Important research tips

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Research is a process. Whether you’re writing a paper, producing a video or some other media presentation, the end result of your work should reflect your careful thinking and exploration of a particular topic. Your ability to access, evaluate, and synthesize information from multiple formats, and to ethically create and share new knowledge in any of a variety of media will stay with you the rest of your life; it’s what you’ll use to help you make many decisions: what college will you choose? What kind of sound system will you buy? How can you convince your boss of the soundness of your strategy? The ability “use information helps us reach conclusions, make decisions, and communicate more effectively.” 1

Basics

Here are some basic steps to help you get going.

1. Investigate your topic with "peripheral vision.” Look for subtopics and important terms. You may want to check reference sources and video for context as you get familiar with a subject.

2. Identify focused questions you are interested in investigating. See “Asking Questions” for some tips.

Important Tips for Great Research

Important Tips for Great Research

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3. Create a list of resources you are working with.

4. Take notes on note cards or use the online tool your teacher recommends (e.g., Noodlebib).

5. Look for patterns of information in your sources, your notes, and notecards.

6. Develop a preliminary thesis that is clear and focused. See “Developing a Thesis” for suggestions.

7. Gather information and evaluate your sources of information. Have you chosen a variety of quality materials? Are you using primary and secondary sources? Do you know what a primary source is? See “Selecting and Evaluating Sources” on page 6 for information and “What is a primary source?” on the wiki.

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Valenza, Joyce (n.d.). “What is a research project?” from http://sdst.libguides.com/researchtools.

Accessed 8/19/2011.

Udpated: 10/2011

How do I come up with a thesis?

As you gather information, look for the following: • • • •

Interesting contrasts or comparisons or patterns emerging in the information Something surprising about the topic Ideas that cause you to probe further “Expert” opinions that make you respond, "no way! That can be right!" or "Yes, absolutely. I agree!"

Important Tips for Great Research

For example, you are asked to write about Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg.

1. Narrow that topic by asking an interesting question; for example: did Zuckerberg steal the idea for Facebook or was he the brains behind the social network?

2. Revise your question to form a thesis: Though a driving force in the creation of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg stole the initial idea from two Harvard students, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

3. Remember this argument is your “working” thesis. As you read and discover more evidence you may change your mind. It’s ok to revise your thesis.

Create a list of sample questions to guide your research • • •

How do we identify “stealing?”

Who did the original programming for the Facebook prototype?

Are there any experts you might contact?

8. Selecting and Evaluating Sources” for helpful information.

9. Identify the strongest points supporting your thesis and rank them. Make sure that the evidence you collected is strong and that it directly supports your thesis.

10. Develop an outline or storyboard or another visual organizing tool to organize your ideas and evidence; for example, a tool like Inspiration, MindMapping or any of the other free graphing tools available on the web. [JOHN: I PLAN TO COMPILE A LIST OF THEM with HYPERLINKS-DO you have a favorite?]

Now you’re ready to prepare a rough draft. Put away your notes and begin your draft. Make certain that your own voice as a writer is clear.

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11. Add research documentation to your draft. If you need help with in-text citations, annotations or any of the many ways to create footnotes, please see us. We have great documentation [JOHN, we should talk about what footnote style you prefer. Also, bibliographies 12. Revise your draft.

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13. Ask a classmate or friend to peer review your work.

14. Revise the draft.

15. Edit the draft.

16. Prepare, proofread, and submit your final copy.

Remember if you run into trouble anywhere along the way, just ask us for help!

Asking Questions Question

Examples: The Civil War/Shakespeare

Which one? (Collect information to make an informed choice.)

Which Civil War general was the best military strategist?

Which of Shakespeare’s tragedies is most relevant to today’s politics?

How? (Understand problems and perspectives,weigh options, and propose solutions.)

How did technological advances of the 19th century affect how the Civil War was fought?

What if? (Use the knowledge you have to pose a hypothesis and consider options.)

What if General Lee had better intelligence at Gettysburg?

How does Shakespeare’s subplot in Much Ado About Nothing help us understand human frailty?

Important Tips for Great Research

Part of doing real research is to ask good questions.

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What if Brutus had made the final funeral speech in Julius Caesar?

Should? (Make a moral or practical decision based on the evidence )

Should Confederate symbols be used in today’s official state flags throughout the South?

Should Hamlet have minded his own business?

Why? (Get to the essence of issues by understanding and explaining relationships)

Why did Great Britain favor the South during the Civil War? Why do Shakespeare’s plays continue to have meaning in the present day?

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Developing a Thesis

As you have probably concluded by now, writing a paper is not a quick process. You must do a lot of background reading before you know enough about a subject to grasp what is essential about it, and you may not know where you stand on an issue until you’ve looked critically at all the evidence. So don’t rush!

Important Tips for Great Research

A thesis statement declares what you believe and what you intend to prove. A good thesis statement is the difference between a sound project and just re-telling facts. Good thesis statements will help you focus your search. Your thesis is typically located at the end of the first paragraph of your paper or presentation (the opening should set the context for your thesis).

