Transcript WRITING A RESEARCH ESSAY

WRITING A RESEARCH ESSAY
Mary Ellen Haley
Center for Academic Development
MAKE A SCHEDULE
Writing a research essay takes more than a day
or two to do well. Plan a schedule and stick to
it. You might use the schedule below to
determine how much time you need to
complete this essay:
STEPS IN THE SCHEDULE
Step:
• Pick topic
• Find, evaluate and select
sources
• Make notes, keeping
publication info for each
source
• Write your working thesis,
answering research question
• Review notes and select best
sources to support thesis
Do By:
STEPS IN THE SCHEDULE, CONTINUED
Step:
• Make outline of
thesis/support
• Write draft
• Get feedback on draft
• Revise draft
• Prepare list of works cited
(using proper format)
• Edit the draft
• Submit the draft
Do By:
Choosing Your Own Topic
If your professor asks you to pick your own topic, freewrite on one of these questions to get started:
•What issues interest, frighten, inspire me?
•What am I interest in doing in the future (personally or
professionally)?
•What famous person interests me?
Create a research question
If your professor does not assign a specific
research question, after you have selected a
topic, make up a question to guide yourself:
Examples:
• Should sex offenders be required to register in
their communities?
• Should assisted suicide be legalized?
• Should the government have the right to
wiretap U.S. citizens during wartime?
FINDING SOURCES
• Be sure to consult with the reference librarians to
help you find appropriate online and in print
sources. Some questions you might ask the
librarian:
• How do I use the catalog? Can I access the catalog
from home?
• What resource is a good start point for my topic?
• How do I find a good source?
• What Internet search engines are reliable?
Periodical Indexes and Databases
• Periodicals consist of journals, magazines and
newspapers. Periodical indexes will help you
locate where to find these sources. Some
popular databases (online) and indexes
include:
• InfoTrac
• Readers Guide to Periodical Literature
• New York Times Index
ENCYCLOPEDIAS
While encyclopedias give a good general idea
about a topic, most professors will require you
to use periodicals and books written by
experts in your discipline.
STATISTICS
Good support for your thesis often comes in the
form of facts and figures. For sound data on
population, geography and economics, go to:
www.census.gov
Online Research Sites
•The Bedford Research Roomwww.bedfordmartins.com/researchroom
•Citing Electronic Sourceswww.ipl.org/div/farq/netciteFARQ.html
•OWL (Purdue University)•Owl.english.purdue.edu
Evaluating Your Sources
• When evaluating your sources, ask:
1.Is the source reliable?
2.Is the source appropriate for your topic?
3.Is the author qualified to write on the topic?
(Sometimes it is necessary to research your
authors to ensure their expertise!)
4.Is the information fair or biased?
URL Extensions- Reliable?
• .com (a business): Not always reliable--- find out
more before citing
• .edu (educational organization)– Reliable
• .gov (government agency)- Reliable
• .net (a business)- Not always reliable--- find out
more before citing
• .org (a nonprofit)- Not always reliable--- find out
more before citing
Plagiarism
Plagiarism, or copying text without giving proper
credit to the author, is an academic crime.
Avoid plagiarizing by keeping careful notes of
the authors of your sources.
The Bibliography and Works Cited
• A bibliography is a list, alphabetized by author, of
all of the outside sources you consult.
• A Works Cited list is a list, alphabetized by author,
of all of the outside sources you actually use in
your essay.
• Most professors require a Works Cited list at the
end of the essay.
Keep the list on note cards or on your computer so
that it is ready to reproduce when the essay is
done.
Information for Sources: Books
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Author name
Title/subtitle
Year of publication
Publisher
Location of publisher
Information for Sources: Articles
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Author name
Title and page numbers
Title of magazine/journal/newspaper
Year, month, day of publication (2008 Aug. 12)
Information for Sources: Web Sites
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Author name
Title of site
Date of publication
Name of sponsoring organization
Date you accesses the site
URL (address) in angle brackets:
<owl.english.purdue.edu>
CITING SOURCES
We cite outside sources in an essay to support a
point we have already made. In other words,
an indirect or a direct quotation will serve as
evidence for your main idea.
INDIRECT QUOTATIONS:
SUMMARIZING
When quoting a source indirectly, you might summarize,
in general, the main idea of the source in your own
words. DO NOT use the source’s words. Introduce the
outside source, and include the page number (in
parentheses) on which it appears.
EXAMPLE:
In her article in English Journal titled “Using Bloom’s
Taxonomy to Teach Students about Plagiarism,” Melissa
A. Vosen describes a lesson plan to teach students how
to avoid plagiarism (43). This learning unit employs
Bloom’s Taxonomy to teach students to recognize
plagiarism and evaluate their research sources.
IN-TEXT CITATIONS
• The first time you quote or paraphrase from an
author, you must introduce the citation by
naming the author and the article/book/essay. If
you cite this author and source again, you need
only use the author’s last name, and put the page
number again:
EX: Vosen goes on to explain that educators should
teach students why plagiarism is inappropriate,
not merely order them not to plagiarize (43).
INDIRECT QUOTATIONS:
PARAPHRASING
When you “paraphrase,” you restate the source’s ideas in your
own words. A paraphrase will have more details than a
summary.
EXAMPLE:
Melissa A. Vosen laments how far some students will go in
plagiarizing, in her article “Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to
Teach Students about Plagiarism,” in English Journal. Vosen
recalls a student who, in writing a memoir, obviously stole
material from an outside source. The student described
the joys of watching her teenaged daughter dance on a
balance beam; unfortunately, the memoirist herself was
only eighteen and would have had to have given birth at
age six if the memoir was true (43).
DIRECT QUOTATIONS
• If a source’s words offer strong support for your
thesis, you should quote directly. Use the
source’s EXACT WORDS--- change nothing!--- and
use quotation marks (“ ”).
EXAMPLE:
Students obviously must be taught, not merely told,
to avoid plagiarism. According to veteran teacher
Maria A. Vosen, “I now realize that simply telling
the students each time I introduce a writing
assignment that they are not to plagiarize is not
enough” (43).
DOCUMENTING SOURCES
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/06/
Adapted from Real Writing by Susan Anker