1. The Curious Researcher
Chapter 1

2. The Importance of Getting Curious
Choose a topic you are curious about
This will help to make your essay a success
If you don’t like what you’re writing about, this will most likely show through into your essay
Curiosity is a driving force behind your research paper
Choose your research topic carefully
If you have already chosen a topic, and you find yourself losing interest, try approaching it from a different angle.
Think Personal Experience
“What have I seen or experienced that raises questions that research can help answer?”

3. Interest Inventory Make a List: Places Trends Things Technologies
People
Controversies
History
Jobs
Habits
Hobbies

4. Interest Inventory
Brainstorm different words or phrases that come to mind when you think about the different categories
Write your ideas under each column
Review your lists
Look for a single item in any column that seems promising
Ask:
Is this something that raises questions that research can help answer?
Are they potentially interesting questions?
Does this item get at something I’ve always wondered about?

5. Meet Amanda Under her Trends column, Amanda wrote “White Teeth”
Some questions she developed were:
Are tooth whiteners safe?
What makes teeth turn brown?
Can teeth get too white?
From these questions, Amanda was able to come up with a tentative topic and research question.

6. Other Ways to Find a Topic
For Complete List pg. 28 – 29
Surf the Net
Search a research database
Pay attention to what you’ve read recently
Consider practical topics
Think about issues, ideas, or materials you’ve encountered in other classes
Collaborate

7. What Makes a Question “Researchable”?
It’s not too big or too small
It focuses on some aspect of a topic about which something has been said
It interests the researcher
Some people have a stake in the answer
It implies an approach or various means of answering it
It raises more questions. The answer might not be simple.

8. Organization
Starting research with a thesis or main point before starting research is efficient
It sets you on a steady path to finding the information you will need to find to use as support in your paper
ON THE OTHER HAND
Beginning with broad questions also has its benefits
By researching without knowing your thesis statement can help you discover different ideas
Research topics are fluid and can be dictated more by ongoing research than by the original chosen topic

9. Working Knowledge Develop a working knowledge of your topic
Working knowledge meaning a broader understanding of the range of your topic
Having a working knowledge will help you become familiar with important aspects of you topic, such as:
Definitions
Debates
Experts
Context

10. Developing Working Knowledge
Search General and Subject Encyclopaedias
Encyclopedia Britannica
Columbia Encyclopedia
Ecyclopedia.com
Subject Encyclopaedias (list on page 36)
Use the Internet Public library
Try Google Scholar
Go to the LIBRARY!!
As you are developing your working knowledge, start compiling a bibliography!

11. Narrowing the Subject Begin your research by narrowing a general topic
If a topic is too large you will find that the information available is overwhelming
You want to create a manageable topic that you can explore in detail

12. Narrowing the Subject
Almost every subject you will choose to write about for this class and for this paper has been written about before
Try to find a unique angle on a familiar topic
Take a closer look at some aspect of a larger subject
Tips to Narrow:
Time – Limit the time frame of your project
Place – Anchor a larger subject to a particular place
Person – Use the particulars of a person to reveal generalities about a group
Story – Ground a larger story in the specifics of a “smaller” one

13. Potential Topic: Global Warming
1.Time: Climate Change in the next 50 Years
2. Place: Climate Change in Canada
3. Person: Al Gore
4. Story: Climate Change and
Polar Bears

14. Narrowing the Subject Cont…
If you are unsure how to specify what you’re seeking, ask yourself:
“who?”, “what?”, “where?”, “when?”, “why?”, or “how?”

15. Crafting Your Research Question
Choose the type of question you want to answer:
A sense-making question arises when we are searching for an explanation
A hypothesis-testing question tests our assumptions about what we believe to be true
A relationship-analyzing question has to do with figuring out cause and effect relationships as well as comparisons

16. Purpose for a Research Assignment
To Explore (a.k.a. Academic Inquiry)
You pose the research question because you want to uncover the answer
You want to write about what you believe is the best answer to the question you’ve posed
Exploratory essays often begin with sense-making or relationship-analyzing questions

17. Purpose for a Research Assignment
To Argue (State a Convincing Claim)
You believe you already have the answer to your research question (i.e. you have a hypothesis you want to test by looking at the evidence)
When you are convinced your hypothesis is correct, you will argue your claim
Your purpose is to state a central claim and make it convincing in order to influence what your readers think

18. Reading for Research The best readers are guided by purpose:
They know why they are reading something and what they hope to get from it
When reading for research you should:
Know what type of text you are reading
Know where to look for what you need to know
Gain prior knowledge of the topic you are reading about

19. Reading Rhetorically
wat up? how r u doin 2day? wanna meet at the mall l8r? c u in a bit lol    vs
Structural symbolic interactionism understands the creation of self and identity to occur within existing social structures (Burke)
There are fundamental differences between these types of texts, and how we read them should be different too.

20. Reading Rhetorically Reading strategies: Have a working knowledge
Know your purpose
Understand the article’s
organization
Use a highlighter
Make notes in the margins
Read and Reread

21. When writing your research paper, remember:
Example in Text
To see an example of how to focus your paper, look at page 44 in your text
When writing your research paper, remember:

22. For next week: Remember that there will be a quiz next week
Make sure that you have a copy of the handout for the Theater Review
Theater Review
Must contain two full pages of good writing
Must contain research about the author and the play