together by rewriting them so that each sentence naturally flows into the next and makes sense together. • This can be done with transition phrases such as "First...this happened", "Then...this happened", "Next...this happened." or other types of transitions between sentences. • Some sentences can be combined into one sentence or broken apart into two sentences to be more clear or flow better. • You may change words or add words to make your report make sense. Remember you are writing for someone else to read and understand.

18. Step 11: Writing an introduction • Introductions get your reader interested in what you have to say. There are a lot of different types of introductions you can write: • You can ask a question you plan on answering in the paper. • ▪You can write a description or scene to catch the attention of the reader. • ▪You can write an overview of what you plan on discussing in your paper.Any of these methods should make your reader want to read about what you have found out in your research.

19. Step 12: Writing a conclusion • A conclusion ties up what you have found up in an interesting way. Writing a good conclusion can be tough, but it should restate some important points you have found out in your research in the way of a summary. It can also include some personal feelings about how you felt about doing the research and what you've learned.