LA Support Research: The Future of.......
This assignment will assist you in learning how to pick a research topic, create a thesis statement and develop a research strategy.
Choose a topic: "The Future of______________________. Check out CQ Researcher which has comprehensive 30-40 page reports and a bibliographies of related books and articles. http://library2.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/.
Some topic examples:
Future of Education-Distance Education
Future of Books-Electronic Books
Future of Banking-E-commerce, E-banking
Future of Space Travel and Colonies
Future of Medicine-Cloning, Genetic Engineering, Designer Babies
Future of Work-Jobs, E-commuting
Future of Language
Future of Cars
Future of Earth
Future of Computers/Technology/Phones/TV-Converging Technologies
Future of Zoos
Future of Baseball
Future of Weapons-Biological/Chemical
Future of Food-Food Engineering
1. After selecting a topic, narrow the topic down to a specific issue. Do you want to emphasize the religious, ethical, philosophical, legal or cultural aspects; the political, economic, sociological, anthropological, psychological aspects; or the biological, medical or technological aspects. You can combine one or more of these aspects. What aspects will you emphasize? (You may want to explore several aspects before your final decision).
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Write down 3 questions about this topic you would like to answer in your research paper. You will be seeking answers, not just information when you do your research.
a._____________________________________________________________________________________________
b._____________________________________________________________________________________________
c._____________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Select one or combine a couple of the questions above to develop your working thesis statement. Your final thesis statement will probably change as you gather more information about your topic. Your thesis statement should summarize the main idea and present a viewpoint.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Identity the main ideas in your thesis statement that you just wrote in #3. What keywords could you use? Remember to use synonyms by using the thesaurus or subject headings when you do a search on your topic. These keywords will help you search more efficiently when using the Einstein Catalog, the databases, CQ Researcher and Opposing Viewpoints.
5. What types of library materials could you use for your paper? Circle what you may use.
Books? http://albert.rit.edu/
EBooks? http://wally.rit.edu/electronic/ebooks.html
General Encyclopedias?
REF, 1st floor E-Encyclopedia? http://wally.rit.edu/electronic/britannica/britannica.html
Subject Encyclopedias?
REF, 1st floor
Databases? http://wally.rit.edu/electronic/electronic.html
Bibliographies or Guides?
Web Sites? http://wally.rit.edu/depts/ref/instruction/tutorial/engines.html
References
Encyclopedia of the Future CB158.E53 1996
Books
Alvin Toffler books Powershift : knowledge, wealth, and violence at the edge of the 21st century HN17.5 .T6417 1990. Future Shock, etc.
Journals
- several journals are available online via databases
Futures: The Journal of policy, planning and future studies -- On CMS 2nd floor
Futurist. Available online
Maintained by Joan Naturale
JXNWML@rit.edu
IM me via AOL, Yahoo or MSN via ntidlibrarian
Reference Desk one 2 one IM assistance
MLA and APA Online Citation Builder
|
