75 Research Project Overview
This module contains three parts: a DISCUSSION; an Essay/Paper; a Writing Lab.
I do research almost every day–sometimes many times a day. With the Internet, it is ever so easy to look up just about anything I need to know. For example, so far today I’ve googled “weather in Herkimer,” “multifocal cataract surgery,” “cutting loose hair salon driving directions,” “James Comey, FBI,” and “biking trails Cape Cod Seashore.” And it’s not even noon yet! Research is not only required in college courses, it can also be interesting and fun. The key is understanding how to gather information in a variety of ways, not just by searching through library stacks to find books. You can, of course, get information from “brick and mortar” libraries or online libraries. But you can also use search engines to access Internet resources, you can do personal interviews, administer surveys, talk to experts in your subject, read blogs or join user groups where appropriate.
Learning Activities for your Research Project
1. Read in your Online Text the chapter on USING SOURCES. You may just skim through parts of the chapter, but refer back to it from time to time, for example when you prepare your Works Cited page.
2. Do some prewriting to explore a few topics. IMPORTANT: Choose something you are genuinely interested in and you NEED TO KNOW. For example, maybe you’re not sure of your college major, and you need to explore job possibilities in your field. This is definitely a “NEED TO KNOW” topic. Or, perhaps your significant other needs a new laptop and you are a generous soul, so you NEED TO KNOW which laptop to buy him/her for a gift. Maybe you’re planning to get a pet for your children, but you’re not sure what breed would be best. Again you NEED TO KNOW this. Or, your Uncle George has just been diagnosed with chlamydia and you NEED TO KNOW all you can about this disease so you can help him through it.
IMPORTANT: Choose a topic that you really NEED TO KNOW about, and the research will be interesting to you and to the reader. The good news in this class is that I do not assign research topics–you choose your own, and I will help you narrow it down, find ways to get your information, help you with writing and organizing your material, and check your research for correct documentation of sources.
3. Go to the discussion forum below and help your classmates and yourself choose a workable topic.
4. Generate a list of questions that you need to answer, and then make a list of sources to explore. For example, I need to know about cataracts, and I posed some questions in the discussion forum. Here’s a possible list of sources I might investigate:
a. Google the term and read two articles online. I would make sure I wasn’t reading ADS, but legitimate medical sources such as the MAYO clinic or Opthalmalogy Journal.
b. I might go to the office of a nearby eye doctor and collect brochures on cataracts. I might also request a quick interview with the doctor.