Conducting research and writing a research paper is comprised of the following steps:

1. understand the research task and select a focus

2. craft a research or inquiry question

3. gather relevant sources

4. outline sources and paper

5. draft paper

6. revise and edit draft

7. finalize draft

8. present findings

Once you understand your research task, it is important to have a specific focus. In this case, you will need to determine which problem in your community you want to research and study.

Follow these steps to find your research focus:

1. Start with a broad topic that relates to your community and interests you.

2. Conduct some preliminary research or reading.

3. From your research and readings, narrow down your topic.

4. From the topic, select a problem.

Librarians or internet search engines may generate a long list of books and journal articles to include in your research. However, it is important to use credible books and journal articles.

It is best to use articles from journals published by professional standard organizations such as American Comparative Literature Association, Project Muse, and the American Bar Association. These journals can be found via academic libraries and academic databases. Some of these journals are free via a school account and others may charge a subscription fee.

Work with a librarian to find credible reference books to aid your information collection. Textbooks and encyclopedias (print or digital) are also solid sources.

As you gather sources, you must begin to sort through the information to consider which sources will best help answer your research question. To begin, you must determine the usefulness of each source collected.

The usefulness of a source is based on whether the information provided is valuable to your topic.

When judging the useful of the sources you collect, consider these questions:

• Does the source provide explicit information about your research focus?

• Does the source provide implicit information about your research focus?

• Does the source corroborate or confirm information from other sources?

Before you can judge, or determine, the usefulness of a source, be sure to

• determine the central idea;

• highlight key or supporting details;

• summarize the source; and

• note connections to the research question and problem.

After researchers have collected multiple useful sources, they must revisit their research question. Using the collected information as a guide, researchers typically refine and improve the research question.

The refinement of the research question happens after a researcher has conducted some initial research to locate useful and relevant sources. The research question should be refined if

1. the original research question is too broad, and it will be difficult to cover the topic within the parameters of the research project or paper.

2. the original research question is too narrow, and it will be challenging to find enough research material and write an adequately detailed paper.

Here is an Example situation:  It appears that no one has conducted studies or written much about Huntington's East District's food access problem. After conducting multiple searches, Naomi discovers that many of her sources do not offer information about her specific community. 

Naomi's original question was too narrow, or too specific. She refines her research question to broaden it.

Instead of narrowing down the topic to a specific neighborhood, Naomi uses a broader label for Huntington’s East District--an urban community. This will allow her to find more relevant sources she will use to frame solutions for her specific community.

Original Research Question

How can community gardens in neighborhoods and schools impact the health of residents in Huntington's East District?

Refined Research Question

How can community gardens in neighborhoods and schools impact the health of residents in urban communities?

If you feel stuck doing research to answer a question, consider changing the question a little, and it might help you make progress!

Here are some ideas to help you summarize:

• Determine the central idea of the text.

• Find details within the text that supports the central idea.

• Think about the research question. Highlight details that help to explicitly answer the research question.

• Greeting: Begin your letter or email with a formal greeting. Include the recipient's name if available. If not, use a general yet polite replacement such as “Dear Community Member” or "Dear Potential Participant."

• Introduction: Introduce yourself to the person you are inviting to participate in your survey. Provide a brief summary of your research.

• Body Paragraph(s): Explain what makes a participant qualified to participate. Describe the survey format, structure, and content. Tell the person how he or she will get access to the survey and how long it will take to complete.

• Conclusion: Tell participants how they can contact you if they are interested in the research. Explain the impact of participating in the survey in terms of solving the research problem and its impact on the community. Be sure to thank participants in advance.

• Closing: Always conclude with a professional closing, such as "Sincerely" or "Thank you," followed by your name. If you are delivering hard copies, be sure to sign and print your name.

• Anchoring bias: An author tends to rely heavily on the first source he or she encounters.

• Blind-spot bias: An author doesn’t acknowledge personal bias, but notices biases in others.

• Confirmation bias: An author references information or sources that fuel or confirm pre-existing views and beliefs.

• Negativity bias: An author intentionally focuses on negative events more than positive or neutral events.

• Outcome bias: An author draws a conclusion based solely on the outcome of a previous event but ignores other contributing factors.

