English 12 Research 101

English 12 Research 101

Why? Oh! Why, do I have to do this  ?

• •What is the purpose of research?

• •Why is this an important skill to understand?

• When can you or should you use research?

Getting Started

• •When you have been given or decided on a story to read (or topic), the first thing you want to do is read either the story or as much material about the topic you can.

  
  

• The next thing you want to do is read everything again and make a determination about what you have read.

The Determination 

When making the determination about what you are going to write or research you need to think about either the literary elements or the positions/ideas surrounding the topic.

Literary questions to consider might be:

• How did the author develop characters? (direct or indirect)

• What was the conflict?

• What symbolism exists? 

• What is the theme? What was I suppose to learn from the story/author?

• What was the point of view? Was it an important factor in the story?

General Research Questions

• Why are people interested in the conflict?

• What are the pros/cons regarding the topic?

• Why is this topic relevant to society?

• What do the experts say about the topic?

What a Research Paper IS...

• An academic piece of writing that requires analytical thinking and familiarizing yourself with a subject through research.

• Comparing other people's thoughts on the topic with your own. You will be taking your place at the table of experts and explaining your own views in writing. You support your views with the evidence you have gathered. Then, in conclusion, you summarize your position.

A paper begins with questions.

• How did this problem/war/disease/tradition start?

• What mistakes have been made?

• You may think you have too many questions, which might be true, but all inquiry begins with questions. Eventually, you will reduce your questions to one central question, inferred from the sources you find.

• Asking questions will take up much of your time in the beginning, but it is the best way to arrive at one critical question that is interesting and rich enough to write about.

A paper that combines synthesis and analysis

• Through synthesis, you pull together information from various sources.

• With analysis, you make the information meaningful by providing your own interpretation.

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What research is NOT ...

• A collection of all the sources you can find on a topic. Research is not evaluated on how many sources; but whether the writer's ideas are supported by other sources.

• A review of all the information in a field describing what has been said and by whom.

• Not just a review of the material.

• A personal essay like an editorial or opinion piece

Still NOT . . .

• A five-paragraph essay with quoted examples

• A collection of memories taken from several books; memories are subjective and can't be relied on exclusively to address larger topics.

• Only what secondary sources say about your topic.

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Literary Element Possibilities

• Symbolism: a person, place, thing, or an event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more than itself

• Theme: the central idea presented through a work by the audience

• Conflict: a confrontation or struggle between opposing characters or forces in the plot of a narrative work, from which the action emanates and around which the plot/action revolves

• Characterization: the process by which an author reveals the personality of a character.

• Motif: a unifying element in an artistic work, especially any recurrent subject or narrative detail.

• Irony: verbal irony occurs when someone says one thing but really mean something else; situational irony occurs when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to happen and what really does happen; dramatic irony occurs on a stage when a character is the play (or story) thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better

• Allusion: a reference to someone/something well known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or other branches of culture.

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Plagiarism

• Definition: Taking someone else's work and passing it off as yours.

• Avoid presenting another person's words or ideas as if they were your own by giving credit through parenthetical reference whether you are paraphrasing, summarizing, or quoting the author.

• PLAGIARISM IS STEALING!

Avoiding Plagiarism

Paraphrasing: This is taking a short piece (two sentences, one paragraph) of an article and reconstructing it in your words. You do not change the meaning or idea behind what the author says, you simply put it in easier terms. You give the author credit for the idea since you did not think of it on your own. This does not go in quotation marks and does not need to be introduced. You always use parenthetical referencing to give your source credit.

Still avoiding plagiarism

Summarizing: This is taking a long piece of literature or an article and providing a brief look at the idea. For example, you may read an entire story and then give the highlights in a paragraph summary. You may read a chapter in a book and then in a sentence or two give the highlights and points made in the piece you read. You always use parenthetical referencing to give your source credit.

Still avoiding Plagiarism

Quoting: This is when you take an author's words and put them directly in your essay (word for word). You always put quotation marks around the passage and use parenthetical referencing to give your source credit.