Mar 30 - Choosing Sources and Refining the Topic

Today we will...

1. review the procedures of selecting reliable and relevant sources for your research paper topic
2. analyze sources based on different criteria: relevancy, purpose, readability and synthesis; decide which sources are the most appropriate for your research paper topic

Where to Find Sources?

Use the concept map constantly to keep your topic in shape.
The very first place for you to look for sources is the EBSCO Databases.

Demo Topic

How to lower college student suicide with Suicide Risk Training for Campus Professionals.

college student teenager university youth

suicide suicide risk suicide prevention

training education workshops seminars prevention

campus professionals counselors advisors administrators

Here is a chart with 6 sources. Please look them through and choose the 2 best sources for the demo topic.

Mar 20 - Source Relevancy

Today we will...

1. learn to apply skimming and scanning strategies to identify key sections of sources that are more relevant to your papers
2. learn to rate the degree of relevancy of sources based on their applicability to a particular research topic and focus
3. concisely explain the relevancy of your sources to specific sections of your papers in a few sentences

Review of Source Reliability

Let's review the source reliability that we talked about in the last class.

Source Relevancy

So now you are having, hopefully, a lot of sources on your hands for your chosen topic.
The question is are you going to use all of them for your research paper writing?
If not, which sources are you going to use?
Why do you choose some sources over the others?
How do you judge whether the sources are good for your paper?

Skimming & Scanning

You cannot read all of your sources from the beginning to the end, and you don't have the time to do so. However, what should you do to determine if a source is good or not?

Yes! That's Skimming and Scanning! This can help you quickly get the main idea of the sources, and determine the relevancy of the sources to your research topic.

Practice 1

Here are 5 sources that you will be reading. While you skim and scan them, fill in this chart. Imagine that you are the person who is going to write a paper on this topic, choose the sources that are good to use.
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Article 4
Article 5

Practice 2

Now, let's focus on the relevancy of each article. You are still using the 5 articles from the previous practice, but you will need to judge the relevancy of the 5 sources. Please fill in this chart.

Homework

I know this is repetitive, but keep working on your Pre-research Portfolio. Remember to submit it on the due date.
Key for Practice 1     Key for Practice 2

Have a great Spring Break!

Mar 18 - Source Reliability

Today we will...

1. learn to locate information about a source that helps determine its credibility and reliability (eg. publisher, date, author, kind of journal)
2. categorize sources along a spectrum of credibility (not credible, credible / not academic, scholarly / academic / peer-reviewed)
3. concisely explain source reliability in a few written sentences

Source Credibility

When you write your IRP, there are some websites that you may use as sources. At least, you will need an organization website that provides two solutions. The question is, how can you decide whether the website you use is credible or not?

Let's take a look at 3 websites. Talk to the person next to you and decide whether they are credible sources to use for research papers.
Website 1
Website 2
Website 3

It may be difficult to decide the credibility of a website source sometimes, so we need some guidelines that help us make the decision.

Check Source Reliability

Here are another three websites. Again, talk to your partners and follow the checklist to decide if those websites are reliable sources.
Website 1
Website 2
Website 3

In Addition

We have looked at the different ways to determine the credibility of website sources, how do you judge the credibility of articles and journals? Here are some tips you can use.

Preview of Annotated Bibliography

This is going to be your third major assignment for this course, and I will give you a little preview and let you know what you will be doing.

Here is a sample Annotated Bibliography.

Homework

Please continue working on your portfolio. Submit it on Compass 2g by the deadline.

Mar 16 - Rough Outline

Today we will...

1. learn the basic structure of the IRP
2. fill in Chart 2 in the portfolio

Structure of IRP

Do you still remember the basic structure of the IRP?
How many parts? How many paragraphs? What are they?

Outline Your IRP

Please open your Googledrive and continue working on your Pre-research Portfolio

Sample IRP Topics

For those of you who are still struggling, here is a list of IRP topics and organizations that you can choose from.

Mar 13 - Research Paper Thesis Statements

Today we will...

1. explain the differences and similarities between the thesis statement from the diagnostic essay and a research paper
2. identify the dual purpose of the thesis statement for an IRP
3. practice composing a thesis statement

Thesis Statement

Do you still remember how you composed your thesis statement for the diagnostic essay? What are some things that you need to bear in mind when you compose the thesis statement?

What do you think are the differences and similarities between thesis statement for the diagnostic essay and the IRP that you are going to write?

Let's take a look at a sample IRP thesis statement and see what are the different components.

What do you notice?

What are the purposes of the sample thesis statement?

Here is more information on thesis statement from Owl Purdue.

Practice

Now let's practice writing a thesis statement for your own IRP.

