A
Research Process Guide:
Step
by Step to Success
Language Arts Research Standard 8
Carol H. Rohrbach, Language Arts Coordinator, K-12
School District of Springfield Township
January, 2004
Planning // Gathering // Organizing // Synthesizing
// Documenting
// Reflecting
// Acknowledgments
1. PLANNING: Getting Ready—Choosing Your Topic
√Prepare your folder or notebook.
o
Your teacher will give you a folder or a small, three-
ring notebook in which to keep all of the pieces of this process. Put your
name, your teacher’s name and classroom number, and your home telephone number
on the front. If you should lose your
folder/notebook, someone finding it will know where to return it or contact
you. At the end of the project, you will submit this folder/notebook as
evidence of your research process. So,
be sure to keep it organized and complete.
o
You will also receive an assignment sheet, a rubric,
an Acknowledgments page worksheet, a
timeline or checkpoints, and note-taking templates. Put these in your folder.
o
As you get them, be sure to put any other handouts
relating to this project in your folder/notebook
o
Add printouts and copies of information as you use
them.
o
Hint: Later on, during note taking, it will help if
you highlight the main ideas on your printouts/copies before actually taking
notes. You may also want to use
different colors of highlighters: one for main ideas, one to indicate something
quotable, one to indicate a good example or fact.
ÖChoose a general topic that interests you (Example: gangster rap).
ÖWrite about or make a list of what you already know about the topic.
o
Put this writing piece or list inside the
folder/notebook.
ÖRead a variety of sources to gain background information on your general topic.
o Your teacher or librarian will provide you with a pathfinder, cart of books/magazines, or other resources to help you get started.
o Be sure to use wisely all library or class time allotted to this project —Don’t get caught in a time management nightmare! Your teacher may be using “workshop” points as part of assessing your research process. Stay on task and make the most of the opportunity to get help from the librarian, from your teacher, and from your classmates.
o
As you read, make a list of the sources and/or web
addresses you consult because you may want to come back to some of these when
it is time to focus and take notes. Put this list of possible sources in
your folder.
o
Look for what is considered “general knowledge” about
your topic.
ÖBrainstorm possible questions to research about your topic (Examples: What makes gangster rap appealing? Why are some people strongly against gangster rap? Who is the best gangster rapper and why?)
√Pick one question for your research. (Example: Is gangster rap harmful?)
o Write this question at the top of a piece of paper.
ÖBrainstorm again. Underneath the question you have written, make a list of possible subtopics for your research question
o Make sure that the subtopics are directly related to the research question you chose. (Examples: Reasons why some people are against gangster rap, Who is against gangster rap, Who is for gangster rap, Reasons why some people are for gangster rap, What makes good gangster rap, What makes bad gangster rap, Who is doing it)
o WATCH OUT! Be open to sub-topics that you didn’t know about before you started your search but that you may find as you continue—add these to your list as you encounter them.
o
Put this question/subtopic page in your
folder/notebook.
o When researching, keep this paper in front of you to remind you what you need to look for.
Okay---Now you are almost ready to move to Step Two! Ask yourself, “Have I completed each part of this step? Have I organized my folder/notebook so that I can find things easily?
Have I asked other people to look at my brainstorming and have I asked for their input? Have I listed any help on my Acknowledgments Page worksheet?
ÖAsk the librarian and/or your teacher to help you get started on your search.
√ Remember to print out or to make copies of information. Use the highlighters (See Planning) to indicate main ideas, quotable statements, examples or facts.
ÖYour teacher will give you blank note-taking templates. Put these templates into your folder/notebook. Use the note-taking templates to record: the source information, a color code, each sub-topic, notes on each sub-topic. Use the templates for taking your notes from the highlighted material.
SOURCE #1--
Ө Put a red dot in the upper right hand corner of the note-taking template.
Ө In the top box of the template, fill in the information required for the source.
►Skim the information, looking for answers to the sub-topic questions.
►When you find information about one of your sub-topic questions, put the name of the sub-topic in the blank on the template.
►Take notes in your own words.
o List main ideas and reasons/examples
o Fill in the page numbers of where you got the information.
