Chapter 2 | Exploring and Focusing

Exploring and focusing your topic is crucial.  This will allow you to define a point of view and narrow your research giving your paper an end result of a clear and concise argument.  Some ideas on how to first explore your topic are to create a list of people you can discuss the subject with and questions to ask them, events to attend to observe your topic in action, as well as the more traditional options of library and internet searching.  As you gather pertinent research, it is important to make note of your sources, not only for bibliography and works cited purposes, but also in the event that you would like to go back at a later date to learn more from that particular source.  This is because your point of view on your topic is ideally in constant transformation as you become more and more informed.  To help gather as much information as possible in a time efficient manner, skimming is an excellent technique.  As you skim through your articles, by scanning headlines, focusing on opening and closing paragraphs, and noting captions, it is a good idea to be constantly identifying and recording recurring conversations, themes, and central concepts about your chosen topic.

The portion where the text illustrates how to skim a source, I found really helpful.  I'm a pretty slow reader so becoming a good "skimmer" will be really beneficial for me.  It will help me cover more material quicker, finding exactly what I'm looking for.  I also really like how the the author makes a point to keep an open mind about about focus and main point within your topic, as it could be influenced and change as you learn more.  Although I feel I already have a topic and defined viewpoint, I'm really going to try to keep open for other focuses that could be interesting and more appropriate.

Chapter 1 | Getting Started

Chapter 1 is the first segment of “Joining the Conversation”, which focuses on how to begin your research writing project. The author goes through appropriate tips and techniques for how to effectively write a research paper.  To start, it is crucial to choose a topic that you will enjoy learning about, be invested in, and ideally even have some personal experience with.  Although personal experience is not necessary, it can help give insights into your topic that can be useful in defining a viewpoint.  Some tools suggested to help generate ideas for your topic and ultimately identify a subject ideally suited for you are brainstorming, freewriting, looping, and clustering.  Once a topic is decided upon, it is then suggested to create a project timeline to help keep you on track and meet your deadline.  Another key tip is to have a methodical way to track the information you are gathering, or at least keep all the information in one place, such as a notebook, notecards, or computer file.  As you begin the research process, it is important to keep an eye out for what your position on the topic will be, in addition to who your reader is.  The tone in which you present your research is important to define as well, as it is critical to connecting with your audience.

For me, the most important take away for our project is to choose a topic that you have a natural interest in.  This will really help fuel your research and keep the process fun!  I loved the guy who chose the re-insurgence of metal music as his focus, so got to go to concerts for research.