Reading 115: Research Project (Information Literacy)

GOAL: The purpose of this assignment is to help you develop research skills for doing college work.

In the process, you will demonstrate your ability to choose and narrow a researchable topic; access library resources; read, evaluate, and annotate topic resources; summarize your research process and experience; and create a PowerPoint and demonstrate speaking skills.

1) Topic Decision (Brainstorming, Analysis, and Narrowing):

Select a research topic of your choice (either a researchable life question, or a researchable academic question). As you decide on a topic, make sure that you can carefully consider whether this topic is something you want to spend time with and that you are asking a researchable question you really want to find the answers to. A researchable question is a question that cannot be answered simply. For assistance and examples, visit our own PCC Library Web page: www.pcc.edu/library/research.

Use a prewriting strategy (clustering, brainstorming, free writing, listing, journaling, etc) to begin this topic decision making process. You might choose to use a general search engine like Google just to get more ideas about your topic. Look for ways to FOCUS and NARROW DOWN the topic so that you have something that you are able to research specifically. Feel free to adjust your topic using the following questions:

•  Is there enough information on the subject?
•  Is the information available to you? (look at library website)
•  Has the topic been overdone? Would you be repeating old arguments that most people have heard or read?
•  Do you have a personal bias towards the topic that makes it impossible for you to be objective?
•  Are you interested enough in this topic to spend quality time learning and writing about it?

Explore your researchable question before we go to the library as a class. Also, write a summary of why you want to research this topic and what direction you will go in to do the research. This is an extremely important part of the research process because if you don't get the question and your topic narrow and specific, your research process may take you in directions you don't want to go, and you will waste valuable time and energy.

Researchable Question and Summary of why you want to research the topic due on: ______

2) Searching For Sources:

Next, locate several high-quality sources (approximately two pages in length) for your topic. Your sources may be selected from the following sources:

•  Books from the library (either a full book written by one author or a collection of essays or articles on the topic, not necessarily by a single author).
•  Professional article from journals or magazines (library databases must be used: SIRS, Opposing View Points, Ebsco Host, and so on).
•  Website (either General or Focused). For you Website, you must complete the Website Evaluation Checklist attached, or visit, the following link:

(At this point, you are probably finding that your research question needs some adjustment. If you cannot finds any books or professional articles, then you need to broaden your question. If you were able to answer your question with a Wikipedia (or similar) article, then you need to narrow your search).

Complete a Source List (STEP 3) for this stage of the research process. This is a place for you to copy down basic publication information about each of the sources you find and rate whether this source might be useful to your project or not. By carefully recording this information now, you will be able to locate these sources later when you need to take notes and write up your research paper.

3) Source List:

For each source that you use, record in a list your citations. Be sure to record all of the information you would need to evaluate and locate the source: author, title, date, publication information, and if you used only a part of the source, which part. "Publication information" includes different things depending on the kind of resource.

•  Books - author, title of book, city in which it was published, publishing company and date of publication
•  Magazine, journal, or newspaper articles - author of article, title of article, the title of the magazine or journal, volume and number (for journals), date of publication
•  Web sites - author, the title of the article, the title of the web site, date of publication, and its URL (web address).

Formal citations look like this:

Jacobs, James B., and Kimberly Potter. Hate Crimes: criminal Law and Identity Politics.

New York: Oxford UP, 1998.

Johnson, Kirk. "Bill Covering Carbon Dioxide Seeks to Reduce Other Pollution." New York times 14 Sep. 2000:BIO.

Hardy, Charles III, and Alessandro Portelli. I Can Almost See the Lights of Home - A Field Trip to Harlan County, Kentucky. 1999. The Journal for Multimedia History.28 Nov. 2000

www.albany.edu/jmmh/vo!2nol/lights.html

While you don't need to create formal citations for this project, you should include as much citation information as you can find, and keep it in the same order for each citation. If you would like to know more about citations, follow the "Guides and Tutorials" link on the library web site, or ask a librarian. Consult easy bib.com for additional help.

These sources need to be ranked from #1 being the most valuable to #6 being the least valuable. You will also need to include a short 1 to 2 sentence summary about what the article is about.

Six Sources list due on: _______

4) Source Annotation:

After you have located a variety of sources discussing your topic, select the three best ones to print, carefully read, and annotate (two of these must be from a journal article). Each source annotation should include much of the following: key ideas, implied ideas, facts, opinions, questions that you have about content, and those specific details that lead you in the direction of the answer to your question. Your annotation should reflect a "record" of your active and engaged reading experience during the research process. The copies of these sources and your annotations are part of your grade.

Source annotations due on: _______

5) Analysis of Research Process (Metacognitive Notes): this will be 1-2 pages, typed, double spaced and in MLA style.

As you research your question, set aside five or six notebook pages to keep brief notes about how your information search unfolds. Combine these observations into a one page length description of your research experience. Think about some of the following questions as you analyze your research process:

•  How did you find your articles and sources? Was this process easy or hard? What challenges or questions did you have?
•  How were you able to make use of key words as you searched? Did you need to adjust your key words? Why? How? What did you think about during the process of narrowing your topic? What problems did you face during this step? What do you think could have made this step easier for you?
•  How did you decide which sources (books, articles, etc) were best for your task? Was it easy or hard to gather information? At which points did you feel uncertain about your search? When did you feel confident as you searched?
•  How did you manage your time during this research process? What changes will you make when you do your next research assignment? What advice would you give another student about doing this assignment?
•  This needs to be put into a one page summary and should be typed.

Analysis of Research due on: ______

6) Typed Research Summary (2pageswhich must be typed and double spaced in MLA style)

Using the annotations you have from doing your research, you will now compile a one to two page essay that answers your researchable question. This is where you put all of your new information about your topic that you have learned over the term.

Research summary due on: _______

7) Reference Page (also called Works Cited, Bibliography, or Citation Page)

List your sources in alphabetical order by author's last name. If you cannot find the author's last name, use the title of the article, website, or book to begin your citation. This should be in MLA citation format.

Reference page due on: ______

Final Product Checklist (make sure all are included in the following order):

• Title page (this should include your name and your researchable question)
• Typed analysis of research project (metacognitive essay)
• Typed research summary your

• Reference page.

8) PowerPoint Presentation

You will complete a PowerPoint project and present during final's week.