{"id":33,"date":"2016-06-14T16:36:48","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T16:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/chapter\/narrowing-a-topic\/"},"modified":"2018-08-02T07:19:26","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T07:19:26","slug":"narrowing-a-topic","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/chapter\/narrowing-a-topic\/","title":{"rendered":"Narrowing a Topic"},"content":{"raw":"For many students, having to start with a research question is the biggest difference between how they did research in high school and how they are required to carry out their college research projects. It\u2019s a process of working from the outside in: you start with the world of all possible topics (or your assigned topic) and narrow down until you\u2019ve focused your interest enough to be able to tell precisely what you want to find out, instead of only what you want to \u201cwrite about.\u201d\n\n

Process of Narrowing a Topic<\/h3>[caption id=\"attachment_24\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1392\"]\"A Visualize narrowing a topic as starting with all possible topics
and choosing narrower and narrower subsets until you have a specific
enough topic to form a research question.[\/caption]All Possible Topics - <\/strong>You\u2019ll need to narrow your topic in order to do research effectively. Without specific areas of focus, it will be hard to even know where to begin.\n\nAssigned Topics - <\/strong>Ideas about a narrower topic can come from anywhere. Often, a narrower topic boils down to deciding what\u2019s interesting to you. One way to get ideas is to read background information in a source like Wikipedia.\n\nTopic Narrowed by Initial Exploration - <\/strong>It\u2019s wise to do some more reading about that narrower topic to a) learn more about it and b) learn specialized terms used by professionals and scholars who study it.\n\nTopic Narrowed to Research Question(s) - <\/strong>A research question defines exactly what you are trying to find out. It will influence most of the steps you take to conduct the research.\n\n

ACTIVITY:<\/strong> Which Topic Is Narrower?<\/h4>Open activity in a web browser.<\/a>\n\n<\/div>

Why Narrow a Topic?<\/h3>Once you have a need for research\u2014say, an assignment\u2014you may need to prowl around a bit online to explore the topic and figure out what you actually want to find out and write about.\n\nFor instance, maybe your assignment is to develop a poster about \u201cspring\u201d for an introductory horticulture course. The instructor expects you to narrow that topic to something you are interested in and that is related to your class.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_25\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1392\"]\"A Another way to view a narrowed topic is as a sliver of the whole topic.[\/caption]Ideas about a narrower topic can come from anywhere. In this case, a narrower topic boils down to deciding what\u2019s interesting to you about \u201cspring\u201d that is related to what you\u2019re learning in your horticulture class and small enough to manage in the time you have.\n\nOne way to get ideas would be to read about spring in Wikipedia, looking for things that seem interesting and relevant to your class, and then letting one thing lead to another as you keep reading and thinking about likely possibilities that are more narrow than the enormous \u201cspring\u201d topic. (Be sure to pay attention to the references at the bottom of most Wikipedia pages and pursue any that look interesting. Your instructor is not likely to let you cite Wikipedia, but those references may be citable scholarly sources that you could eventually decide to use.)\n\nOr, instead, if it is spring at the time you could start by just looking around, admire the blooming trees on campus, and decide you\u2019d like your poster to be about bud development on your favorites, the crabapple trees.\n\n

