Every students' guide to success …

THE RESEARCH ESSAY

What is a research essay? The research essay leads you into the works of others and asks

you to compare their thoughts with your own

Writing a research essay involves going to source material and

synthesizing what you learn from it with your own ideas

You must find texts on the subject and use them to support the

topic you have been given to explore

You must take particular care to narrow your topic so you

don't get lost in a mountain of information

STEP 1: Topic Usually assigned by your teacher

Usually chosen from a list

Can be self generated, with your teacher's approval

Not a research question

Not a thesis statement

STEP 2: Understanding the topic

Involves preliminary research and then refining of your

topic through the careful examination of the available

resources

Involves preliminary READING

This step is crucial in the writing of a research essay because

once you've settled on a general subject area or sketchy topic,

you'll need to determine if refining is necessary (narrowing

or broadening)

Step 3: Refining your topic The amount of resources is often a great guide: if you are

required to use 6 to 8 resources for your paper and there are over 500 available, that's a good sign to narrow your subject area to a more specific topic.

If you can only find 1 or 2 good resources, this is a good indicator that you need to start "broadening" your horizons (i.e. changing your focus)

The popularity of the subject area or topic is your second clue: are the resources available? overused? commonplace? being used by other students?

In other words, do your resources tell you very little that's new and interesting about your topic?

Step 4: Create a Research Question

First, list all of the questions that you'd like answered about

your topic and then choose the best question

Make sure it's not too broad or too narrow, based on your

preliminary research

Your thesis statement is the answer to this question

Vitally important to the flow of your essay

TOPIC vs. RESEARCH QUESTION

TOPICS: protests against the Vietnam War middle-class women's sexuality during the Jazz Age mathematical discoveries of the Incas the lasting effects of global warming RESEARCH QUESTIONS: How did working-class Americans participate in protests against the

Vietnam War Did sexual experimentation increase in the 1920s? Why did the Incas place such importance on mathematical work? How is global warming impacting precipitation levels in Central

Africa?

FORMULATING THE QUESTION Start with HOW or WHY

Combine with any of the following key words: Adaptations

Characteristics

Defence

Importance

Purpose

Roles

Survival

Value

Changes

Conditions

Function

Kinds

Relationship

Structure

Types

Insert the keyword of your topic to create a good focus question

Step 5: Thesis Statement A sentence that explicitly identifies the purpose of the

paper or previews its main ideas

The answer to your research question

Found in the first paragraph of your essay

Restated in your concluding paragraph

IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR THESIS

A thesis statement is an assertion, not a statement of

fact or an observation

Fact or observation: People use many lawn chemicals.

Thesis: People are poisoning the environment with

chemicals merely to keep their lawns clean.

Cont'd …

A thesis takes a stand rather than announcing a subject

Announcement: The thesis of this paper is the difficulty of

solving environmental problems.

Thesis: Solving environmental problems is a difficult task because of the lack of commitment from corporations, weak government guidelines, and feelings of apathy amongst the general public.

Cont'd … A thesis is the main idea, not the title. It must be a

complete sentence that explains in some detail what

you expect to write about

Title: Social Security and Old Age.

Thesis: Continuing changes in the Social Security System

makes it almost impossible to plan intelligently for one's

retirement.

Cont'd … A thesis statement is narrow, rather than broad. If the

thesis statement is sufficiently narrow, it can be fully supported

Broad: The Canadian forestry industry has many problems.

Narrow: The primary problem if the Canadian forestry industry is the lack of funds to renovate outdated plants and equipment.

Cont'd … A thesis statement is specific rather than vague or

general

Vague: Hemingway's war stories are very good.

Specific: Hemingway's stories helped create a new prose

style by employing extensive dialogue, shorter sentences, and

strong Anglo-Saxon words.

Cont'd … A thesis statement has one main point rather than several

main points. More than one point may be too difficult for the reader to understand and the writer to support

More than one main point: Stephen Hawking's physical disability has not prevented him from becoming a world-renowned physicist, and his book is the subject of a movie.

One main point: Stephen Hawking's physical disability has not prevented him from becoming a world renowned physicist.

Step 6: Research Now you can finally develop your arguments based on the thesis

Understand and use two types of resources

primary and secondary

A primary source is an original document or account that is not

about another document or account but stands on its own

A secondary source is one that interprets primary sources or are

otherwise a step removed

Step 7: Begin your research Locate a variety of resources

First-----READ, READ, READ

Evaluate: Is information current?

Does the source have authority?

Have you used primary sources?

Are your secondary sources superior?

When you identify a good source, always record source info

Always take notes systematically (written or electronic)

Avoid plagiarism by identifying general vs. subject-specific knowledge

Step 8: Documentation The basic rule Document any specific ideas, opinions, and

facts that are not your own

Do not document common knowledge

For example:

The World Trade Centres collapsed on Sept., 11, 2001 (common knowledge)

The World Trade Centres collapsed on Sept., 11, 2001, and this was in inside

job. (not agreed upon as common knowledge)

A good rule is if in doubt, document.

