ORGANIZING AND SYNTHESIZING SOURCES Sarah Morris UT Libraries Spring 2013

The Research Paper How do you get from your initial assignment to your final paper? What steps do you take and what tasks do you do?

Why Conduct Research? We conduct research and write research papers to help solve problems. In a research paper you can Explore ideas Share ideas Engage in conversation Offer up solutions to problems You use evidence and sources in a research paper to support your ideas and form an argument. To form an argument, you need to make sure you have organized sources that you can use effectively.

Organizing Sources Organizing your sources is a process called source synthesis Source synthesis means that you organize your sources and put them together in your paper in order to make an argument and say something new.

How do you synthesize sources? The Main Idea Identifying the main ideas in your materials can help you organize your sources and use them effectively in your paper What your source is saying Identifying key points Look for abstracts and subject terms Pull it all together – take notes

Sample Research Topic What effects do organic foods have on people’s nutrition and overall health? Look for information on where organic food is sold

Finding the Main Idea

Activity: The Match Game

Taking Notes: Tips and Tricks Look for Main Ideas You can focus on article abstracts and subject terms in databases as starting points Try to locate the article’s thesis statement Link resources together Look for common themes to connect resources Create “bins” of terms and ideas to organize your research into useful categories Remember the paper topic! Make sure your resources relate back to that topic

Tools and Resources Evernote – storage and capture tool Dropbox – cloud storage and sharing Bubble.us – mind mapping Mind42 – mind mapping SquareLeaf – note taking

Additional Resources Course Guide: Ask a Librarian Undergraduate Writing Center