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| Introduction: Rethinking the research paper | |
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| Learning and unlearning | |
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| Using this book | |
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| The exercises | |
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| The five-week plan | |
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| Alternatives to the five-week plan | |
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| The research paper versus the research report | |
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| Discovering your purpose | |
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| How formal should it be? | |
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| The question is you | |
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| Thinking like an academic writer | |
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| A method of discovery | |
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| Firing on four cylinders of information | |
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| Facts don't kill | |
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| Creative research papers? | |
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| The First Week | |
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| The importance of getting curious | |
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| Getting the pot boiling | |
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| Other ways to find a topic | |
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| What is a good topic? | |
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| Where's Waldo and the organizing power of questions | |
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| Making the most of an assigned topic | |
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| Developing a working knowledge | |
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| Case study on developing working knowledge: Theories of dog training | |
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| Research strategies for developing working knowledge | |
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| Using Zotero to manage your research | |
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| The reference librarian: A living source | |
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| Narrowing the subject | |
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| Circling the lighthouse | |
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| From landscape shots to close-ups | |
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| Crafting your opening inquiry question | |
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| Possible purposes for a research assignment | |
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| Reading for research | |
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| Reading rhetorically | |
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| Reading like an outsider | |
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| The Second Week | |
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| Developing a research strategy | |
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| Google vs. the library | |
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| A complementary research strategy | |
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| Find enough information by using the best search terms | |
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| Index searches using the Library of Congress subject headings | |
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| Keyword searching in library databases | |
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| Keyword searches on the world wide web | |
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| Find varied sources | |
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| Primary vs. secondary sources | |
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| Objective vs. subjective | |
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| Stable or unstable? | |
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| Find quality sources | |
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| When was it published? | |
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| Why journal articles are better than magazine articles | |
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| Look for often-cited authors | |
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| Not all books are alike | |
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| Evaluating online sources | |
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| A key to evaluating Internet sources | |
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| Developing focused knowledge | |
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| What about a thesis? | |
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| Suspending judgment? | |
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| Testing assumptions? | |
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| What are you arguing? | |
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| Searching library databases for books and articles | |
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| Keeping track of what you find: Developing a bibliography | |
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| Finding Books | |
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| Understanding call numbers | |
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| Coming up empty-handed? | |
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| Checking bibliographies | |
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| Interlibrary loan | |
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| Article databases | |
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| Saving search results | |
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| Advanced Internet research techniques | |
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| Types of search engines | |
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| Living sources: Interviews and surveys | |
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| Arranging interviews | |
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| Finding experts | |
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| Finding nonexperts affected by your topic | |
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| Making contact | |
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| Conducting interviews | |
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| Whom to interview | |
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| What questions to ask | |
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| During the interview | |
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| Notetaking | |
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| The e-mail interview | |
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| Finding people on the Internet | |
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| Making contact by e-mail | |
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| The discussion board and listserv interview | |
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| Planning informal surveys | |
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| Defining goals and audience | |
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| Types of questions | |
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| Survey design | |
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| Avoid loaded questions | |
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| Avoid vague questions | |
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| Drawbacks of open-ended questions | |
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| Designing your multiple choice questions | |
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| Using continuum questions | |
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| Conducting surveys | |
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| Telephone surveys | |
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| In person surveys | |
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| The Internet survey | |
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| Fieldwork: Research on what you see and hear | |
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| Preparing for fieldwork | |
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| Notetaking strategies | |
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| Using what you see and hear | |
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| The Third Week | |
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| Writing in the middle | |
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| Becoming an activist notetaker | |
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| Plagiarism: What it is, why it matters, and how to avoid it | |
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| I read what you said and borrowed it, okay? | |
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| Why plagiarism matters | |
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| Making information your own: Quotation, paraphrase, and summary | |
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| Paraphrasing | |
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| Summarizing | |
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| Quoting | |
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| Notetaking | |
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| "What? I Failed" by Thomas Lord | |
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| Notetaking techniques | |
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| The double-entry journal | |
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| The research log | |
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| Narrative notetaking | |
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| Online research notebooks | |
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| When you're coming up short: More advanced searching techniques | |
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| Advanced library searching techniques | |
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| Advanced Internet search techniques | |
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| Thinking outside the box: Alternative sources | |
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| The Fourth Week | |
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| Getting to the draft | |
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| Exploration or argument? | |
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| S.O.F.T. | |
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| Organizing the draft | |
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| Delayed thesis structure | |
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| Question-claim structure | |
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| Exploring or arguing: An example | |
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| Preparing to write the draft | |
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| Refining the question | |
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| Refining the thesis | |
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| Deciding whether to say I | |
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| Getting personal without being personal | |
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| Starting to write the draft: Beginning at the beginning | |
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| Flashlights or floodlights? | |
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| Writing multiple leads | |
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| Writing for reader interest | |
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| Working the common ground | |
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| Topics for which common ground is hard to find | |
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| Putting people on the page | |
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| Using case studies | |
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| Using interviews | |
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| Writing a strong ending | |
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| Endings to avoid | |
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| Using surprise | |
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| Writing with sources | |
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| Blending kinds of writing and sources | |
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| Handling quotes | |
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| Quick tips for controlling quotations | |
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| Grafting quotes | |
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| Sandwiching quotes | |
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| Billboarding quotes | |
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| Splicing quotes | |
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| Handling interview material | |
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| Trusting your memory | |
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| Citing sources | |
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| Driving through the first draft | |
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| The Fifth Week | |
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| Revising is re-seeing (or breaking up is hard to do) | |
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| Global revision: Revising for purpose, thesis, and structure | |
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| Writer- to reader-based prose | |
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| Is it organized around a clear purpose? | |
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| Does it establish significance? | |
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| Does it say one thing? | |
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| Using a reader | |
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| Reviewing the structure | |
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| Using your thesis to revise | |
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| Examining the wreckage | |
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| Other ways of reviewing the structure | |
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| Re-researching | |
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| Finding quick facts | |
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| Local revision: Revising for language | |
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| Listening to voice | |
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| Avoid sounding glib | |
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| Tightening seams between what you say and what they say | |
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| Verbal gestures | |
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| Scrutinizing paragraphs | |
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| Is each paragraph unified? | |
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| Scrutinizing sentences | |
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| Using active voice | |
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| Using strong verbs | |
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| Varying sentence length | |
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| Editing for simplicity | |
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| Avoiding stock phrases | |
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| Preparing the final manuscript | |
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| Considering a "reader-friendly" design | |
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| Using images | |
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| Following MLA conventions | |
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| Proofreading your paper | |
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| Proofreading on a computer | |
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| Looking closely | |
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| Ten common mistakes in research papers | |
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| Using the "find" or "search" function | |
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| Avoiding sexist language | |
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| Looking back and moving on | |
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| Guide to MLA Styles. | |
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| Guide to APA Style. | |
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| Understanding Research Assignments | |
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| Index | |