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What's on This Page How to get to this page on the Internet
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Focusing
a Research Topic and First, go to the Web page for this class:
How to come up with a nicely focused topic of manageable proportions -- AND one you can actually research!
1) Learn more about it. One way to refine your topic is to learn more about it -- expose yourself to background information. As you begin to understand more about your topic, you will see better where you might want to go. A good resource to use initially is CQ Researcher, which provides in-depth research on dozens of issues each year. Included is a comprehensive review, historical background, chronology of important events, opposing views from experts, and extensive bibliographies for additional research.
Your notes___________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Notice that you can email these reports to yourself. Nifty! Other very useful resources for getting started
Your notes___________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ There
are also fine reference books on social topics. I've brought a bunch
to the classroom on a book truck. You're welcome to come see what's
there!
2) Use a prism -- Look at the topic emphasizing one or more factors
____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ As you get into your material, some questions come naturally -- Who? What? Why? There are different kinds of questions. For example, if your topic were television and children, you might ask: Fact questions -- What are prison conditions usually like for adult males in the United States? Hypothetical questions -- Would teenage offenders do better if they were separated from the general adult prisoner population? Probing questions -- What kinds of studies are done to show that rehabilitation programs actually work? Contrasting questions -- By far, a larger percentage of the U.S. population is in prison than is the case in any other country in the world. What are the major differences comparing the U.S. to major European countries that might explain this? Notes about questions that apply to your topic: ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Sources you might not ordinarily think to use Polls -- PollingReport.com
|| Pew Research Center || Roper
For
example, suppose I were looking for periodical articles on the topic
results of abstinence-only sex education programs. My search might look
like this:
 NOTE:
Just so you know -- You can read an article on your computer
screen, of course. When you are researching, you might want to print,
save, or email the article -- check the top of your screen to do those
things. Printing while your class is here is free -- there's a printer
at the front of the room. Limit yourself to 20 pages or less.
Use Academic Search Elite to identify at least one article that relates to your topic. Once you get a results list, click on an article title to get to the screen with full information. Article title______________________________ Periodical title (look where it says Source)____________________ Date of the article_____________________ Your notes:_____________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________
Use National Newspapers (NY Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Christian Science Monitor) Coverage: last 2 years.
Find a fulltext article about your topic and note basic information about it here Title of article ________________________________________ Newspaper __________________________________________ Date of article _________________________ Your notes:_____________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ You can email these articles to yourself! Nifty!
New feature at Google: print.google.com -- Look inside books. Books are being scanned in from 5 libraries: New York Public, Univ. of Michigan, Stanford, Oxford, and Harvard! Can only read parts of books, but they may be just what you need!! Internet search engines, unfortunately, don't all work in the same way. However, the following search parameters usually do apply:
Getting to a list of Internet Search Engines
1. URL____________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 2. URL____________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 3. URL____________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________
To get to other library catalogs online --
Find something? Your notes________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________
The Web is rich in images. If you copy and include the image in something you write, the origin of the image should be acknowledged. At the minimum, give the title of the Web site and the complete URL (you can just copy and paste the URL into your Word document -- highlight the URL, then Ctrl C to copy; Ctrl V to paste).
Transfer to a Word document one or two images so that you check yourself that you have learned this
How to Get to This Page on the Internet
W. Baer and T. N. Smalley 10/05 |
Accuracy