HUTTI RESEARCH

Research Process

1. Decide Topic

2. Questions - What information is required?

3. Locate Sources

4. Take notes that answer questions - notes are graded

5. Cite sources you use in note-taking (see citation cheat sheet below)

6. Organize notes into outline for final presentation (graded project). Format could be essay, slideshow, video, etc.

7. Create presentation - write paper, create slideshow, make your video

8. Present to audience.

HOW TO AVOID PLAGIARISM from The Writing Center

When using sources in your papers, you can avoid plagiarism by knowing what must be documented.

SPECIFIC WORDS AND PHRASES

If you use an author’s specific word or words, you must place those words within quotation marks and you must credit the source.

INFORMATION AND IDEAS

Paraphrasing and Summarizing: Even if you use your own words, if you obtained the information or ideas you are presenting from a source, you must document the source.

Information: If a piece of information isn’t common knowledge (see below), you need to provide a source.

Ideas: An author’s ideas may include not only points made and conclusions drawn, but, for instance, a specific method or theory, the arrangement of material, or a list of steps in a process or characteristics of a medical condition. If a source provided any of these, you need to acknowledge the source.

METHODS OF PARAPHRASING

• Look away from the source then write.

• Read the text you want to paraphrase several times until you feel that you understand it and can use your own words to restate it to someone else. Then, look away from the original and rewrite the text in your own words.

• Take notes.

• Take abbreviated notes; set the notes aside; then paraphrase from the notes a day or so later, or when you draft.

If you find that you can’t do A or B, this may mean that you don’t understand the passage completely or that you need to use a more structured process until you have more experience in paraphrasing.