What makes a good thesis?

A good thesis is: • • • • • • •

Provocative. It makes a stand and justifies the position in the discussion you present.

Specific and focused. A strong thesis proves a point without discussing everything about a particular topic; e.g., instead of music, you discuss British rock and roll in the 1960s.

Clear. It asserts your own conclusions based on evidence. Remember, keep an open mind. The evidence you collect may lead you to conclude something you didn’t think you would.

A map that guides your reader through your work.

An anticipation of counter-arguments.

Clear. It avoids language like “it seems” and avoids first person (“I believe” and “In my opinion”).

Worthy of investigation. If your most honest friend would ask why he or she should care or respond with “everyone knows that,” then you may wamt to rethink your thesis.

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Important Tips for Great Research F IGURE 1 FIVE TESTS OF A GOOD THESIS

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Valenza, Joyce “Five Tests for a Good Thesis” http://thesisdevelopment.wikispaces.com/page/edit/Five%20Tests?responseToken=0e864c72ae68e a4ffc292ffd9bf90f88b

Udpated: 10/2011

How do I come up with a thesis?

As you gather information, look for the following: • • • •

Interesting contrasts or comparisons or patterns emerging in the information Something surprising about the topic Ideas that cause you to probe further “Expert” opinions that make you respond, "no way! That can be right!" or "Yes, absolutely. I agree!"

Important Tips for Great Research

For example, you are asked to write about Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg.

4. Narrow that topic by asking an interesting question; for example: did Zuckerberg steal the idea for Facebook or was he the brains behind the social network?

5. Revise your question to form a thesis: Though a driving force in the creation of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg stole the initial idea from two Harvard students, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

6. Remember this argument is your “working” thesis. As you read and discover more evidence you may change your mind. It’s ok to revise your thesis.

Create a list of sample questions to guide your research • • •

How do we identify “stealing?”

Who did the original programming for the Facebook prototype?

Are there any experts you might contact?

Selecting and Evaluating Sources

There are a wide range of publications you can use when doing your research. However, not all sources are created equally. In some cases, you will want to use popular resources; in other cases, you may need to use scholarly publications.

So what should you use when?

Use the right source for the task

When writing a paper, part of your job is to convince your reader of your point of view. To do this, you need to look for sources of information that are valid or useful. When searching for information in library catalogs and online article databases (See our guide “Online Databases,” which is available in the library and online at [URL] for an introduction to this type of resource), the first thing you encounter is a bibliographic citation entry. This citation provides important information about the author and publication, as well as short summary of the text. So before you even go get the book or article, look at the citation. Ask yourself:

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• • •

Who wrote this? An expert? An enthusiast?

What does the title tell me about this work? Is it funny? Biased? Serious?

What does the summary say?

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How timely is this work? Was it written within the last few years? Is that important for the subject I’m investigating (e.g., if you are investigating climate change, a book published 10 years ago might be too old)?

Without even opening the records, you can tell a few things. First, we don’t have very much on the subject. Secondly, what we do have may not be useful. The first entry (“How Angel Peterson got his name”) is a biography by the writer Gary Paulson (B92 PAU is the call number) and the second entry (Maximum Ride) is fiction. What you want is information about the subject of extreme sports.

Important Tips for Great Research

You may also want to look at the keywords to see what other categories the work falls into.

Evaluate this information to see if it is relevant and valid for your research. For example, you are writing about extreme sports. You go to our online catalog and type “extreme sports” and see the following information.

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Let’s try this search on another, larger collection; e.g., the Minuteman Library network. We are going to use the term “extreme sports” but this time, we will search for it as a subject heading.

This time, we get a lot more information. In fact, the subject of extreme sports is broken into subcategories such as Extreme sports – Drama and Extreme sports—Juvenile Literature. We

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Important Tips for Great Research

choose the most general listing which has 43 entries.

When we click the link, we see there are 4 pages of entries, including DVDs and books. After paging through some of the entries, we see a book called “Splat.”

When we click that link, we got a lot of information about the book, including what library owns the book, where you will find it in the library (call number), a summary, a table of contents and a list of similar books. This can be very helpful since you haven’t even gone to the library yet and can already see there are 4 or 5 other titles you can use.

Reading Critically

Once you have gathered your sources, it’s important to re-evaluate them. As you read, keep the following in mind: •

• •

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Read the preface--what does the author want to accomplish? Browse through the table of contents and the index to get an overview of the source. Is your topic covered in enough depth to be helpful? If you don't find your topic discussed, try searching for some synonyms in the index.

Check for a list of references or footnotes; they can lead to you to related material that will be good.

Determine the intended audience. Is it you? Consider the tone, style, level of information, and assumptions the author makes about the reader. Are they appropriate for your needs?

Determine whether content is fact, opinion, or propaganda. If you think the source is offering facts, are the sources for those facts clearly indicated?

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• • • • • • •

Evaluate the evidence offered. Is there enough? Is it comprehensive? (As you get to know more and more about your topic, you will notice that this part gets easier.)

