A research project is more complicated than many assignments encountered by students. It requires plenty of time, original thinking, being organized, lots of reading and note taking, and finally presenting your ideas to an audience.These research guidelines will lead you through the process of "researching." There are 3 important hints to keep in mind throughout the entire process:

1. Plan Ahead

2. Be Organized

3. Revise Continually

Remember that these guidelines are not intended to take the place of your teacher. If you have any questions, concerns, or problems along the way, be sure to ask for help!

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1. SELECTING A TOPIC

Topics can come from many places.

•Your teacher may assign one to you.

•Your teacher may provide guidelines.

•You may have complete freedom to choose a topic.

A. BRAINSTORMING POSSIBLE TOPIC IDEAS.

If you are allowed to choose a topic, here are two steps to review possible topics:

a. Look at a variety of sources. Consider categories that may be of personal interest: popular culture, current issues, historical topics, or science topics.

b. Select a category and brainstorm ideas or possibilities.

B. NARROWING YOUR TOPIC OPTIONS TO A SELECT FEW.

Select a potential topic and generate a list of key words for that topic. Key words are a list of words that will help you find information you need about your research topic. They are called key wordsbecause they can unlock the doors that will reveal useful information. As you search more about your topic, you will add more key words. You can see examples of how key words are used by going to“More about Key Words.”

C. GETTING AN OVERVIEW

Is there information widely available on these topics? Encyclopedia, reference materials, short books or books for younger readers are good sources of overviews. If you cannot find overviews on a topic, eliminate that topic. For help, consult “Getting An Overview”.

NOTE: Using a "Topic Decision Grid" may also help you to evaluate possible topics.

D. GENERATING GUIDING QUESTIONS.

Having narrowed your ideas to one or two, generate guiding questions which will help you further define your topic. Guiding questions begin with who, what, where when, why, and what if. If you can create these questions about your idea, then you have a potential topic. You can use the worksheet “Generate Possible Questions” to help you.

FINAL CHECK ON "SELECTING YOUR TOPIC".

Ask these questions about your potential topic.

Is it

___Interesting, for you and your audience?

___Manageable for your time frame?

___A topic for which you can find resources?

___Original or a new topic for you? Will it keep you curious and interested as you work?

___Well focused, not too broad or too narrow?

___Have you created a list of key words?

If you can answer YES to all the above, continue to the "WRITING A STATEMENT OF PURPOSE."

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2. WRITING A STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Your purpose statement guides you while you work and helps you develop a key concept.

It is stated as “I want to learn about….” If you need help writing a purpose statement, consult “Writing a Statement of Purpose.”

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3. ADDING GUIDING QUESTIONS

Your guiding questions can be further categorized as factual questions or interpretative questions. They will help direct your efforts to explore your topic and look for information about your ideas.

Factual questions: Factual questions ask who, what, where, when. Assume your audience knows nothing about your subject. It needs background information. Ask questions that will help them understand your project.
Interpretative questions: These incorporate some of your own thinking. These are wondering questions, such as what if, why, and how.

Consult “More on Guiding Questions” if you need further help in creating your questions.

After you develop your questions, use the gathering grid to begin organizing details and information for your research.

FINAL CHECK ON "WRITING A STATEMENT OF PURPOSE" and "GUIDING QUESTIONS."

___Is your purpose statement worded, “I want to learn about…”?

___Do you have three or four interpretative questions?

___Do you have several factual questions that relate to the background information?

If you answer NO to any of these questions, you may need to revisit your topic selection. If you answered YES to all these questions, move on to "DEVELOPING A PLAN."

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4. DEVELOPING A PLAN

It is time to prepare a schedule. This will help you stay on track, complete all the steps of the research process, meet your deadline, and be successful.

List the days over the next week (or several weeks) and times during which you will be able to work. Work backwards from your due date to the present day. You will need time to re-visit your list of key words, find resources, take notes, organize notes, create and revise the project, and finalize or publish your project. Your teacher may provide specifics on project strategies, which should be included too.