Anna Narrows Her Topic and Works on a Research Question<\/h3>The Situation:<\/strong> Anna, an undergraduate, has been assigned a research paper on Antarctica. Her professor expects students to (1) narrow the topic on something more specific about Antarctica because they won\u2019t have time to cover that whole topic. Then they are to (2) come up with a research question that their paper will answer.\n\nThe professor explained that the research question should be something they are interested in answering and that it must be more complicated than what they could answer with a quick Google search. He also said that research questions often start with either the word \u201chow\u201d or \u201cwhy.\u201d\n\nWhat you should do:<\/strong>\n\n
  1. Read what Anna is thinking below as she tries to do the assignment.<\/li>
  2. After the reading, answer the questions at the end of the monologue in your own mind.<\/li>
  3. Check your answers with ours at the end of Anna\u2019s interior monologue.<\/li>
  4. Keep this demonstration in mind the next time you are in Anna\u2019s spot, and you can mimic her actions and thinking about your own topic.<\/li><\/ol>Anna\u2019s Interior Monologue<\/strong>\n\nOkay, I am going to have to write something\u2014a research paper\u2014about Antarctica. I don\u2019t know anything about that place\u2014I think it\u2019s a continent. I can\u2019t think of a single thing I\u2019ve ever wanted to know about Antarctica. How will I come up with a research question about that place? Calls for Wikipedia, I guess.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_26\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"290\"]\"AnnaA desert?[\/caption]At https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Antarctica<\/a>. Just skimming. Pretty boring stuff. Oh, look-- Antarctica\u2019s a desert! I guess \u201cdesert\u201d doesn\u2019t have to do with heat. That\u2019s interesting. What else could it have to do with? Maybe lack of precipitation? But there\u2019s lots of snow and ice there. Have to think about that\u2014what makes a desert a desert.\n\nIt says one to five thousand people live there in research stations. Year round. Definitely the last thing I\u2019d ever do. \u201c\u2026there is no evidence that it was seen by humans until the 19th century.\u201d I never thought about whether anybody lived in Antarctica first, before the scientists and stuff.\n\nLots of names\u2014explorer, explorer\u2026 boring. It says Amundson reached the South pole first. Who\u2019s Amundson? But wait. It says, \u201cOne month later, the doomed Scott Expedition reached the pole.\u201d Doomed? Doomed is always interesting. Where\u2019s more about the Scott Expedition? I\u2019m going to use that Control-F technique and type in Scott to see if I can find more about him on this page. Nothing beyond that one sentence shows up. Why would they have just that one sentence? I\u2019ll have to click on the Scott Expedition link.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_27\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]\"AnnaTerra Nova...[\/caption]But it gives me a page called Terra Nova Expedition. What does that have to do with Scott? And just who was Scott? And why was his expedition doomed? There he is in a photo before going to Antarctica. Guess he was English. Other photos show him and his team in the snow. Oh, the expedition was named Terra Nova after the ship they sailed this time\u2014in 1911. Scott had been there earlier on another ship.\n\nLots of stuff about preparing for the trip. Then stuff about expedition journeys once they were in Antarctica. Not very exciting\u2014nothing about being doomed. I don\u2019t want to write about this stuff.\n\nWait. The last paragraph of the first section says \u201cFor many years after his death, Scott\u2019s status as tragic hero was unchallenged,\u201d but then it says that in the 20th century people looked closer at the expedition\u2019s management and at whether Scott and some of his team could be personally blamed for the catastrophe. That \u201cremains controversial,\u201d it says. Catastrophe? Personally blamed? Hmm.\n\nBack to skimming. It all seems horrible to me. They actually planned<\/em> to kill their ponies for meat, so when they actually did it, it was no surprise. Everything was extremely difficult. And then when they arrived at the South Pole, they found that the explorer Amundsen had beaten them. Must have been a big disappointment.\n\nThe homeward march was even worse. The weather got worse. The dog sleds that were supposed to meet them periodically with supplies didn\u2019t show up. Or maybe the Scott group was lost and didn\u2019t go to the right meeting places. Maybe that\u2019s what that earlier statement meant about whether the decisions that were made were good ones. Scott\u2019s diary said the crystallized snow made it seem like they were pushing and pulling the sledges through dry sand<\/em>.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_28\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]\"AnnaRocks?![\/caption]It says that before things turned really bad (really<\/em> bad? You\u2019ve already had to eat your horses<\/em>!), Scott allowed his men to put 30 pounds of rocks with fossils on the sledges they were pushing and dragging. Now was that sensible? The men had to push or pull those sledges themselves. What if it was those rocks that actually doomed those men?\n\nBut here it says that those rocks are the proof of continental drift. So how did they know those rocks were so important? Was that knowledge worth their lives? Could they have known?\n\nWow--there is drama on this page! Scott\u2019s diary is quoted about their troubles on the expedition\u2014the relentless cold, frostbite, and the deaths of their dogs. One entry tells of a guy on Scott\u2019s team \u201cnow with hands as well as feet pretty well useless\u201d voluntarily leaving the tent and walking to his death. The diary says that the team member\u2019s last words were \u201dI am just going outside and may be some time.\u201d Ha!\n\nThey all seem lost and desperate but still have those sledges. Why would you keep pulling and pushing those sledges containing an extra 30 pounds of rock when you are so desperate and every step is life or death?\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_29\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]\"AnnaA diary...[\/caption]Then there\u2019s Scott\u2019s last diary entry, on March 29, 1912. \u201c\u2026 It seems a pity but I do not think I can write more.\u201d Well.