Research

Due January 12
Your final product determines which type of research assignment will be required.

Research Summary

The Research Summary fulfills the research assignment when you are NOT creating a Academic Research Paper as your product. The following criteria must be included in the Research Summary:

• Name each topic that you researched.
  Explain how each was used for your project. Be specific.
  Write about previous experience you have had with any of the topics.
• Name your most significant (most helpful) sources of information and how each was helpful.
• Describe what you learned that was new to you. Be very specific.
• Describe your most challenging problem while you were researching. How did you resolve it?
• Give some helpful and realistic advice to someone who is going to do research next year for their senior project.
• List what you would do differently if you were to conduct this research again.
• Explain how this research might help you in your future.
• Write a Works Cited with proper citation format (pdf)

The Academic Research Paper

A draft of your Academic Research Paper fulfills this research assignment when you are creating a Academic Research Paper as your product.

The focus of your Research Paper is on what experts know and do not know about the topic you have chosen for your Senior Project. It is vital that you are passionate about the topic of choice because you will be working on this topic all year. Whatever your chosen topic, be sure it is researched in depth to include a minimum of 8 credible sources (with at least two different types).

Steps to Writing Your Paper

These are the steps you will be following as you define the topic of your paper, organize your research and begin writing

• Select a topic that is a mental “stretch” for you.
• Develop open-ended guiding questions.
• Create a research thesis to define the focus of your paper
• Conduct research on what others know about your topic and historically, what others have done with the topic.
• Notes are taken in such a way that the information may be rearranged and organized – either on index cards or computer.
• Make an outline of your research to help you organize the actual writing of your paper.
• Write your Secondary Research paper in the correct format:
  Topic Sentences
  Anatomy of a Paragraph
  Formatting quotations

• Write a Works Cited with proper citation format (pdf)