Research Questions

       If you already know what kind of question you want to ask, please email it to  me so that I can begin constructing a question list for the reference specialist who will be teaching the class at the Athenaeum.  Students having trouble creating good research questions should talk about them with a Writing Center tutor.  If you post your questions and your evolving methods for answering them on the GoucherLearn Discussion Board, I will give you extra credit for the class participation part of your grade (and you will be able to learn from each other). The questions are due in my inbox by noon on the day before the instruction session.  Our goal is to help you navigate the world of expert information without wrecking your project.  Note that "research wrecks" can be caused by many things, but misuse of electronics, misuse of basic mechanical aids like note-taking, and bad planning from the start are likely to bring you trouble.  Learn careful navigation and you can undertake more exotic intellectual travels.

         Note this is not a "research paper" assignment.  I am not looking for a big paper based on summaries of lots of sources.  I want you to put into words a smart question about one of the two case papers you have written, a question whose answer from an expert source would help you to revise the paper for the final portfolio if you were to choose that one to revise.  In your report of the results of your research project (click on the link please), note that I pay equal attention to the quality of the question you asked, the source(s) from which you got it and methodology you used to retreive those sources, and your understanding of how the answer would improve the paper.   The special rubric I will use to evaluate this report specifically focuses my attention on these three things.  Do this project correctly and learn from it, and you might just pass the CWP requirement in December.  Do it wrong, and you will always be vulnerable to bad sources you find using Google.