Developing a research question and outline
There are a number of techniques to generate a research question and establish the focus of your independent research project.
Relate Your Personal Ideas to a Scholarly Problem
**Your research paper should reflect your thinking in response to the sources, as we’ve practiced this semester. It shouldn’t just report what others have said.**
You can combine a personal interest with one aspect of your academic studies:
Personal interest: Aerial yoga
Academic subject: Fitness, General wellness
Possible topics: A solution for scoliosis; is it okay for pregnant women to do?
You might also consider social issues that affect you and your family:
Personal interest: Autism
Academic subject: Entertainment
Possible topics: In what ways will Julia’s introduction on Sesame Street (she’s a new muppet with autism) be a great resource for children with autism and their classmates?
Your cultural background can prompt you toward detailed research into a specific culture or history.
Academic subject: History
Ethnic background: Armenian
Possible topic: The reluctance of the United State to officially recognize the Armenian genocide
Asking Questions
Let’s consider the topic of sports gambling. This is a HUGE topic. We can narrow it down a bit asking questions from a certain academic perspective.
Business: In what ways does it benefit/harm the national economy? Pro sports? College sports?
Psychology: What is the effect of gambling on the mental attitude of the person watching and gambling on the game? Why do people enjoy betting on sports?
History: Does gambling on sporting events have an identifiable tradition?
Politics: What laws exist in California to control sports gambling? Are they enforced? Should it be banned? Legalized?
Using Key Terminology
In retail marketing, “demographics” and “target audience” are important concepts. In psychology and medicine, “control group” and “experimental group” are important.
If writing a paper on diabetes, the following words would be important: diabetes, insulin, pancreas, diabetes mellitus, metabolize, ketoacidosis, glucose, hyperglycemia, ketones.
Try to familiarize yourself with important vocabulary, concepts, and phrases relevant to the topic you are researching. You can use these words to help search online and in library databases.
ACTIVITY
On your own or working with a partner, please do the following and be prepared to share it with the class.
1) Take 10 minutes and use the above strategy to find a possible topic.
2) Craft a question on the topic that’s influenced by a certain subject’s perspective, e.g. marketing, politics, law, psychology.
3) Highlight 5-10 important terms, concepts, or phrases that you could use to search for sources online and in library databases.
additional information
Beginning Your Paper
Select your topic: What are some potential topics?
Develop your question: Is it an arguing a position, speculating about causes, proposing a solution, or explaining a topic?
How do you develop your introduction?
Specific thesis.
Developing Your Paper
Create topic sentences that frame your paragraph around a main idea or theme.
Use your own ideas and sources to support your reason, cause, solution, or explanation. Good paragraphs are usually 5 or more sentences.
Your last sentence can help transition to the next paragraph or it can rehash the rest of the paragraph.
Try to include a counterargument
If you’re doing a arguing a position paper, your counterargument can be the other side of the story.
If you’re doing a causes paper, your counterargument can be a criticism of some of your causes or a criticism of a ‘fake cause.’
If you’re doing a solutions paper, your counterargument can be a weakness of your solution (maybe the cost, time/resources required, or it doesn’t solve the whole problem).
If you’re doing an explanation paper, the counterargument can be a rumor/lie/misconception about your topic that you want to clarify.
Conclusion
You might begin with a summary, for example, and then extend it with a discussion of the paper's significance or its implications for future study, for choices that individuals might make, for policy, and so on. You could urge readers to change an attitude or modify a behavior. Certainly, you're under no obligation to discuss the broader significance of your work; but the conclusions of effective papers often reveal that their authors are "thinking large" by placing their limited subject into a larger social, cultural, or historical context.
References
Remember you can use text-based sources found through the library, through our WRIT 112 resources page, or on your own. Feel free to use images and videos.
Building a source list
As a class, we’ll familiarize ourselves with important websites and databases.
ACTIVITY
Please list, in general terms, the websites, databases, organizations, books, or government agencies that you think will be relevant to your project. You can use the "Resources for WRIT 112" page on our class Weebly site.
As a class, we’ll try to find 10 specific and relevant sources from the websites and databases relevant to our topic.
ACTIVITY
Using the resources from the "Locating Sources" homework, please list 10 specific and relevant sources for your Essay 4. These would be specific articles, videos, reports, etc.
Arguing a Position
1) Introduce the debate
a. Specific thesis with your three reasons and counterargument that explains why you are arguing for something
b. Reason 1 = paragraph
c. Reason 2 = paragraph
d. Reason 3 = paragraph
e. Counterargument = paragraph
f. Conclusion
Speculating about Causes
2) Introduce the phenomenon/topic/issue
a. Specific thesis with your three causes that explains why you are arguing for something
b. Cause 1 = paragraph (be sure to explain the limits of the cause, or whether it’s a big cause, a small cause, or even a wrong cause)
c. Cause 2 = paragraph (be sure to explain the limits of the cause, or whether it’s a big cause, a small cause, or even a wrong cause)
d. Cause 3 = paragraph (be sure to explain the limits of the cause, or whether it’s a big cause, a small cause, or even a wrong cause)
e. Conclusion
Proposing a Solution
3) Introduce the problem you want to solve
a. Thesis with your specific solution that outlines its strengths and weakness
b. One advantage to your solution = paragraph
c. One advantage to your solution = paragraph
d. One advantage to your solution = paragraph
e. Counterargument (weakness of solution) = paragraph
f. Conclusion
Explaining a Topic
4) Introduce the topic you want to explain
a. Specific thesis that explains three aspects you want to emphasize about this topic because they are important
b. One interesting aspect = paragraph
c. One interesting aspect = paragraph
d. One interesting aspect = paragraph
e. Counterargument (discuss a misconception/lie/rumor about this topic) = paragraph
f. Conclusion
Divid29
essay_4.docx
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