The Research Process
Thinking * Working * Reflecting
Task Definition

Task Definition
1. Understand the assignment
2. Define the task or information problem

1. Think about your assignment.
  a. Do you understand the assignment?
b. Do you understand the purpose of the assignment?
c. Do you know the intended audience for your finished product?
d. Do you know the due dates for completion of various steps of the process and for the final product?
e. Do you understand the level of detail that is expected in your final product?
f. Do you understand how your final product will be evaluated?
2. Think about your topic!
  a. Consult a general encyclopedia or your textbook for an overview of your topic.
b. Analyze your topic:
  How can you define your information problem?
How can you change this topic into a preliminary thesis statement (essential question/statement) that you can prove?
  c. Consider the following possibilities:
Topic
Thesis Approach
Possible Preliminary Thesis Statement
     
Topic- hate groups similarity The beliefs of white supremacist groups of today are similar to the beliefs held by Hitler's Nazi organization of the 1940's.
Topic - liquid oxygen procedure Five steps are required to produce liquid oxygen.
Topic - Revolutionary War chronology There were several events that led to the Revolutionary War.
Topic - global warming problem The burning of fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide which insulates and reflects radiation back to the planet. This forces the earth's temperature to increase.
Topic - terrorism spatial The effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks have a global impact.
Topic - nutrition solution Decreasing saturated fats in our diets will reduce cholesterol levels and blood pressure.
Topic - Edgar Alan Poe relationship Poe's life is reflected in his work.
Topic - prenatal care cause and effect Good prenatal care, including proper levels of folic acid, decreases the chances that a baby will be born with spina bifida.
Topic - Canterbury Tales analysis Chaucer's Canterbury Tales expose societal corruption in the Middle Ages.
Topic - Hamlet differences Hamlet's feigned craziness is very different from his internal motivation to seek revenge.
     
Essential Questions/statements have certain qualities:

They point to the heart of a subject or topic, especially its controversies.

They generate multiple possible answers, perspectives, and research directions-leading to other questions.

They cast old knowledge, ideas, texts in a new light; they make the familiar strange and the strange familiar.

They lead to discovery and "uncoverage," as opposed to “coverage.” This means that you don't need to know all the information on a particular topic, but know essential information well. Less is more. Less is better. Go in-depth in your study instead of trying to cover a topic that is too broad.

Essential questions encourage further and deepening interest in the subject.

Essential questions are higher-order. They are always matters of analysis, synthesis, and evaluative judgment. You must “go beyond” the information given.

Answers to essential questions cannot be found. They must be invented.

Think about your topic!
  After reading an overview of your topic, consider what "method" would best apply to your topic. Write a preliminary thesis statement.
Your preliminary thesis statement :
 
Is this thesis statement too broad? - If it is, narrow it!
Is your thesis statement too narrow? - If it is, broaden it.
Can your thesis statement be proven? - If not, change it.

Continue the process