Monday, August 31, 2009

Booth, pages 31-50

Have you ever done research in the steps like the ones the writers in Booth propse in these pages? If so, how did it go and what was particularly frustrating or exciting about the steps and why? If you have never explored a topic in depth and/or moved from a topic to question, do you believe that these steps would have improved a research essay you wrote in the past; if so, describe briefly what happened in that research writing and how the steps in Booth would have helped/improved the essay you wrote. If you don't think they would have helped, discuss why not.

22 comments:

  1. I haven't ever done research or writing like they describe.. I feel that it would be very beneficial though to get worked up and excited about the topic like they describe.

    I did a large research paper in high school and i think having this book would have made the whole process a lot less painful. I remember just reading pages and pages of random facts and miscellaneous research from all over the place. I really think I would have had a lot more direction and an over better paper with this book at my side.. It really explains the ways to turn our interests into a question and then making that a learning experience for everyone and that is what my last research paper was really lacking.

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  2. I have trouble understanding complicated things from reading about them so I hope we discuss this chapter in class some. I've never done research like the way they described though. They mentioned about how unexperienced researchers just collect a bunch of facts and put them into a paper. That basically was how my high school senior research project went. I have never been asked to answer a question before. I thought research projects were just giving information about the topic. Answering a question seems a lot more useful though. If people wanted information about the topic then they could just read an encyclopedia. This gives my paper an actual purpose. Research seems easier the Booth way because you actually have a specific thing to research about instead of looking through tons of stuff on a broad topic. Maybe I won't dread this research project as much as I did in the past.

    -Nicole Bekemeier

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  3. I have done research in a similar way that booth proposes in the readings. It wasn't exactly the same, and I don't think I did it completely right, but it still heped me to write the paper. No matter what, using steps to developement or not, I always get hung uo on finding enough reliable sources. Thinking about the past research projects I have done, I probably did not make my searches as specific as I was supposed to. I like the "action" words the book uses to make a broad topic more focused, I'm sure that would have helped me when I was looking for sources in the past. Also, i like the statement "If i writer asks no specific question worth asking, he can offer no specific answer worth supporting." For old research papers I would just answer the questions I had o address, but not go any deeper into questions I came up with from doing my own research. This step would have helped me add much more important information, and kept my writing going, instead of stopping once I answerd all the general questions.

    Ben Dussouy

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  4. I have never done research how they discuss it in this book. I did a rather large research paper my senior year, but it was done very differently that what they say in the book. I like the fact that they want you to keep asking questions about your topic. I feel like this would help you get a lot more information out of a simple subject. If wish I had this book when I was doing my research paper. If i did have it my paper would have been a lot more thought out, and probably a lot more interesting to read.

    -Jordan Crawford

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  5. This kind of intense and methodical research is new to me. I mean, I've done reasearch papers before, but nothing of this magnitude. I have definately never went about it like the writers talk about. One of the hardest things for me is to just pick a topic and get started. I think finding something to write about is the most frustrating part of the whole thing. Well, at least for the ones I've done so far. I absolutely think that if, in the past, I had gone about it like the writers describe, it would have been a more pleasant experience indeed!!

    -Andrew "A.J." Hubert

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  6. I have approached research in a similar way as described, but it was out of simplicity and not excitement that drove it. When a research paper was assigned, I would often jump right into the fact finding but when the information became overbearing, I reassessed my topic and changed the title to someting more specific, like mentioned in the book.

    Like Nicole, I have often felt that research papers were about listing facts more than answering questions. Partly because I only wanted the grade and mostly because my teachers wanted the students to learn on their own, I often treated research papers much like taking notes. I think if I can stay motivated, this paper will be much more enjoyable.

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  7. First of all, I believe my anxiety about writing this paper has decreased since I began reading Booth. The two research papers I have written have basically been facts from the required sources awkwardly squeeze into an essay. Needlessly to say, I have never tackled a research this big being as it 60% our grade!

    After reading Booth and considering his method of research I believe it will completely simplify and relief my worries of writing this paper. I am very excited to pick a topic that I am interested in and able to thoroughly investigate it. I believe the question tool he describes is going help tremendously. Also, I viewed over some of the exercises and I think they will also help me in discovering a good topic.

