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Tables of Contents for The Curious Researcher
Chapter/Section Title
Page #
Page Count
Contents by Subject
xiii
6
Preface
xix
Introduction: Rethinking the Research Paper
1
3
EXERCISE 1 Collecting Golf Balls on Driving Ranges and Other Reflections
1
3
Good Research and Good Writing
4
1
Using This Book
4
2
The Exercises
4
1
The Five-Week Plan
5
1
Alternatives to the Five-Week Plan
5
1
The Research Paper and the Research Report
6
1
Discovering Your Purpose
6
1
How Formal Should It Be?
7
1
"Essaying" or Arguing?
8
2
Becoming an Authority by Using Authorities
10
2
"It's Just My Opinion"
11
1
Facts Don't Kill
12
11
EXERCISE 2 Bringing "Flies" to Life
12
11
"Why God Created Flies,"
13
10
Richard Conniff
Chapter 1 The First Week
23
52
The Importance of Getting Curious
23
9
Learning to Wonder Again
24
1
Getting the Pot Boiling
24
1
EXERCISE 1.1 What Do You Want to Know?
25
3
Other Ways to Find a Topic
28
2
What Is a Good Topic?
30
1
Checking Out Your Tentative Topic
30
1
Making the Most of an Assigned Topic
31
1
EXERCISE 1.2 The Myth of the Boring Topic
31
1
Befriending the Library
32
27
EXERCISE 1.3 Loving or Loathing the Library
33
2
The Basic Plan of the College Library
35
1
The Computer Revolution
35
2
CD-ROM
36
1
EXERCISE 1.4 Navigating the Reference Section
37
19
Knowing What to Look For
37
2
General Encyclopedias: Getting the Lay of the Land
39
1
Surveying the Reference Landscape
39
3
Finding Books
42
3
Interlibrary Loan
45
1
Checking Bibliographies
46
1
Finding Magazine and Journal Articles
46
2
Indexes to Specialized Periodicals
48
5
Newspaper Articles
53
1
Government Documents
54
2
The Story of a Search
56
3
Befriending the Internet
59
16
Three Drawbacks of Internet Research
59
1
Three Reasons to Use the Internet for Research
60
1
A Cluttered and Colorful Canvas
61
4
The Tangled Web
62
1
Using a Browser
63
2
EXERCISE 1.5 A Quick Tour of the Internet
65
8
Launching a Subject Search
65
2
Other Subject Search Sites
67
1
Launching a Keyword Search
67
1
Query, Query, Quite Contrary
67
6
Considering Nonlibrary Sources: Interviews and Surveys
73
2
Chapter 2 The Second Week
75
30
Narrowing the Subject
75
8
Circling the Lighthouse
75
1
From Landscape Shots to Close-Ups
76
1
EXERCISE 2.1 Finding the Questions
77
1
EXERCISE 2.2 Finding the Focusing Question
78
1
Choosing a Trailhead
79
2
What's Your Purpose?
81
1
Do You Have a Thesis?