Homework

1. Please read the assigned sections and do the exercises in Writer's Help. They are titled as "Forming a Thesis" and "Drafting a Working Thesis". Due Monday before class.
2. Continue working on your portfolio. Remember the due date for the portfolio is next Friday (March 20th) by 11:59 pm. Details on submission will be discussed later in class.

Mar 11 - In-depth Pre-research: Critical Thinking

Today we will...

1. explain different aspects of critical thinking: summarizing, analyzing, critiquing and synthesizing
2. generate preliminary analysis points of an organization's solutions from the perspective of logic, insight, evidence and critique
3. document all the results in your pre-research portfolio

Critical Thinking

What is critical thinking?
What is difference between critique and criticize?
What does critical thinking have to do with academic paper writing?

How do we think critically?

Analyzing Sources

When you search and read sources for your research paper, what do you need to do?
You need to summarize, analyze, critique and synthesize them so that you can use them to compose your research paper.
How do we analyze sources then? What questions do we need to think about? Here is a list of things you need to consider.

Homework

Continue working on your portfolio. You should be able to finish Chart 1 and Chart 3 now. Even though the exact due date has not been decided yet, it will be sometime before Spring Break.

Mar 6 - Pre-research

Today we will...

1. explain the importance of gathering background information at the beginning stage of research paper writing
2. learn effective search techniques to find reliable and relevant information for your chosen topics
3. collect background information about the chosen topic by doing some research about the problems, existing solutions, new terms and possible organizations

Importance of Pre-research

As we all know, writing a research paper is a long process, and you can't expect to finish it within 2 days (like SpongeBob did). Basically, research paper writing requires a lot of planning and preparation, and we call it pre-research.

Remember the different steps for writing a research paper?

Search for Information

There are a lot of ways to search for information for your research paper topic. For example, you can use CQ Research, Google Scholar, or EBSCO Databases.

To access the EBSCO DatabaseS, you need to go to the Undergraduate Library Guide, then you click on the "Find Articles" bar. Click on the "Academic Search Complete" link, and then click on the "EBSCO Databases".

Collect Background Information

It will make your writing process really easy if you now collect sufficient background information for your research topic. Now let's see an example of a Pre-research Portfolio.

Practice

Now please open your shared Googledrive foler, and you will see a document titled "Pre-research Portfolio Template". It is the same as the example we just saw, and it will be your second major assignment for this course.

Please complete Steps 1 to 4 based on your chosen topic and the organization that you have found.

Reminder

We won't be having a regular class in this classroom next Monday (Mar 9). Instead, we will go to the Undergraduate Library (Room 291) to have our library day. Please have your topic and your organization ready, and bring questions you have in searching for sources.

Mar 4 - Choosing a Topic (Part 2)

Today we will...

1. continue with our topic selection (for those of you who have not had a topic yet)
2. learn how to choose a reliable and credible organization that provides 2 effective solutions for your topic

Topic Selection

Hopefully, you all have at least a topic in mind for your research paper.
So, what comes after that? Can you start writing your paper now if you have a topic?

Concept Map

Before doing anything else, you need to have a Concept Map for your topic. It looks like this.

Now, take some time and create a Concept Map for your own topic.

Choosing an Organization

As you all know, you are going to write an Analytical Problem-Solution Research Paper for this course. That means you will need a reliable and credible ORGANIZATION for your research topic.

How do we choose an organization?

Where should we go to find such an organization?

Practice

Now let's search for some organizations and see if they can be ued for your research paper.

Answer Key & Homework

1. Here is the answer key for the practice activity.
2. Please send me your research paper topic by 11:59 pm today to my email.
3. Please complete the survey for the Plagiarism Prevention Tutorial here.

Mar 2 - Choosing a Topic (Part 1)

Today we will...

1. identify the different citeria for an appropriate and effective research paper topic
2. brainstorm together as a whole class and choose your own research paper topic

What is a Good Topic?

Before burying yourselves in the long and tedious process of research paper writing, what is the very first thing you have to do?

Yes! Choose the TOPIC!!!

Remember what I said in class about choosing the right direction in your life? It works exactly the same when you choose your topic. If you choose a good topic for your research paper, then you are heading up north all the way. However, if you choose a bad one, you will be going all the way down toward the south.

So, what makes a good topic then? Let's first take a look at Eric's beautiful research paper and see if you can identify some of the key aspects of a good topic.

Any ideas? What makes a good topic?

Good Topic Criteria

Here are some critical criteria you need to think about when you choose a topic for your research paper. First, you need to know the characteristics of a good topic. Second, you need to avoid these kinds of topics.

Friends, Your Turn!

Okay, now we have understood the characteristics of a good research paper topic and how to avoid some bad topics, it is your turn to think of some good topics you want to use for your research paper. Please open this document and follow the instructions to come up with 2 topics.

When you are done, please get into groups of 3 and vote for the best topic in your group. When you discuss about your topics in your groups, please follow the instructions.