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  8. I have never done a research paper in the steps that Booth describes. I think these steps would actually make it easier for someone writing a paper. In the past I have either been given a topic or my topic was probably to broad for the paper I was writing. I like how they have a methodical way of going from an interest you may have to a specific topic that you are able to do a large project on. I also think one mistake I've made in the past is just finding all of the information possible on a subject and throwing all the facts together to make a paper a certain length rather than having particular questions that you want to have answered about the subject. I never thought of answering questions that the reader may have about the subject I am researching. I think these tips are going to help me find a topic and make my writing better.
    -Katie Clark

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  9. It seems that most of us are on the same page. I have never done research the way Booth describes. It appears that the way I went about it in the past is the complete opposite. In high school, we would simply choose a topic from a predetermined list and find our sources immediately. I never realized that I was skipping so many important steps. The hardest part for me is to pick a topic and start brainstorming. I like how Booth states that your topic should be more than three or four words. This seems to give you a more specific idea of what to look for when researching. Hopefully going about this paper in the method described by the book will make the experience easier and more interesting to do.

    -Shawn Mitchel

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  10. The only way I have thought to do a research paper is pick a topic, find some articles about it, outline what you find, then write the paper, basically broad to specific. Although that is roughly what the book describes, I would have never thought to ask the specific questions to prepare myself for what I would be looking up to answer. Also, I have never thought about my reader as much as the book mentions to think about them. Getting a reader interested in a topic I love through asking questions and writing has never even crossed my mind. By following the steps presented in the book, I feel less anxious about the huge paper because it is being broken down into many small feasible steps. In addition, I think the way they are describing the steps to get specific will help me get really passionate about my questioning, researching, and writing.

    Erin King

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  11. I have never gone about researching a topic like they describe in the book. I know I never really narrowed down my topic like they teach in the book. It was frustrating too because hundreds of pages would show up on results for my search topic, but it was way too broad. Now, by just adding a few key verbs and wording it correctly I can narrow my search down a lot. Also, I have never really kept asking questions about the research to find a more specific topic like they tell you to do in the book. I think this will help because you will know exactly what you are researching and helping your readers understand better. The tips they had at then end of the chapter to find a topic were very helpful. Most of the tips I had never even thought about using before. I believe this book is going to be a big help in writing this research paper.

    -Nicholas Roger

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  13. Echoing all my classmates, I have never researched a topic to write a paper the way the book describes. Research for me has never been thorough. I, like Evan and Nicole, was the student in high school that gathered too many facts and listed (crammed) them into a paper. So, my topic was well-researched, but it didn't propose a question or make a point. I definitely think the steps they show in the book will help me not become as frustrated with in-depth research. Basing my knowledge off of my pre-Booth idea of research, it was a lot of reading and stating facts. But I love how Booth says we should ask questions... even questions for speculation.

    Booth definitely points out many good tips on how to find a topic, how to narrow it, how to categorize it, and how to make it detailed. He shows us step by step how to move from an interest to a broad topic to a focused topic to questions, and to significance. I feel like a problem I will face during this research paper will be during that last step, answering the "So what?" question. This book has already taught me much about researching, and I am certain that it will make my research paper better than it would have been. :)

    -Rebecca Griggs

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  14. I may be the first on the blog as of now to say that I have done a research paper like this. I remember I had to do this for my final paper my junior year of high school.First, I had to choose five interesting topics of my choice and then my teacher narrowed it down to one topic. After that I had to come up with 5 in depth questions for each main body paragraph and the resources I dug up would be my body of work for the series of questions that I had to answer for each body paragraph. It was the hardest paper of my life. I got a C on it. I remember a lot of kids failed the paper. People were constantly changing topics. It was rough,but going through that specific research process paid off in the end. When I got into my senior year research papers weren't as difficult, but I really didn't like some of the methods my professor was using. I went back to my professor from junior year and she guided me through 2 of my 5 papers that year with the " Booth"-like process. Those 2 papers ended up being two A's. I don't know for a fact if she followed the exact same process as Booth, but it was pretty close. It wasn't fun at all, but I've matured a lot since high school so maybe going back to this specific style of writing a research paper after so long will be more positive that previous research papers?

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  15. I have never fully researched a paper in the ways that are described in Booth. For me my papers have always just been about getting the sources and writing as many facts on the topic without being repetitive or boring. In high school we didn't exactly get to choose the topic either, which didn't help. The steps in Booth along with being able to decide what topic you want to research, would have been very helpful in high school. The ideas presented in the reading seem like they would help find much more information on the subject which would definitely help me from just rambling on until I meet the page requirement. I believe the section about making your topic focused rather than broad will be a huge help for me because it will help me to actually write information strictly focused on my specific topic instead of just writing broad facts on and on. I once again feel much better about this final paper after reading out of this book.
    -Kevin Plath