Have you developed a schedule that supports your time frame and goals? If so, it is time to begin "SELECTING RESOURCES."

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5. SELECTING RESOURCES

A. REVISITING YOUR KEY WORDS.

Eliminate those that no longer work and add those that will aid in your research.

B. LISTING POSSIBLE SOURCES.

Then, determine what kind of information you might need that will help you answer your guiding questions. For example, current topics might require periodicals, web-based information, or other current sources. Sometimes pictures or a timeline may help. If you need help thinking of types of resources that might suit your topic, go to

"List of Possible Sources.”

C. EVALUATING THE SOURCES.

You will find many resources, but it is important to select and use reliable and appropriate ones. When choosing resources, ask yourself these questions:

Is the source a primary source or a secondary source? Often, teachers will require that you use both primary and secondary resources. What is the difference?

Primary sources are the original words of a writer in a novel, poem, play, short story, letter, autobiography, speech, report, film, television program, original design, computer program, interview, and so forth.

Secondary sources are works about somebody (biography) or about a creative work (critical evaluation). Secondary sources include interpretations of novels or paintings, reviews of plays or movies, or biographies. Other secondary evaluations may appear in news reports, magazine articles, and textbooks. These are secondhand materials.

Think of secondary sources as writing about primary sources and about the creators of primary works. In general, you should paraphrase secondary sources not quote them, unless the wording of the original is especially well phrased. However, do quote primary sources.

Is the source an expert and is the information accurate?

Pay attention to who created the information. Is the source an established organization or an educational institution? What are the credentials of the author? Newspapers, books, and magazines are generally reliable. When using web sites, be particularly cautious. Look for web sites ending in .org, .gov, .edu. (More information can be found in "Evaluating Web sites.")

Is the information biased?

A source is biased when it contains only one side of the subject. This information may not be accurate. For instance, politicians and advertisers may be biased. Reliable sources of information will cover all sides of a topic.

Is the information current?

Check copyright dates of books and articles and posting dates of on line information.

FINAL CHECK FOR "SELECTING RESOURCES."

___Do you have a variety of sources?

___Can you understand the information you found?

___Is your information unbiased, reliable, and current?

If your answered YES to all these questions, continue on to "GATHERING INFORMATION."

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6. GATHERING INFORMATION

Now is the time when you actually start to research!

A. SEARCHING

There are many ways to search for information. Find a method that works for the source you are using.

FOR PRINT SOURCES consider the following:

using the index, and/or the table of contents,
skimming and scanning,
reading headings and guide words.

FOR ELECTRONIC SOURCES be aware of the following:

keywords,
subject directories,
Boolean searching,
URL’s,
domain names, and
search engines.

B. NOTE TAKING

There are various methods of note taking. Depending on your personal preference or perhaps the project you select, Consider the following:

•Teacher recommendation or requirement,

•Note cards ,

•Copy and paste,

• Log book,

• Photocopy and highlight,

•”Inspiration” software

•Outline style,

•Chart style,

•Mapping style,

•Cornell notes,

•Sticky notes

As you take notes, up-date your gathering grid. This will help you organize your details and organize your information by source.

If you need help taking effective notes, Bellingham Publishing Guidelines offers some ideas about “Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting.”

The 8th grade and 10th grade samples at "Note Taking Skills" can provide some examples that highlight the differences between summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting.

C. AVOIDING PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else's work as your own. It is stealing. You must be careful to give credit for the facts and ideas you find in your sources.

How can you avoid plagiarizing?

You can record only key words or phrased when you are taking notes. Remember to give credit to the source of the ideas, however.
You can put the ideas from a source in your own words. This is called paraphrasing. You must give credit to the source of the ideas, however.
You can quote the exact words of a source, but remember to use quotation marks and give credit to the source of the idea. You should definitely use direct quotations in your project, but they should amount to no more than 20% of your overall information. A rule-of-thumb is the 80/20 rule - that is 80% of the information should be in your own words.

