Chapter one

Chapter One: Getting Started

Chapter one of the Bedford Researcher was very helpful and breaks down into two main sections. Section one is how to research and write with confidence. Section two is about choosing an appropriate topic.

Section one has several points including ownership of the project, understanding the writing process, learning to work with sources, developing a position, understanding genre and design, understanding the importance of readers and contexts, awareness of technological opportunities and challenges, and managing time. These topics are critical and when they are addressed provides confidence to the writer of the research writing project.

Section two considers the topic, a subject of investigation and dialogue. Imbedded in this idea are the steps of analyzing the assignment, developing ideas and appropriate topics, and sensitivity to the writing situation. Care here allows for picking a topic you can write about with a personal connection in addition to tending to the readers needs. There are several types of context i.e. social, cultural / historical, disciplinary and physical, which determine the nature of the document. Furthermore, the role taken in relation to the reader reflects the purpose of the document.

Development of the topic is described as brainstorming, freewriting, looping and clustering. These methods are useful to generate broad ideas and then to focus the scope of the project.

The topic depends on the writing situation, the level of interest for the writer and the readers.