Assignment for Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Find at least three internet sources for your research question. Your research question must be written on your “Research Paper Planning Worksheet,” and that must be in your folder. Additional “Research Paper Planning Worksheets” are available in the classroom.

Read each reputable article you find carefully, and record the information on the “Author, Organization, URL” form provided. Print out the information using the guidelines below.

The sources you pick to use must be REPUTABLE. Remember to check the “About Us” section and google author names. If you are unable to determine whether a source is reputable or not, IT IS NOT REPUTABLE. You must find another source. Reputable sources make their credentials and qualifications accessible. You should question the validity of a site that does not easily provide good information about who created it and what the credentials of the authors are.

Guidelines for printing out articles: You may print directly from the web page, but if you do this, you must do a "print preview" and count the pages, making sure to only print the pages you will be using for your paper. You must also expect to wait longer for your document to print if you print directly from a web page. You will print out your article much faster if you copy and paste it into Word, making sure that you have copied the FULL URL, the author and the organization or publication information onto the Word document.

Keeping Track of Your Research Data

Record the reputable websites you have found on this Author, Organization, URL form. Print out a copy of the article. You may print directly from the web page, but if you do this, you must do a "print preview" and count the pages, making sure to only print the pages you will be using for your paper. You must also expect to wait longer for your document to print if you print directly from a web page. You will print out your article much faster if you copy and paste it into Word, making sure that you have copied the FULL URL, the author and the organization or publication information onto the Word document.

Deciding on your Research Paper Topic

In order to decide on your research paper topic you need to brainstorm.  Read the handout, "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.  In order to decide on a topic, consider the following: 

Good topics are:

Interesting
Manageable
Available
Worthwhile
Original

Poor topics are:
Too broad
Too narrow
too technical
Too trivial
Too subjective

Here are some 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

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: The Poet Alfred Lort Tennyson
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 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?

Assignment:
BRAINSTORMING:  Choose a topic to think about.  Write down the general topic.  Then ask yourself as many questions as you can think about, regarding that topic.  On a separate piece of lined, notebook paper, write down your proposed topic and 5 to 7 questions about that topic. 

General Topic: Tatoos

Questions:

Where does the ink originate for tattoos?
Who gets tattooed?  What ages are they?
What cultures besides the US get tattooed?
What do certain tattoos symbolize?
Where did tattooing come from?
What’s the difference between tribal tattoos and modern tattoos from tattoo shops?
How many people get tattoos removed?
Why do people get tattooed?

The brainstorm must be in your folder before you begin the next step.  The next step is to use your brainstorming questions to decide on a researchable topic.  Once you have figured out which of your questions is truly researchable, circle it.  Then we will meet and review your choice.  The next step is to fill out your "Research Paper Planning Worksheet," in which you state your actual research question.  I will give you a copy of this sheet when I determine you are ready for it.  This sheet, and your choice of topic, must be approved by me in order for you to begin your research. 

Evaluating Web Sites

Decide on a RESEARCHABLE topic for this exercise.  Use the "3 Web Sites" worksheet to record:
a) How you know the web site is a reputable source: 

• Remember to look at the root directory URL.  
• Remember to check out the "About Us" section of the site.
• "Google what you google" to find out who the authors are and what their credentials are.

b) What you learned about your topic on the web site.