Research Writing

Capstone - The Webb School Senior Research Project

So far this year, our Seniors have chosen a topic, written an annotated bibliography for eight sources and they have written a compelling introduction for their project.  Now it is time to write about their research.  We have divided the project into background and primary research sections.  Here are the tips we passed along today.

Background Research Section

Questions to answer to jump-start your research writing:

WHO -
Who are the researchers in the field?
Who am I writing about?

WHERE -
Where does the research take place?
Is there a prominent location in the research?

WHAT -
What are the relevant studies?
What is the state of the art today?

WHEN -
When does the research take place?
What dates are significant?

HOW -
How was the research conducted.
How have others gone about trying to solve problems you want to tackle, and in what ways will your approach build on and vary from previous work?


Data to include - Findings/Data/Results  [explanation of results includes the use of Tables, Photos, and Maps]

Primary Research Section

My own Research – you become the expert

Ideas and examples for Primary Research
• Following Twitter Feeds or Blogs - journaling your impressions
• Starting a Twitter Feed or blog about your topic
• Keeping a research journal
• Interview an Expert/Professional face to face, Skype, OR via email
• Survey a group
• Statistical survey
• Video Journal an experience
• Conduct an Experiment
• Chart a Contrast/Comparison
• Creating an “Infographic” to include in your presentation
• Internship
• Shadow an expert [in person or online]
• Questionnaires
• Opinion Poll