The Bellingham Publishing Guidelines offers an explanation and examples of what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

D. RECORDING SOURCE INFORMATION

Remember to cite the sources you are using as you go along! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!

Citing sources lets your audience know that you want to make clear to them which ideas, pictures, statistics, etc. are yours and which are someone else's. If you do not cite your sources, you are plagiarizing. Also, citing your sources will provide credibility to your thesis and thinking by showing that you did not just think this information up, but researched the thinking and conclusions of experts to support your ideas. Be sure to match your notes to the correct source as you conduct your research.

In MSAD #51, all sources are cited using MLA format.

You can check the Write Source textbook for format guidelines or go on-line to

Greely Middle School works cited samples and blank forms

MLA Formatting and Style Guide

to learn more about MLA form.

Visiting "Citation Maker" also provides help in structuring citations for different types of resources.

FINAL CHECK FOR "GATHERING INFORMATION."

Ask these questions about your information gathering:

___Did you use a variety of resources?

___Did you use only reliable sources?

___Did you record the information in your own words?

___Did you copy quotations accurately?

___Did you record the source information on your notes?

___Have you filled in gaps where you need more information?

If you can answer YES to all the above, go to "Organizing Information".

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7. ORGANIZING INFORMATION

Having gathered information, it is now time to stop and organize it. This is a VERY important step, for it will allow you to

create and refine a thesis statement.
stay on task and not stray when your put your final product together.
arrange your information into subtopics that will appear in your final product.

A. WRITING A THESIS

A thesis statement (also known as a hypothesis in science) is a strong statement. You can prove with evidence, in this case your research. It is NOT a statement of fact. The thesis statement comes from your "Statement of Purpose" in combination with your thinking and research.

Commonly, thesis statements may

present your opinion about a problem or event
suggest a resolution to a current problem, condition, or issue

based upon information from your research.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE + RESEARCH + THINKING yields a THESIS

(an interesting subject and information) (a focus) (opinion or hypothesis)

Here are some examples of Thesis Statements:

The invention of the electric telegraph (an interesting subject) had a profound effect on American industry(a focus).

Science has developed new weathering forecasting methods( an interesting subject) which has saved millions of lives by predicting dangerous storms (a focus).

Additional information about and examples of thesis statements can be found at "Writing Thesis Statements".

B. ORDERING AND ORGANIZING

Now it is time to put all the information together with what you have learned and plan the order of information. Stop and evaluate your research process. There are several ways to organize and order, but each requires the same critical process of judging your information or research.

What are the subtopics of your project? What are the main points you will explain as you present your opinion or hypothesis.
What is a logical order in which to present these subtopics? What order of information makes sense?
Do you have enough information for each subtopic? If not, conduct some more research to fill the gaps.
Do you have information that does not aid in explaining your thesis? Throw it out.

There are many various ways to sort and analyze your information. Often, the style you select may reflect the requirements of the assignment. Be sure to fulfill all requirements!

If you have a choice, some common organizational forms are

an outline
a chart
an experimental design
a web.

C. DOUBLE CHECKING YOUR RESEARCH PROCESS

It is important that you have followed all the directions and criteria provided by your teacher. Be sure to take a moment and check your checklist, product descriptor, or research proposal. Have all required sources been used? Have all questions been answered?
Stop and think about your audience. Could an uninformed audience understand your ideas?
Think carefully about the purpose of your project. Have you fulfilled this purpose?

FINAL CHECK FOR "ORGANIZING INFORMATION"

Ask these questions about organizing your information:

___Does your thesis statement declare the position you are taking or point to the conclusions you will make?

___Did you create subtopics for your project and present them in a logical order?

___Did you weed out irrelevant information that does not support your thesis statement?

___Did you provide enough information for an uninformed reader to understand your topic and thesis?

___Did you create an organizing form that covers all the important questions involved in your research?

If you can answer "YES" to all of these questions, it is time to begin the final stage, "Creating or Publishing Your Project".

