Individual_Research_Guide short version

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1、IGCSE Global Perspectives - Individual Research GuideFocusing the Research on an Issue: Getting started: use background or immersion knowledge of an area of study to begin your investigation. What do you already know? What more would you like to know? Immerse yourself into the area of study through

2、articles, films, discussion, or other means.). Write about your background knowledge and / or your reaction to immersion activities. This can serve as the basis of the introduction to the individual research later. Formulating a good Focusing Question: develop a good research question that requires

3、you to take a stand on an issue after reviewing the relevant facts. This is your Focusing Question. The question should zero in on a specific issue within the area of study and require you to form, and show, an opinion.o Possible Focusing Question templates: How important is (access to free educatio

4、n / protecting coral reef / awareness of the causes of climate change / the use of diplomacy /.)? Whose responsibility is it to (protect coral reef / combat climate change)? Do the benefits of (advancing technology / factory farming / patent laws / urbanization / globalization / access to cheap good

5、s.) outweigh the disadvantages? What is more important: (the right to free speech or a nations security /conserving energy or making renewable energy sources accessible.)? Should (education be considered a right or a privilege / people have access to free drinking water / animals have the same right

6、s as people / freedom of speech ever be limited, and if so, why.)? Formulating Supporting Questions: Supporting Questions are those designed to guide a researcher in finding the facts will shape and support the answer to your Focusing Question. o If your FOCUSING QUESTION under the area of study Tec

7、hnology and the Economic divide is Do the benefits of the availability of cheap goods outweigh the detriments? then you would need the answers to a few secondary questions to develop and support an informed opinion: Economic Perspective (personal, local global): what are various methods used to prod

8、uce cheap goods? Who might benefit from the profusion of cheap goods? Who might be put at a disadvantage? (this last question might lead a student to look at both a community in which people shop and work at places like Wal-Mart, just as it might lead a student to look into labor practices in develo

9、ping countries, and the student might then link these two perspectives together). Environmental perspective (personal, local, global): what impact does the production of the cheap, disposable goods my family uses have on the environment? (Students might then look into factory pollution, use of resou

10、rces, disposal of cheap goods. Health perspective (personal, local, global): questions might investigate the safety of cheap goods as well as the effect consumerism might have on mental well-being). Stating your Opinion: Once you have gathered and analyzed the information collected to answer these q

11、uestions, write out the opinion you have formed in a sentence or two. This is your Thesis Statement (claim, or main idea). The final aim of your research is to support the thesis statement. A possible thesis statement for our Focusing Question might be:o Cheap, mass produced disposable goods can pre

12、sent huge benefits in terms of convenience and affordability, but these benefits are small in comparison to the damage that our dependence on cheap goods does to our environment, to peoples health, and to the worlds poor. Information Gathering / Bibliography: Use reliable sources:o When compiling in

13、formation for a study, use reliable, verifiable, and trusted resources, such as, but not limited to Articles from major news sources and professional journals Government websites NGO websites Clips of relevant T.V. news, documentaries, podcasts.o Always question a source, even if it appears reliable

14、. Check a source against other reliable sources. Facts should be verified and / or debated before accepted by a researcher.o Do not rely on Yahoo answers Websites created for school projects etc. Any site on which information can be contributed by any random person Any site on which the information

15、comes in the form of a comments section, unless for the purpose of collecting a random sample of peoples beliefs or attitudes toward a specific issue. Searching tips:o If you cannot find what you are looking for, change the key words of your search term. If you find what you are looking for in Wikip

16、edia, go a step further and open the links to the sources Wikipedia used. These are likely to be reliable sources that have the same information in the Wikipedia article.o If the source is too complicated for you to understand but you think it is relevant, ask for help or find a different source tha

17、t is easier to understand. Analyze and Present: Never copy information directly from a source into your coursework. That is plagiarism: presenting someone elses work as your own.o Note information shorthand instead, and then incorporate the information into your work in your own words. Do not just s

18、witch out a few key words with synonyms.o If you must use a part of someone elses work, do it sparingly and cite the source. This use of someone elses work will be apparent by your use of quotation marks and proper citation at the end of the quote. Use real examples to demonstrate your points or ill

19、uminate perspectives. These real examples should come from the excellent sources you have found and studied. Analysis should emphasize multiple perspectives of the issue you are investigating. The issue you are investigating is your Thesis. A basic outline for presenting findings might be:o Title: o

20、 Introduction Use the writing from the focusing stage to form an introduction. This can be an explanation of why you chose the area of study, a relevant personal anecdote, a summary of your knowledge of issues under the area of study. Transition to your topic. State your question.o Body Show analysi

21、s of the issue through facts and real, relevant examples, representing the global, national and personal perspectives. o Conclusion Your Thesis Statement, as the result of your analysis, is your conclusion.Possible Scenarios / Futures: Identify a broad range of scenarios based on the evidence you ha

22、ve collected. Evaluate the likelihood of possible outcomes (effects).o If this cause continues this way, the effects may be.because.How likely is this?o But if the cause is altered by this action, the effects may be.because. How likely is this?o But then if this happens instead, then the effects mig

23、ht be.because. How likely is this? Possible modes of expressing this step could beo Artwork or Comic stripo Cause-effect charto Detailed, organized, multi-level bullet-point list (as in this document).o A well-written paragraph for each course of action, descriptive narratives or poetry.Formulate Po

24、ssible Courses of Action How might some of the problems surrounding the issue be solved or altered? A detailed proposal might includeo What the action iso Who would perform or organize the action, and whyo What resources or support that person or those people would need to carry out the actiono What

