Beginning Your Research

After you have filled out and signed your Research Paper Planning Worksheet, the next step is to get it approved by me. Once it is approved you may begin your research.

Make sure you are using the "What Good Internet Research Looks Like" handout to evaluate the websites you find online. A requirement for this class is using websites that are reputable and reliable. You must also know exactly who is behind and who authored the website that you are using. In your paper you will have to cite your sources.

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 ________________

Homework for March 20/21 Weekend

Go to the website globalwarming.org.  Find out who created this website.  Who is behind it?  Come back on Monday with the answer. 

What Does Good Research Look Like?

In order to do good research, there are some skills and techniques you have to practice.  In today's class we began to identify those methods.  As a class, we came up with the following strategies that are essential for good internet research:

CHOOSE A GOOD SEARCH ENGINE:

I recommend Google.  There are other many other search engines, but if you want to use another one, ask me, and we'll look at it together to decide if it's a good one to use for the type of research that you're conducting.

BE CAREFUL ABOUT HOW YOU PHRASE YOUR SEARCH.

When you type words in, your search engine is going to search for all those words in addition to those words in combination. So, for example,

prom dresses Spanish Harlem

will result in Google searching for everything that has the word "prom," the word "dresses," the word "Spanish" and the word "Harlem," in addition to looking for "prom dresses" and "Spanish Harlem."

In order to get ONLY prom dresses in Spanish Harlem, you would need to put each phrase in quotes. That tells the search engine to only look for those words in those exact combinations. So you can search Google by typing in

"prom dresses" "Spanish Harlem"

However, there may be stores in Spanish Harlem that are not listed because they do not use the phrase "Spanish Harlem" in their own pages.  Perhaps they use "Upper East Side," or "East Harlem" or simply list the street on which they are located, like "3rd Avenue," or "Third Avenue," or "116th Street" or "116 St".  All of these are different search terms.  If you really want to find a place in Spanish Harlem, you may have to try all these things.  ALSO, A LOT OF STORES, INSTITUTIONS, and BOOKS DO NOT HAVE WEBSITES.  Everything that exists is not online.  A person might have a store and not make a website for it.

     We found out that a lot of stores in Spanish Harlem that sell prom dresses do not have websites.  That does not mean they do not exist.  Lots of places that exist are not online.

WHEN TRYING TO FIND DETAILED INFORMATION OR READ A BOOK, REMEMBER:
      Sometimes you actually have to go to a library to read a document or book on the topic.  Usually, entire books are not online,  especially new ones.  The only entire books that are online are public domain books (like Shakespeare, Chaucer, etc). You can find many public domain books online at Project Gutenberg.  You can also check out authorama.com.

WHO CREATED THE WEBSITE?
Find out who wrote the information on the website, and write down those details.

ASK YOURSELF: Who are they? Who is the author of the website? What organization or group is behind it?

ARE THEY REPUTABLE?

• Have you already heard about the authors or institutions behind the website and do you know that you're reputable already? (for instance, students suggested that one might go to merriam-webster.com, because we already know that they are a good company that publishes dictionaries.)

• What does the URL tell you? 
•  .edu = education (universities, colleges, large school districts)
• .gov = US government
• .uk = United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland)
• .ca= Canada. Other two letter designations indicate other countries.
• .org = (usually) non-profit organization
• .net = company (or anything commercially available)
• .com = company

ARE THEY RELIABLE?
o Is there a second website that confirms the information on that website?
o When did they update their page last?
o Google the owner and/or author.

End of Cycle Evaluation

What have you learned this cycle, and what do you feel you still need to work on in order to be ready for college?  Pick up an "End of Cycle Evaluation" sheet in my classroom, or download it here.  There is also a link to the evaluation under "Handouts."

Final Assignment for Cycle 4

We've met and looked over your work.  Now make sure to do all your corrections and type your final version of your "My New York" paper.  Your final version is your final assignment for Cycle 4 and is a requirement for passing this class.

Proof Reading and Editing Your Work

After you have completed your first draft, take a careful look at it.  Proof read it carefully.  Don't skim or skip.  Read every word.  You may find letters you've left out by accident, misspellings, comma and apostrophe errors, and errors in syntax.  Use the handouts (found in the classroom and on the right hand column of this page): "Camilla's Comma Rules," "Camilla's Apostrophe Rules" and "Camilla's Grammar and Spelling Tips" to correct your work.  Make your corrections, and make sure to use a different color pen or pencil, so that your corrections are evident.

Each of your folders has a "Student-Teacher Conferences" sheet.  It is the record of our discussions about your work.  Take a look at it periodically to remind yourself what areas you need to focus on in order to improve.

Assignment Timetable

The first draft of your "My New York" story is due Wednesday, March 10. The final, corrected and expanded version is due by cycle's end.  Remember, you must write your story in class, unless I have seen a large percentage of it and you have been given specific approval by me to finish it up at home.  

For your first draft (and for anything you write), make sure to proof read your story!

Make sure to correct

• comma errors
• apostrophe errors
• spelling errors
• syntax errors

Once you have made those corrections, turn your first draft in.