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8. CREATING OR PUBLISHING THE PROJECT

A. CREATING THE PROJECT:

A research project can take many forms -- oral presentations, science fair projects, five paragraph essays, multimedia presentations, formal papers, group activities, visual aids, art projects, skits, annotated bibliographies, to name some -- but no matter what project you are doing, you will need to include these four parts:

INTRODUCTION - The introduction is the first thing your audience sees, hears, reads, or experiences about your research project. It should serve to inform your audience about the ideas you are presenting within your project. All introductions should accomplish the following:

Grab your audience's interest and attention.
Introduce your topic.
Present or identify your thesis.

A well crafted introduction is extremely important to the success of your project. Some books suggest that you should compose it after you have finished the rest of your research project so that you accurately and effectively represent the finished product. To view more suggestions about crafting an effective introduction or to view some examples, visit "The Introduction."

BODY- The body of your project is where you actually present the research discussion that will prove your thesis. This is where you discuss your research and connect it to support of your thesis.

Before you actually begin composing, look carefully at your organizational outline, chart, or web. Using this, arrange your notes to reflect this organization or order of information. Start with your first subtopic. Present your research and thinking for this first idea. Be sure to discuss how this information supports your thesis. Continue through each subtopic.

It is important to make sure that the body of your project includes the following information:

background information.
support for the thesis.
answers to all of your guiding questions, both factual and interpretative.

If you need help creating the body, additional hints can be found at "The Body."

CITATIONS - Don't forget to cite your sources within the body of your project.

Remember: You must cite any ideas that you obtained from another source, including direct quotations, paraphrased quotations, statistical data, images, song lyrics, or original ideas from another person.

While in some research projects you might see works cited using footnotes or endnotes, in MSAD#51 you should use parenthetical documentation. Formatting parenthetical citations can be a bit tricky. It is not easy to always know the rules to follow. Luckily, there are many good places to get help. Please refer to "Citing Sources" or "Citation Maker" for directions or examples.

CONCLUSIONS - Conclusions may be the most difficult part of your project, but is should not be slighted. In the conclusions, your audience should have a feeling of satisfied closure. It is up to you to make the audience believe you have successfully defended your thesis, believe that you are a credible researcher, and be impressed with your project.

Good conclusions accomplish the following:

Remind the reader about the overall point or thesis of the research with a restatement of the thesis.
Summarize your research.
Bring a thoughtful, satisfying close to your project.

Conclusions are not easy to create. If you would like additional information or would like to view examples of well crafted conclusions, visit "Writing Conclusions."

B. MAKING A WORKS CITED PAGE

Having completed the project, your should make a Works Cited Page. This is an alphabetical listing of all the resources you used to create your project. Many people use the terms works citedand bibliography interchangeably, but this is not correct. A bibliography is a listing of many resources the audience could consult to read more about your topic, but the works cited page is a listing of only those resources you used and parenthetically documented within your project.

Please consult "Making a Works Cited page" if you would like some directions or "Sample Work Cited page" in order to view sample citations for different types of research.

C. REVISING AND EDITING

No project is complete until you have taken the time to revise and edit your work.

Many people think that revision and editing are the same thing. They are not.

Revision means to revisit your work. It is looking at your project as a whole to make changes in or improve the content. A good research project requires more than one draft. The first time through, you work primarily with organization and ideas. A second draft should address filling in missing information, rearranging ideas for clarity, and polishing your word choice.

Edit refers to making your written work conform to the accepted rules for the conventions of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar.

Both steps are essential in order to make your project as good as it can be.

Keys to Effective Revision:

1. Read and examine your entire project to get an overall sense of you report.

2. Ideas - Effective research projects have a clear message, purpose, or focus. They communicate knowledge of the topics including specific ideas, details, facts, examples and anecdotes. As you examine your ideas think about the following questions:

___Does your thesis statement clearly state your position on the topic ?
___Is your project cohesive and does it make sense?
___Does it reflect your position on the topic?
___Is your position supported?
___Have you offered a summary of your thinking?

3. Organization - The overall project should be well organized and easy to follow with a clear beginning, middle, and end. There is a clear sequence, making connections and transitions between ideas, paragraphs, and sentences.