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  16. I have done nothing like this in a research or any paper for that matter. I think digging deeper into a topic can defiantly help a paper.When someone goes into more detail it helps keep the reader interested and helps the writer have more information to draw questions from. The last research paper I did was very general and did not go into much depth at all.I believe I made an A on that paper (yay!for public education)but now that I have been in college I know that was not an A paper.
    Now had I used booths methods in my first research paper my grade may have been better than that of a C. I bounced around a couple of times with different topics, I barely scratched the surface on the topic I did choose. Had I followed booths method I would have been much better off.
    Joey Busbice

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  17. Never in my life have I had a research paper with this much thought and detail put into it. The way Booth and company ask us to begin writing our papers, I believe, is a much better way not only of achieving success in answering our question, but also in engaging us and our interests in what we are doing. I feel like this paper will help me in numerous ways outside of my grade in this class. I will have a newer, more efficient way of solving problems, a better understanding of whatever it is I choose to research, and a greater appreciation for the art of research itself. I'm surprised to say that I am looking forward to writing this paper.

    Christian Ornelas

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  18. The excitement they talk about in a research paper would be a great help, but I have trouble getting excited about homework, but with being able to choose a topic of interest, it will make it a lot easier to maintain that excitement, and the methodic method they talk about research will make it a lot more interesting and will make researching more interesting. Also, continually asking questions will make me keep researching throughout the entire paper and will make the research more thorough and complete.

    In choosing a topic, there are many great ideas that booth offered for choosing a topic, and the methods that she gives will make the topic good for a research paper, along with being something you are interested in, it will be something that will flow into a good research paper

    -Erik Ross

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  19. Like many of the other students, I don't remember ever conducting research for a paper in the specific steps described by Booth. I have, however, been given a similar assignment to Korey in which I had to do research for a 10-page paper for which I was provided a topic. Last year, I was assigned a paper in a Human Ecology course with the given topic of comparing the manufacturing resources of two particular countries. I started off with the basic idea of compiling statistics, a practice I always employed when I was given a topic to research. As my research progressed, I came to find that I was interested in how and why one of the two countries had a much larger array of resources, both being in the same region. Thus, the topic I was given developed into a question and became a much more interesting research area, for both me, the writer, and the reader. In this way, I think the steps I took in research for that paper became comparable to the research steps Booth describes, and I think I will be much better prepared for future research papers because of both.

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  20. Like Korey, I have also done a research paper similar to that described in the book. Like this class, it was extremely important that we pick a topic we enjoyed because it was the main focus of our class the entire semester. We had quite a few charts that we had to make with our top ten ideas and each day we would discuss different ideas with classmates to get their opinions on why something would or would not work. Although I still dreaded the paper most of the semester, I definitely think this is the best way to go about researching. It makes finding a topic easier and you find out right away if an idea won't work.

    The paper I wrote was not one where I had to take a stand on a particular topic. For this reason, I think this semester, it might be a little more difficult for me to do the research because I know I'll need to find something I'm passionate about in order to keep my interest as well as my readers'.

    I'm really enjoying reading this book and I'm 100% positive that it's going to make my research that much better. Finding a topic is definitely going to be difficult for me, but their ideas for brainstorming will help

    Amanda Meyer

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  21. I have done research as described in this paper in the past, yes. There were times I did not particularly enjoy it, however, as I matured, I began to find it somewhat fun. It allowed me to learn about a topic and also to give me a taste for how research should be done. Though I wouldn't say it was my favorite thing to do ever, I did enjoy the idea of writing a paper “for real”, and I think that allowed me to better research my topic.

    I think had I been a bit more excited to be doing research on prior papers, I would likely have done a lot better. However, it has been a long time, and I am not quite sure if the fact that I would not write very good research papers was due to the fact I did not particularly enjoy the research or if it was because I was simply a poor writer.

    – Brandon Ross

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  22. This chapter was kind of cool. I felt that it essentially put all the questions I thought about, in my last research paper, in text. Essentially one must find a topic that is feasible (researcher criterion) given the amount of time for research and the amount of data to collect, AND interesting enough (reader criterion) that readers would want to read the paper and find a larger importance applicable to the reader's world. The most exciting part of researching was finding data that supported my ideas and gave definition to the scope of my research paper. The most frustrating part was sorting through a huge stack of reports to find significant data. Reading this book before my first research paper, might have shortened the amount of time I spent learning about each individual lesson without a direct guide (even though eventually I performed each of the steps mentioned). Also, having my objectives listed, might have helped focus my efforts, instead of spending so much time asking "what do I need to do?"

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