October 23

When it comes to drafting for my research paper there will be several steps involved in this process. First I will gather all of my sources. After I have all the sources that I need, I will then start to take information from them and organize them in a chronological matter. Next I will come up with a thesis statement for my essay and then start building around that. My next step will be to analyze information from my outline and then start building my body paragraphs. After I am done writing my body paragraphs I will continue on to the conclusion paragraph. In the conclusion I will restate the thesis and give a summary to the facts that I have made in the previous paragraphs.

Note Taking Method

My methods for note taking are to first gather together all of my sources. Next I will read over all of the sources that i found. After I have read over these, i will high light all the information that will be useful for my essay. After all the information is gathered, I will then organize it and put it in logical order.

Interview Questions

Do you support the U.S. invading Iraq in 2003?

Do you think we should pull out of Iraq right now, or wait until all of the conflicts are resolved?

Do you think our next elected president will pull our troops out of Iraq, or keep them there?

Do you think invading Iraq has hurt or helped our economy?

Now that we are 5 years into this war, do you think Invading Iraq was a good idea or a bad idea?

4 Source Observations

Primary Sources- There is several types of primary sources. Examples of these are novels, poems, speeches, letters, diaries, blogs, and eyewitness accounts. Primary sources are mainly someone’s original words. They are mostly about them or accounts that they witnessed themselves.

Secondary Sources- These is sources that are written about a person, event, or topic. Some examples are biographies, encyclopedias, and news articles. Secondary sources are just as good as primary sources; they are just not about the person who wrote them.

Popular Sources- Popular sources are usually made by authors, journalists, or reporters. The sources are not listed and the topics are briefly addressed. You would most likely find these at newsstands and stores.

Scholarly Sources- These is written by authors who have academic credentials. These authors have studied the topic in depth and know how to present both sides of the topic. These sources are more credible that popular sources.

Research Process Observation

As of right now, the research process is all right. I can find a ton of information on the internet. The only thing that is not helping my research process is the databases and catalogs. I can find information about the Iraq War on the catalogs and databases, but I cannot find any authors opinions of the war. The visual mapping is helping with my research. It helps me get more organized and helps me construct my essay. I have done much research so far, but I still have a long way to go in order to have a sufficient amount of information for my essay.

Creative Practice Page 113

When researching my topic on the internet, I received great results. I searched the words ‘Iraq War’ and I received a ton of results. These websites were mostly facts and information on the Iraq War. I was looking more for people’s views and opinions on the Iraq War. So I refined my search to ‘people’s opinions of the Iraq War’ and there was not sufficient information on people’s views. So my next idea was to look at the library catalog. I typed ‘Iraq War’ into the catalog search and there were 716 results found. I then tried typing in ‘opinions on Iraq War’ then ‘views on Iraq War’ and received useful information for my essay. My last search was the library’s database. There was no information about any wars or international affairs. The library database was pretty much useless to me for this topic.