81
1
EXERCISE 2.3 Charting Your Course
82
1
Developing a Research Strategy
83
21
Library Research Strategy
83
4
Moving from General to Specific
83
2
Evaluating Library Sources
85
2
Why Journal Articles Are Better Than Magazine Articles
85
1
Look for Often-Cited Authors
86
1
Primary over Secondary Sources
86
1
Not All Books Are ALike
86
1
Internet Research Strategy
87
2
Evaluating Online Sources
88
1
Arranging Interviews
89
8
Finding Experts
90
1
Finding Nonexperts Affected by Your Topic
91
1
Making Contact
92
1
The E-Mail Interview
93
4
Finding People on the Internet
93
1
Making Contact by E-Mail
94
1
Finding People on Listservs and Newsgroups
94
2
Deciding What to Ask
96
1
Finding a Group on Your Topic
96
1
Planning Informal Surveys
97
7
Defining Goals and Audience
97
3
Types of Questions
100
1
Survey Design
101
3
Avoid Loaded Questions
101
1
Avoid Vague Questions
101
2
Drawbacks of Open-Ended Questions
103
1
Designing Multiple-Choice Questions
103
1
Continuum Questions
103
1
Planning for Distribution
104
1
Looking Back before Moving On
104
1
Chapter 3 The Third Week
105
50
Writing in the Middle
105
16
Becoming an Activist Notetaker
106
2
EXERCISE 3.1 Creative Translations
108
1
Recognizing Plagiarism
108
2
Tactics for Avoiding Plagiarism
109
1
EXERCISE 3.2 Checking for Plagiarism
110
1
How to Be a Purposeful Notetaker
111
7
Paraphrasing
111
2
Melding Paraphrase and Purpose
111
2
Summarizing
113
3
Quoting
116
2
When to Quote
116
2
Quoting Fairly
118
1
EXERCISE 3.3 Good Notes on Bad Writing
118
3
"The Importance of Writing Badly," by Bruce Ballenger
119
2
Three Notetaking Tips That Will Save You a Headache Later On
121
1
Notetaking Techniques
121
11
The Double-Entry Journal
122
The Research Log
128
Digging Deeper for Information
132
21
First-Level Searching
133
2
Second-Level Searching
134
7
Specialized Indexes to Journals
135
3
Specialized Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
138
1
Bibliographies
138
1
Specialized Computer Databases
139
1
Internet Searches
139
2
Third-Level Searching
141
4
Search by Author
141
2
Using Citation Indexes
141
2
Bibliographies in Books and Articles
143
1
Unpublished Scholarly Papers
143
1
Essays and Articles Buried in Books
144
1
Expanding the Site of the Search
145
8
Library Sources
145
2
Special Collections
146
1
Audiovisual Departments
146
1
Pamphlets
146
1
Other Libraries
146
1
Nonlibrary Sources
147
3
Bookstores
147
1
Writing Letters
147
2
Lectures
149
1
TV and Radio
149
1
Conducting Interviews
150
2
Whom to Interview?
150
1
What Questions to Ask?
150
1
During the Interview
151
1
Notetaking
152
1
Conducting Surveys
152
1
Distribution
153
1
Looking Back before Moving On
153
2
Chapter 4 The Fourth Week
155
40
Getting to the Draft
155
35
When the Experts Disagree
156
1
Evaluating Conflicting Claims
157
1
EXERCISE 4.1 Pointed or Pointless: How Do You Decide What's True?
157
1
EXERCISE 4.2 Reclaiming Your Topic
158
6
Deciding Whether to Say I
164
1
Getting Personal without Being Personal
164
1
EXERCISE 4.3 Presence in the Research Essay
165
1
Beginning at the Beginning
166
4
Flashlights or Floodlights?
166
2
Writing Multiple Leads
168
2
EXERCISE 4.4 Three Ways In
170
1
Deciding on a Voice
170
2
Considering Purpose, Audience, Subject, and Who You Are
171
1
The Differing Voices of Research
172
1
Writing for Reader Interest
173
7
Working the Common Ground
174
2
Topics in Which Common Ground Is Hard to Find
175
1
Putting People on the Page
176
1
Using Case Studies
176
1
Using Interviews
177
1
Writing a Strong Ending
177
3
Endings to Avoid
178
2
Using Surprise
180
1
Considering Methods of Development
180
4
Narrative
181
1
Problem-to-Solution
181
1
Cause-to-Effect or Effect-to-Cause
182
1
Question-to-Answer
182
1
Known-to-Unknown or Unknown-to-Known
183
1
Simple-to-Complex
183
1
General-to-Specific or Specific-to-General
183
1
Comparison-and-Contrast
183
1
Combining Approaches
184
1
Writing with Sources
184
6
Blending Kinds of Writing and Sources
185
4
Handling Quotes
186
2
Handling Interview Material
188
1
Trusting Your Memory
189
1
Citing Sources
190
5
An Alternative to Colliding Footnotes
190
1
I Hate These Theses to Pieces
191
1
Driving through the First Draft
192
3
A Draft Is Something the Wind Blows Through
193
2
Chapter 5 The Fifth Week
195
30
Revising for Purpose
195
8
The Thesis as a Tool for Revision
196
1
EXERCISE 5.1 Dissecting the Fish
197
2
Using a Reader
199
1
What You Need from a Reader
199
1
EXERCISE 5.2 Directing the Reader's Response
199
1
Attacking the Draft
200
1
EXERCISE 5.3 Cut-and-Paste Revision
201
2
Examining the Wreckage
202
1
Revising for Information
203
4
Finding Quick Facts
204
3
Revising for Language
207
9
Listening to the Voice
207
2
Avoid Sounding Glib
208
1
Scrutinizing Paragraphs
209
2
How Well Do You Integrate Sources?
