Scheduling Research Projects

When you are just starting out, a research assignment may seem overwhelming. It can be helpful to break your projects into smaller tasks and lay them out on your calendar. While each project is different, here are some typical tasks you may wish to include:

1. Receive Assignment.
   
2. Select a Topic.
   
3. Do Background Research.
   
4. Form Research Questions.
   
5. Research.
   
6. Consult Reference Librarian.
   
7. Review Results.
   
8. Outline.
   
9. Consult Instructor.
   
10. Follow-up Research.
    
11. Prepare First Draft.
    
12. Send Draft to Writing Center.
    
13. Prepare Final Draft.
    
14. Proofread.
    
15. Turn in assignment.
    

If you have a ten week term paper these tasks can be scheduled on different or multiple days, but what if you only have a week to prepare a 3-5 page research essay? Here is an example schedule where you are required to have 3 sources, one of which must be from assigned readings. Note that your topic will be taken from an article your instructor has provided and potential research areas will be identified during class discussion.

• Week Before - Do assigned reading [Background Research & Select a Topic]. Discuss in class [Form Research Questions].
  
• Monday - Receive Assignment. Search library databases for useful articles [Do Research] & Consult Librarian (not necessarily in that order!).
  
• Tuesday - Read articles and highlight significant points, underlining possibly useful quotes [Review Results]. Organize your notes from the assigned reading and the articles so they form a coherent argument with supporting points [Outline].
  
• Wednesday - Consult Instructor to be sure you are on the right track with your sources and outline. Do additional research if necessary. Revise Outline and begin First Draft.
  
• Thursday - Complete First Draft & email to Writing Center -or- visit Writing Center for assistance, then Complete First Draft & email to Writing Center for comment/corrections.
  
• Friday - Until Writing Center returns draft with comments (~24 hours), relax -unless- you left out important elements such as a works cited page, cover page, required header/footer or other formatting.
  
• Saturday - Prepare Final Draft.
  
• Sunday - Proofread - try reading it aloud, or see if you can get a friend/relative to read it for you as well. Revise as needed.
  
• Monday - Turn in assignment.

Research Topics

Assigned topics may be extremely broad or very narrow; here are some examples from the broadest to the most narrow:

• Anything
  
• Any Topic Related to Biology
  
• Any Topic Related to Cell Biology
  
• Describe any Single-Celled Organism
  
• Describe a Species of Gram-Negative Bacteria
  
• Discuss the role of Cyanobacteria in Aquatic Ecosystems
  
• What is the Likely Impact of Climate Change on the incidence of Toxic Cyanobacterial Blooms in Freshwater Lakes?

Here are some criteria you can consider in selecting a topic:

• How complex is the topic?
  
• How much time do you have?
  
• How familiar are you with the topic?
  
• Is it easy to find reliable information about the topic?
  
• Do you find it reasonably interesting?
  
• Do you already have strong opinions about the topic?
  

The more complex and unfamiliar the topic, the more time you should have to research, read, and write about it. It is also important to note that you may want resources from other libraries for some research projects; you'll need to allow extra time for that as well (see our Interlibrary Loan service page for more information).

While it is very useful to know something about a topic you are researching, it can be a problem when you have very strong opinions. Most college research papers will require you to take a position which is supported by reliable data and discusses opposing views in a respectful manner. If your opinion is based on personal convictions it may be very time consuming to locate information which both confirms your opinion and meets your assignment requirements.

This Topic of the Week blog is designed to provide you with examples of viable research topics as well as guides for some particular assignments. We also have a posting that offers additional sources you can browse for topics.

Evaluating Sources

Having found a bunch of information sources you need to select those that best meet your needs. Here are some questions to ask yourself as you scan your results:

• Who is the author (or authors)? Hopefully there will be a statement about the author at the end of the article, book, or web page. In many databases you can quickly search to see what else they have written. If you need to, can you quote the author as an expert?
  
