En pt 2

Module 2: Discussing Your Topic and Conducting Preliminary Research

Module 2: Discussing Your Topic and Conducting Preliminary Research

In this module, you'll begin constructing an argument for your persuasive essay by taking writing notes. You'll also develop a list of keywords to help you research your subject matter and use them to search for potential sources to support your argument.

2-1 Reading: Preparing for Assignment 1, Milestone 1

Reading: Preparing for Assignment 1, Milestone 1

"My very first book, Night, was, paradoxically, born more in certainty than doubt. I knew I had to testify about my

past but did not know how to go about it…I had things to say but not the words to say them."

— Elie Wiesel

Deciding on a topic is the first step in the writing process. The good news is that, as a writer, you are encouraged to choose what you are going to research. The important thing to keep in mind is that you should choose a topic that interests you and that you would like to learn more about.

Be wary of choosing topics that you know absolutely nothing about. For example, if you choose a topic in the health sciences, you need to be prepared to read health sciences research material, which can be quite intimidating to someone who isn't familiar with the language of the discipline.

You should use the tools, resources, and information from Week 1 as guidance when selecting your topic, and if you're still unsure if the topic will work, please email your instructor.

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Elie Wiesel speaking to the United States Congress.

Selecting a Topic Based on Your Field of Study, Career, and Knowledge

As you are considering topics to research, you should consider your field of study, your career, and your previous knowledge and experience. Read each of the examples below to see how several students have chosen topics based on these factors.

Writer: Felix

Interests: my children, health, diseases, medicine

Career: nurse

Knowledge and experience: My sister's baby just got measles and nearly died because her neighbor chose not to vaccinate her children.

Topic: vaccination of children

Thought process: I don't understand why people don't vaccinate their children. I wonder what they're thinking. Maybe there's a good reason for not vaccinating children. If I write about the topic of vaccinations, I'll learn how to talk to neighbors and future patients when the issue comes up.

Writer: Janelle

Interests: real estate, Ernest Hemingway, the consequences of recessions, the Chinese economy

Career: Something in business? Financial analyst?

Knowledge and experience: I have been adjusting to changes to my household budget because of the recession.

Topic: family economics during the recession

Thought process: I know a lot about buying and selling houses and how families can change their habits to make ends meet during the recession. I also know that some financial service companies don't treat customers' money as carefully as they should. Maybe I'll write about how families should weather the recession by making changes to how they spend their money.

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Writer: Alister

Interests: nature, math, computers

Career: Studying to be an IT professional

Knowledge and experience: I fell in love with computers when my parents gave me a robotic dog when I was 10, and I learned that I could program its behavior.

Topic: quality assurance processes

Thought process: I am very enthusiastic about solving problems with computers. Sometimes I let my enthusiasm get the best of me and I don't check my work. I wonder what the most important components of quality assurance processes are when it comes to working on an IT team. My topic may help me improve in my career as well.

Writer: Tabitha

Interests: children, teaching, technology

Career: Teacher, and eventually a principal

Knowledge and experience: I have been working as a teacher's aide in a private school for five years, ever since I graduated from high school.

Topic: teaching with technology in elementary education

Thought process: I've been working as an aide for five years, and I love my school and I love working with kids, but I'd like to eventually be a teacher in a school where technology is used in the classroom. The teachers that I've talked to say that elementary kids are too young to really take advantage of technology. There must be some ways to incorporate technology into

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elementary education in a meaningful way. I wonder what they are...

2-2 Assignment: Writing Notes This assignment does not contain any printable content.

2-3 Video and Reading: Keywords

Video and Reading: Keywords

Keywords are the terms that are relevant to your topic that you enter into a search engine to find sources for your research. Developing a list of effective and relevant keywords will greatly improve your search results.

While you may typically use an internet search engine like "Google" to search for everyday topics, for this project, you will be required to use SNHU's Shapiro Library databases for your research. You will learn more about this process later in this module.

Selecting Effective Keywords

On the next page, you will complete an activity that will help you generate several keywords related to your research topic. Below is an overview of the steps you will take in order to identify the best keywords for your search.

Step 1: Identify your research topic and basic argument related to topic.

It is okay if your topic and basic argument are still "a work in progress"; in fact, the keyword identification and search process may help more clearly define your topic and argument. However, you do need a working topic/argument from which to develop keywords.

Step 2: Identify the major concepts in your research topic and argument. Analyze different aspects of your topic and argument to distinguish the main ideas.

For example, if my research argument is "Acupuncture for performance horses helps prolong their careers," the major concepts would be: acupuncture, horses, performance horses (dressage horses,

jumpers, hunters, barrel racers, etc).

Step 3: Develop keywords based on the major concepts in your topic/argument.

Now examine the main concepts you identified and evaluate their appropriateness for use as keywords. The most useful and significant keywords will generate the best results for your research. The best keywords are not too broad or too general. Look for specific concepts and make sure they

are directly connected to your topic.

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For example, keywords based on the major concepts above would be acupuncture, horses, and performance horses; these are the terms you would use to begin your search. The terms identified are not too broad and are related to the topic. If you had identified main concepts as animals and veterinary care, you would need to re-evaluate your main concepts to generate more specific keywords.

If you are having a difficult time generating keyword ideas, abstracts are good sources because authors use them to generate "hits" on search engines. Check the end of journal articles for keywords as well.

Step 4: Assess the effectiveness of your keywords.

One way to assess the effectiveness of your keywords is to try them out and evaluate the results. If the results generated are not what you were looking for, you should identify new keywords.

For example, if you are writing a paper on American history in the colonial period and you search the keywords America and history, you will generate an overwhelming number of responses, most of which will not be helpful. Searching the keywords colonial American history will yield better results. If you generate any acceptable sources, check those for additional keywords. Using Boolean operators could also help refine your search (see Step 5).

Step 5: How to choose and use Boolean operators.

Boolean operators, the terms AND, OR, and NOT, are used to modify search results and manage the number of responses generated by your keywords. Essentially you combine your keywords with the Boolean operators to yield different search results in order to increase, decrease, or obtain more

specific responses. You will learn more about Boolean operators in the next section, but it's good to know now that this will be another, important step in this search process.

2-4 Activity: Creating Keywords (GRADED) Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is a useful visual technique for brainstorming keywords. The brain is constantly making connections between different aspects of a problem. By capturing these connections and exploring them systematically, we are less likely to miss possible solutions. Mind mapping is also a highly visual and efficient way of organizing ideas.

To begin mind mapping, the main subject/research topic is written in the center of a sheet in a circle. New ideas are drawn in the form of spokes branching from this central idea. These ideas are likely to lead to further ideas which form new spokes and so on. It can be helpful to use different colors for different branches of the map. By the end of the mind mapping process, you will have an entire page full of keywords related to your research topic.

The first step in creating your own mind map is to grab a blank piece of paper and a pen or pencil (several different colored pens would be ideal). In the middle of the page, write down the main subject that you plan to research for the persuasive essay project. Then draw a circle around it:

From the main circle, draw lines outward to represent the main ideas:

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As you dig into each of the main ideas, add sub-topics and supporting evidence:

We can take the mind map as far as it needs to go to cover all our main ideas, our sub-topics, and our relevant evidence.

After your mind map is complete, look over the results and pick out the most interesting terms that you have generated on the page—these terms are your keywords.

Sample Mind Map

The image below depicts a sample mind map drawn out based on the research topic "the impact of technology on urban education."

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2-5 Reading: Library Databases This assignment does not contain any printable content.

2-6 Activity: Opposing Viewpoints (GRADED) This assignment does not contain any printable content.

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