1. Building the Research Essay Taking Notes and Processing Information

2. Revising (and Re-Revising) the Thesis Working ThesisResearch/Evidence Your Knowledge and Experience Revised Working Thesis

3. Taking Notes Two approaches: – Print out the source and write all over it. – Take notes on a separate sheet of paper or document. Include citation information for each source. Label notes with page numbers. Both approaches should be conversational.

4. WarzauWynn. Conversation with a White Russian. 2008. Flickr. 28 Feb. 2012.

5. Taking Notes (cont’d) With either approach... – Underline, highlight, or write/type important passages. – Respond to those passages Responses can be emotional and automatic – e.g. “That’s so weird!,” “I don’t really believe this,” “Really horrible,” “A very cool fact,” etc. You can translate emotion into analysis in your essay. – Jot down any questions or ideas that you think of as you read. – Write down ideas about things to look up later

6. What do you do with the notes? Move them around. Experiment. – Find relationships between your notes Use labels to group the notes Use different colors to mark certain topics or sources Print out notes and cut them up, rearrange them on the floor – Start thinking about the order of the essay See next slide for suggestions.

7. Finding a Useful Order Beginning of the Essay – Background/context that the reader needs to know. – Dramatic, convincing, or strong evidence. You want to make your reader believe that you are an authority. Middle of Essay – Evidence that complicates or deepens the thesis.

8. Writing the Annotated Bibliography Bibliography = 8 sources – At least 4 from a library database – At least 1 peer reviewed source – One multimedia source (See Easy Writer 216 for Examples) – Interview (recommended, but not required)

9. Writing the Annotated Bibliography Citation: Find the correct citation in Easy Writer (Directory on 214-216) Summary: – What is the author’s project or goal? – Include paraphrases or quotations that you might use in the essay. Cite them! Evaluation – What kind of source is this? – Use the ABCD evaluation as a guideline – How useful will it be for your essay? Why?