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The Research Paper
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Key Understanding
Learning the different aspects of writing a research paper will help
equip you in writing an effective research paper.
Key Question
What are the important things that you need to know in writing a
research paper?
The Research Paper
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Part I: Planning Your Research
GUIDELINES IN PLANNING FOR YOUR RESEARCH
Work with a familiar subject
Try something new that piques your interest
Browse through available research materials
The Research Paper
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Part II: Finding Primary Sources
EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES
1. Observations
Tips on Conducting an Observation
• Open up your five senses to take note of everything that is happening around you.
• You have to have a notebook with you in which you write each and every detail you
observe with regard to your research topic.
• Make it a point to write your observations descriptively and objectively. Don’t include your
personal biases, judgments, and presumptions as these will affect your output heavily and
might lead to unwanted criticisms.
• Since a single day of observation does not yield pertinent and sufficient data for your
research, leave your research topic or subject and then return to it to see how it changes
after a certain amount of time.
The Research Paper
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Part II: Finding Primary Sources
EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES
1. Observations
Ethnography
• A sociological method that explores how people live and make sense of their lives with one
another in particular places
• The study of races and culture
• Commonly done in the Humanities, particularly in the disciplines of Anthropology,
Archaeology, and Sociology
• Is done with the researcher living with his/her research subjects in their normal living
environment for a significantly long period of time
• Ultimate aim: to produce the most authentic data that can strongly support your claims in
your research paper
The Research Paper
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Part II: Finding Primary Sources
EXAMPLES OF PRIMARY SOURCES
2. Interviews
Tips on Preparing for and Conducting an Interview
• Know which person/s you want to interview for your research and then contact him/her to
schedule the interview.
• During the set appointment, dress properly and don’t be late as you would be wasting the
interviewee’s time.
• Be prepared with your questions beforehand and write them down so you won’t forget them.
• Be ready with a pen and paper, and a tape recorder. The tape recorder can capture those little
details that the interviewee would say that you might not be able to jot down.
• During the interview, do more listening than note-taking, anyway you already have a tape
recorder.
The Research Paper
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Part III: Finding Sources in the Library
RESEARCH AND THE DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM (DDS)
DDC is a library system used to organize books and other resource
materials, to keep track of who borrows and returns them to the library,
and to determine which books are new acquisitions and which books are
in need of reprinting.
DDC helps in narrowing down the area you need to browse through
enough for you to save time for other matters related to your research.
The Research Paper
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Part III: Finding Sources in the Library
ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND DISCIPLINARY GUIDES
These materials can serve as a springboard to specialized areas of your
research topic since they have very general information and offer the
most important details of a given subject.
The bibliographies near the end of these materials can easily give you
other sources with specific information.
The Research Paper
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Part III: Finding Sources in the Library
BOOKS, WHETHER HARDBOUND OR SOFTBOUND
Books are preferred as information sources by people in the academe
because they have been edited and peer-reviewed multiple times before it
is published; hence, highly reputable and credible.
It is highly recommended that your “specialized” sources are bound
published books to adhere to the tradition of research.
The Research Paper
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Part III: Finding Sources in the Library
PERIODICALS, NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES
Periodicals, newspapers, and magazines are the most up-to-date sources
you can get; hence, they have the latest information on whatever topic
you have chosen.
These materials are the most likely sources of information on the latest
technology and the development of research topics.
The Research Paper
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Part III: Finding Sources in the Library
THE INTERNET
Tips on How to Check If the Source You Find on the Internet Is Credible
• View the Uniform Resource Locator or URL.
• Question the author.
• Check the given detailed information, accuracy, and grammar.
• Check for timeliness of the provided information.
The Research Paper
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Part IV: Making a Working Bibliography
WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY: WHAT IT IS
It is a list of all the sources you have come across as you are doing your
research.
Its ultimate purpose is to make it easier for you as the researcher to go
back to previously acquired sources when you keep on acquiring more.
WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY: WHAT IT ISN'T
It isn’t necessarily the final bibliography that would appear in the final
pages of your research paper. The final bibliography could have more
sources cited or even less.
The Research Paper
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Part IV: Making a Working Bibliography
THE APA CITATION GUIDE
The APA, or the American Psychological Association, is the citation guide
most commonly used in disciplines under the social sciences like
Anthropology, Archaeology, History, and Sociology.
The title given to the bibliography page using the APA style is
“References.
The Research Paper
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Part IV: Making a Working Bibliography
THE APA CITATION GUIDE
Basic format for books
Murray, D. M. (2005). Write to Learn. (8th ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Thomson
Wadsworth
Basic format for an article in a magazine
Bremmer, I. (2015, June 1). What Does America Stand For? Time, 16-21
Basic format for an article in a newspaper
Calica, A. (2015, June 7). Noy willing to study Cha-cha proposal. The Philippine Star,
pp. A-1, A-10
The Research Paper
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Part IV: Making a Working Bibliography
THE APA CITATION GUIDE
Basic format for an article from an online periodical
Weisman, J. (2015, June 12). Obama’s Trade Bills Face Tough Battle Against House Democrats.
The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/13/us/ politics/obamas-trade-
bills-face-tough-battle-against-house-democrats.html?hp&action=
click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=topnews&_r=0
The Research Paper
Editor's Notes
Tell the students that, at the end of the discussion, they should be able to realize the Key Understanding and answer the Key Question.
Explain to the students that primary sources are very useful materials from which they can acquire first-hand information. Unlike books whose pieces of information are written by authors, primary sources give materials that they themselves were able to experience and acquire.
Discuss ethnography under observations.
In the fourth point under ethnography, explain further that the researcher will have to sleep under the same roof with his/her research subjects, eating the same food, drinking the same drink, and basically doing whatever his/her research subjects do on a regular basis.
As further note to the fourth tip, do inform the interviewee beforehand that you’ll be recording your interview session as a matter of courtesy.
Tell the class that after they have found a particular subject or class using the DDC, it is highly suggested that they consult first encyclopedias and disciplinary guides to get a good gist of their research topic.
Before discussing this topic, explain to the students that there are instances in which books and other printed materials are not enough or unavailable to them. Which is why, although not encouraged by research "purists" and despite the many criticisms thrown its way, the Internet is fast becoming an indispensable research source.
As a further explanation on the first tip, tell the students that the URL can give them an idea if the site they are trying to access is reliable or not. The last part of the URL tells a lot about the reliability of the site. Choose those ending in .org for non-profit organizations, .gov for government agencies, and .edu for educational institutions.
As further explanation on the second tip, tell the students that it is helpful to check the credibility of the site by seeking answers for the following questions: Who is the author? What is his/ her background? What is his/her expertise? Is the author’s expertise aligned with my research topic? What is the author’s thesis statement for the entire article? Who else cites this author and/or his/her other works?
