Draft

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The following components should appear together in one document in your submission. Use the to assemble your finished product:  

  1. The topic you selected (it must be one of the choices ).
  2. One source from the Excelsior College Library on your topic. (This does not need to be in APA format but must include the title, date, author, and a link to the source. Your source cannot be the associated research starter article linked in the chart above. It cannot come from a Google Search.)
    • To find a source: Go to the and use the OneSearch tool on the homepage by putting in a few keywords associated with your topic. View the and the to learn more about this searching process.
  3. At least three interesting or troubling facts about the topic that comes from your source listed above. (These should be written in your own words and not copy/pasted directly from the source.)
  4. At least three questions you have about this topic and how it might impact the future of our society. (You do not need to have answers to these questions yet, just pose the questions for now.  Aim for why questions rather than what. These are the questions that will drive your research in the next few weeks and help you to find the most useful sources.)
  5. A short paragraph (approx. 200-250 words) reflecting on this process. (Consider the following as you reflect: why did you choose this topic? Do you think you have any biases toward a certain perspective on it? How will you try to minimize your own biases as you conduct research? Did you find it difficult to find a source or come up with questions about your topic or to think about how this topic relates to the future?)

Put all five components into the and submit the finished document to the dropbox by Sunday night of Module 1. Scroll to the top of the page to locate the submission button.

You will receive feedback from your instructor during the first half of Module 2. Make sure to read and utilize that feedback as you work on the next milestone in Module 2.

Resources:

  • (Word document)
  • (Excelsior Library)
  • (Excelsior Library)
  • (Excelsior Library)

Brainstorming and Searching for Sources

Last week you chose a final project topic and began the research process. This week you will narrow your focus and find some preliminary sources. 

Make sure you read and incorporate your instructors feedback on your Milestone 1 submission. You will receive a grade and feedback by Thursday of Module 2 at the latest.  

Begin by reading pages 2.11 through 2.13 in the webtext and then begin the steps below.

Step 1: Freewriting

The first step to brainstorming is to harness your brains energy around a topic (aka create the storm).  Many professional writers do this by freewriting about a topic for a set amount of time. This helps exercise your writing muscle and broaden your thinking on your topic.  For this exercise, set a timer for 10 minutes.  During this time write down anything that comes to mind about your topic.  Dont stop until the timer goes off!  You dont need to worry about proper spelling or sentence structure, just think broadly, pose questions, wonder, consider, and write what you already know about your topic. Think about the facts and questions you posed last week and how your instructor responded to them. You can choose to do this with a pen and paper or on a computer. You dont need to submit this step with your finished product so feel free to experiment.

For example, if my topic choice is climate change my free-write might look something like this:  

I chose climate change as my topic. I dont know much about it but I know that when people say climate change they really mean warmer temperatures on Earth, sometimes its called global warming. I have heard that sea levels are rising and the ocean is getting warmer. This is causing ice caps to melt. What is causing it? The article I read last week talked about greenhouse gases and fossil fuels. Does everyone agree that climate change is happening? I dont think so. Sometimes you hear on the news that politicians or TV personalities talk about climate change being made up, Im not sure if thats true. It seems like when you hear scientists talk about it theyre more certain that its a problem. Why does it seem like everyone talks about climate change as a problem but nothing ever actually changes? I think electric cars are a good idea but too expensive for me to buy, I wonder how they can bring them down in price so more people will switch from gas. I saw that movie that Al Gore made about global warming, but I dont remember what it was called. Are alternative energy sources like wind farms and solar power really enough to make a big change? What are other countries doing? What would it take to end climate change entirely at this point or is that impossible?

The end result might be a mess! It might look nothing like the example above. Thats ok! The purpose of this activity is to get your thoughts out on paper so you can begin to filter and narrow them.

See the for examples of each of the steps below:

Step 2: Making a List

The next step is to use your free-write paragraph to help narrow your area focus. The topic choices from Module 1 are too broad to cover adequately in a short research paper, so you need to find one subject or idea within that topic. Pull out the important ideas from your paragraph that could be useful directions of focus. Aim for at least 7 different ideas to pull out and list in bullets.

Step 3: Describing Your Topic and Finding Your Keywords

As youve been working on this you may find that certain ideas are standing out to you as more intriguing avenues for research. Now, pick one of these ideas and write one to two sentences describing your narrowed topic.

Step 4: Thinking of Synonyms

Next, underline at least 5-6 key terms and phrases in your description. Then, for each underlined word, come up with 2-3 synonyms, abbreviations, acronyms, or alternative terms to describe it. You can use a to help you with this. This step is crucial to finding useful sources to use in your paper because the sources youre looking for may not appear if you search for one keyword but will appear with another.

Step 5: Searching the Library

The synonyms now give you a great list of keywords to use to search the Excelsior College Library for sources.

For this stage, we will NOT be using Google or other internet search engines to find sources. It is important to first understand how to effectively use our Excelsior College Library to find appropriate, scholarly sources. While you can find these types of sources through a Google search as well, you often have to search through and distinguish between many inappropriate sources as well. In later weeks, well learn more about assessing the validity of information on the internet.

Begin by going to the and using the OneSearch tool. Try several combinations of your keywords and synonyms to see what types of sources come up. (Tip: view and try using search tricks like AND, OR, *, or to change your results). Then, try an within the OneSearch tool to narrow your results further. View the following  In addition to changing your keywords and filters, trying limiting your results by date (look for more recent articles) or by source type (look for Scholarly Peer-Reviewed Journals). This will help you find higher-quality sources that are more likely to be useful to you in later weeks.

Find at least 6 sources that are relevant to your topic. They can be ebooks, journal articles, encyclopedia articles, news, and periodicals, etc. You may use the source you found last week if it still relates to your more narrowed topic. If not, scrap it and start fresh. The sources you find this week may not end up being the final sources you use for your paper, but they are a good way to get started on your narrower area of focus.

Try to put your sources in APA format in your final submission. You will not be graded on your strict adherence to proper APA format yet, but it is important to practice this skill as you will need to use it effectively later on in the course. Make sure to include the URL, the author (if there is one), the title of the article/book, and date. * Note: Not all source types require a URL in APA format, but make sure to include one for this assignment so your instructor can view your source if needed.  Followto generate a permanent link to an item in the library.  Do not just copy the URL from your web browser.

Resources:

  • (Word document)
  • (Excelsior Library)
  • (Excelsior Library)
  • (Excelsior Library)
  • (Excelsior Library)

Submission  Instructions

Once youve completed the steps above, submit the following in one document to the dropbox by Sunday evening of Module 2. Use the to see examples of each step and assemble the finished product:

  1. Your list of at least 7 narrowed ideas on your topic from the free-write activity
  2. Your 1-2 sentence description of your narrowed topic with at least 5-6 key terms and phrases underlined
  3. At least 2-3 synonyms for each of the 5-6 key terms or phrases
  4. Six sources on your topic from the Excelsior Library advanced search (including author, title, date, and URL)

Put all four components into the and submit the finished document to the dropbox by Sunday night of Module 1.