\n\nThat diary apparently gave lots of locations of where he thought they were but maybe they were lost. It says they ended up only 11 miles from one of their supply stations. I wonder if anybody knows how close they were to where Scott thought<\/em> they were.\n\nI\u2019d love to see that diary. Wouldn\u2019t that be cool? Online? I\u2019ll Google it.\n\nYes! At the British museum. Look at that! I can see Scott\u2019s last entry IN HIS OWN HANDWRITING!\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_30\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"290\"]\"AnnaA digital version?[\/caption]Actually, if I decide to write about something that requires reading the diary, it would be easier to not have to decipher his handwriting. Wonder whether there is a typed version of it online somewhere?\n\nMaybe I should pay attention to the early paragraph on the Terra Nova Expedition page in Wikipedia\u2014about it being controversial whether Scott and his team made bad decisions so that they brought most of their troubles on themselves. Can I narrow my topic to just the controversy over whether bad decisions of Scott and his crew doomed them? Maybe it\u2019s too big a topic if I consider the decisions of all team members. Maybe I should just consider Scott\u2019s decisions.\n\nSo what research question could come from that? Maybe: how did Scott\u2019s decisions contribute to his team\u2019s deaths in Antarctica? But am I talking about his decisions before or after they left for Antarctica? Or the whole time they were a team? Probably too many decisions involved. More focused: How did Scott\u2019s decisions after reaching the South Pole help or hurt the chances of his team getting back safely? That\u2019s not bad\u2014maybe. If people have written about that. There are several of his decisions discussed on the Wikipedia page, and I know there are sources at the bottom of that page.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_31\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]\"AnnaReally, a desert?[\/caption]Let me think\u2014what else did I see that was interesting or puzzling about all this? I remember being surprised that Antarctica is a desert. So maybe I could make Antarctica as a desert my topic. My research question could be something like: Why is Antarctica considered a desert? But there has to be a definition of deserts somewhere online, so that doesn\u2019t sound complicated enough. Once you know the definition of desert, you\u2019d know the answer to the question. Professor Sanders says research questions are more complicated than regular questions.\n\nWhat\u2019s a topic I could care about? A question I really wonder about? Maybe those rocks with the fossils in them. It\u2019s just so hard to imagine desperate explorers continuing to push those sledges with an extra 30 pounds of rocks on them. Did they somehow know how important they would be? Or were they just curious about them? Why didn\u2019t they ditch them? Or maybe they just didn\u2019t realize how close to death they were. Maybe I could narrow my Antarctica topic to those rocks.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_28\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]\"AnnaWhy rocks?[\/caption]Maybe my topic could be something like: The rocks that Scott and his crew found in Antarctica that prove continental drift. Maybe my research question could be: How did Scott\u2019s explorers choose the rocks they kept?\n\nWell, now all I have is questions about my questions. Like, is my professor going to think the question about the rocks is still about Antarctica? Or is it all about continental drift or geology or even the psychology of desperate people? And what has been written about the finding of those rocks? Will I be able to find enough sources? I\u2019m also wondering whether my question about Scott\u2019s decisions is too big\u2014do I have enough time for it?\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_32\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"290\"]\"AnnaI should ask.[\/caption]I think my professor is the only one who can tell me whether my question about the rocks has enough to do with Antarctica. Since he\u2019s the one who will be grading my paper. But a librarian can help me figure out the other things.\n\nSo Dr. Sanders and a librarian are next.\n\nQuestions<\/strong>\n\n
    1. Was Anna\u2019s choice to start with Wikipedia a good choice? Why or why not?<\/li>
    2. Have you ever used that Control-F technique?<\/li>
    3. At what points does Anna think about where to look for information?<\/li>
    4. At the end of this session, Anna hasn\u2019t yet settled on a research question. So what did she accomplish? What good was all this searching and thinking?<\/li><\/ol>Here are our answers below.\n\n
      Our Answers:<\/strong>\n\n
      1. Was Anna\u2019s choice to start with Wikipedia a good choice? Why or why not? <\/strong>Wikipedia is a great place to start a research project. Just make sure you move on from there, because it\u2019s a not a good place to end up with your project. One place to move on to is the sources at the bottom of most Wikipedia pages.<\/li>
      2. Have you ever used that Control-F technique?<\/strong> If you haven\u2019t used the Control-F technique, we hope you will. It can save you a lot of time and effort reading online material.<\/li>
      3. At what points does Anna think about where to look for information<\/strong>? When she began; when she wanted to know more about the Scott expedition; when she wonders whether she could read Scott\u2019s diary online; when she thinks about what people could answer her questions.<\/li>
      4. At the end of this session, Anna hasn\u2019t yet settled on a research question. So what did she accomplish? What good was all this reading and thinking? <\/strong>There are probably many answers to this question. Ours includes that Anna learned more about Antarctica, the subject of her research project. She focused her thinking (even if she doesn\u2019t end up using the possible research questions she\u2019s considering) and practiced critical thinking skills, such as when she thought about what she could be interested in, when she worked to make her potential research questions more specific, and when she figured out what questions still needed answering at the end. She also practiced her skills at making meaning from what she read, investigating a story that she didn\u2019t expect to be there and didn\u2019t know had the potential of being one that she is interested in. She also now knows what questions she needs answered and whom to ask. These thinking skills are what college is all about. Anna is way beyond where she was when she started.<\/li><\/ol><\/div>","rendered":"

