Pre-Research - COMPOSING YOUR ESSAY - Essential Writing Skills for College and Beyond

Essential Writing Skills for College and Beyond (2014)

Part II. COMPOSING YOUR ESSAY

Chapter 5. Pre-Research

Imagine a world-class runner in the precious few minutes before she competes in an Olympic event. She is probably stretching her body in preparation for the race. Or how about a world-renowned singer approximately an hour before a concert that thousands of people will attend? He is probably warming up his voice and mentally preparing for his performance. These two people have something important in common: They have a key event in front of them that they must perform well in to achieve the success they desire, and if they are wise, they prepare for it.

Conducting research similarly requires preparation. Many students don’t realize this truth, so they make the mistake of getting the research assignment, heading straight to the library, and trying to research cold. Although everyone has different processes and this headfirst strategy might work for a few students, most students (probably 95 percent) benefit from prep work completed before beginning research.

To prepare for researching, you will need to pre-research.

1. Determine your position on the research issue or topic.

2. Prepare research questions.

3. Write out keyword lists.

Don’t worry; these steps won’t cost you a lot of time. In fact, they will ultimately save you time. Any energy expended on pre-research serves as a wise investment that will later bring you many returns. It will reduce your frustration level and help you focus on writing, rather than stressing over researching. This focus translates into greater confidence, which in turn translates into better grades.

Since we already covered how to determine your position in chapters 1 and 2, in this section we will focus on developing research questions and keyword lists. However, if you need help determining your position on the research topic, see chapter 2 on writing a strong thesis.

GETTING ORGANIZED

TIP 1: BE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THE ASSIGNMENT.

Ask yourself the following questions. Write down or type the answers, and keep up with this sheet of paper or Word doc.

· What perspective will I take on the topic? (Sum up your perspective in a sentence or two).

· What types of sources must I find? Scholarly books and journals? How many of each type, or does it matter?

· How many sources or quotes must I include? Does the assignment dictate a desired word count or required research percentage? (For example, 50 percent of the paper must be research or “their” ideas.)

· How current must the research be?

· Does the instructor require me to cite opposing viewpoints, or may I cite only evidence that supports my perspective?

· Are there any specific sources that I must cite (such as specific books or articles mentioned in class)?

TIP 2: VISIT YOUR PROFESSOR—BEFORE YOU START RESEARCHING.

Share your ideas on the topic with your instructor before you waste any time researching. Imagine how frustrated you will be if you spend days researching a perspective only to have your professor tell you it was an invalid or uninteresting one. Invest a few minutes in a conversation with your instructor to ensure you’re on the right track. You might even ask for suggestions on sources (these suggestions could save you hours at the library!).

TIP 3: CREATE A BINDER FOR THE RESEARCH PROJECT.

Everyone approaches organization a bit differently. I’m suggesting one method, but feel free to modify it to best suit your own project.

• Go out and buy a three-ring binder, dividers, and sticky tab markers.

• Put the dividers into the binder, and then organize them as follows:

• In front of the dividers, place a printed copy of the assignment, with the prompt highlighted.

• Label the first divider “My Work,” and place in this section all of your own work (such as freewriting, brainstorming, etc.).

• Label the second divider “To Use,” and insert all the articles or book titles of sources you think you will use.

• Label the third divider “To Be Read,” and insert all articles or citations of sources you need to look over more carefully.

• Label the fourth divider “Discards,” and insert all articles or citations of sources you don’t think are going to work. Don’t just throw them in the recycle bin! You may change your mind about their value later …

THE RESEARCH QUESTION(S)

If your assignment does not present to you a specific question or questions to answer, rewrite it so that it gives you a central question or two that you must address. Be as specific as possible when writing your question(s); this specificity will help immensely when you begin to research. It may mean the difference between thumbing through hundreds of hits versus dozens.

Break down the research prompt into manageable parts, and then turn each part into a question you must answer. Then write your paper to answer the question(s).

Consider the following example.

PROMPT: Compare/contrast the depictions of father/daughter relationships in The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You, and explain the significance of these depictions within the overall text. Specifically, address which text, if either, presents a better, more comprehensive view of the father character in terms of his relationship with and to his daughters. Cite research to support your contentions.

Break down the prompt into manageable parts.

This prompt, for example, contains essentially three parts:

FIRST PART: Compare/contrast the depictions of father/daughter relationships in The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You.

SECOND PART: Address which text, if either, presents a better, more comprehensive view of the father character in terms of his relationship with and to his daughters.

THIRD PART: Cite research to support your contentions.

Write a question for each part.

FIRST QUESTION: What are the major similarities and differences between how the play depicts father/daughter relationships versus how the film does?

SECOND QUESTION: Does either text present a better (more comprehensive view) of the father character in terms of his relationship with his daughters?

THIRD QUESTION: What do other scholars say about the father/daughter relationship in each text?

The writer now has three questions to answer in her paper. Notice she used her own language when rewriting the questions; she wrote them so she could understand them but kept the professor’s meaning intact.