Wikipedia is not your friend The following is taken directly from Wikipedia:

Wikipedia can be a great tool for learning information. However, as with all sources, not everything in Wikipedia is accurate, comprehensive, or unbiased. Many of the general rules of thumb for conducting research apply to Wikipedia, including: • Always be wary of any one single source (in any medium–web, print, television or

radio), or of multiple works that derive from a single source

• Where articles have references to external sources (whether online or not) read the references and check whether they really do support what the article says

• In all academic institutions, Wikipedia, along with most encyclopedias, is unacceptable as a major source for a research paper. Other encyclopedias, such as Britannica, have notable authors working for them and may be cited as a secondary source in most cases. For example, Cornell University has a guide on how to cite encyclopedias.

• However, because of Wikipedia's unique nature, there are also some rules for conducting research that are special to Wikipedia, and some general rules that do not apply to Wikipedia.

Never cite Wikipedia Teachers realize you're going to use this website at

some point, regardless of what we say.

Use the site during your initial stages of research, when you read many sources to familiarize yourself with your topic.

After that, go elsewhere. There's nothing wrong with returning to Wikipedia to confirm a fact that you find elsewhere, or for background info, but never cite Wikipedia as a source.

Processing Information This is the most difficult step

It involves analysis and evaluation

Interpret: What does it mean? Is it relevant?

Can I use the information? (i.e. Is it legitimate evidence?)

Thesis tweaking may be necessary

Finally, it requires accurate and appropriate documentation through copious and accurate notes

MAKE GOOD NOTES HOW TO TAKE NOTES

First of all, make sure that you record all necessary and appropriate information: author, title, publisher, place of publication, volume, span of pages, date.

Never forget your Works Cited

Keep a running list of page numbers as you take notes, so you can identify the exact location of each piece of noted information.

Note cards are a good way to organize

Electronic notes are fine but do not copy and paste

Templates are available in the library for those who find note cards too small

STEP 9: THE OUTLINE gives you the structure on what you need to say and

where

tells you whether your thesis statement will work

Each major outline point is your topic sentence for each

major paragraph

Written in point form

Acts a guide for the first draft

Includes evidence & sources cited

STEP 10: FIRST DRAFT Now, you just start writing

Includes an introduction, body paragraphs with integrated

evidence, and a conclusion

Shouldn't take too long as you've done most of the work

already

The first draft is NEVER the final draft

STEP 11: REVISION The editing and rewriting process

Should occur a few days after you've written the first draft

Includes peer editing

Is NOT proofreading

This is the time to become your audience and your marker

and evaluate your work from their point of view

STEP 12: PROOFREADING deals largely with surface details and presentation

start at "higher order" concerns (how the essay and

individual paragraphs hold together)

then move down to "lower order" concerns (sentences, word

choice, mechanics)

ADD, CUT, REPLACE, MOVE: words, sentences,

paragraphs, information, citations

STEP 13: DOCUMENTATION Embedded citations, footnotes, endnotes

Bibliography (this is not your Endnotes)

Avoid plagiarism at all costs

Hint: the Works Cited and in-text citations is the easiest thing to

mark for a teacher; therefore, it's the first place you can lose

marks

STEP 14: WRITING AN ABSTRACT

An abstract is a self-contained, short, and powerful

statement that describes a larger work.

Components vary according to discipline; an abstract of

a scientific work often contains the scope, purpose,

results, and contents of the work.

An abstract is not a review

Contains key words found in the larger work

The abstract is an original document rather than an

excerpted passage.

THINGS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR ABSTRACT …

Reason for writing: What is the importance of the research? Why would a reader be interested in the larger work?

Problem: What problem does this work attempt to solve? What is the scope of the project? What is the main argument/thesis/claim?

Methodology: An abstract of a scientific work may include specific models or approaches used in the larger study. Other abstracts may describe the types of evidence used in the research.

Results: Again, an abstract of a scientific work may include specific data that indicates the results of the project. Other abstracts may discuss the findings in a more general way.

Implications: What changes should be implemented as a result of the findings of the work? How does this work add to the body of knowledge on the topic?

WHY WRITE AN ABSTRACT? You may write an abstract for various reasons.

The two most important are selection and indexing.

Abstracts allow readers who may be interested in the longer

work to quickly decide whether it is worth their time to read

it.

Abstracts should contain keywords and phrases that allow

for easy searching.

An example of an Abstract (for a research essay on battery life)

Advertisers are always touting more powerful and longer lasting batteries, but which batteries really do last longer, and is battery life impacted by the speed of the current drain? This essay reveals which AA battery maintains its voltage for the longest period of time in low, medium, and high current drain devices. The research is based on an experiment where the batteries were tested in a CD player (low drain device), a flashlight (medium drain device), and a camera flash (high drain device) by measuring the battery voltage (dependent variable) at different time intervals (independent variable) for each of the battery types in each of the devices. My thesis states that Energizer will last the longest in all of the devices tested. The research results support my thesis by showing that the Energizer performs with increasing superiority, the higher the current drain of the device. The research also reveals that the heavy-duty non-alkaline batteries do not maintain their voltage as long as either alkaline battery at any level of current drain.

STEP 15: HAND IT IN

There are always one or two who will miss this step.

WEBSITES ON HOW TO WRITE AN ESSAY

http://members.tripod.com/~lklivingston/essay/

http://www.geocities.com/soho/Atrium/1437/

http://www.english.bham.ac.uk/staff/tom/teaching/howto/essay.htm

http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/essay.html

http://www.aresearchguide.com/styleguides.html

http://www.aucegypt.edu/academic/writers/home.htm

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_sample_abstract.shtml