THE RESEARCH ESSAY

Every students' guide to success …

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: To what extent did working-class Americans participate in

protests against the Vietnam War? To what extent did sexual experimentation increase in the

1920s? To what extent did the mathematical discoveries impact

Incan culture? To what extent is global warming impacting precipitation

levels in Central Africa?

FORMULATING THE QUESTION

Start with To what extent …

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 our environmental problems.

Thesis: Solving our 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 American steel industry has many problems.

Narrow: The American steel industry’s primary problem is a 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 war 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 three types of resources 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

A tertiary source consists of information which is a distillation and collection of primary and secondary sources.

Step 7: Begin your research

Locate a variety of resources First-----READ, READ, READ Do NOT start with the Internet Indexes, Indexes, Indexes Evaluate: Is information current? Does the source have authority? Have you used primary sources? Are your secondary sources superior? When you identify a good sources, 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, was an inside job. (not agreed upon as common knowledge)

A good rule is if in doubt, document

Wikipedia is a Tertiary SourceThe 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 a tertiary source

Use the tertiary sources during your initial stages of research to:

Familiarize yourself with your topic Gain a broad overview Guide you to primary and secondary

sources

Examples:Almanacs; BibliographiesChronologies; Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Directories; Fact books; Guidebooks; Indexes & abstracts; Manuals; Textbooks

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 Bibliography 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) Consult available sources about MLA, APA, Chicago,

Turbian by going to www.glenforestlibrary.com and click on Research Tools under the Library tab

Avoid plagiarism at all costs Hint: the Bibliography and footnotes/endnotes 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

That wasn't so bad, was it?????

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