        For many students, having to start with a research question is the biggest difference between how they did research in high school and how they are required to carry out their college research projects. It\u2019s a process of working from the outside in: you start with the world of all possible topics (or your assigned topic) and narrow down until you\u2019ve focused your interest enough to be able to tell precisely what you want to find out, instead of only what you want to \u201cwrite about.\u201d<\/p>\n

        \n

        Process of Narrowing a Topic<\/h3>\n
        \"A
        Visualize narrowing a topic as starting with all possible topics
        and choosing narrower and narrower subsets until you have a specific
        enough topic to form a research question.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        All Possible Topics – <\/strong>You\u2019ll need to narrow your topic in order to do research effectively. Without specific areas of focus, it will be hard to even know where to begin.<\/p>\n

        Assigned Topics – <\/strong>Ideas about a narrower topic can come from anywhere. Often, a narrower topic boils down to deciding what\u2019s interesting to you. One way to get ideas is to read background information in a source like Wikipedia.<\/p>\n

        Topic Narrowed by Initial Exploration – <\/strong>It\u2019s wise to do some more reading about that narrower topic to a) learn more about it and b) learn specialized terms used by professionals and scholars who study it.<\/p>\n

        Topic Narrowed to Research Question(s) – <\/strong>A research question defines exactly what you are trying to find out. It will influence most of the steps you take to conduct the research.<\/p>\n

        \n

        ACTIVITY:<\/strong> Which Topic Is Narrower?<\/h4>\n

        Open activity in a web browser.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

        \n

        Why Narrow a Topic?<\/h3>\n

        Once you have a need for research\u2014say, an assignment\u2014you may need to prowl around a bit online to explore the topic and figure out what you actually want to find out and write about.<\/p>\n

        For instance, maybe your assignment is to develop a poster about \u201cspring\u201d for an introductory horticulture course. The instructor expects you to narrow that topic to something you are interested in and that is related to your class.<\/p>\n

