Research for Master's Students
What we'll cover
- Finding a topic
- Searching for resources
- Paper formatting
Refining your topic
- From an interest in a topic
- To a focused topic
- To a question worth asking
- To an answer with support
Finding a topic
- Think of work you've done before
- Explore your personal interests
- Consider current events
- Recall your own experiences
Next steps
- Search for primary documents
- Read scholarly literature
- Look for debates and uncertainties
Research is iterative
- Find something of interest
- Choose a topic
- Raise a question about that topic
- Go around again Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
Asking the right questions
- HOW and WHY often go deeper than WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE
- Don't speculate, gather evidence
- Ask a useful question
Exercise
- Topic: I am studying _____
- Question: because I want to find out what/why/how _______
- Significance: in order to help my reader understand _______
Finding & Evaluating sources
- Different sources:
- Primary
- Secondary
- Tertiary?
OneSearch
Peer-reviewed Articles
Books
Possible sources
- Encyclopedias
- Dictionaries
- Biographies
- Bibliographies
- Directories
- Almanacs
- Maps & Atlases
- Statistics
- Government Documents
Evaluation
- Author Authority
- Who created the item? What is his or her affiliation?
- Audience and Purpose
- Who is the intended audience? Why was the item created?
- Accuracy and Completeness
- Is the evidence reliable? Are the important points covered?
- Footnotes and Documentation
- Are the author's sources clearly identified with complete citations to allow you to find the original source yourself?
- Perspective and Bias
- How do the author's bias and perspective inform the arguments and evidence presented?
Thoughts on taking notes
Paper formatting
How to cite