Preparing for Research

Step One: Read all the text below FIRST, before doing anything else. You can also get it here, and get your Research Paper Planning Worksheet here.

Step Two: On lined, loose-leaf paper, brainstorm a topic. Write 5-7 questions that pop into your mind about that topic.

Step Three: Make sure to get a copy of the Research Paper Planning Worksheet from the classroom or the website, complete it and turn it in to me. This will be your Research Paper Proposal. Your topic has to be approved by me before you begin your research.

NOTE: Make sure to use the criteria laid out in the Research Paper Planning Worksheet to evaluate whether your topic will be approved.


CHOOSING A TOPIC FOR YOUR RESEARCH PAPER
Your research paper is going to make up a substantial part of your work for this cycle in this class. Evaluate your topic.

Characteristics of Good Topics:
Interesting
Manageable
Available
Worthwhile
Original

Characteristics of Poor Topics:
Too broad
Too narrow
too technical
Too trivial
Too subjective

EXAMPLES OF GOOD AND BAD TOPICS FOR RESEARCH PAPERS
General subject: Civil Rights
Unsuitable: Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s (too broad)
Unsuitable: My father’s activities in the Civil Rights movement (too subjective)
Suitable (Good) Topic: What leadership role did Martin Luther King take during the early civil rights protests?

General Subject: artists
Unsuitable topic: Rembrandt (too broad)
Unsuitable topic: Michaelangelo as a child (too narrow)
Suitable (Good) Topic: How did Michaelangelo’s painting influence other Renaissance artists?

General Subject: any author studied in English class
Unsuitable: Tennyson as an author (too broad)
Unsuitable: Tennyson’s education (too trivial)
Suitable (Good) Topic: What recurring symbols appear in Tennyson’s poetry, and what do they mean?

General subject: modern science
Unsuitable: protecting the environment (too broad)
Unsuitable: designing coal-fired generators that use high sulfur coal (too technical)
Suitable (Good) Topic: What environmental effects will result from using gas-powered generators?

General Subject: historical causes of bankruptcy
Unsuitable: causes of bankruptcy (too broad)
Unsuitable: causes of personal bankruptcy during 1920 (too trivial)
Suitable (Good) Topic: What national, local and personal economic conditions caused the 1929 stock market crash in New York City banks?

General Subject: Economics
Unsuitable: How the law of supply and demand affects the economy (too broad)
Unsuitable: How the law of supply and demand affects my salary (too subjective)
Suitable (Good) Topic: How does the law of supply and demand affect the price of cars?

BRAINSTORMING:
Choose a topic to think about. Ask yourself as many questions as you can think about, regarding that topic.

Here’s an example of the process from a “The Research Paper, A Contemporary Approach” by Sharon Sorenson:
"I read that a company chose to build a plant in a location where the fewest acres of wetlands would be affected, so I started wondering what wetlands really are and why they matter. That was my general topic, but I knew it was too broad. To help me think, I started writing a list of questions:
What are wetlands? Why are wetlands getting attention from the environmentalists and the news media? Why not just fill in the wetlands to get rid of the mosquitoes and use the land to build buildings on? What lives in wetlands? What kinds of plants and animals are in wetlands? Are they important? What would happen if we got rid of wetlands?”

RESEARCH PAPER PLANNING WORKSHEET
Your Name (Please print):___________________________________
Your General Topic: _____________________________________________
Your Specific Topic: _____________________________________________

TOPIC CHECKLIST (please circle your answers, and fill in specifics where required):
1) Am I interested in this topic? Yes No
2) Have I narrowed the topic down sufficiently? Yes No
3) Have I avoided a topic that is too technical? Yes No
4) Will I be able to find adequate resources for this topic? Yes No
If “Yes,” where do I think I will be able to find research information on this topic? Please describe where you plan to look for your information:

5) Does this topic rely primarily on objective (rather than subjective) material? Yes No
6) Does this topic do more than just recite facts? Yes No
7) Can I word this topic as a question? Yes No

Please describe your topic, worded as a question:





Please sign and date this form:
Name:______________________________________ Date ________________