        \"A
        Another way to view a narrowed topic is as a sliver of the whole topic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        Ideas about a narrower topic can come from anywhere. In this case, a narrower topic boils down to deciding what\u2019s interesting to you about \u201cspring\u201d that is related to what you\u2019re learning in your horticulture class and small enough to manage in the time you have.<\/p>\n

        One way to get ideas would be to read about spring in Wikipedia, looking for things that seem interesting and relevant to your class, and then letting one thing lead to another as you keep reading and thinking about likely possibilities that are more narrow than the enormous \u201cspring\u201d topic. (Be sure to pay attention to the references at the bottom of most Wikipedia pages and pursue any that look interesting. Your instructor is not likely to let you cite Wikipedia, but those references may be citable scholarly sources that you could eventually decide to use.)<\/p>\n

        Or, instead, if it is spring at the time you could start by just looking around, admire the blooming trees on campus, and decide you\u2019d like your poster to be about bud development on your favorites, the crabapple trees.<\/p>\n

        \n

        Anna Narrows Her Topic and Works on a Research Question<\/h3>\n

        The Situation:<\/strong> Anna, an undergraduate, has been assigned a research paper on Antarctica. Her professor expects students to (1) narrow the topic on something more specific about Antarctica because they won\u2019t have time to cover that whole topic. Then they are to (2) come up with a research question that their paper will answer.<\/p>\n

        The professor explained that the research question should be something they are interested in answering and that it must be more complicated than what they could answer with a quick Google search. He also said that research questions often start with either the word \u201chow\u201d or \u201cwhy.\u201d<\/p>\n

        What you should do:<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Read what Anna is thinking below as she tries to do the assignment.<\/li>\n
        2. After the reading, answer the questions at the end of the monologue in your own mind.<\/li>\n
        3. Check your answers with ours at the end of Anna\u2019s interior monologue.<\/li>\n
        4. Keep this demonstration in mind the next time you are in Anna\u2019s spot, and you can mimic her actions and thinking about your own topic.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Anna\u2019s Interior Monologue<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Okay, I am going to have to write something\u2014a research paper\u2014about Antarctica. I don\u2019t know anything about that place\u2014I think it\u2019s a continent. I can\u2019t think of a single thing I\u2019ve ever wanted to know about Antarctica. How will I come up with a research question about that place? Calls for Wikipedia, I guess.<\/p>\n

          \"Anna
          A desert?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

          At https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Antarctica<\/a>. Just skimming. Pretty boring stuff. Oh, look– Antarctica\u2019s a desert! I guess \u201cdesert\u201d doesn\u2019t have to do with heat. That\u2019s interesting. What else could it have to do with? Maybe lack of precipitation? But there\u2019s lots of snow and ice there. Have to think about that\u2014what makes a desert a desert.<\/p>\n

          It says one to five thousand people live there in research stations. Year round. Definitely the last thing I\u2019d ever do. \u201c\u2026there is no evidence that it was seen by humans until the 19th century.\u201d I never thought about whether anybody lived in Antarctica first, before the scientists and stuff.<\/p>\n

          Lots of names\u2014explorer, explorer\u2026 boring. It says Amundson reached the South pole first. Who\u2019s Amundson? But wait. It says, \u201cOne month later, the doomed Scott Expedition reached the pole.\u201d Doomed? Doomed is always interesting. Where\u2019s more about the Scott Expedition? I\u2019m going to use that Control-F technique and type in Scott to see if I can find more about him on this page. Nothing beyond that one sentence shows up. Why would they have just that one sentence? I\u2019ll have to click on the Scott Expedition link.<\/p>\n

          \"Anna
          Terra Nova…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

          But it gives me a page called Terra Nova Expedition. What does that have to do with Scott? And just who was Scott? And why was his expedition doomed? There he is in a photo before going to Antarctica. Guess he was English. Other photos show him and his team in the snow. Oh, the expedition was named Terra Nova after the ship they sailed this time\u2014in 1911. Scott had been there earlier on another ship.<\/p>\n

