Library Student Employees: Discipline 911: English

You may be writing a 3-5 page basic freshman comp-type paper, a detailed upper-level course in your major, a speech… it doesn’t matter; sooner or later, on your own, or with the help of your classmates, teachers and librarians, you have to decide exactly what you want to write about!

BEFORE you examine the resources below, you need to think about the requirements of the research project. It might help you to organize your thoughts using these steps:

1. Name your topic: I am studying ___________________________________
2. Imply your question: because I want to find out who/how/why __________
3. State the rationale for the question and the project: in order to understand how/why/what _____________________________________________________

[from Booth, The Craft of Research, 1995

You may start with one set of variables filling out the above, but as you do your preliminary reading & researching, you should expect it to change as you refine your final topic choice.

DATABASES can be used to help you CHOOSE topics before you do your in-depth RESOURCE-FINDING. Try TopicSearch. Try Points of View Reference Center. Try CQ Researcher. 

SUBJECT ENCYCLOPEDIAS [many online as well as print] allow you to read overviews of general topics and often suggest narrower topics that would fit your requirements. 

• Recent American History class? try Oxford Encyclopedia of American Social History
• Music class? Encyclopedia of Popular Music

Look for more encyclopedias in the online catalog or the Electronic Resources portal; ASK a librarian!

Visit the BROWSING PERIODICALS (1st floor), choose a general magazine or a subject-specific one and browse several issues to find topics that might work. 

Out on the Internet, head for Google News and see what topics are Trending. Go to major news sites like CNN and look for in-depth reports on topics. Remember to use LEGITIMATE news sites! If you're not sure, ASK a librarian! Debate sites are good places to find topics that are interesting, researchable, and fit into your requirements. Hopefully your teacher will provide you with ideas. If not, ASK a librarian! Topic choice searching is one of the times when Wikipedia comes in very handy!

Also, why not just browse the subject categories of our Subject Guides here on the list? Bet you can find some possibilities! If you're not sure, ASK a librarian!

Identify what your hypothesis or research topic is. What do you know about it? What are the common beliefs and facts known? What are the known treatments or care options? 

In a literature review, you are attempting to find out what is known about your hypothesis or research topic. What do others know through research? What competing theories are available? What relevant research has been done? These are the beliefs and facts that will either support or refute your hypothesis. These are the arguments to which you must respond to validate your research.

Welcome to this LibGuide for "ENG 105: FRESHMAN WRITING II." As the second half of the freshman sequence in foundational studies, English 105 is designed to continue to build upon the basic writing skills that were developed in English 101. You will continue to practice writing as a process to formulate effective theses and develop clear, correct expression of your ideas. However, unlike English 101 with its emphasis on expository writing from personal experience and observation, 105 requires you to do academic writing, based on research. Research is a means to gather useful ideas, information, and experience and to synthesize these into a thoughtful essay addressing a mature topic. You will write four papers, including an annotated bibliography, based on sources, leading to a longer multiple- source research paper that culminates the course. The course will thus emphasize research, writing, and documentation. It will include instruction in finding, evaluating, and integrating sources, whether from the library or the Internet. You will be free to choose a topic for your final research paper from a long list of topics suitable for research.

By the time this course concludes, you will be taught how to:

1. Demonstrate fluency in the writing process: planning, drafting, revising, editing, and preparing final papers.

2. Demonstrate competence in the varied elements of writing: thesis, stance, content, organization, sentences, diction, and technical matters.

3. Demonstrate awareness of rhetorical strategies in various forms of writing, with particular attention to audience.

4. Assess the usefulness and reliability of sources, including Internet sources.

5. Synthesize and critique material from a variety of sources with an emphasis on scholarly and professional publications.

6. Exhibit critical thinking as readers and as writers.

7. Understand the relevance of writing to real-world situations.

The Library Catalog is a searchable interface of the records of all the materials owned by the ISU Library. It includes an inventory of the library materials, including books, journals, electronic journal subscriptions, government documents, DVDs, videos, CDs, audio books, and software.

Use the Classic catalog as your first option for locating books, scores, microfilms, journal titles (but NOT articles), sound recordings, and videos owned by Indiana State University, as well as Web-based resources that are accessible via the catalog (electronic books and journals).

Here are some quick links to important information about writing research papers and properly citing your sources.

Link to contact information for Cheryl Blevens, English Department Liaison.