research writing

Name __________________________              Date______________________

ENC 4313 – WEEK 1 ACTIVITIES -- Worksheet (due 4/4)

(Please refer to sample on Week 1 Activities—follow exactly)

Step 1: Identifying Your Topic

Part 1

INTEREST  INVENTORY

Select five (5) general topics that interest you and write them down, leaving enough space between each topic to brainstorm.

1.

 

 

2.

 

 

3.

 

 

4.

 

 

5.

 

 

 

Now list everything that comes into your mind for each topic you wrote above. This is called brainstorming.  When you are finished, look over each of your lists and highlight one subject in each list that interests you the most. Refer to sample in Section I.

Part 2

You should now have five (5) items of interest.

 After you have finished, go over the items you highlighted and pick two (2) that are the most interesting to you. Write them below. These are now your tentative research topics .

Tentative research topics:

1.

 

2.

 

Part 3

Consider the potential of each of your tentative topics by doing a preliminary information search using at least two (2) of the following:

Consult an online encyclopedia like Encyclopedia Britannica, Scholarpedia (www.scholarpedia.org), or consult www.refdesk.com for a list of online encyclopedias. Additionally, you can consult the following:

•                     A specialized encyclopedia on your topic;

•                     Google, Bing, Lycos, Yahoo;

•                      The Virtual Library (www.vlib.org);

•                      Google Scholar;

•                      Infotrac/Proquest

Once you have found some articles (at least three on each topic), briefly skim through the material and decide which topic interests you the most and which one has the most information available. Write that topic below:

My research paper topic is: __________________________________________________

This is now your RESEARCH PAPER TOPIC for all the activities that follow.  If at any time you find this topic is not working out, STOP and go back to your interest inventory, select another topic and go through the same steps until you find a topic that you feel is workable. 

Once you are satisfied with your topic, proceed to the next step.

Step 2: Narrowing your topic

Narrowing Your Topic Worksheet

Part 1

Write your topic down in the space below:

Topic: __________________________________________

Under the subheading:  Why I chose this topic below, write all the reasons that influenced you to choose this topic.

Why I chose this topic:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part 2

 

Next under the subheading: What I already know below, spend 5 minutes jotting down things you already know about your topic. (This can be facts, rumors, statistics, problems, controversies, misconceptions, observations—anything you know already)

 

What I already know:

 

 

 

 

 

Review your list and highlight the one idea that most interests you.

 

Part 3

 Under the subheading Questions below,  spend 15 minutes brainstorming a list of questions about the idea you highlighted above that you’d like to answer in your research.  Make the list as long as possible.

Questions:

 

 

 

 

After you are finished, look over all your questions and highlight the one question that interests you the most. Refer to the sample in Section I

 You are now ready to proceed to the next step.

 

 

Step 3: Formulating a focus question and research proposal

                                                Focus Question Worksheet

Part 1

Go back to the question you selected at the end of Step 2.  This is your focus question and will form the basis of your paper. Fill it in in the space below.

Focus Question: ___________________________________________________

Part 2

Start another file and name it: Additional Questions. 

Make a list of additional questions (at least five) relating to your focus question that you would like to answer in your research paper.

Additional Questions:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Part 3

Next, decide what the purpose will be for your paper.  Is it to explore your topic, to argue your point of view about your topic, or to analyze your topic? 

•                     To explore  – You are posing a question because you are not sure of the answer and wish to discover it in the process of your research;

•                     To argue  – You have a very strong conviction or hunch about what the answer to your research question might be, and you want to affect your reader’s thinking about it as well;

•                     To analyze –  You begin with a theory about your question and then test it by  collecting  data,  and then examining it and determining how closely it conforms to what you originally thought to be true

 

 

Write your purpose in the space below

 

The purpose for my paper will be: _______________________________

 

Part 4

Next, you will need to come up with a claim or theory about your topic. The claim or theory is your position /understanding about your topic and what you will explore, argue or analyze in your paper. How do you come up with a claim/theory about your topic?  Simply go over your Additional Questions list above and highlight the one that you would like to discuss in depth in your paper. The answer to your question will be the claim or theory you are making about your topic. Copy it in the space below:  (see sample in Section I)

My Claim/Theory is: ____________________________________________________

Part 5

Formulate your Research Proposal using your focus question, your purpose, and your claim/theory in the space below (see sample in Section I):

Research Proposal:

1. Focus Question: ______________________________________

2. Purpose:  ___________________________________________

3. Claim/theory: _______________________________________

 

Now you are ready to begin your preliminary research in Week 2.

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