          Lots of stuff about preparing for the trip. Then stuff about expedition journeys once they were in Antarctica. Not very exciting\u2014nothing about being doomed. I don\u2019t want to write about this stuff.<\/p>\n

          Wait. The last paragraph of the first section says \u201cFor many years after his death, Scott\u2019s status as tragic hero was unchallenged,\u201d but then it says that in the 20th century people looked closer at the expedition\u2019s management and at whether Scott and some of his team could be personally blamed for the catastrophe. That \u201cremains controversial,\u201d it says. Catastrophe? Personally blamed? Hmm.<\/p>\n

          Back to skimming. It all seems horrible to me. They actually planned<\/em> to kill their ponies for meat, so when they actually did it, it was no surprise. Everything was extremely difficult. And then when they arrived at the South Pole, they found that the explorer Amundsen had beaten them. Must have been a big disappointment.<\/p>\n

          The homeward march was even worse. The weather got worse. The dog sleds that were supposed to meet them periodically with supplies didn\u2019t show up. Or maybe the Scott group was lost and didn\u2019t go to the right meeting places. Maybe that\u2019s what that earlier statement meant about whether the decisions that were made were good ones. Scott\u2019s diary said the crystallized snow made it seem like they were pushing and pulling the sledges through dry sand<\/em>.<\/p>\n

          \"Anna
          Rocks?!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

          It says that before things turned really bad (really<\/em> bad? You\u2019ve already had to eat your horses<\/em>!), Scott allowed his men to put 30 pounds of rocks with fossils on the sledges they were pushing and dragging. Now was that sensible? The men had to push or pull those sledges themselves. What if it was those rocks that actually doomed those men?<\/p>\n

          But here it says that those rocks are the proof of continental drift. So how did they know those rocks were so important? Was that knowledge worth their lives? Could they have known?<\/p>\n

          Wow–there is drama on this page! Scott\u2019s diary is quoted about their troubles on the expedition\u2014the relentless cold, frostbite, and the deaths of their dogs. One entry tells of a guy on Scott\u2019s team \u201cnow with hands as well as feet pretty well useless\u201d voluntarily leaving the tent and walking to his death. The diary says that the team member\u2019s last words were \u201dI am just going outside and may be some time.\u201d Ha!<\/p>\n

          They all seem lost and desperate but still have those sledges. Why would you keep pulling and pushing those sledges containing an extra 30 pounds of rock when you are so desperate and every step is life or death?<\/p>\n

          \"Anna
          A diary…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

          Then there\u2019s Scott\u2019s last diary entry, on March 29, 1912. \u201c\u2026 It seems a pity but I do not think I can write more.\u201d Well.<\/p>\n

          That diary apparently gave lots of locations of where he thought they were but maybe they were lost. It says they ended up only 11 miles from one of their supply stations. I wonder if anybody knows how close they were to where Scott thought<\/em> they were.<\/p>\n

          I\u2019d love to see that diary. Wouldn\u2019t that be cool? Online? I\u2019ll Google it.<\/p>\n

          Yes! At the British museum. Look at that! I can see Scott\u2019s last entry IN HIS OWN HANDWRITING!<\/p>\n

          \"Anna
          A digital version?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

          Actually, if I decide to write about something that requires reading the diary, it would be easier to not have to decipher his handwriting. Wonder whether there is a typed version of it online somewhere?<\/p>\n

          Maybe I should pay attention to the early paragraph on the Terra Nova Expedition page in Wikipedia\u2014about it being controversial whether Scott and his team made bad decisions so that they brought most of their troubles on themselves. Can I narrow my topic to just the controversy over whether bad decisions of Scott and his crew doomed them? Maybe it\u2019s too big a topic if I consider the decisions of all team members. Maybe I should just consider Scott\u2019s decisions.<\/p>\n

          So what research question could come from that? Maybe: how did Scott\u2019s decisions contribute to his team\u2019s deaths in Antarctica? But am I talking about his decisions before or after they left for Antarctica? Or the whole time they were a team? Probably too many decisions involved. More focused: How did Scott\u2019s decisions after reaching the South Pole help or hurt the chances of his team getting back safely? That\u2019s not bad\u2014maybe. If people have written about that. There are several of his decisions discussed on the Wikipedia page, and I know there are sources at the bottom of that page.<\/p>\n

