Chapter six

Chapter Six: Managing Information and Taking Notes

Chapter six of the Bedford Researcher is about how to preserve information, whether print or digital information and discusses about different strategies of taking notes that further helps to draft a document without much effort. Working and annotated bibliographies are strategies, to tracks detailed information about sources. With all these strategies, plagiarism is certainly avoided.

It is important to decide how to save and organize print information, either by topic, date, or by type of material. It is good to find a system and stick to it. Indicating dates when recording information is a good reminder of work completed at that particular time.

Saving and organizing digital information includes saving work inside a single folder or multiple folders for bigger amount of files to hold related files, also using descriptive names for file names, copying and pasting into a browser or a word processor, saving for instance all the sources on flash drive, hard drive or smartphone. A way of saving digital sources is determined by their type as web pages, images and other media, databases. There are also other strategies like sending digital documents by e-mail over some databases, or directly to an e-mail or save the information on the phone. Moreover, downloading and printing a page is always a good solution to not lose its content. There are a few more important strategies like bookmarking web sites, by saving bookmarks online, using web capture and clipping tools that can add a web page or portions of a page to a web browser, using bedfordresearcher.com - bibliography tools to save the sources, web document sites to save work when working on more than one computer and backing up the files –making copies of digital files and downloads.

Taking notes has great importance in research writing especially  when working on a project  that involves more than a few sources; it is crucial for finding specific parts of the writing. It also helps to understand better the issue and contribute to the conversation from your own perspective. Methods for taking notes differ and have their own advantages and disadvantages. The most important is to choose a method and use it consistently and in one form, that way it is easier to find information later.

Using a direct quotation is one of the note taking strategies. Quotation marks are necessary for avoiding unintentional plagiarism. If an entire paragraph does not correspond to the project, then the quotation marks are used only for that section of the paragraph. In this way, the original text is changed, and it should be indicated with three spaced periods, called an ellipsis (…).  The brackets are used for the same purpose to modify a direct quotation by changing or adding words, and not changing the original meaning of the passage. Paraphrasing is used to restate a passage from a source in its own words. When paraphrasing, it is important to cite the source because it is the presentation of someone else's ideas. Furthermore, writing too similar to the original is not allowed unless you cite the source. A summary is intended to capture the overall argument and information in a source and also to record a writer’s argument in the case of the disproof. Again all these note taking strategies are important to avoid unintentional plagiarism. Notes can be useful also for tracking a writer’s reactions and impressions, which will give a concrete meaning to the issue. Notes may point to common information, ideas and arguments that multiple sources share. That can be very useful for organizing documents and framing the argument. There are two techniques to compare sources: looking for similarities, for disagreements and for common citations. Another strategy for the taking notes is performed by classifying sources by tagging and labeling, grouping, listing and visualizing.

Good organization of information is carried out with a well-created bibliography. A working bibliography will change significantly during the work on the research writing project. As exploring a topic and choosing an issue, collecting sources, reading them critically and taking notes there will be added potentially useful sources that are most relevant for writing the research paper. It will consist of a works cited or reference list and a bibliography of works consulted list. Annotated bibliography as another form of taking notes represents a brief note about each source, in addition to its complete citation information. It may be a clear description of the content of the sources, as well as a detailed version of the working bibliography, or as an end product of the research writing project.

The last strategy of creating a bibliography to organize information is refining a writer’s argument by turning his working bibliography into his annotated bibliography. The main thing in this strategy is the use of annotated bibliographies for the purpose of re-examining the sources - their information, ideas and reported arguments. It is also necessary for a writer to record his own ideas about the sources and their role in the advancement of his writing position.

 

Chapter three

Chapter Three: Developing Your Research Question and Proposal

Chapter three of the Bedford Researcher deals with how to develop a research question and create a research proposal.

In regards to developing research question step one is this, as you gain more info on the topic, ideas about topic may change. Consider your biases, and if they affect the interpretation of the research.

Step two discusses combining a specific focus with a specific thinking process in order to make a tailored research question.

Step three is about framing the argument. To craft the question, use question words such as what, why, when, where, who and how in order to conduct an analysis. To discuss goals and outcomes, use words like would or could, and for a course of action a word like should.