Authors can weaken their credibility and reliability through omission.

Omission means intentionally leaving out important facts that do not align with the author’s point of view. The author manipulates data and contexts to bolster his or her claims and mislead readers.

To avoid using these sources, it is important to read a large collection of sources during research.

• Ad Hominem

This fallacy shows up when the author attacks the character or circumstance of someone who disagrees with the author. These personal attacks might distract the reader from noticing the author's weak case or lack of thorough support for the author's claim. 

• Slippery Slope

This fallacy shows up when the author rejects a course of action because the author insists that it will lead to a chain reaction resulting in undesirable outcomes. This succession of events is based on little or no evidence. 

• Loaded Language

This fallacy shows up when the author uses emotionally charged words and phrases to cloud the judgment of readers. 

• Hasty Generalization a.k.a. Overgeneralization

This generalization fallacy shows up when the author comes to a conclusion based on insufficient or limited evidence. This logic encourages the creation and spread of misinformation and stereotypes or prejudices. 

Infographics tell a story much like an article but using graphics, numbers, and limited words to highlight key ideas. For an example of an infographic, click here. When reading an infographic, it is important to consider these three things:

• Structure: Like most texts, infographics have a definite structure. For example, you might ask yourself, is it chronological or sequenced? Is it arranged according to data or percentage?

• Content: Notice the information presented in written language and visuals. For example, you might ask yourself, are the visuals offering new information or clarifying key ideas? Are details repeated? Is the content current and reliable? What type of evidence or support is provided?

• Design: Notice how words and images are arranged. Consider elements such as bolded and italicized words and numbers, as well as colors used to highlight topics, words, or data.

• Headings tell readers what a chunk of text is about.

• Bolded and italicized words help call out important ideas or concepts.

• Lists put important information together, often in short snippets.

• Captions tell what an image is about and connect it to the text.

• Graphics are images such as photos, art, tables, timelines, charts, and so on that give a visual representation of ideas, concepts, or facts.

Every expository paper begins with an introduction. The introduction usually contains a hook, which is an idea or fact that is intended to grab a reader's attention. It also provides the context, or setting and background, for the article. And it provides the thesis statement, or main idea of the paper. 

A conclusion is the end of the paper. Conclusions should restate the claim, summarize the main points, offer insight into the research experience, and give any final thoughts on the research topic. 

• Topic: The topic is another way of stating the claim you are making in your paper. You can use it as the title of your paper.

• Introduction: The introduction should include a hook, or a way to grab a reader's interest. It should provide context, or the environment or setting of your topic.

• Main Point: Each section of your paper should have its own point that connects to your claim. Describe your point, offer evidence from the sources you researched, and provide an analysis. Then link this point back to your claim.

• Conclusion: Every conclusion should have three parts. The summary will recap the main points. Next, offer insight into the research experience. And finally, restate the main idea and the solution to the problem.

Example Outline:

Topic: Food Deserts: How to solve America's food crisis

I. Introduction

A. Hook: Describe how many Americans live in food deserts.

B. Context: Explain where these food deserts occur and why.

C. Claim: By coming together, people can solve the problem of food deserts.

I. Main Point 1: Explain food deserts.

A. Description of main point: Define 'food deserts.'

B. Evidence from sources: Use evidence from government website to support the definition.

C. Analysis: Show how food deserts and income are linked.

D. Link to thesis and next main point: Show how food deserts can exist in urban and rural areas

 V. Conclusion: Describe the outcome of these efforts.

A. Summarize main points: Restate ways people can eat healthier in food deserts.

B. Offer insight in research experience: Show how studies verify that these solutions work.

C. Final thoughts on research paper: Restate main idea and solution to problem.

Summarizing:

• Short overview of a text capturing the main idea and supporting points

• Does not include the writer's or researcher's opinion, only facts or key details from the text

Paraphrasing:

• Rewriting an original text in your own words

• The original structure and meaning of the text are preserved

Synthesizing:

• Condensed combination of several texts made into one

• Contains points that are similar and build on each other

If you have a hard time keeping track of sources, please feel free to use this research plan document to help you figure out how to organize your writing!

Click here!

There will be times that you will need to refer to your sources in the text of your paper itself. This is known as embedding evidence.

