research for the literature

Writin" rel="nofollow">ing the Introduction to the Research Report This is the first section of your paper, even though we write it after we have done the research for the literature review. This first section of your paper is to be uploaded with the first draft. Be sure you have formatted it correctly – double-spaced, 12 pt Times New Roman font, 1 in" rel="nofollow">inch margin" rel="nofollow">ins all around, spellin" rel="nofollow">ing and grammar checked, APA in" rel="nofollow">in-text citations, and a reference page. You should keep your reference page up to date so you get feedback every time. The in" rel="nofollow">introduction is the broad begin" rel="nofollow">innin" rel="nofollow">ing of the paper that answers three important questions: 1. What is this paper about? 2. Why should I read it? 3. What are you (the researcher) goin" rel="nofollow">ing to do in" rel="nofollow">in your proposed study? You should answer these questions by doin" rel="nofollow">ing the followin" rel="nofollow">ing: 1. Set the context – provide general in" rel="nofollow">information about the main" rel="nofollow">in idea, explain" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing the situation so the reader can make sense of the topic and the claims you make and support. 2. State why the main" rel="nofollow">in idea is important – tell the reader why s/he should care and keep readin" rel="nofollow">ing. 3. State your thesis/claim – compose a sentence or two statin" rel="nofollow">ing the general purpose of your study. Start it like this: “The purpose of this study is….” This should be one large or two medium paragraphs in" rel="nofollow">includin" rel="nofollow">ing statistics and any data that may support your general topic question. Thus, the most time consumin" rel="nofollow">ing part of this assignment is researchin" rel="nofollow">ing the background statistics and in" rel="nofollow">information. The writin" rel="nofollow">ing should go quickly. You should plan to write and then set your paper aside for a while before comin" rel="nofollow">ing back and editin" rel="nofollow">ing and proofin" rel="nofollow">ing it a couple of times. You may only use data from authoritative websites or academic articles. Not every site is authoritative! Many have extreme biases, and others are entirely hoaxes. (For my favorite hoax, search for in" rel="nofollow">information on the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus). What do we mean by in" rel="nofollow">includin" rel="nofollow">ing statistics and data? The in" rel="nofollow">introduction is a great spot to in" rel="nofollow">include general, broad statistics. If you were doin" rel="nofollow">ing a paper on cohabitation, you would want to in" rel="nofollow">include statistics about how many cohabitin" rel="nofollow">ing couples there are, how this has changed over time (gone up, gone down, stayed the same), and what proportion of all households have a cohabitin" rel="nofollow">ing couple. If you were doin" rel="nofollow">ing a paper on same sex marriage, you could in" rel="nofollow">include statistics on what percentage of people support or oppose same sex marriage, how has this changed over time, what percentage of states have legalized or banned same sex marriage (this is obviously less useful now because of the recent Supreme Court rulin" rel="nofollow">ing, though it should give an idea on what to thin" rel="nofollow">ink about). Note that in" rel="nofollow">in the above examples, the statistics are givin" rel="nofollow">ing some kin" rel="nofollow">ind of idea to reader of not only the importance of the topic, but some general idea in" rel="nofollow">into the magnitude of the topic more generally. Where to get in" rel="nofollow">information For example, if you wish to start with Wikipedia, you will fin" rel="nofollow">ind some general in" rel="nofollow">information and lin" rel="nofollow">inks to sources. You should not use Wikipedia as a source for any academic or other writin" rel="nofollow">ing. Fin" rel="nofollow">ind the primary sources referred to in" rel="nofollow">in the article and read them. It is quite possible, even probable, that the Wikipedia summary is not entirely correct. But it can defin" rel="nofollow">initely be a helpful place to start your search. Also, make sure to critically evaluate whether the site you’re lookin" rel="nofollow">ing at might have a vested in" rel="nofollow">interest in" rel="nofollow">in presentin" rel="nofollow">ing only certain" rel="nofollow">in types of statistics (i.e. does this site aim to advance a particular social, political, or economic system?). That does not mean that the statistics are false or can’t be trusted, but you should endeavor to make sure that in" rel="nofollow">information you’re gatherin" rel="nofollow">ing is as trustworthy as possible. A simple way to evaluate this: does the site say where they got their data? Do they supply a lin" rel="nofollow">ink to that data sources? If they say somethin" rel="nofollow">ing vague like, “Accordin" rel="nofollow">ing to Pew, ##% of Americans support ______” but they don’t say anythin" rel="nofollow">ing about what year this occurred, what the actual survey basis was, and so on, it may not be that trustworthy. Why is that? Organizations like Pew are constantly surveyin" rel="nofollow">ing people and regularly ask the same questions to see how responses change (or don’t) over time. If a site doesn’t tell you anythin" rel="nofollow">ing about the specific Pew survey they’re usin" rel="nofollow">ing, then it is hard to know if you’re usin" rel="nofollow">ing the most recent and representative in" rel="nofollow">information. For health statistics, check the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ For education statistics, the National Center for Education Statistics: http://nces.ed.gov/ For California education: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/ For social and political data, the Pew Research Center: http://pewresearch.org/topics/ For social and political data, Gallup: http://www.gallup.com/home.aspx For an example of the in" rel="nofollow">introduction, look at the sample proposal on the SS3A summer onlin" rel="nofollow">ine course website. These websites offer additional explanation and help with writin" rel="nofollow">ing APA papers.: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ (this website has excellent resources – the presentation in" rel="nofollow">in this lin" rel="nofollow">ink describes a more complex project than what you are doin" rel="nofollow">ing, keep that in" rel="nofollow">in min" rel="nofollow">ind.) http://my.ilstu.edu/~jhkahn/APAsample.pdf (this is a helpful sample paper from an onlin" rel="nofollow">ine source)