209
1
Is Each Paragraph Unified?
210
1
Scrutinizing Sentences
211
4
Using Active Voice
211
1
Using Strong Verbs
212
2
Varying Sentence Length
214
1
Editing for Simplicity
215
1
EXERCISE 5.4 Cutting Clutter
215
1
Preparing the Final Manuscript
216
8
Considering "Reader-Friendly" Design
217
1
Following MLA Conventions
218
1
Proofreading Your Paper
218
1
Proofreading on a Computer
218
1
Looking Closely
219
1
EXERCISE 5.5 Picking Off the Lint
219
5
Ten Common Mistakes
220
2
Using the "Search" Function
222
1
Avoiding Sexist Language
223
1
Looking Back and Moving On
224
1
Appendix A Guide to MLA Style
225
50
Part One: Citing Sources in Your Essay
225
9
When to Cite
225
1
The Common Knowledge Exception
226
1
The MLA Author/Page System
226
8
The Basics of Using Parenthetical Citation
226
6
Placement of Citations
228
1
How to Cite When There Is No Author
229
1
How to Cite Different Works by the Same Author
230
1
How to Cite Indirect Sources
231
1
How to Cite Personal Interviews
231
1
Sample' Parenthetical References for Other Sources
232
2
Part Two: How the Essay Should Look
234
2
Printing or Typing
234
1
Margins and Spacing
234
1
Title Page
234
1
Pagination
235
1
Placement of Tables, Charts, and Illustrations
235
1
Handling Titles
235
1
A Word about Italic Type
236
1
Part Three: Preparing the "Works Cited" Page
236
39
Format
237
1
Alphabetizing the List
237
1
Indenting and Spacing
237
1
Citing Books
238
5
Title
238
1
Edition
239
1
Publication Place, Publisher, and Date
239
1
Page Numbers
239
1
Sample Book Citations
239
4
Citing Periodicals
243
4
Author's Name
244
1
Article Title
244
1
Periodical Title
244
1
Volume Number
244
1
Date
244
1
Page Numbers
244
1
Sample Periodical Citations
245
2
Citing Nonprint and Other Sources
247
3
Citing CD-ROMs, Diskettes, and Magnetic Tapes
250
1
Citing Online Sources
251
7
Is It Also in Print?
252
2
Address Mistakes Are Fatal
254
1
Sample Online Citations
254
4
Part Four: A Sample Paper in MLA Style
258
17
Appendix B Guide to APA Style
275
32
Part One: How the Essay Should Look
276
2
Page Format
276
1
Title Page
276
1
Abstract
276
1
Body of the Paper
276
1
Reference Page
277
1
Appendix
277
1
Notes
277
1
Tables and Figures
277
1
Part Two: Citing Sources in the Text
278
3
Part Three: Preparing the "References" List
281
9
Author
281
1
Date
281
1
Article or Book Title
281
1
Periodical Title and Publication Information
281
1
Sample References
282
8
Part Four: A Sample Paper in APA Style
290
17
Appendix C Tips for Researching and Writing Papers on Literary Topics
307
26
Mine the Primary Source
307
1
Search Strategies
308
25
Researching the Author
309
1
Biographies
309
1
Primary Bibliographies
309
1
Researching the Critics
310
1
Researching the Genre or Tradition
310
1
Sample Essay: Personal Response
311
12
"I Can Relate to It" Is Only a Start
312
11
Sample Research Essay on a Literary Topic
323
10
Index
333