When you synthesize information from other sources, you are taking other people's research and work. Therefore, it is important that you credit them. Sometimes, giving them credit and sharing the evidence they offer more directly in your own paper will help give your paper credibility and make it more readable.

Embedded evidence is also known as an in-text citation. See the Research Plan Document for more information.

Example of an In-Text Citation: Read the paragraph, which comes from Naomi's outline. Naomi is using information this source listed on her Works Cited page:

Barker, Lois. "Food Deserts: A Growing Danger to Americans." Food News, 14 Jan. 2021.

When she writes her paper, her text will read:

In her article "Food Deserts: A Growing Danger to Americans," Lois Barker points out that more and more organizations and politicians are calling for the development of community gardens to combat food deserts. Evidence from studies supports this view, noting that such gardens benefit the health of the people who have access to them.

Notice how Naomi uses MLA style in-text citations to ensure that the author is credited for the information provided.

Also notice the how she embeds evidence from Barker's article.

After the hook, it is important to give readers necessary context about your topic. Provide any background information readers might need to understand the research problem.

This background information or context might include the social or historical context of the problem and the community. You may also need to give definitions of unfamiliar relevant terminology.

Drafting, revising, and editing are often a cyclical process.

As with all other parts of the essay, it will be important to reflect on your introduction and consider what changes it may need to be effective.

After you have drafted the essay, reflect on how well the introduction leads the audience into what is shared in the body of the essay.

Conclusions recap your main points and leave your audience with a clear idea of the importance of your claim. Your concluding paragraph should do the following:

• Synthesize key ideas to make connections between your main points and central idea.

• Show why the research is important.

• Prompt the audience to reflect on the implications of the essay.

• Offer insight into the connection between your research and the concept of disruption.

• Avoid introducing any new ideas or points not made earlier in the essay.

Parallel structure uses the same form of words or phrases to indicate they have the same level of importance. These words or phrases are often connected by using coordinating conjunctions such as and or or. Elements in a list should use the same form.

Examples of Parallel Structure

• Amy enjoys reading, knitting, and gardening.

• The rain fell loudly, swiftly, and heavily.

Correcting Non-parallel Structure

• Johan grew taller, stronger, and had more knowledge.wiser.

• The dog jumped, wriggled, and let out a bark.barked.

Parallel structure also includes the grammatical order of a group of related sentences. Consider these instructions for making tea. Notice the changes to the start of the sentence to make the group parallel.

• First, boil water in a pot. Next, pour the water over the tea leaves. The tea will steep,Finally, leave the tea to steep for two minutes and the tea will be ready.

Besides using commas with coordinating conjunctions to create compound sentences, commas play an important role in setting apart introductory dependent clauses and phrases.

A dependent clause cannot stand on its own. It needs to be part of a complete sentence. When it is at the beginning of a sentence, it is joined to an independent clause with a comma.

Here are some examples of correct comma usage in sentences with introductory dependent clauses and prepositional phrases.

• Because the test is on Friday, students should attend the study session on Wednesday or Thursday evening.

• After the rain, a rainbow shimmered over the drenched forest.

Text

Text refers to the information expressed in words in a presentation. Text can also explain other types of media used in the presentation such as information on a chart or an image caption.

Images

Images include illustrations, graphs, charts, photographs, and cartoons. Images help the audience grasp information by seeing it. It is important not to overstimulate your audience with too many images.

Audio

Audio refers to sound recordings or elements in a presentation. Audio can be spoken words, music, or sound effects.

Video

Videos included in presentations can be clips of television shows, news segments, interviews, etc.

Animations

Animations in a multimedia presentation can have various functions. Animations can be the fun way to move from slide to slide via a bounce or a swirl effect. Animations can be moving cartoon type images. They might illustrate a concept that can't be observed by the eye like photosynthesis or chemical reactions.

Do

• aim for one big idea per slide or section

• use a simple background or slide design

• use graphics such as charts and diagrams, audio, or video to expand ideas

• include easy-to-read font and an appropriate font size

• employ strategic italicizing and bolding of words or phrases

Don't

• include text or image heavy slides

• have excessive use of animations and distracting transitions

• select loud or distracting color schemes

• use overly dark color