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Research Process

  1. Choose your topic.
  2. Brainstorm on your topic.
  3. Create your search strategy.
  4. Search for resources.
  5. Evaluate.
  6. Search again and evaluate.
  7. Use the information for your paper.

Argumentative Essay Process

Thesis
Research Process Steps 1-2
Choose your topic and brainstorm.
Evidence
Research Process Steps 3-5
Create search statement, search and evaluate.
Refutation
Research Process Steps 3-5
Concluding Statement
Research Process Steps 6
Use your information.
Argumentive Essay Model

Sample Exercises

Tips for Essay Models

Research Process

1. Choose your topic.

Criteria.

  • Interesting to you.
  • Meets requirements of the assignment
  • Neither too large or too small

Suggested Resources

2. Brainstorm on this topic.

  • Create a model for your topic.
  • Identify where you will need information or visuals.
conceptmap2 (68K)

Tools

3. Create a search statement.

  • Use important words or phrases from the concept map.
  • Connect words and phrases with correct Boolean logic (and, or, not).
  • Put phrases in quotation marks "".
  • Use truncation * for work endings.
  • Use variant spellings (theater or theatre).
  • For people search both "Last name, first name" or "First name Last Name".

Tools

See Searching tips.
venndiagram (51K)

4. Search for Information

Books

bookssmall (2K)
Articles

articlessmall (1K)
Visual Info

visualimagesmall (2K)
Web info

internetsmall (2K)

5. Evaluate results.

evaulate (5K)

Criteria

  • Timeliness
  • Relevance
  • Authority
  • Purpose

Useful Websites and Handout

6. Use your sources.

Is it plagiarism?

Info on Annotated Bibliographies

writing

Is it cited properly?