ENGL 1301 – Research Hunt
Instructions:
Open & save a Word document with your last name + first initial + Research (for example, LHolder Research).
Set up the document in MLA – 12pt, Times New Roman, double-spaced, 1-inch margins, with your name & info in the upper left corner, and your last name & page number as a header in the upper left
Please read ALL the instructions before beginning so you can keep track of information as you go along.
For each source you find, collect the AUTHOR, TITLE, PUBLICATION INFO (date, publisher or domain name, page numbers, etc.) and WEB LINK. If you can’t find all this information, find as much of it as you can to use in your citations.
When you finish the entire Research Hunt, you should have EIGHT sources.
You will create an MLA formatted Works Cited page at the end of your document & put those sources in proper MLA order/format.
Assignment:
On page one, write a brief paragraph (3-6 sentences) summarizing your topic, your interest, & your argument. You may reuse information from the Module 1 discussion board about your research topic or your Proposal, but you should edit the material for clarity & phrasing.
Create a brief list of search terms or questions you might use to find research on your topic. For example, instead of just searching for “stopping texting and driving,” you might search for “texting and driving” or “problems of texting and driving” to get different results. As you go through your research, keep track of which prompts you used for which questions to prevent overlap or repetition. Please see the PDF attached to the Research Hunt assignment about using key words as a search strategy for help generating this list. You can also use the research questions you created in your previous assignment as starting points.
Using the terms and/or questions created above, do a basic search using the OC databases using Super Search for sources that might be used to fulfill the questions/prompts listed below. You will find at least one source per prompt (meaning you should have FIVE sources when finished).
You will cite these sources in MLA format at the end of the Research Hunt. NOTE: You are not summarizing these sources or actually trying to answer the following questions yet. You are merely finding a source that COULD be used to answer/address the question or prompt. You will work with these sources to write your paper.
Find sources that could be used to answer or address the following five questions/prompts:
Prompt 1: A source that offers Basic Information about your topic, such as statistics or history of the topic/problem.
Prompt 2: A source that explains why your chosen topic is an issue of concern or why it matters.
Prompt 3: A source that explains what has been done in the past (or is happening currently) to address your topic, or how your topic has been addressed in the mainstream media.
If nothing is being or has been done or your topic hasn’t been addressed, find a source that talks about why it hasn’t been addressed.
Prompt 4: A source that you could use to show that your argument/claim about your topic is valid.
Prompt 5: A source that contradicts your argument in some way or offers a contradicting viewpoint.
This could be a specific contradiction, such as someone arguing that policies like the one you are suggesting don’t/won’t/can’t work, or more general, such as saying there’s not a problem to be dealt with in the first place.
Use the Advanced Search in Super Search option for any ONE of the above prompts to search again for a different source than the one you previously found.
Suggested alterations on the Advanced Search: search only in the title or abstract, use the AND/OR/NOT function, etc.
Use the Refine Results option in Super Search for any ONE of the above prompts to search again for a different source.
Suggestions of changes: limit your results to the last 5 years, only look for peer-reviewed journals, etc.
Use your search terms in Google or Google Scholar to find at least two different sources of any type or style (aside from Wikipedia or Encyclopedia sources). In a brief paragraph on page 1 of 150 – 250 words, explain why you chose these two sources.
Cite all of the sources from this assignment (you should have a minimum of 9 sources – the five sources from question #2 & one each from questions #3 & #4, & two from question #5) in a properly formatted Works Cited page – this should appear on a separate page at the end of the document. This means that your submission will have at least 2 pages – one page with your name & the paragraphs & key words list, and a second page with your Works Cited page.
Properly formatted Works Cited page – this means the entries will be in alphabetical order, double-spaced, not numbered or bulleted. There is an entire folder of guides for MLA & creating a WC page given on our Blackboard. There’s a link to OWL at Purdue with its own set of guides. There’s a video to show you how to set up a WC page. Do not just “wing it.”
Save & submit your work.
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