ENG 1AEX (Connors) - Research Paper: Marginalization in the 21st Century USA: The Research Process

Before starting an assignment, make sure that you have read it through completely and asked your professor for clarification on any parts that may be confusing.  Create a "plan of action" or "To Do" list with dates to make the assignment less overwhelming.

Some Important Information to consider for your Country Research Report:

• Style & Citing Format: MLA style/format
• Number & Type of Sources: minimum 2 credible sources - they must be from peer reviewed academic journals

Most topics are so big when they are first chosen that you need to narrow them down by asking a research question to help direct your searching and writing. However, before you can do this, you need to have a general idea about what the topic is and the issues surrounding it. In order to get this basic understanding you will need to do a bit of preliminary research or "presearch"

The best sources of information for presearch are reference materials because they provide a basic overview of a topic. The most used type of reference item is encyclopedias. Some great ideas for getting a basic overview of your topic are:

• Gale Virtual Reference Library: a library database that provides access to published reference sources for all types of subjects.
• Credo Reference: another library database that provides access to published reference sources for all types of subjects.

Click here for a video on finding online reference materials using the library databases.

Developing a research question can make the research process more efficient, by providing a direction for your project.  Often a research paper will require that you have one main question (that the answer to will become your thesis) and then many mini questions that you will need to answer before answering your main question or even thinking of your main question.  In this case, the questions that each group answers for each country, combined with your reading of Geography of Bliss, come together in paper 5, where you answer a big question about happiness and/or success.  Here are some examples:

Example of Question to Answer

1. What policies/practices/laws contribute to happiness?

Search statements are what you use in the search bar of different tools to search more efficiently. Search statements use the tool's own search mechanisms for an efficient search process.

To create a search statement, identify the main keywords in your research question or mini research question and join them together using the word "AND," then think of alternate words for each of your main concepts. Use your alternate words by swapping them out as needed or just include them by using the word "OR." AND tells the database that you want both of those terms in all of the results and the word OR tells the database that the items can have either word.

• Examples of Search Statements:
  • Happiness AND laws OR policies
  • Money AND happiness
  • Laws OR policies OR practices AND happiness OR contentment OR satisfaction

Click here to view a video on creating a search statement.

Now that you have a search statement, you need to think of the best places to use it, this is called creating a strategy.  A search strategy helps you identify places to search based on your information needs.

To determine where to search, think of what types of information you need. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you need the preliminary, general overview type of information that reference items (encyclopedias) found in the library's eReference databases would provide? 
• Do you need in-depth information that books that you would find in the library catalog would provide?
• Do you need the narrow information that an article that you would find in the databases provide?
• Does the information need to be scholarly or popular? Subjective or objective?

Once you have answered these questions, think of what tool to use (eReference, Catalog, Databases, of Open Web).

Often these questions can be answered by your assignment prompt, so make sure that you know what type of sources you are required to use for the assignment.

Click here to view a video on creating a search strategy.

Use materials to learn about a topic and to write or present about the topic. Use materials in your writing by citing directly using quotation marks, paraphrasing sentences or paragraphs; or by summarizing the entire item. Always make sure to use an in-text citation after each quote, paraphrase, or summary of an item, then have the full citation for the item you used in your Bibliography to avoid plagiarism.

Sources for this Assignment (2 Minimum Credible Sources Required):

• Two Scholarly Journal Articles.  Click here for a video on finding articles using library databases.
• Credible websites - Find using Google Scholar.

Evaluate each resource that you come across, including websites, by asking the following questions:

Current?  Is this current to my topic?

References? Is the information supported by citations/references?

Applicable?  How will this help me answer my mini or main research question?

Authority?  Is the author or entity an expert and qualified to write on this topic?

Purpose?  Is this item written for the general public or for scholarly reasons?  To sell or to inform?

This is where you combine your own ideas with what you have learned from the resources/materials you found on your topic to tell the story of the issue or topic.  A great way to start this step is to create an outline, using the information you gathered from the resources, of what you would like to write about or present on the topic.  

A great resource for students having trouble writing, is our on-campus Tutorial Center.

You must cite the sources that you use to avoid plagiarism. All direct quotes, paraphrases, and summaries must be cited. In other words, all ideas or facts taken from some other writer, even though in your own words, must be cited. All creative works are copyrighted material, so it is PLAGIARISM if you use ideas from a resource without citing that resource

For each source collect…

1. Author(s) and/or Editor(s).
2. Date of publication.
3. Article title.
4. Publication Title (title of overall item that the article or item was published within).
5. Publication information; including, edition, volume, pages, & publisher.
6. URL or database name (if found online).

*Not all sources will have all of these elements & some sources may need additional elements, but this should be enough to get you started in Noodletools or to at least be able to track down your source.

Use the library's subscription citation tool, Noodletools, to help you create, organize, and manage citations and bibliographies.

Click here for a video on getting started with Noodletools.

View our Citation Help Library Guide for more information on citing and the different styles