Essay Research Assignment
Don't jump directly into an essay that requires research. First, do research on your topic.
This research accomplishes the following things:
This research accomplishes the following things:
- It allows you to verify that your topic will work, and gives you a chance to change/modify your topic if it is not working out.
- It provides you with the materials you need to plan and organize the argument of your essay. You can't make an outline until you have done research.
Research Assignment Directions:
Choose 5 credible sources relevant to your topic. Pick sources that you are highly likely to cite in your essay!
Open the research assignment worksheet, and for each source, do three things: summarize, evaluate, and reflect.
Choose 5 credible sources relevant to your topic. Pick sources that you are highly likely to cite in your essay!
Open the research assignment worksheet, and for each source, do three things: summarize, evaluate, and reflect.
- Summarize: Briefly summarize what you read in the source. What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say? You only need to summarize the parts that you read (not an entire book, for example!)
- Evaluate: After summarizing a source, you should evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. Is it a credible source? When considering credibility, be sure to think about everything we have discussed in the past: author, publisher, date, audience, bias, proper citations, purpose, etc.
- Reflect: Now you need to ask how the source fits into your research. How will this source be helpful to you? How does it help you shape the argument in your essay? How can you use this source in your essay? Has it changed how you think about your topic?
Additionally, you must use Scrible to annotate your sources. For each source you pick, use Scrible to make at least three annotations (highlights or comments) on the article. Save your annotated article to your Scrible Library, and include the link to the annotated page on the research assignment worksheet.