          \"Anna
          Really, a desert?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

          Let me think\u2014what else did I see that was interesting or puzzling about all this? I remember being surprised that Antarctica is a desert. So maybe I could make Antarctica as a desert my topic. My research question could be something like: Why is Antarctica considered a desert? But there has to be a definition of deserts somewhere online, so that doesn\u2019t sound complicated enough. Once you know the definition of desert, you\u2019d know the answer to the question. Professor Sanders says research questions are more complicated than regular questions.<\/p>\n

          What\u2019s a topic I could care about? A question I really wonder about? Maybe those rocks with the fossils in them. It\u2019s just so hard to imagine desperate explorers continuing to push those sledges with an extra 30 pounds of rocks on them. Did they somehow know how important they would be? Or were they just curious about them? Why didn\u2019t they ditch them? Or maybe they just didn\u2019t realize how close to death they were. Maybe I could narrow my Antarctica topic to those rocks.<\/p>\n

          \"Anna
          Why rocks?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

          Maybe my topic could be something like: The rocks that Scott and his crew found in Antarctica that prove continental drift. Maybe my research question could be: How did Scott\u2019s explorers choose the rocks they kept?<\/p>\n

          Well, now all I have is questions about my questions. Like, is my professor going to think the question about the rocks is still about Antarctica? Or is it all about continental drift or geology or even the psychology of desperate people? And what has been written about the finding of those rocks? Will I be able to find enough sources? I\u2019m also wondering whether my question about Scott\u2019s decisions is too big\u2014do I have enough time for it?<\/p>\n

          \"Anna
          I should ask.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

          I think my professor is the only one who can tell me whether my question about the rocks has enough to do with Antarctica. Since he\u2019s the one who will be grading my paper. But a librarian can help me figure out the other things.<\/p>\n

          So Dr. Sanders and a librarian are next.<\/p>\n

          Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Was Anna\u2019s choice to start with Wikipedia a good choice? Why or why not?<\/li>\n
          2. Have you ever used that Control-F technique?<\/li>\n
          3. At what points does Anna think about where to look for information?<\/li>\n
          4. At the end of this session, Anna hasn\u2019t yet settled on a research question. So what did she accomplish? What good was all this searching and thinking?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Here are our answers below.<\/p>\n

            \n
            Our Answers:<\/strong><\/p>\n
              \n
            1. Was Anna\u2019s choice to start with Wikipedia a good choice? Why or why not? <\/strong>Wikipedia is a great place to start a research project. Just make sure you move on from there, because it\u2019s a not a good place to end up with your project. One place to move on to is the sources at the bottom of most Wikipedia pages.<\/li>\n
            2. Have you ever used that Control-F technique?<\/strong> If you haven\u2019t used the Control-F technique, we hope you will. It can save you a lot of time and effort reading online material.<\/li>\n
            3. At what points does Anna think about where to look for information<\/strong>? When she began; when she wanted to know more about the Scott expedition; when she wonders whether she could read Scott\u2019s diary online; when she thinks about what people could answer her questions.<\/li>\n
            4. At the end of this session, Anna hasn\u2019t yet settled on a research question. So what did she accomplish? What good was all this reading and thinking? <\/strong>There are probably many answers to this question. Ours includes that Anna learned more about Antarctica, the subject of her research project. She focused her thinking (even if she doesn\u2019t end up using the possible research questions she\u2019s considering) and practiced critical thinking skills, such as when she thought about what she could be interested in, when she worked to make her potential research questions more specific, and when she figured out what questions still needed answering at the end. She also practiced her skills at making meaning from what she read, investigating a story that she didn\u2019t expect to be there and didn\u2019t know had the potential of being one that she is interested in. She also now knows what questions she needs answered and whom to ask. These thinking skills are what college is all about. Anna is way beyond where she was when she started.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-33","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":20,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/33\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/33\/revisions\/34"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/20"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/33\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}