THE CURIOUS RESEARCHER - WordPress.com · THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING CURIOUS Situational curiosity If you’re bored by your research topic, then writing your paper will become even

THE CURIOUS RESEARCHER

Week 1 Group 1Bridget, Caroline, Kevin, Dianna

Sunday, December 9, 12

THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING CURIOUS

Situational curiosity If you’re bored by your research topic, then

writing your paper will become even more difficult

Choose your research topic to be one that interests you

A good way to sustain your curiosity is picking a topic that has a personal relevance- What have I seen or experienced that raises questions that research can help answer?


GETTING THE POT BOILING Accidental topics are often successful topics

Ideas that cross your mind randomly Sometimes one topic triggers another


EXERCISE 1.1 Make three columns on a piece of paper and

pick three of the following words: PLACES, TRENDS, THINGS, TECHNOLOGIES, PEOPLE,

CONTROVERSIES, HISTORY, JOBS, HABITS, HOBBIES

Under each title that you choose, brainstorm a list of words or phrases that come to mind when you think about what you know and what you want to know about the category.


EXERCISE 1.1 Review your list and look for a single item

that looks promising; something that you could raise questions about that research could help answer. If this item opens any doors to knowledge and enlightenment, circle it.

For the item that you circled, generate a list of questions that you would want to explore about a subject.


OTHER WAYS TO FIND A TOPIC The INTERNET Consider essays you’ve already written Pay attention to what you’ve read recently Pick a topic that’s practical

Find something that interests you!


WHAT IS A GOOD TOPIC?

What is a Good Topic? Overdone topics Global warming Abortion rights legalization of marijuana same-sex marriage etc.


Interesting, but overworked viewpoints Too Predictable Easy to plagiarize


Begin with a question, not a preconceived answer

“What is our cultural obsession with good teeth?”

“Is it true that lawnmowers are among the most polluting engines around?”

“What impact will the availability of medical marijuana vending machines in California have on the legal debate in that state?”


A good topic = finding the right question Personal interest and impact Eliminating questions comes later First find what makes you eager to learn more


The Archetypal Academic Essay based on deduction organized into five neat paragraphs one provable thesis and examples to support it moves from the general to the specific good for SAT but not for college research


Aim for induction Start with data Find patterns that raise questions Use questions to redirect research back to the

information Write about what’s relevant


WHERE’S WALDO? What if we asked:

Where are the men? Where are the women? Where are the people wearing yellow? Most specific: Where’s Waldo?

It is the best question because we know exactly what to look for, and what to ignore


THE MYTH OF THE BORING TOPIC First try exercise we did in class: Come up with as many questions about one

thing as possible Break it down to its components Ideas are like Geodes: “Sometimes it takes

the sharp rap of a really good question to crack open even the most familiar objects, and then suddenly we see that subject in a new light.”


LENSES Examine your topic through these different

filters: People: Who has been influential? Trends: Recent developments? Significance? Controversies: Expert arguments? Most

interesting? Places: Where is the most impact happening? Impact: What is causing the effect? On people? On

the future? Relationships: Juxtaposition between this and

another topic! (Renaissance and the plague)


IMPORTANCE OF WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF A TOPIC What is it?

the ability “to talk about it for one minute without repeating yourself”

Why is it necessary? it will help you find a focus, see what areas of

your topic you might want to explore


COMPONENTS OF A WORKING KNOWLEDGE The example: Field of Dog-training Definitions: What is a “well-behaved dog”?

Operant vs. Classical conditioning? Debates: Should you reward dogs with food or

just praise? People: The “Dog Whisperer” Cesar Milan,

trainers Patricia McConell and Victoria Stilwell

Contexts: Topic applies to more than just pet-training, also psychology, biology, etc.


RESEARCH STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING WORKING KNOWLEDGE

Work from general information to specialized informationBegin with a Google search- with the most important terms first, enter as many search terms as you can at one time to narrow the resultsSearch general and subject encyclopedias- in addition to bound encyclopedias, there are vast online encyclopedias, such as Columbia Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia.com. More focused references include subject encyclopedias, which range on hundreds of subjects. You can find these online at your university library and the Internet Public Library.


Use the Internet Public Library- specialized encyclopedias, a search portal for finding more reliable sources, and even special collections.Try Google Scholar- Results that are reliable and authoritativeStart building a bibliography- collect basic bibliographic information on the most useful sources you find. Using a citation machine is a convenient way to do this; it prompts you for bibliographic information and then turns it into citations in the format you choose. As they can make mistakes, it should not be trusted for a final essay but it can be a great preliminary method for collecting citations. Citation Machine and bibme are just two sites that you can visit.


USING ZOTERO TO MANAGE YOUR RESEARCH

If you use Firefox, Zotero can be a great tool to manage online research

Zotero is a free application integrated into Firefox, which can save and organize Web resources in folders you create that are accessible wherever you have an Internet connection. The program can organize citation information automatically and also offers a Word plug-in that allows you to automatically build a bibliography in the correct format when you cite a source in your text.


THE REFERENCE LIBRARIAN: A LIVING SOURCE

Reference librarians can save you time by guiding you to the best sources on your topic and give great advice on how to narrow your research question.


NARROWING THE SUBJECTThe challenge of this research paper is not to find a unique topic but to find an angle on a familiar topic that helps readers see what they haven’t noticed before.

As you look closer at an aspect of a larger subject, you uncover information that people are likely to find less familiar and more interesting.


FROM LANDSCAPE SHOTS TO CLOSE-UPS

As opposed to research reports many wrote in high school, the college research essay is more of a close-up, calling for narrowing the boundaries of a topic as much as you can.

You need to see your topic in as many ways as you can and hunt for the angle that most interests you. One way to find your focus is to find your questions.


OTHER WAYS TO NARROW YOUR SUBJECT

Time- Limit the time frame of your project

Place- Put a larger subject to a particular location

Person- Use one person to reveal generalities about the group

Story- Ground a larger story to the specifics of a smaller one


CRAFTING YOUR OPENING INQUIRY QUESTION This question will guide your research and

writing. The question will evolve as you learn more. Look for patterns in the list of questions

you’ve generated. Some will clump together in general categories.

Decide which question you are most interested in that could be the focus of your paper.


MOST COMMON TYPES OF INQUIRY QUESTIONS Sense-Making Questions

arise when we are searching for an explanation Hypothesis-Testing Questions

test assumptions that we think might be true Relationship-Analyzing Questions

try to figure out whether one thing causes another or whether one thing is like or unlike something else.


POSSIBLE PURPOSES FOR A RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT What purpose is implied by the question you

chose? To explore

The question is posed because you are unsure of the answer.

The thesis will probably surface towards the end of the paper.

To argue Your purpose is to state a central claim and make it

convincing. You will probably have the basic idea of your thesis at

the beginning of your paper.


READING FOR RESEARCH know what you are reading and what you

want to get from it. have knowledge of the type of text you’re

reading know where to look for what you need to

know have some prior knowledge read rhetorically

selecting particular reading strategies that are most effective in certain situations and for certain purposes and applying them.


READING STRATEGIES FOR RESEARCH WRITERS First develop a working knowledge of your

topic. Let your own purposes guide: example,

context, challenge. Anticipate your own resistance to the

scholarly writing that seems boring The more you read in the subject, the more

you’ll understand Learn the organizing principles of articles Read with a pen in your hand.


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THE CURIOUS RESEARCHER - WordPress.com · THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING CURIOUS Situational curiosity If you’re bored by your research topic, then writing your paper will become even