Evaluate the language. Is it objective or emotional?

Consider whether the author over simplifies issues or gives a balanced picture.

Look at the author’s sources of information. Is there a mix of primary and secondary resources (See Table 1).

Check the text for accuracy—is the author consistent in stating facts?

Cross-check information; see if you can find the same information in another source.

Find out how trustworthy the author is by looking for other works he or she may have written and for other authors’ or critics assessments.

Important Tips for Great Research

Table 1 contains information to help you determine what kinds of print documents you have.

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Important Tips for Great Research

Length & appearance of articles

Authorship/editorial

Popular

Scholarly

Short articles without a lot of depth. Attractive covers and many photographs.

Long, in-depth articles often including graphs, statistics, and tables.

Similar to popular magazines. Information designed to be attractive and useful to members of a particular industry.

Do not usually include abstract or citation list. Do include many ads.

Usually include an abstract and citation list. Ads are specific to the particular audience.

Advertising appeals to those in the business.

Frequently includes much advertising.

Aimed at a wide audience with the purpose of entertaining.

Aimed at a particular audience.

Presents original research and experiments.

Reporters, staff writers.

Credentials not usually included. Reviewed by the editorial staff, not subject experts. Articles are sometimes unsigned.

Scholars, experts. Credentials always included. Peer reviewed, refereed or juried: critically evaluated by a knowledge panel of experts.

Usually published by a commercial publisher.

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Usually published by a scholarly or university press.

Trade

Articles offer advice to others in the field.

Articles generally written by practitioners or staff writers. Articles are sometimes unsigned.

Primary Source

Text or other media format. Examples of primary sources are speeches, letters, songs, legislation, court decisions, government documents, blogs, journals/diaries, interviews, artifacts, political cartoons, autobiographies, and photographs.

These may appear independently or may be embedded in other documents.

First hand evidence, created by someone who was a witness to the event. Look for bias.

Scholarly

Trade

Primary Source

Title

Often includes the word magazine.

Includes words like: review, journal, research, quarterly, studies, transactions, proceedings, archives.

Titles vary: e.g., magazine of/for the industry / professional. May include the word trends.

Titles vary.

Language

Non-technical, written for a wide audience.

Technical, likely to include field-specific terms. Assumes the reader has background knowledge.

Includes terms (jargon) from the field. Assumes the reader has background knowledge.

Language of the speaker, the organization, the place, the time.

Structure

No specific structure.

Usually includes an abstract, literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, reference.

No specific structure.

Depends on type of source.

Frequency

Daily, weekly or monthly.

Bi-monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or annually

Varies.

T ABLE 1 PUBLICATION TYPES

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Not applicable.

Important Tips for Great Research

Popular

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This table is adapted from Valenza, Joyce “Selecting and evaluating sources.� http://springfieldlibrary.wikispaces.com/ScholarlyPopularTrade

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Print vs Web sources

While Web resources are not always inaccurate, you must exercise care when using them. Some sources such as journal or newspaper articles can be found in both print and digital format but much of what you find on the Web does not have a print equivalent which makes it difficult to determine its quality and, importantly, to separate fact from fiction.

Table 2 lists some general differences between information on the Web and information in print.

Important Tips for Great Research

T ABLE 2: P RINT VS WEB RESOURCES

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Print

Web

Publication Process

Extensive. Includes editing and review. Fact-checkers, multiple reviewers, and editors to ensure quality of publication.

Anyone with a computer and access to the Web can publish.

Most web documents do not have editors, fact-checkers, or other types of reviewers.

Authorship

Clearly indicate author, organization(s) he or she is affiliated with, and when the work has been published.

Often difficult to determine on the Web. Some sites contain this information, but more do not.

Sources and Quotations

External sources of information and direct quotations are almost always clearly marked and identified.

Sources may not be clearly indicated or may need you to further verify them to make sure they are credible.

Bias

Usually stated explicitly. Because print resources are expensive to produce, most publishers don’t cater to special interest groups or will clearly indicate the audience to whom they are catering.

Purpose can be misleading. A website that appears to be factual may actually be persuasive and/or deceptive.

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This table is adapted from information at the Purdue Online Writing Lab (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/553/04/). Accessed 8.2011.

Updated: 10/2011

Almost always necessary. Only qualified authors are likely to have manuscripts accepted for publication

Not habitually given, even if author information and purpose is available.

Publication Information

Publication date, publisher, author, and editor are always clearly listed in print publications.

Publication date and timeliness of articles is often hard to distinguish. Dates listed sites could be the date posted, date updated, or a date may not be listed at all

Summary

In summary, doing a research paper is a multi-step process. But once you get the hang of it, you will find it’s a process that will help you make decisions throughout your life. The library is a great place to start your investigation. We can help you think about your topic in different ways and introduce you to resources you may not have even known exist.

Be sure to check out our other guides on Web searching, online databases, using Destiny, and bibliographic notation.

Important Tips for Great Research

Author Qualifications

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