Reading

Thinking

  • PLACE
  • Asking questions
  • Identifying search key terms
  • Locating sources
  • Analyzing and Evaluating Sources

    • Writing

  • Mapping
  • Outlining
  • Designing a research plan
    •

    Planning: reading


    Browsing

    Often a good way to find ideas for a topic is to browse selected sections of the library or the internet. For example, you might visit this Web site and spend a little time there: http://www.researchpaper.com.

    If you have chosen a general topic, you might go to that section of the library and browse the sources that are there. For example, if you want to write the meaning and significance of your name, you might to the the section of your public library where the books about personal names are shelved. This is section 929.4 in the Dewey Decimal System.

    Return to the top of this page.

    Choosing a Topic

    Sometimes the most difficult part of a writing assignment is choosing a topic. In your anxiety to find the perfect topic you overlook all the great ideas you already have on your mind. The brainstorming strategies of free-writing, mapping, and blasting through writer's block may help you.
    • Go to Discovery Grove for help with these.
    • The prompt or list of questions for choosing a topic may be especially helpful.
    • You might also discuss your assignment and swap topic ideas with the classmates in your writing group.
    • Talk briefly with your teacher about your topic ideas. Don't hesitate to mention the topics you've rejected as well as those you are considering. Sometimes, as you describe why you've rejected a topic, you discover a way to make it work.
    Return to the top of this page.

    Gathering Information

    Before you begin to gather information, you should draft a list of questions that you hope your research will answer.
    Go to Asking Questions for some helpful tips.

    To find answers to your questions, you will have to do a little research. Most sources of information fall into one of three categories:

    • Print sources include books, magazines, newspapers, government documents, pamphlets, unpublished manuscripts, letters and diaries.
    • Media and electronic sources include audio recordings, films, videos, television broadcasts, electronic databases and sites on the internet.
    • Personal sources include interviews, surveys, and observations.
    At this point, it may be a good idea to draft a research plan to organize your strategies for locating information and for developing a schedule so that you can complete your project by the deadline or due date.

    Then you will want to make a short list of keywords to conduct searches in library databases and with internet search engines.

    Return to the top of this page.

    Understanding the Reading Process

    As an introduction to the reading process, view the PowerPoint presentation "The Reading Process: Creating Meaning."

    Like the writing process, the reading process is an interactive web of activities that involve reading, thinking and writing along each branch of the web.

    Return to the top of this page.

    Research

    http://www.pals.msus.edu
    http://www.netscape.com
    http://www.google.com
    http://www.yahoo.com
    http://www.infoseek.com
    http://www.altavista.com
    http://www.hotbot.com

    Courses | Planning | Discovery Writing | Drafting | Revising | Editing | Handbook
    Search | Home

    © Copyright 2009 the WorldWide Writers' PLACE - Elizabeth A. Nist All rights reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including downloading and printing, photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the owner.