___Does your introduction contain your thesis?
___Does it draw in your audience?
___Does the body contain main points and important details that support your thesis?
___Have you made these connections apparent to your audience?
___Does your ending bring your project to a interesting and satisfying close, offering a final thought?
___Have you included transitions to help organize details and lead the audience through your analysis?
4. Voice - The voice of your project should fit the audience and purpose. It is the creator of the project putting his/her own personality into the wording or construction. It should sound lively and interesting.
___Have you considered the purpose of your project and who your audience will be as you have created your project?
___Does your project sound knowledgeable and engaging?
5. Word Choice - Strong words help deliver a clear message by including specific nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. It is important to make every work count by selecting powerful, specific, appropriate words that convey precise meaning, images, and tone.
___Did you check for correct word choice?
___Have you used appropriate subject, specific or specialized vocabulary in an appropriate fashion?
___Are you repetitive in your word choice? If so, use a thesaurus to find appropriate synonyms.
___Does your work choice create an appropriate connotation or feeling about your project? Usually it is important to avoid informal wording or slang expressions in research related projects. It is also important to avoid use of the pronoun "you."
6. Sentence Fluency - Effective communication flows smoothly from one sentence or idea to the next. Reading your information aloud. It should sound pleasing. It should be fluent.
___Combine short choppy sentences.
___Avoid long, confusing or run-on sentences.
___Sentence beginning and lengths should be varied.
___Transition words and phrases should connect ideas.

Keys to Effective Editing:

Read your research project out loud and listen for words or phrases that may not sound correct.
Use a spell checker and grammar checker.
Check punctuation. Do you have proper ending punctuation? Have your used commas correctly? Are apostrophes, semi-colons, and/or colons placed properly?
Check capitalization. Is your title properly capitalized? Have you capitalized all proper nouns?
Check spelling. Using a spell checker is not enough. Check the spelling yourself. It is suggested by several books that you read your work from the end, examining each word to ensure proper spelling. Avoid use of abbreviations.
Check grammar. Are verb forms correct? Are verb tenses consistent and logical? Do subjects and verbs agree in number? Have you selected the correct homophone choice?
Check your formatting. Usually your teacher will provide specific format requirements. Follow these as directed. If none are provided, standard format for written products requires that you use white 8 1/2" X 11" paper, printed in black on only one side with 1" margins. Be sure to justify the left-hand margin. Double-space you work using an easily readable font in size 12 or 14. Number your pages. Include a title page that includes the title of your paper, your name, your teacher's name, the title of your class, and the date of submission. Check your Works Cited page for formatting, too. You might want to look at the Bellingham School District's PDF "Publishing Guidelines" to see what this formatting looks like.
Even when you think you are done, PROOFREAD YOUR PROJECT ONE MORE TIME to ensure there are no careless errors or typos!

D. REFLECTING:

Take some time to think about your final project and the process you conducted to get to the end.

How well did you do? What should you do differently next time? There are a couple of resources you can consult for further information, "A Final Look at the Project" or "Post-Research Reflection."

FINAL CHECK FOR "CREATING OR PUBLISHING THE PROJECT"

Answer these questions about creating or publishing your project:

___Did you create a project that has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion?

___Did you include parenthetical documentation within the project? Have you checked the format of your internal citations?

___Did you check the format of your Works Cited page, following the suggested format?

___Did you thoroughly and completely, revising your work, improving organization and clarity, and polishing your work?

___Did you carefully edit your project, making sure all written work is correctly presented, adhering to commonly accepted rules and conventions of English?

___Did you check the format of your project and your Work's Cited page? Did you follow all teacher provided directions concerning format?

___Did you take time to proofread your project one more time to ensure that you had caught all careless errors, making your project as close to perfect as you possibly could?

If you can answer "YES" to each one of these questions, it is time to turn in your project and CELEBRATE! YOU ARE DONE!

Subpages (2): MSAD 51 Research Guidelines * selecting a topic

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