The Lesson Activities Will Help You Meet These Educational Goals

Academic Success Lesson Activities

Doing Research The Lesson Activities will help you meet these educational goals: 21st Century Skills—You will use critical thinking and problem solving skills and communicate effectively.

Directions Please save this document before you begin working on the assignment. Type your answers directly in the document. ______

Self-Checked Activities

Read the instructions for the following activities and type in your responses. These self- checked activities have no sample answers, as they depend on your personal experience. Keep in mind that you will benefit most by answering questions thoroughly and honestly.

1. Researching Think about the ways in which you currently conduct research for projects or essays.

a. Describe how you choose topics for research papers. Include in your response whether you do research before you decide on the topic.

Type your response here:

b. Describe how you conduct your research. Include in your response the types of resources you usually use, such as online articles, books, interviews, and so on.

c. Do you find that you can identify the quality of sources easily? Why or why not?

d. Do you tend to revise your thesis many times? Include in your response the advantages and disadvantages of doing this.

Type your response here: f. For practice, come up with a topic that you can research, as if you were writing a paper. (You can use your actual intended topic if you wish.) Brainstorm a range of topics and jot down your ideas. Evaluate the topics that you have listed, and pick one that you would want to write about.

Type your response here: g. Make a detailed plan for how you can improve your research methods. Try these new techniques over the next few days to a week, researching the topic you picked. Be sure to take notes so that you can describe the effects the techniques have had on the quality of your research.

Add other information you find during your research in this table (optional):

Research You’ve Collected

h. Read this list of 20 thought-starter questions . Select three of these model questions and develop specific questions around your topic to formulate a thesis statement. Your research should help you answer these questions. Include the thesis you choose in your response.

2 Type your response here:

2. Condensing Information Consider how you currently condense the information that you collect from your research.

a. How do you organize the data you find from researching? Do you copy only the information you need into notes? Or do you simply mark pages in books or websites to remember later? Describe how you condense the information you find. Include in your response the advantages and disadvantages that this method has on your writing process.

b. Describe how you decide what information should go into your paper. Include in your response whether or how you analyze the evidence that you find.

c. To practice, make a detailed plan for how you can better condense the information you collect from your research, using the data you found in the last researching activity. As you try these new techniques, be sure to take notes so you can describe the effects they’ve had on the way you organize your research.

3. Evidence and Outlines Think about how you currently plan your research papers and use the evidence you find during your research.

a. Describe how you like to plan your research paper. Include in your response whether you use an outline and the effective and ineffective aspects of your techniques.

b. Describe how you determine where the evidence you collect might align to points in your essay. Include in your response the effective and ineffective aspects of your techniques.

c. Look at this sample outline that follows from a thesis. Then read about the four main components of an effective outline: parallelism, coordination, subordination, and 3 division. Write your outline on a separate of sheet of paper to refer to throughout the rest of the activity. Align the evidence you found earlier to points in your outline.

d. Make a detailed plan (such as an outline) for how you can better plan your essay and align your evidence, using the condensed research from the Condensing Information activity for practice. As you try these new techniques, be sure to take notes so you can describe the effects they’ve had on the way you plan your research paper.

4. Drafting Your Paper Think about how you currently draft your research papers.

a. How do you usually start writing your essays? Do you start with the introduction or a body paragraph? Describe how you get started drafting your paper. Include in your response if you find drafting to be difficult and how your current methods might contribute to the level of difficulty you encounter.

b. Describe how long you tend to give yourself to write your essays. Include in your response the effective and ineffective aspects of this habit or schedule.

c. Do you tend to use a lot of evidence in your papers? Or do you use only a minimum amount? Describe how much evidence you use in your essays. Include in your response whether you’ve ever forgotten to cite a source and any repercussions you faced.

d. Make a detailed plan for how you can better draft your essays. As you try these new techniques, be sure to take notes so you can describe the effects they’ve had on the way you draft your research paper.

4 5. Revising Consider how you currently revise, edit, and/or proofread your essays before turning them in.

a. Do you revise right after you finish writing a paper? Do you revise or edit at all? Describe how you revise your essays after completing a rough draft. Include in your response the advantages and disadvantages that your method has on the overall quality of your papers.

b. Even if you don’t revise, do you try to proof your paper before turning it in to your instructor? Include in your response why you do or don’t proofread and how that might affect the quality of your papers.

c. Make a detailed plan for how you can better revise, edit, and proofread your essays. Use an essay you turned in for another class to try your new techniques. As you practice these new methods, be sure to take notes so you can describe the effects they might have had on the quality of your paper.

6. Follow-Up Describe the changes you made over the last week or more in the ways you research and draft your essays. In a short essay (3–5 paragraphs), reflect on the effects these changes had on the quality of both your research and final drafts of your paper. Include in your response which changes were most beneficial, which didn’t work for you, and how you can incorporate those improvements into your next research paper. You may take notes in the table before writing in paragraph form.

Type notes in the table (optional): Changes Made and the Results researching

condensing information

organizing evidence

5 revising/using an outline

drafting your essay

revising, editing, and proofreading

Type your response here in paragraph form:

Note: Your work in these activities is important. It will serve as a basis for the course as you strive to improve your study habits. Keep your responses to these activities on hand so that you can reflect on them as you progress through the course. You may also need to refer to your responses as part of activities that you will submit to your teacher. Take some time to review your answers to ensure that they are complete.