RESEARCH PROJECTS

RESEARCH PROJECTS

Ideas about purpose, audience and structure that apply to writing essays also apply to research writing; however, a research project asks students to spend more time on the collection of materials and to develop their sense of purpose, audience and structure as their growing knowledge about the subject becomes more complex.

The most important thing for students to remember about completing a research project is that, in the end, most professors are interested in the way students can combine their use of outside sources with their own personal insights about the topic. It should not be a regurgitation of facts and ideas from other sources. It should be the careful integration of those sources with the ideas students have developed as a result of their reading and thinking.

Students certainly do need to use skills of summary and synthesis as they share with their audience the various ideas they have learned about in their research, but merely summarizing and synthesizing material from others is not research. Instead, the research project should represent a higher level of abstract thinking, one that illustrates an ability to summarize, connect, find patterns, critique, and ultimately take a carefully considered position.

The seven research steps listed here can be integrated into a course schedule so that students have opportunities for feedback at important points in the research process.

Seven Steps:

1. Develop a Research Question
2. Find Sources: Reading and Note Taking
3. Evaluate Sources
4. Establish a Working Bibliography
5. Prepare to Write: Consider Audience and Purpose
6. Put It All Together
7. Final Steps

Develop a Research Question

The best kind of research projects emerge from personal interests and/or commitment to a specific area of study. In the best case scenario, then, students will have time to explore various ideas within a particular course, perhaps doing some informal writing in order to discover interests. Active reading and discussion in the classroom, combined with regular note taking and perhaps conversations with the professor, can help students figure out a particular interest worth the time and effort of research.

Students do not always have to feel drawn to a topic positively, however, to make it a good research project. Sometimes topics that we feel negative or neutral about can provide a strong starting point as well. A good research question is one that a student probably hasn?t been able to answer from the classroom sources or one that lingers and feels unresolved.

Find sources: Reading and Note Taking

Students need to use the library and browse the web, keeping track of key ideas and information on note cards or in a research log (see documentation format). The most general way to begin is through broad reference sources like bibliographic entries such as the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, the Book Review Digest, or the New York Times Index. Specific indexes for specific disciplines can also be found with the librarian's help or with suggestions from the professor. Encyclopedias and internet search sites are also useful for initial, general references. These sources should help students refine the process and lead to more specific sources and a refinement of the research question.

Remember that internet research can never replace print research because only a fraction of the world's printed resources can be found electronically.

Distinguish between primary and secondary sources. If an author has direct knowledge of the topic in question, if an author was a participant or observer to an event, such a source is primary. Authors with indirect knowledge of topics or event are secondary sources, such as biographies, literary criticism, historical surveys and textbooks.