If you find information about a second sub-topic in this source, take a new template, put a red dot in the upper right hand corner, and label it with the new subtopic. You do not have to fill in the information in the top box because the red dot tells you that the information on this sheet comes from the same source that you have already identified.
►Take your notes as you did for the first sub-topic and be sure to record the page numbers.
►Don’t forget to look for an important or memorable statement to quote.
SOURCE #2--
Ө Do the same thing as you did for the first source except put a blue dot on all template pages that take information from this source.
SOURCE 3,4,5, etc.--Use different color dots on your templates for each source in the same way you did for sources 1 and 2.
Things to think about:
BE SURE TO LOOK FOR INFORMATION FROM MORE THAN ONE SOURCE FOR EACH SUB-TOPIC. Sometimes one source will only give you information on one sub-topic; sometimes you will find information on more than one sub-topic in the same source. The purpose of your research and note taking is to gather a variety of ideas to contribute to your knowledge about each sub-topic and to show you where people disagree about your question. Make sure that you have information on all of the important sub-topics.
Note: An alternative note-taking method uses Source Cards (4x6 index cards) and Note Cards (3x5 index cards). See School District of Springfield Township Research Guide for this method. You could use a color coding procedure with this method as well.
Ask yourself:
Do I have enough information? From a variety of credible sources?
Have I exhausted all of the kinds of sources available?
Have I found information from various points of view?
Have I completed all of the necessary information on the templates? (Don’t forget page numbers!)
Do I need to add anyone to my Acknowledgments page worksheet?
Okay, move on to Step Three!
1. Shuffle all of your note-taking templates by sub-topics into separate piles.
You should have a variety of colors in each pile! If you do, you can feel fairly confident that you have met the variety of sources requirement and that you have met the synthesizing of sources requirement.
2. Review your notes.
What does your research tell you?
Which side of the issue do you want to defend?
3. Decide on a point of view or which side of the issue you will support.
Example: Although some people are against gangster rap, it is an important type of music to teens.
►This thesis statement demands that you identify: who are the “some people” and why they are against gangster rap, as well as why gangster rap is an important type of music to teens.
§ Apply the “Five Tests” to your thesis statement to make sure that you have developed a clear and compelling focus for your paper.
4. Make an outline or use a graphic organizer (Inspiration software can help or your teacher may provide one) that puts the subtopics in the order that you will need to develop the statement.
o List subtopics and the support you have for each in a logical order and one that most effectively organizes your argument:
Most important to least important
Least important to most important
Compare and Contrast
Cause and Effect
►As you list your sub-topics, be sure to transfer the color code. Each idea should have next to it the color of the source it came from.
Reminder: You may find that you might have to retrace your steps and do some more research. If you have a subtopic that does not have much information behind it, you may have to explore it further. Check with your classmates; maybe someone else has some research on your weak subtopic. If so, don’t forget to add this person to your Acknowledgments page worksheet.
Now, move to Step Four!
INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH
The introductory paragraph gives your reader some background about your topic so that by the end of the paragraph when you state your thesis, the reader will have the necessary information in order to appreciate or understand your point. (Example: What is gangster rap? Who are the important performers? What is the basic controversy about gangster rap?
End the first paragraph with your thesis statement.
BODY PARAGRAPHS #1+
Paragraph #1 should begin with a topic sentence that states the first sub-topic. (Example: Some people are against gangster rap.)
The rest of this paragraph should explain who is against it and why.
►If you have a lot of information—different people having different reasons, you may want to write a separate paragraph for each person’s or group’s objections.
►Be sure to weave in what you know about gangster rap. Consult your folder for what you had written earlier about your own knowledge of the topic.
►Again, don’t forget to transfer the color-coding to your draft to keep track of which idea came from which source. Plagiarism is not just using someone’s words; it is also using someone’s idea without giving that person credit for the idea.
If you have paraphrased (put the author’s words into your own) or “translated) the words, you still must give credit for the idea!
Note: A more sophisticated method of documenting the words and ideas of others is called in-text documentation. See School District of Springfield Township Research Guide for an explanation of this method. Once you master the color-coding approach, in-text documentation is not hard at all.