Step four gives several considerations in refining the research question. It explains that different questions lead to different conclusions. It is also a process moving from a broad research question to a refined research question. This step also implies if you have vast numbers of sources, narrow the scope of the search and the opposite i.e. if you have very few sources, broaden the scope of the research question.

In considering the creation of a research proposal, the writer should be mindful that proposal contains a title page, an introduction, literature review, description of information collection, a project timeline and a working bibliography. Some options are available like an abstract, an overview of challenges or funding request and rationale.

When identifying the topic, issue and research question, the writer will use the title page. The title page will include several pieces of information such as, title of the project, name of the writer, writer’s contact info and the date. Furthermore, the writer will identify the topic, the research question and their position.

The literature review helps the writer become familiar with all sides of the discussion and helps develop their position.

The explanation of information collection depends on the research proposal by types of sources, types of search tools, search strategy and schedule.

Relevant types of sources are important to consider. The conversation a writer joins will help decide what sources are relevant and what kinds of evidence are being used and are timely.

When collecting information there are also three methods available, online search tools, print resources and field research.

A project timeline is an important part of creating research proposal. A project timeline is a description of the length of time for the project or list of tasks to complete the project.

Bibliography is critical to a research proposal, both for the writer and any reader who would like to do follow up research. A working bibliography provides lists of sources collected and if annotated, a brief description of the source.

Lastly to clarify and elaborate core proposal there are three optional methods. To elaborate on the core proposal, an abstract, an overview of key challenges, and funding request and rational are often used. Completing a formal research proposal helps make decisions about the best way to carry out the project.

Tutorial

Tutorial: Web Site

Site: St Sava Serbian Orthodox Church - http://stsavachurch-nw.org/?lang=en

Domain: .org (non-profit organization) – It doesn’t have any federal resources; it is funded by people through parish/church projects, donations and other. Purpose of this site is to connect all Serbian communities in Seattle and beyond.

The title bar: St Sava Orthodox Church of Issaquah, Washington – Informs about the name and the place church is situated.

The header indicates the Christian church - a graphical representation of Jesus Christ and the Serbian coat of arms reveals that the church belongs to the Orthodox faith/Christian faith, as well as a letter that is used for the header title.

According to the seriousness of the content (body text and illustrations) that consists of the newsletter, visit of His Grace Bishop of Western America Dr. Maxim, libraries, calendar of events and other facilities very important for Serbian community in Seattle gives credibility, comprehensiveness and seriousness of this website.

Timelines in the document provide a picture of the site activities and whether the site is active; in this case, a website of the Orthodox Church has been active with its content.

Publisher:  St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church of Issaquah, Washington (Page footer provided the information about the publisher of this site, the church.)

Chapter four

Chapter Four: Reading Critically

            The fourth chapter of the Bedford Researcher indicates the six key questions regarding critical reading.

            Critical reading of the sources is about questioning what is being said and looking for the real meaning and reasoning. This differs from evaluation as evaluation is about making a determination about how reliable a source is and how useful it is to the writer.

            Having a good research question is useful in critical reading because it helps question what is being said and whether or not the writer agrees with it. It also helps you develop a position statement. The position is an answer to the research question.

            The positions statement is the foundation to developing the thesis statement and is also helpful to the writer in reading critically as a guide. Again, it helps the writer decide if they agree or disagree with the source and what can be learned from the source.

            Reading with attitude implies accepting nothing at “face value” rather engage in asking questions, look for similarities and differences in the sources read and examine the reasoning and how it relates to the research project. It is important to be flexible to information encountered and how it is engaged in the conversation.

            Active reading strategies includes indentifying key information, ideas or arguments, write questions in the margins, jot down reactions to information, record quotations, take notes about how the information could be used, indentify important passages for reading later and other strategies. This is accomplished by marking a source, annotating a source and taking notes.

            The writer should pay attention to the following as he/she reads; identify the type of source, identify primary and secondary sources, identify main points, indentify reasons, consider the use of evidence and identify interpretive frameworks.

            Critical reading indicates reading a source three times. Skim the source the first time to get the general idea. Actively read during the second reading marking and annotating relevant passages. Lastly read a third time making note of the main points, promising or difficult passages.