Taking Notes for Each Article You Use in Your Research

You must take notes for each article you use. Our "default" for note-taking is the Cornell Notes template. However, you may use another graphic organizer or note-taking format, as long as you include the following:

1.Your name, the class period and the date
2. The article properly “vetted.” It is from a reputable source.
3. The main points of article are listed.
4. Article points are matched with your own questions, thoughts or reactions.
5. There is a summary or overview of the point of meaning of the article.
6. There is some “higher order thinking,” analysis or discussion of the significance or meaning of the article as it relates to your Research Question.

Initial Research Steps

In your folder, you should have:
1) Your completed and signed "Research Paper Proposal Worksheet." You cannot proceed with your research unless and until this worksheet has been signed by me.

2) Your Key Word Brainstorm and URL sheet. This sheet provides a record of the key word searches you have tried, and the websites you have found. Please only write down the URLs of web sites that you have figured out are good. You check their veracity by going to "About Us" or "Contact Us." You must see if the authors have the credentials to have expertise in that subject.

4) You must have copies of the articles that you have selected.

5) You must have a Cornell notes sheet for each of the articles, and you must take notes on that sheet for each article. Your notes are your evidence that you have read and understood what you are reading. If you are continuing your research at home, you may print out a Cornell Notes template here.

"Holiday Homework": You may continue your research, providing a Cornell notes sheet for each article, translating the meaning of the article into your own words. You may also complete this Cornell notes sheet along with this article.

Refining and Deciding on Your Research Question

Is it researchable?

Is it factual?

Is it narrowed down enough?

Is it specific enough (time, place, specific aspect of the topic)?

Is it an opened-ended question (NOT a "yes - no" question)?

Is it worded as a question?

Do you already know where you might be able to get some research (NOT a search engine, actual agencies, organizations or institutions)?

Is it something in which you are interested?

Research Paper Proposal

1. Check my notes on your BRAINSTORM paper. Make sure that your BRAINSTORM has at least five to ten questions that you want to find out about your topic.

2. Use your BRAINSTORM to help you fill out the Research Paper Proposal Worksheet. This is the next step in the process of preparing for your research paper.

3. Q: "What if my Research Question is not designed to solve a problem or provide an explanation for a problem?
Q: What if it is not researchable?
A: If either of these things are the case, your Research Question cannot be used, and it will not be accepted as something you can research. Please re-think your topic, do another BRAINSTORM, and fill out a new sheet.

4. I am here to help. Ask me in class, read my written responses to your work, and come at lunch for extra help, if you need it!

List of Research Topics - from Classmembers

Here are the topics that we generated in class yesterday. In their brainstorms, many people came up with excellent questions. Now we have to narrow down our questions so that we can actually begin our research.

Topics from Pds 5 and 7

Research Topics from Periods 5 and 7 – April 7, 2011
Teen Pregnancy
Abortion
Drop Out Rate
Graduation Rates
Immigration
Drunk driving
Obama
Drug abuse
Alcohol
Drug trafficking
HIV/AIDS
Protective sex
Domestic violence – male to female (boyfriends to girlfriends).
Child abuse
Euthenasia
Albinoism
Celebrity drug problems
Theft
Sex trafficking
Pimps and hustlers in the 70’s
Crime rate between the cities in the Southern states
Addiction to alcohol
Addiction to drugs
Domestic violence
Child abuse
Foster care
Sweatshops
Food addiction
Fashion addiction
Racism
Teen pregnancy
Abortion
High school dropouts
Graduation rates between private and public and charter schools

Chosing Your Research Topic

Deciding on your Research Paper Topic:

Your research paper is going to make up a substantial part of your work for this cycle in this class. A research topic has to be a question that you want to answer. It has to be a problem or situation that research will help you understand. Your research may indicate solutions to that problem, and based on your research, you may suggest solutions.

First of all, you need to decide on a topic. Then develop a Research Question, and then begin to find sources for your research.

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 is an example of a research topic: Teen Pregnancy

Here is an example of good and bad research questions about Teen Pregnancy:
Unsuitable: Why are kids having so many babies? (too broad, too subjective)
Unsuitable: What are the statistics on Teen Pregnancy for 1984 (too broad AND too narrow)
Suitable (Good) Topic: What factors are contributing to teen pregnancy rates in the United States during this decade?

Here's what you'd have to do:
1) Look up the statistics.
Q: Where's a good place to look up statistics? Where can we find reliable statistics?
A:

2) Find expert researchers who've written about the causes of teen pregnancy.
Q: How do we know they're experts?
A:

3) Choose articles from good, reliable and reputable sources.
Q: How do we know the sources are reliable and reputable?
A:

4) Find good sources on the internet (or in books, if you can easily get them). Print out the articles that you find. Be sure to have the URL and website name of each article on the printout.
Q: How can you make sure you know where the article came from?
A:

5) Read the articles. Highlight the key points. Take notes (Using Cornell Notes or another graphic organizer) about your thoughts and reactions as you read.
Q: What other ways of taking notes do you know about?
A:

6) Begin the process of writing your paper. This step will be gone into in greater detail as we go along.

In order to think of a topic, you can do a BRAINSTORM.
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:

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?
What are some causes for the current popularity of getting tattooed?

If your research question can be answered in one sentence or from one website, it is not a suitable topic.

If your topic is not specific enough, it is not a suitable topic.

If your topic is just a matter of opinion, it is not a suitable topic. An example might be something like: "Why is Mr. X the best tattoo artist?" Mr. X is only the best artist in your opinion. There is no research you can find to prove that he is the best tattoo artist in the world.

Q: Are any of these research questions researchable?
Q: Which one is researchable, and how can you write it as a good research question?

How Do You Record Information Gathered From Research?

Use the Cornell Notes sheet to record the key points of your article on the Ozone Layer. The three Articles we used are:
1.Ozone Depletion Over Arctic 'Unprecedented' This Winter
By the CNN Wire Staff

2. http://www.oar.noaa.gov/climate/t_ozonelayer.html
Ozone Depletion

3.http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/ozone-depletion-overview.html Ozone Depletion - Losing Earth's Protective Layer

In groups of three, determine what information you have in common, and what information is unique to each article. Then record all of your information the group sheet.

Here's some of what students said they learned by doing this kind of an exercise:

If you cite facts, you need to be sure of them. You need to know where exactly in the text your facts come from.

Understand the vocabulary, and look up words you don't know.

Avoid plagiarism. Writing down the words from the article is plagiarism.

It's good to have more than one source for information, because then you'll know more about your topic.

Put the information you learn into your own words.

Why did we do this exercise? Students said:
1) To get more information on the topic by looking at multiple sources
2) To learn how to figure out what's important in the articles
3) To interpret and analyze the information for yourself (come to your own conclusions, based on the facts)

Instructions for Using Three Types of Graphic Organizers to Chart “Dazed and Confused”

Assignment, Due Monday, April 4th:

1.Use the “Cluster/Word Web 2” sheet to put down details about your character. The character’s name goes into the “Topic” box. You must fill at least four boxes with details about the character. For the highest grade, you should fill them all, and please make sure your work is legible.

2, Use the “Time-Order Chart” to talk about the things that happen to the character during the story. The character’s name goes in the “Topic” box. Each event is another thing that happens to the character during the course of the movie. You should be able to find 4 events for your character.

3. Use the “Story Map 2” sheet to describe the things that happen in the entire movie. List the setting, the time period in which the movie takes place, the major characters and the minor characters. You may use the internet to look up the characters in the movie. If you take text off of the internet, I will know it. Don’t do it. Everything must be in your own words.