How to Study

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S tart any research project by working with the broadest out- lines or topics (and the broadest resources) and slowly narrow you ...

If you are writing a paper about a historical or contemporary figure, also consider skimming a biographical dictionary or, even ...

Primary resources are those written by people who actually witnessed or participated in an event. When you read a scientist’s re ...

Book catalogs. The best-known areBooks in Print, Forthcoming Books, and theCumulative Book Index. Newspaper indexes. Several la ...

How Libraries Are Organized To provide organization and facilitate access, most small and academic libraries utilize the Dewey d ...

There is even further subdivision. Mathematics is given its own number in the 500 series—510. But specific subjects within mathe ...

H Social sciences (sociology, business, economics) J Political sciences KLaw L Education M Music N Fine arts (art and architectu ...

Be careful about the following two things: While much of the “basic” information on most research-oriented websites is not going ...

■ When beginning your research, use the meta engine first. ■ Learn each engine’s advanced features—you’ll find things faster and ...

Despite the immensity and importance of the Internet’s resources, brick-and-mortar libraries are certainly not dinosaurs. Just b ...

R eading this chapter will not make you such a good writer that you can quit school and start visiting bookstores to preen in fr ...

Your teacher really didn’t ask you to write a research paper just to make your life miserable. Of all the things you’ll learn in ...

Whatever his or her directions, follow them to the letter. Some high school teachers may forgive you your trespasses, but I have ...

What’s That Jelly Stain Worth? Teachers have to read a lot of papers and shouldn’t be faulted if, after hundreds of pages, they ...

bad transitions between paragraphs, misspellings? The more such comments—and, one would expect, the lower the grade—the more ext ...

6.Prepare detailed outline (from note cards). 7.Write first draft. 8.Do additional research (if necessary). 9.Write second draft ...

As you plan your work schedule, set deadlines for completing the general steps of your paper-writing process. For example: Week ...

Steps 1 & 2: Consider and Choose Topic Options In some cases, your teacher will assign your topic. In others, she will assig ...

Pick a topic that’s too obscure, and you may find that little or no information has been written about it. In that case, you wil ...