Consider Russell’s example; it demonstrates how he turned his essay prompt into three research questions.

PROMPT: Considering our unit on contemporary wage structures in the United States, select a specific group of employees addressed in the textbook or in class and argue either in favor of or against a mandated federal hourly wage increase for this particular group of workers. All essays must include both citation of supporting evidence and refutation of counter evidence.

BREAKING DOWN:

FIRST QUESTION: What group of employees addressed in the textbook or in class will I select?

ANSWER: Tipped employees in restaurants, specifically cooks, bartenders, and servers

SECOND QUESTION: Am I going to argue in favor of or against a wage increase for these workers?

ANSWER: I am arguing in favor of a wage increase for them.

THIRD QUESTION: What is my evidence to support and my counterevidence to refute?

ANSWER:

Support

· They haven’t had a wage increase in more than twenty years, even though most other workers have, and this is not fair.

· Restaurants are making tons of money, aren’t they? Why aren’t they sharing the profits with the employees?

· There’s already legislation in Congress right now; some senators are asking for this wage increase, so lots of people are already talking about this.

· Raising their wages will help us have healthier and safer food and better service because workers will be happier.

· Maybe a wage increase will help the economy because this sector of the workforce will have more money to spend. They’ll get off welfare and other government programs. (I need to check on this.)

Counter

· It will be too expensive for restaurants, and they’ll charge customers more, which will cause people to eat out less.

· Other people, like teachers, are doing more important work, and they should get the raise, not just some food servers.

Russell has done an excellent job of covering most aspects of the prompt. The amount of time and space he spent writing out his evidence (both supporting and counterevidence) will help him immensely later. However, he must remember to refute the counterevidence in his essay; otherwise, readers might misunderstand his stance on the issue.

CREATING YOUR KEYWORD LIST

Keywords are important words or phrases within a topic or thesis. Smart researchers know that creating a list of these words before beginning a research project greatly expedites the search. To create this list, follow the steps below.

STEP 1: Underline the key terms from your writing prompt and thesis statement. Pay particular attention to:

· The texts’ titles and authors

· Specific themes, characters, or other elements you will address

Write down these keywords, or type them onto a blank page.

STEP 2: Write as many synonyms as you can for each word (use a thesaurus or dictionary, if need be), and don’t be afraid to cater the synonyms to what you already know about the texts.

Write out as many forms of the keyword(s) as possible. For example, if you are writing about images of masculinity in advertising, you might write: men, males, boys, masculine, masculinity, maleness, manliness, machismo, advertisements, advertising, advertise, and ads.

STEP 3: Choose the best keywords from the list, and combine them to create a representative phrasing of your topic. Balance is the key here. Your phrasing should be specific enough to make your search manageable but not so specific that you find no results.

· TOO VAGUE: Hundreds, possibly thousands, of results

· TOO SPECIFIC: Few, possibly zero results

· JUST RIGHT: Ample results but not an overwhelming amount

In this example, the student must write on depictions of gender in contemporary American popular culture texts. His keyword lists are below.

TOO VAGUE:

• Gender and contemporary America

• Men and American popular culture

• Masculinity and television

TOO SPECIFIC:

• Violent male gender roles in contemporary American print couture clothing ads in Men’s Quarterly magazine in 2014

• Machismo in contemporary American action films of 2014 starring Miles Marner

JUST RIGHT:

• Violent male gender roles in American action films

• Violent masculinity and American magazine advertisements

• Masculinity and American television sitcoms

EXAMPLE

Below you will find Robin’s paper prompt, which she reviewed before starting her research. She highlighted important words within it (shown here in bold) and then used this information to create her keyword list, which you will find below as well.

PROMPT: Compare/contrast the depictions of father/daughter relationships in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and Gil Junger’s film 10 Things I Hate About You, and explain the significance of these depictions within the overall text. Specifically, address which text, if either, presents a better, more comprehensive view of the father character in terms of his relationship with and to his daughters. Cite research to support your contentions.

MY THESIS: Both texts depict controlling father characters and show that the motivation behind this control determines the daughter’s ultimate fate; Baptista’s selfish motivation leads to a horrific ending for Kate, but Mr. Stratford’s benevolent motivation leads to a happy ending for Kat.

KEYWORDS

SYNONYMS

father/daughter relationships

father/daughter bond? Parent/child bond?

Shakespeare

Gil Junger

The Taming of the Shrew

10 Things I Hate About You

relationship with his daughters

connection? affiliation? value?

controlling father characters

dominating, domineering, overbearing

Baptista

selfish motivation

self-serving, egotistical, greedy

horrific ending

appalling, shocking, sad

Kate

Stratford

benevolent motivation

well meaning, kind, caring, protective

happy ending

fate, destiny, outcome

Kat

PHRASES FOR SEARCHING:

· The Taming of the Shrew

· Father/daughter relationships in Shakespeare

· The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You

· Overbearing fathers in films

· Controlling fathers in Shakespeare

· Father’s motivation and daughter fate

Robin now has a list of possible phrases from which she can choose when she begins researching.