Transcript If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research.

English 12
Research Paper
Agenda
What
I learned in 10th grade
What I’ve learned since
Lessons From My First Research
Paper
Any
topic can work
Pick a topic that is manageable
Help from experts is valuable
You must really read and understand
Use your own words
Search Term Success
Write
about what you already know or think about
your topic
Make
a list of words and ideas related to your
topic and alternative ways to identify your topic (for
example, death penalty and capital punishment)
Use
Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)
Keep
a journal of search successes and failures
Avenues to Information
eBooks
- digitized content from “real” books
Books
Databases
- for articles and other research
data
Internet Search Engines
Features to Look For
Topic
lists and search term suggestions
Personal accounts and search alerts
Basic and advanced searching
Tools to narrow and expand your
search
Citation help
Research help
Tips for Better Searching
Be
sure to spell your search terms correctly
Think
of several different terms you could use
to search for the same topic
quotation marks “” around a multiple
word phrase
Use
Change
the type of search as necessary -keyword searches the entire document for
your terms, subject searches the topic labels
associated with documents
Finding Information is Just the
Beginning!
Search
Read
Make
notes or discuss with others
Repeat these steps as needed!
Then write
Stay Organized!
Save
all drafts, articles, etc. to a new
folder on your desktop in your computer
account labeled “Research Paper”
Have one folder or notebook dedicated
to this project alone
If you print it, also save it electronically
Get Help When You Need It!
Check
the Media Center site for more
ideas and handouts
Don’t be afraid to ask questions of your
teachers, the (kindhearted) Media
Center Staff, your comrades