Paper and Presentation Research: Ideas Lab
The Compleat Explorer
Did he say Google?
Sure. Google is a great place to start for ideas.
Looking for inspirational art? Walk through a museum on your computer. Or visit one in person.
Looking for definitions, basic descriptions, and interesting facts? Wikipedia can be a great help in the BEGINNING of your resarch.
Care to flip through a magazine or a book for an idea? Come to the library and start browsing.
Where am I going?
You're an explorer, an investigator, an adventurer. You have a topic that needs resesarching and now it's time to get started.
How do you do that?
Start asking questions.
What is the Assignment? What do you like?
1. Get a notebook out and read your assignment carefully.
- Get what the professor is asking for? Write it down.
- Don't get what the professor is asking for? Ask her/him!
2. Got it? The next step is to spend some time thinking about what interests you. Not only will doing this assignment be easier if you manage to include your own interests, but it will also be more fun.
- How do your interests and the assignment intersect? Figure out how to work on the things you like, not what you think the professor likes.
- Can't figure it out? Start exploring!
Map it!
Below is a video demonstrating how you might use Concept Mapping to develop a resaerch topic and thesis statement. Click here for a PowerPoint deck with more information.
