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Prompt for the Personalized Research Paper

Description

The Personalized Research paper is designed to teach the writer and the reader something valuable about a chosen topic and about the nature of searching and discovery. Unlike to the standard research paper in which the writer usually assumes a detached and objective stance, this paper allows you to take an active role in your search, to experience some of the hunt for facts and truths firsthand, and to provide a step by step record of the discovery process.

Topic

The cardinal rule in the Personalized Research paper is to select a topic that genuinely interests you and that you need to know more about. The important point is that you choose the topic you will investigate rather than having the instructor select a topic or even provide a number of options.

Format

The Personalized Research paper should be written in three sections. These can be organized explicitly, with sub-headings, or organized more implicitly. The sections are:

I. What I Know, Assume, or Imagine II. The Search II. What I Discovered

What I Know, Assume, or Imagine

Before conducting any formal research, write a section in which you explain to the reader what you think you know, what you assume or what you imagine about your topic. For example, if you decided to investigate teenage alcoholism, you might want to offer some ideas about the causes of teenage alcoholism, provide an estimate of the severity of the problem, and create a portrait of a typical teenage drinker, and so on. This section can tell the story of how you came to be interested in your topic.

The Search

Test your knowledge, assumptions or conjectures by researching your paper topic thoroughly. Conduct first-hand activities like writing letters, making telephone calls, initiating face to face interviews, and going on field trips. Also, consult useful second- hand sources such as books, magazines, newspapers, films, tapes, electronic sources, and so on. Be sure to record all the information you gather. If you were pursuing a search on teenage alcoholism, you might want to do some of the following: make an appointment to visit an alcohol rehabilitation center, attend a meeting of Alanon or Alcoholics Anonymous, consult an alcoholism counselor, or interview your peers, as well as check out a book on the subject, read several pertinent articles, or see a film.

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Write your search up in a narrative form, relating the steps of the discovery process . Do not feel obligated to tell everything, but highlight the happenings and facts you uncovered that were crucial to your hunt and contributed to your understanding of information using documentation when appropriate.

What I Discovered

After concluding your search, compare what you thought you knew, assumed, or imagined with what you actually discovered; assess your overall learning experience; and offer some personal commentary about the value of your discoveries and/or draw some conclusions. For instance, after completing your search on teenage alcoholism, you might learn that the problem is far more severe and often begins at an earlier age than you formerly believed. You may have assumed that parental neglect was a key factor in the incidence of teenage alcoholism, but now find that peer pressure is the prime contributing factor. Consequently, you might want to propose that an alcoholism awareness and prevention program including peer counseling sessions be instituted in the public school system as early as sixth grade.

Documentation

Include in-text citations and a list of works cited to document the research sources you consulted.