Chapter 3
In Chapter 3, it is discussed how you can construct a research question, as well as your research proposal.
To develop a research question, you should begin by reflecting on your writing situation. To do this, you think about all of your initial thoughts on the subject you are researching and consider those as biases. Looking at these biases will help you as the writer to see the interpretation you have made of the sources you have found, and how your initial thoughts have shaped your outlook on each one. Another method that will help you come up with one main research question is to strum up as many questions dealing with your research topic as possible. These questions should try to focus on the information you may already know or to be questioning what you have yet to discover, the assumptions made by writers who have already spoken on your topic, the outcomes that have unfolded already that have to do with your writing topic (i.e. things that have happened when A + B result in C), etc. Having asked these questions, different thought processes will surface and give you multiple ways to consider specific aspects of your research topic. Thoughts processes like evaluation (asking about strengths and weaknesses or appropriateness), cause/effect analysis (asking what leads to a specific result), and inquiry (seeking new information; conducting original research). When these two elements are put together, you can properly edit to perfection a research question, as well as use various processes to conduct your research on more refined grounds. As for a research proposal, it is dedicated to explain your plan for research, unveil at the additional research you will need to dive deeper into, and go over the work you have done thus far.
Chapter 6
In Chapter 6, it is discussed how you can save and organize information you find, why note taking is important & ways you should take notes, as well as how you can create a bibliography to organize information.
As the writer, it is very important to save & organize the information you may come across in your research, as you will need to address the sources from which you base your facts (thus, your argument) on, as well cite them in your bibliography after all is said and done. Saving and organizing your sources and the information they contain, whether printed or digital, is key to composing the various drafts you will have throughout the writing process.
To sort all of this information out is simple and will keep clutter to a minimum. You can use Post-It notes for printed documents and notes, as well as date the paper you have and file everything by the time the item was added to your stockpile. To make things easier on you as the writer, you should try to stick to your organizational scheme, meaning you shouldn't hop from one approach to another. Doing so will only make it that much more difficult to file all of your sources and keep everything orderly. For digital sources, a good thing to do is to keep your sources named appropriately, date them, and place each in a folder you know the location of o your computer or thumb drive. This will help provide easy access to each source or piece of material. It is good to take notes it helps you keep track of your thoughts/ideas & important information you have come across, and it also helps you learn your sources better than if you were to simply highlight key parts of documents. Repetition is important when it comes to memorizing and remembering just about anything, so taking notes on information you already have is doing just that -- mentally rewriting over the information you have already looked over before.
To take notes, it is good to stick with only one process. That entails structure of your note pages and how neatly you write, keeping track with the same notebook, etc. Quoting directly is also very important, as you will need to know exactly what a source says (and where the quote is from, so write down the source, page number, paragraph, etc. as well). Paraphrasing is almost like direct quotation, except you are saying the exact same thing in your words. There is a fine line between paraphrasing and plagiarism, so be careful not to say word for word what the source says.
To create a bibliography for information organization, you will firstly need sources. Bibliographies are to be made out in MLA (Mordern Language Association) Format. This is simply the list of sources you are using and drawing quotations, paraphrases, summaries, diagrams, etc. from. Your bibliography can be formatted in order of which you collected your sources, in categories, by author, by publication title, according to the information/ideas, or according to an outline of your project document. Bibliographies are different from works cited or reference lists because in a bibliography, these sources are not just snippets of articles and documents you have inquired into your paper, but they help you shape your overall thought process.
Chapter 6
In Chapter 6, it is discussed how you can save and organize information you find, why note taking is important & ways you should take notes, as well as how you can create a bibliography to organize information.
As the writer, it is very important to save & organize the information you may come across in your research, as you will need to address the sources from which you base your facts (thus, your argument) on, as well cite them in your bibliography after all is said and done. Saving and organizing your sources and the information they contain, whether printed or digital, is key to composing the various drafts you will have throughout the writing process.
To sort all of this information out is simple and will keep clutter to a minimum. You can use Post-It notes for printed documents and notes, as well as date the paper you have and file everything by the time the item was added to your stockpile. To make things easier on you as the writer, you should try to stick to your organizational scheme, meaning you shouldn't hop from one approach to another. Doing so will only make it that much more difficult to file all of your sources and keep everything orderly. For digital sources, a good thing to do is to keep your sources named appropriately, date them, and place each in a folder you know the location of o your computer or thumb drive. This will help provide easy access to each source or piece of material. It is good to take notes it helps you keep track of your thoughts/ideas & important information you have come across, and it also helps you learn your sources better than if you were to simply highlight key parts of documents. Repetition is important when it comes to memorizing and remembering just about anything, so taking notes on information you already have is doing just that -- mentally rewriting over the information you have already looked over before.
To take notes, it is good to stick with only one process. That entails structure of your note pages and how neatly you write, keeping track with the same notebook, etc. Quoting directly is also very important, as you will need to know exactly what a source says (and where the quote is from, so write down the source, page number, paragraph, etc. as well). Paraphrasing is almost like direct quotation, except you are saying the exact same thing in your words. There is a fine line between paraphrasing and plagiarism, so be careful not to say word for word what the source says.
To create a bibliography for information organization, you will firstly need sources. Bibliographies are to be made out in MLA (Mordern Language Association) Format. This is simply the list of sources you are using and drawing quotations, paraphrases, summaries, diagrams, etc. from. Your bibliography can be formatted in order of which you collected your sources, in categories, by author, by publication title, according to the information/ideas, or according to an outline of your project document. Bibliographies are different from works cited or reference lists because in a bibliography, these sources are not just snippets of articles and documents you have inquired into your paper, but they help you shape your overall thought process.
