The Bedford Researcher, Chapter seven

            Chapter seven talks about avoiding plagiarism. Starting off with the definition and three common forms of plagiarism.  Plagiarism is a form or intellectual dishonesty.  The three forms are; unintentional which means you neglect to list the sources of your authors in text, or citation. Intentional means you know you’re using some else’s work and taking credit for it. The last form of plagiarism is in group projects, which mean if you work with a group of writers on a project you want to identify the parts that each of you wrote. The middle of this chapter is about research ethics, which is, an honest exchange of info, ideas, and arguments, among writers and readers who share an interest in an issue. Another subject is common knowledge, which is, info that is widely known. The last part is about how to avoid plagiarism. There are five ways to do so, which are, conduct a knowledge inventory, take notes carefully, distinguish between your ideas and those drawn from your sources, cite sources in the text and in a works cited or reference list, and recognize misconceptions about intentional plagiarism. This is the most important chapter because without knowing this info, it could lead to disciplinary action or expulsion at your institution.

The Bedford Researcher, Chapter five

            In this chapter, it is all about evaluating your sources. The first question you want to ask yourself is what factor should I use to evaluate a source? The Bedford Researcher answers evaluating a source means examining its relevance, evidence, author, publisher, timeliness, comprehensiveness, and genre. Throughout this chapter it talks in depth about these subheadings. Starting with relevance, which means to determine if the info in a source will help you address your readers needs, interest, values, and beliefs.  Evidence, is self explained, but the book says it is info offered to support an author’s reasoning about an issue. Next, is evaluating the author, which means to ask if the author is knowledgeable about your topic, and their affiliation. Evaluating the publisher is next on the list, which says, you want to locate info about the publisher and their biases affect the info, ideas, and arguments in the source. Evaluating timeliness means, a source’s publication date. Evaluating comprehensiveness is the extent to which a source provides a complete and balanced view of a topic. This also varies according to the demands of your writing situation. Last evaluation is about genre. Identifying the genre or document type of the sources you are evaluating can help you understand a great deal about its intended readers and the kind of argument it is likely to make. The last part of this chapter also explains to evaluate web sources for relevance and credibility.

The Bedford Researcher, Chapter eight

            In chapter six is about searching for information with digital resources. Searching for the right source that will help your research project is not easy, the first part of this chapter talks about how to get started and what to look for.  For example, review your research project and identify keywords and phrases. Then input those into the basic search bar such as Google, or Bing. Moving on to the advanced search bar and Boolean operators, these operators let you use can, must or must not appear in the results. Another search tool is using special operators, like the plus sign or minus sign.  Moving on to, searching with online library catalogs and databases. Using this helps you find books, journals, newspapers, documents, maps, audiotapes, videotapes, and dissertations completed by college or university graduate students and more. The last part in this chapter is a using media search sites to search for sources, such as, image search sites, audio search sites, and video search sites. Using these appropriately will enhance your research project to a higher level. Overall, digital sources are very important and should be taken full advantage of for your research project. And getting the right information will help be successful.  

The Bedford Researcher, Chapter Six

            In this chapter, it is all about managing information and taking notes. Starting off with managing information. During a research project that will be a great deal of accumulated information. Such as, notes, print outs from the Web, photocopies, books, magazines, and word documents. A great way to organize print information would be a filing system. Once you create this, stick to it, date your information, and a note to how it might contribute to your project.  Organization of digital information would be flash drives, copying and pasting, using email, using your phone, a voice recorder, saving bookmarks on the internet, and backing up your files. The last part of this chapter talks about note taking with direct quotation, paraphrasing, summarize, and a how to create a bibliography. A bibliography is a list of sources with complete publication information, using a format called MLA. This will help a lot for managing all your information and sources during your research project timeline. Overall, the organization and note taking go hand in hand with each other, to help you be successful in your writing research project.  

The Bedford Researcher, Chapter Four

            Chapter four is mainly about reading critically.  The definition it gives us of reading critically is, questioning what it says and thinking about what it means –focuses your attention on making sense of the source. Using this while you check out your sources for your research project helps immensely, because it will help you develop a position statement. This means taking ownership of your work! And slowly begin to contribute to the conversations. Adding to reading critically also includes your attitude and how active you are in reading your sources. Attitude helps by being open to new ideas or arguments, and being active in reading helps by marking, annotating sources, and taking notes. The end of this chapter talks about what to pay attention to as you read your sources, and how many times you should read a source. Paying attention as you read, you want to identify the type of source, secondary sources, main points, reasons, evidence, interpretive framework, new info, and differences. A good rule to follow as to how many times you should read a source, is, first pass; skim for organization and content. Second pass; read actively and third pass; reread important passages. And that sums up chapter four.

