Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Research Guide
Focusing the Research on an Issue:
Stating your Opinion: Once you have gathered and analyzed the information
collected to answer these questions, write out the opinion you have formed in a
sentence or two. This is your Thesis Statement (claim, or main idea). The final
aim of your research is to support the thesis statement. A possible thesis
statement for our Focusing Question might be:
o Cheap, mass produced disposable goods can present huge
benefits in terms of convenience and affordability, but these
benefits are small in comparison to the damage that our
dependence on cheap goods does to our environment, to
peoples health, and to the worlds poor.
Searching tips:
o If you cannot find what you are looking for, change the key words of
your search term. If you find what you are looking for in Wikipedia,
go a step further and open the links to the sources Wikipedia used.
These are likely to be reliable sources that have the same information
in the Wikipedia article.
o If the source is too complicated for you to understand but you think it
is relevant, ask for help or find a different source that is easier to
understand.
Never copy information directly from a source into your coursework. That is
plagiarism: presenting someone elses work as your own.
o Note information shorthand instead, and then incorporate the
information into your work in your own words. Do not just switch out a
few key words with synonyms.
o If you must use a part of someone elses work, do it sparingly and cite
the source. This use of someone elses work will be apparent by your
use of quotation marks and proper citation at the end of the quote.
Use real examples to demonstrate your points or illuminate perspectives.
These real examples should come from the excellent sources you have found
and studied.
Analysis should emphasize multiple perspectives of the issue you are
investigating.
The issue you are investigating is your Thesis.
A basic outline for presenting findings might be:
o Title:
o Introduction
Use the writing from the focusing stage to form an introduction.
This can be an explanation of why you chose the area of study, a
relevant personal anecdote, a summary of your knowledge of
issues under the area of study.
Transition to your topic.
State your question.
o Body
Show analysis of the issue through facts and real, relevant
examples, representing the global, national and personal
perspectives.
o Conclusion
Your Thesis Statement, as the result of your analysis, is your
conclusion.
Identify a broad range of scenarios based on the evidence you have collected.
Evaluate the likelihood of possible outcomes (effects).
o If this cause continues this way, the effects may be...because...How
likely is this?
o But if the cause is altered by this action, the effects may
be...because... How likely is this?
o But then if this happens instead, then the effects might
be...because... How likely is this?
Possible modes of expressing this step could be
o Artwork or Comic strip
o Cause-effect chart
o Detailed, organized, multi-level bullet-point list (as in this document).
o A well-written paragraph for each course of action, descriptive narratives
or poetry.
How might some of the problems surrounding the issue be solved or altered? A
detailed proposal might include
o What the action is
o Who would perform or organize the action, and why
o What resources or support that person or those people would need to
carry out the action
o What impact the action might it have
Formulate at least three courses of action. Think personal action; local /
national (community or political) action; global (community or political) action.
Possible formats for presenting these course of action could be
o Detailed, organized, multi-level bullet-point list (as in this document).
o A well-written paragraph for each course of action.
o Paneled comic strips.
This step can be interpreted in many ways, but an adequate response to this
step could be to:
o Discuss or show how completing this study changed the way you feel or
think about the issue, or how it made you more aware of the impact you
personally have on the issue. Give reference to the specific parts of the
research that have strongly influenced this effect.
This response would already be interwoven into a well-constructed
study; this step is then a summary of that response. A written
paragraph, comic strip, song, artwork, poetry or other modes
could be used to present this step.
Title of the Website, project, or book in italics. (Remember that some Print
publications have Web publications with slightly different names. They may, for
example, include the additional information or otherwise modified information,
like domain names [e.g. .com or .net].)
URL
Periodicals
Article in a Magazine
Cite by listing the article's author, putting the title of the article in quotations marks,
and italicizing the periodical title. Follow with the date of publication. Remember to
abbreviate the month. The basic format is as follows:
Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Day Month Year: pages. Medium of
publication.
Buchman, Dana. "A Special Education." Good Housekeeping Mar. 2006: 143-48. Print.
Article in a Newspaper
Cite a newspaper article as you would a magazine article, but note the different
pagination in a newspaper. If there is more than one edition available for that date (as
in an early and late edition of a newspaper), identify the edition following the date
(e.g., 17 May 1987, late ed.).
Brubaker, Bill. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington Post 24
May 2007: LZ01. Print.
Krugman, Andrew. "Fear of Eating." New York Times 21 May 2007 late ed.: A1. Print.
Personal Interview
Personal interviews refer to those interviews that you conduct yourself. List the
interview by the name of the interviewee. Include the descriptor Personal interview
and the date of the interview.
Purdue, Pete. Personal interview. 1 Dec. 2000.