Getting Started with Your Final Project/Paper
Research Plan
A research project is more than collecting data. You start it before you log on to the internet or head for the library, and you continue it long after you have all the data you think you need. In that process, you face COUNTLESS specific tasks, but they ALL aim at just five general goals. You must do the following:
- Ask a question worth answering.
- Find an answer that you can support with good reasons. (This is your thesis)
- Find reliable evidence to support your reasons.
- Draft a paper that makes a good case for your answer. Or, alternatively, develop your project!
- Revise that draft until readers will think you met the first four goals.
Research projects would be easy if you could march straight through those steps. But as you’ve discovered (or soon will), research and its reporting are NEVER straightforward. As you do one task, you’ll have to look ahead to others or revisit an earlier one. You’ll change topics as you read, search for more data as you draft, perhaps even discover a new question as you revise. Research is looping, messy, and unpredictable. But it’s manageable if you have a plan, even when you know you’ll depart from it.
Example of aThesis
Thesis
“Government officials allowed discrimination against Japanese Americans not because it was in the nation’s interest, but because it provided a concrete enemy for people to focus on.”
This thesis derives from a thesis question (“why did government officials allow discrimination against Japanese Americans?”). To define your question is the first step in formulating a thesis. [Why or how did something happen?]
Three steps to constructing a thesis:
1) Choose a general topic, such as the impact of government policies and legislation on race relations?
2) Develop a specific question around this topic. For example, how did New Deal legislation affect racial inequality in the U.S.?
3) Develop a creative answer to your question. For example, New Deal legislation not only did not lessen racial inequality in post-WWII U.S. but it actually helped to widen the economic and social gap between whites and blacks. This is your thesis statement!
Finish this exercise and bring it to class on Thursday:
My general topic is: _________________________________________________________
My specific question about this topic is: _________________________________________
My answer (thesis) to thisquestions is: __________________________________________
My project is relevant because: ________________________________________________
List and types of evidence (PRIMARY SOURCES) used for your project/paper (list 4-5 items):
List of academic articles and books (SECONDARY SOURCES) that will help you develop your project (4-5 items):