Research

Academic Writing I: Fundamentals Week 1: Paragraph Structure Research

Estimated Time: 15 minutes

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to research ideas online.

Why Do I Need Research and What is the Best Way to Research a Topic?

In academic writing, you must support your ideas and arguments with evidence, which means you must research your topic! Knowing more about your topic also enables you to think critically about the subject. In the following video, you will learn why research is important and tips to ensure your sources are varied and the information you find is valid. You can find a link to the presentation in the video here.

Lesson Recap

Wikipedia is a good starting point in learning about your topic, but should not be your only source of information.
Use sources of information that you understand. This is crucial! If you do not understand your own research, your essay with poorly written or worse, plagiarized.
Read your source of information and then retell what you’ve researched in your own words. If you can’t do this, you’re not ready to use that source for your writing.
Use credible sources of information, such as journal articles, information that has a credited author, and scholarly books.

Extras

You can find more information and help on how to determine if your sources are credible here.
You can find scholarly, open access journal articles here and here.