BODY PARAGRAPHS #2+
Paragraph #2 should begin with a topic sentence that states the second sub-topic. (Example: Gangster rap is important to many teens.)
Again, you may need more than one paragraph to do this: develop a paragraph for each reason why gangster rap is important to teens.
Be sure to weave in what you know about gangster rap (see your earlier written piece) as you put together the information you found.
Explain each idea completely. Remember, your reader doesn’t know as much as you do about this topic, so you must patiently explain it to him/her.
Again, transfer the color-coding.
CONCLUSION PARAGRAPH
While many handbooks on writing tell you to summarize your argument in the conclusion paragraph, it is much more powerful to use the conclusion to write about what makes your topic important. What should a reader of your paper come to understand about gangster rap after reading your paper? Why should a reader care?
Add a clincher sentence—one that effectively brings your paper to a close.
Print out a copy of this draft for your folder.
√Check to make sure that you have turned each sub-topic into a topic sentence and that you have explained each idea as completely as possible and with details.
√Check: Have you put your sub-topics in the most effective order?
Try ARMS—adding, removing, moving, substituting---until you get the best flow of ideas in your paper.
What needs more explanation?
What is unnecessary?
Where do you need to include transition words?
Remember, you want to create a smooth flow from one idea to the next.
√Check: Work on your opening sentence—Does it grab the interest of the reader?
√Check: How can you rewrite all of your sentences to be clearer and more precise?
Check your word choice.
Are the nouns specific?
Are the verbs active and powerful?
Do the adjectives create a picture?
Do you have correctly structured sentences?
√Check: Work on your closing sentence—
Does it bring your paper to a smooth and clear end?
Print out a copy of this revised draft for your folder.
Have you spelled correctly?
Have you used punctuation correctly?
Is your grammar correct?
Hint: Read your paper backward—read the last sentence for errors, then move to the second to the last, etc. This method helps you to see your sentences from a different perspective so that it is easier to notice errors.
Make changes on the hard copy of the draft; then make changes on the saved file.
Place this draft in your folder/notebook.
Reminder: Did anyone help you during this step? If so, don’t forget the Acknowledgment page worksheet.
Move on to Step Five.
Go back to your note-taking templates.
Reshuffle them into color piles. Put the template with the source information for each color on the top of its color pile.
Put the color piles in alphabetical order.
Word process the information that you put in the top part of the templates.
Transfer the color code dots from the templates to this printed list.
►To do so place the color dot on the left hand side of each entry.
See “Sample.”
Check your Acknowledgments page worksheet. Who helped you in researching, drafting, revising, editing? Write a paragraph to thank these people for their help. Be sure to be specific about what each person contributed. For examples: Mrs. Librarian gave me the address of a good website to use. John Doe helped me revise by telling me I needed a better opening sentence and suggesting that I quote a line from a rap song.
See the sample in School District of Springfield Township Research Guide.
Staple the title page, Acknowledgements page, paper, and Works Cited pages.
Check your folder to make sure that you have included:
_____Assignment sheet, rubric, timeline/checkpoints
_____List of what you knew about your topic before researching
_____List of possible sources
_____Print-outs and Xeroxed copies of articles
_____Note-taking templates
_____Handouts (organizers, lessons, etc.)
_____Rough draft
_____Revised draft
√Put the final paper packet in the front of your folder/notebook and submit the folder/notebook to your teacher.
You’re almost finished! Congratulations. If you have been persistent, diligent, and have paid attention to detail, you should earn a top grade!
Consider:
How well did you use your time during each phase of the process? Would your teacher agree with your answer? Why or why not?
Always on task Mostly
on task Sometimes Need to work on this
How well did you make use of the human resources available to you: the librarian, your teacher, classmates, others? Would your teacher agree with your answer? Why or why not?
Very well Pretty
well Could have done better Need to work on this
If you had the opportunity to do this project again, what changes would you make in how you went about the search and research process?
Of what are you most proud?
Who What
Who What
Who What
Who What
Who What