The Bedford Researcher, Chapter Three

            In this chapter, they talk about how to develop your research question and proposal. First of all, building a solid foundation will help you develop your position on the issue. For example, an effective research question focuses on a specific issue, narrow enough, and reflects your writing situation. This chapter covers a 4-step process on how to create this foundation. Step one; reflect on your writing situation. Step two; generate potential research questions. Step three; craft questions that reflect your writing situation. And step four; select and refine your research question. Within step four, it also says to narrow the scope of your research question. For instance, looking for vague words and phrases in your question, and replacing them with more specific words or phrases. In part B of this chapter it talks about creating a research proposal also known as prospectus. This helps you pull together the planning you’ve done on your project, identify areas where you need additional planning, and assess the progress you’ve made so far. This is different from a research plan. A research proposal includes a title page, an introduction, a review of literature, an explanation of how you will collect info, a project timeline, and a working bibliography. In conclusion, your research proposal requires you to make decisions about the best strategies for completing your project.

The Bedford Researcher, Chapter two

            In chapter two, it talks mainly about exploring and focusing on your topic. The word exploring is defined as, gaining a general understanding of the issues – points of disagreements, concerns, uncertainty, and curiosity within a topic. Focusing means a single issue lays the groundwork for developing the research question that will frame your thinking about that issue.  After reading chapter one, all your brainstorming topics you compiled, will be narrowed down in chapter two. For example, my topic will be about Native Americans but I will need to narrow it down by “focusing” on a specific issue about Native Americans. With the help of chapter two, I can follow a four step process. Step one, create a plan, such as list of people to discuss the topic, list of questions, list of settings to observe, list of resources, and a system for keeping track of information. Step two, discuss your topic with people who know about it. (personal interviews, emails, Web, blogs, or letters). Step three, observation.  This can provide valuable information that is not available from other sources. Step four, find and review sources, search online catalogs at the library(Web, professional journals, scholarly journals, magazines, forums, and newspapers), and browse library bookshelves. Once you research all these sources record it or write down. It is very helpful to know where you found these sources, in case you need them again.

The Bedford Researcher. Chapter one.

         This chapter talks about how to get started on an academic research project.

First of all, in order to be successful, the individual will need personal investment, understanding of research writing, willingness to learn to work with sources, and interest in taking a position on an issue. Once these are established chapter one starts to talk about choosing a topic and the writing process. When choosing a topic there are three steps to follow: Step one, analyze your assignment, for instance ask yourself questions about who will be reading this, and why would anyone read this. Step two, generate ideas about appropriate topics, such as brainstorming, pre-writing, free writing, clustering, and looping. Step three, consider you writing situation, for example, select the strongest candidate and think of the level of interest you and your writers might have in the topic. These steps have helped me choose a topic for my research project this quarter in English 102. My topic will be about Native Americans, however, I do need to narrow it down. Last but not least, at the end of chapter one, a good rule of thumb about choosing a topic is not about the size of your readers but your interest in the topic.

Collabrative Writing

Small Groups Grade Two Sample MLA Research Papers

Farming MLA essay

	0  -  F	1  -  D	2  -  C	3  -  B	4  -  A
Be your own work;					X
Be 3,000+ words in length					X
Employ correct gram, punct, & MLA-style				X
Employ parenthetical citations, a Works Cited page, & employ copious signal phrases				X
Convincingly argue your thesis			X
Refer to 10 or more highly credible sources				X
Conclusively demonstrate 102 level					X

Small Groups Grade Two Sample MLA Research Papers

Found Voices MLA essay #2

	0  -  F	1  -  D	2  -  C	3  -  B	4  -  A
Be your own work;					X
Be 3,000+ words in length		X
Employ correct gram, punct, & MLA-style		X
Employ parenthetical citations, a Works Cited page, & employ copious signal phrases			X
Convincingly argue your thesis					X
Refer to 10 or more highly credible sources			X
Conclusively demonstrate 102 level		X