• Who is the publisher, and what are their standards for publication? Publishers of scholarly journals rely on experts to review their research articles against established standards for academic publication; their existence depends on their credibility among scholars and professionals in their discipline. Publishers of magazines and newspapers rely primarily on journalists to edit their publications in a very short time frame against variable ethical standards; their existence depends on appealing to a general audience.
  
• What is the purpose? Are the authors writing to persuade, entertain, inform, or advance the state of knowledge in their academic discipline? Have they used only sources most likely to convince you of their point of view, or have they apparently examined everything written related to their topic so they can explain how their research relates?
  
• Does the depth and character of the content meet your needs? Is the language too technical or too basic for your audience? Does it offer in-depth coverage of a specialized subtopic when you need a general overview? Does it provide only brief information about the most newsworthy findings of a scientific study, when you are expected to extensively analyze the study, its methods and conclusions?
  
• How current is the information? You may be using a book that is considered the most authoritative treatment of a topic ever written, but if you need to account for the most recent developments you will have to search for some articles as well.
  
• Pay particular attention to web resources:
  
  • How did you access the information - through one of the library’s subscription databases (e.g., EBSCOhost) or by searching the web (e.g., Google)?
    
  • Who is responsible for the page? Is an author listed (you may need to look at the ‘home’ or ‘about’ pages)? Is the author affiliated with an educational, governmental or research institution?
    
  • How recently was the page updated?
    
  • Does the domain section of the URL give you any hints about what kind of page it is? The first part of the URL (Uniform Resource Locator, also called the web address) might look like “http://www.mypage.com” – the “.com” part is the top level domain. Here are some common ones:
    
    • .com – so often found you might think it stands for ‘common,’ but really means ‘commercial.’ Can be anything.
      
    • .edu – Educational institution; can include databases designed by University institutes as well as Elementary School projects.
      
    • .gov – Governmental; Federal and State governments, their agencies and institutes – county and city governments mostly use “.us” – the domain for United States (some 240 countries have a two letter top level domain).
      
    • .net – Network; becoming as common as ‘.com’ and can be just as commercial; includes lots of personal home pages
      
    • .org – Non-profit Organization; museums, charities, interest groups, professional associations, research institutes, & lots more.

______________________________________________________

Another comprehensive website about evaluating information uses similar critia

A: Authority
S: Sources
P: Purpose
E: Evenness
C: Coverage
T: Timeliness

updated y.y. May 2010

Understanding Your Assignment

In order to develop an effective research strategy you need a solid understanding of your assignment. If your instructor tells the class that you will be given the research assignment on a day you know you will be absent, ask to meet with them so you can get it in advance. Ask questions, take notes, and be sure to have all this with you when you do your research. Here are some questions you can ask yourself (or your instructor!), along with some examples of how these factors might influence your research strategy:

• What is the size of my project? Long sources may not be as useful for short papers, unless you can easily work with just parts of them (a chapter instead of the whole book, or the introduction and conclusion of a long research article.)
  
  
• How much time do I have? Limits the resources available to you. The less time you have the more you are going to want to work with resources which help you easily find appropriate information that is readily available.
  
  
• What is the scope of my project? Your instructor should tell you the extent to which your project should be based on your textbook and lectures, your own thoughts and experiences, research in library information resources, or even original research (where you might conduct a study or interview experts).
  
  
• Who is my audience? Are you preparing an informative speech for your classmates or a term paper for your psychology instructor? Your sources should be appropriate in both language and complexity.
  
  
• Am I required to use a particular type of source? Some instructors will ask you to find a newspaper editorial or other opinion piece; others will want you to locate and analyze a ‘peer-reviewed’ journal article which details original research. In many cases you will be allowed to use other sources for background or definitions, as long as you include the required sources – ask if not sure.
  
  
• Am I forbidden to use a particular type of source? If you have to use sources written within the last two years, historical topics may be hard! If you cannot use encyclopedias, often your instructor means general encyclopedias (like World Book) not scholarly subject encyclopedias (like the Encyclopedia of Race and Racism available through the Gale Virtual Reference Library); be sure to ask. If you are told not to use the internet they almost *never* mean to avoid using the library databases which are accessed online, like EBSCOhost and ProQuest.