Page 180 - SpringBoard_ELA_Grade8_Flipbook

Conducting effective research
aCTIvITy 2.15
Learning Targets
• Form effective questions to focus research.
• Identify appropriate sources that can be used to support an argument.
Using the Research Process
Once you have chosen your topic, created a claim, and considered possible counterclaims, you are ready to conduct additional research on your topic to find evidence to support your claim and refute counterclaims.
1. What are the steps of the research process? Are the steps logical? Why?
Writing Research Questions
2. What makes an effective research question?
3. How will gathering evidence affect my research questions?
Word CoNNeCTIoNS
Etymology
Refute comes from the prefix re-, meaning “back/ backward” and the Latin root word futare, meaning “to beat.” The Latin word refutare came to mean “to drive back or rebut.” To refute now means “to disprove
aCademIC voCabUlary
Research (v.) is the process
of locating information from
a variety of sources.
Research (n.) is the
information found from
investigated sources.
4. What is an example of an effective research question? or invalidate.” For example, if you refute an argument,
Locating and Evaluating Sources
Many people rely on the Internet for their research, since it is convenient and
it can be efficient. To find relevant information on the Internet, you need to use effective search terms to begin your research. Try to choose terms that narrow your results. For example, searching on the term “driving accidents” will return broad information, whereas searching on the term “distracted driving” will return results more closely in line with that topic.
The Internet has a lot of useful information, but it also has a great deal of information that is not reliable or credible. You must carefully examine the websites that offer information, since the Internet is plagued with unreliable information from unknown sources. Faulty information and unreliable sources undermine the validity of one’s argument.
you’re proving the argument to be false.
aCademIC voCabUlary
Search terms are the words
or phrases entered into an
online search engine to find
information related to the
words or phrases.
Unit 2 • The Challenge of Utopia 153
learNING STraTeGIeS:
Skimming/Scanning, Close Reading, Marking the Text, Note-taking
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