25、 impact the action might it have Formulate at least three courses of action. Think personal action; local / national (community or political) action; global (community or political) action. Possible formats for presenting these course of action could be o Detailed, organized, multi-level bullet-poin

26、t list (as in this document).o A well-written paragraph for each course of action.o Paneled comic strips.Develop Evidence-based, personal response, demonstrating self-awareness This step can be interpreted in many ways, but an adequate response to this step could be to:o Discuss or show how completi

27、ng this study changed the way you feel or think about the issue, or how it made you more aware of the impact you personally have on the issue. Give reference to the specific parts of the research that have strongly influenced this effect. This response would already be interwoven into a well-constru

28、cted study; this step is then a summary of that response. A written paragraph, comic strip, song, artwork, poetry or other modes could be used to present this step.Complete Process OverviewThe steps for completing the study, discussed in this document, have been as follows:1. Choose an area of study

29、 based on interest, background knowledge, or in reaction to information presented in class, at home, in the news, or by other means.2. Write what you know about this area of study, including personal connections.3. Develop a Focusing Question.4. Formulate supporting questions you will need the answe

30、rs to in order to form an informed opinion in answer to your Focusing question.5. Find the answers to your supporting questions through reliable internet sources that have been checked against other reliable sources. Your sources should represent various perspectives and discuss specific, real word

31、examples. Create a bibliography for all of the sources that will shape your study.6. Analyze and evaluate the information (facts) you have collected. 7. Write your opinion in the form of a thesis statement. 8. Plan, draft, and present your analysis, (using writing from step 2 as an introduction), sh

32、owing how the facts support your thesis statement. You should follow the conventions of good essay writing, although you are encouraged to choose other modes of expression as well. 9. Identify possible futures.10. formulate courses of action.11. Develop evidence-based personal response.Bibliography

33、Page Formatting, MLA Style(What information do I need to record?) Basic Style for Citations of Electronic Sources (Internet Sources)Here are some common features you should try and find before citing electronic sources in MLA style. Not every Web page will provide all of the following information. H

34、owever, collect as much of the following information as possible both for your citations and for your research notes: Author and/or editor names (if available) Article name in quotation marks (if applicable) Title of the Website, project, or book in italics. (Remember that some Print publications ha

35、ve Web publications with slightly different names. They may, for example, include the additional information or otherwise modified information, like domain names e.g. .com or .net.) Any version numbers available, including revisions, posting dates, volumes, or issue numbers. Publisher information, i

36、ncluding the publisher name and publishing date. Take note of any page numbers (if available). Date you accessed the material. URL An Article in a Web MagazineProvide the author name, article name in quotation marks, title of the Web magazine in italics, publisher name, publication date, medium of p

37、ublication, and the date of access. Remember to use n.p. if no publisher name is available and n.d. if not publishing date is given.EXAMPLE #1: Bernstein, Mark. 10 Tips on Writing the Living Web. A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites. A List Apart Mag., 16 Aug. 2002. Web. 4 May 2009.Basic Forma

38、t for Book SourcesThe first-give authors name or a book with a single authors name appears in last name, first name format. The basic form for a book citation is:Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.Book with One AuthorGleick

39、, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin, 1987. Print.Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. Denver: MacMurray, 1999. Print.Book with More Than One AuthorThe first given name appears in last name, first name format; subsequent author names appear in first name last name format.Gille

40、spie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn, 2000. Print.Book by a Corporate Author or OrganizationA corporate author may include a commission, a committee, or a group that does not identify individual members on the title page. List the names of corporate

41、 authors in the place where an authors name typically appears at the beginning of the entry. American Allergy Association. Allergies in Children. New York: Random, 1998. Print.Book with No AuthorList by title of the book. Incorporate these entries alphabetically just as you would with works that inc

42、lude an author name. For example, the following entry might appear between entries of works written by Dean, Shaun and Forsythe, Jonathan.Encyclopedia of Indiana. New York: Somerset, 1993. Print.A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or CollectionWorks may include an essay in an edited collection or ant

43、hology, or a chapter of a book. The basic form is for this sort of citation is as follows:Lastname, First name. Title of Essay. Title of Collection. Ed. Editors Name(s). Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page range of entry. Medium of Publication.Article in a Reference Book (e.g. Encyclopedias,

44、 Dictionaries)For entries in encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference works, cite the piece as you would any other work in a collection but do not include the publisher information. Also, if the reference book is organized alphabetically, as most are, do not list the volume or the page numbe

45、r of the article or item.Ideology. The American Heritage Dictionary. 3rd ed. 1997. Print.PeriodicalsArticle in a MagazineCite by listing the articles author, putting the title of the article in quotations marks, and italicizing the periodical title. Follow with the date of publication. Remember to a

46、bbreviate the month. The basic format is as follows:Author(s). Title of Article. Title of Periodical Day Month Year: pages. Medium of publication.Buchman, Dana. A Special Education. Good Housekeeping Mar. 2006: 143-48. Print.Article in a NewspaperCite a newspaper article as you would a magazine arti

47、cle, but note the different pagination in a newspaper. If there is more than one edition available for that date (as in an early and late edition of a newspaper), identify the edition following the date (e.g., 17 May 1987, late ed.).Brubaker, Bill. New Health Center Targets Countys Uninsured Patient

48、s. Washington Post 24 May 2007: LZ01. Print.Krugman, Andrew. Fear of Eating. New York Times 21 May 2007 late ed.: A1. Print.Personal InterviewPersonal interviews refer to those interviews that you conduct yourself. List the interview by the name of the interviewee. Include the descriptor Personal interview and the date of the interview.Purdue, Pete. Personal interview. 1 Dec. 2000.7