Part I: The Elements of Research
Chapter One
Thinking Critically About Research
• What is “Research” and Why Should I Use It?
• What’s Different about Academic Research?
• Primary versus Secondary Research
• Scholarly versus Non-Scholarly Sources
• Sources that are Both Scholarly and Non-Scholarly?
• The Internet: The Researcher’s Challenge
• Evaluating the Quality and Credibility of Your Research
• Complicating Factors in Evaluating the Credibility of Internet Research
Chapter Two
Understanding and Using the Library and the Internet for Research
• Defining “The Library” and “The Internet:” An Introduction
• Researching in the Library
* Books
* Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers (Periodicals)
* Periodical Indexes
* Accessing an Article
* Periodicals from Electronic Databases
* Some Final Tips
* Other Library Materials (Government documents, Interlibrary loan, Theses and dissertations, rare books and special collections)
• Researching on the Internet
* Email
* A Word about “Netiquette”
* The World Wide Web
* Search Engines
* Metasearch Engines
* Web Directories
Chapter Three
Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Avoiding Plagiarism
• How to Summarize: An Overview
• How to Quote and Paraphrase: An Overview
• When to Quote, When to Paraphrase
• Four Examples of Quotes and Paraphrases
• How to Avoid Plagiarism in the Research Process
• Plagiarism and the Internet
Chapter Four
How to Collaborate and Write With Others
• Why Collaborate on Writing?
• Considering (and Balancing) the Two Extremes of Collaboration
• Peer Review as Collaboration
* A “sample recipe” for how peer review can work
* A few last things to remember about successful peer review
• Collaborative Writing on Larger Projects
• Three Ideas for Collaborative Projects
* Research Idea Groups
* Research Writing Partners
* Collaborative Research Writing Projects
• Collaborating With Computers and the Internet
Part II: Exercises in the Process of Research
Chapter Five
The Working Thesis Exercise
• Working with Assigned Topics
• Coming Up with Your Own Idea
• Brainstorming for Ideas
• Brainstorming with Computers
• Moving From Ideas to Topics with the Help of the Library and the World Wide Web
• Writing Your Working Thesis
• The Process of Writing The Working Thesis
* A Sample Assignment
* Questions to Consider with a First Draft
* Review and Revision
* A Student Example: “Preventing Drunk Driving by Enforcement” by Daniel Marvins
Chapter Six
The Annotated Bibliography Exercise
• What is an Annotated Bibliography?
• Why Write Annotated Bibliographies?
• “How many sources do I need?”
• Using Computers to Write Annotated Bibliographies
• The Process of Writing the Annotated Bibliography
* A Sample Assignment
* The Annotated Bibliography and Collaboration
* Questions to Ask while Writing and Researching
* Review and Revision
Chapter Seven
The Critique Exercise
• What’s a Critique and Why Does it Matter?
• Selecting a Text to Critique
• Starting With a “Close Reading”
• An Example of a Close Reading
• Criteria: Your Reasons for Evaluation
• The Process of Writing the Critique
* A Sample Assignment
* Questions to consider as you write your first draft
* Review and Revision
* A Student Example: “A Critique of ‘Self-Report of ADHD Symptoms in University Students” by Ashley Nelson
Chapter Eight
The Antithesis Exercise
• Revisiting the Working (and inevitably changing) Thesis
• Why Write an Antithesis Essay?
• Generating Antithetical Points in Five Easy Steps
• Finding Antithetical Points on the Internet
• Strategies for Answering Antithetical Arguments
• But You Still Can’t Convince Everyone...
• Assignment: Writing the Antithesis Essay
* Questions to consider as you write your first draft
* Revision and Review
* “A Student Example: “Are Casinos Good for Las Vegas? Defending Legalized Gambling,” by Kerry Oaks
Chapter Nine
The Categorization and Evaluation Exercise
• Revisiting your Working Thesis
• Why Categorize and Evaluate Evidence?
• Dividing, Conquering, Categorizing: A Few Rules to Follow
• Some Sample Categories
• Charting Your Categories
• Assignment: Writing the Categorization and Evaluation Exercise
* Questions to consider as you write your first draft
* Review and Revision
* A Student Example: “Categorizing My Research on Drug Advertising” by Jeremy Stephens
Part III: The Research Project
Chapter Ten The Research Essay
• A “Research Essay” Instead of A “Research Paper”
• Creating and Revising a Formal Outline
• The Introduction
• Giving Your Readers Background Information
• Weaving in Evidence to Support Your Points
• Accounting for the Opposition: Antithetical Arguments
• Conclusions
• Works Cited/Bibliography
Chapter Eleven
Alternative Ways to Present Your Research
• Not all Research Comes in “Papers” or “Essays”
• The Research Portfolio/Narrative Essay
• The Assignment
• A Student Example: “The Story of My Working Thesis Malfunction” by Amanda Kenger.
• The Web-based Research Project
• The Advantages of the Web-based Research Project
* Graphics, Multimedia, Hypertext
* A Broad, Diverse, and International Audience
* Facilitates Collaboration
• The Disadvantages of the Web-based Research Project
* Hardware and Software Access
* Learning HTML and Other “Computer Things”
* Time, Time, Time
• Web Publishing versus “hypertext”
• A Web Writing Recipe: What You Need to Get Started, and Where You Can Go To Get Help
• The Assignment
• A Student Example: “The Corruption Surrounding University Athletics Web Site,” By Casey K. Copeman
• The Poster Session Project
• The Assignment
• A Program-wide Poster Session: The Eastern Michigan University “Celebration of Student Writing”
Chapter 12
Citing Your Research Using MLA or APA Style
• What is Citation For, Anyway?
• Finding Out More About MLA and APA Citation
• An Abbreviated Guide to MLA Style
* Parenthetical Citation
* Formatting Works Cited Pages, Annotated Bibliographies, and Works Consulted Pages
• Working with APA
* Parenthetical Citation
* Formatting Reference Pages and Annotated Bibliographies