1. Complete your Literary Devices & Simile/Metaphor worksheet.
2. Look at your questions and determine if they’re “research-able.” Is the answer to your question findable via TRUSTWORTHY, scholarly research? If not, find a different/better question.
3. Once you’ve settled on 1-2 questions, complete the worksheet entitled “Characteristics of a Good Research Question.” (If you’re trying to decide between 2 questions, fill out this score sheet for BOTH of them. Doing so will help make your choice!)
4. After scoring your research questions, choose the one that will be most productive for our upcoming research paper assignment. Remember that it should be researchable, significant, and NARROW.
For example –> Not, “What did Wiesel do with his father’s spoon and knife?” We don’t know this, we can’t know it, and it kind of doesn’t matter. It’s a narrow question, but it’s neither researchable NOR significant.
Not, “How have Jews responded to the Holocaust since 1945?” This question is significant and researchable, but it’s far too BROAD; it would take years to answer! But a question CAN get narrowed down. For example, it could become something more like this: “What are a few ways in which Wiesel’s response to the Holocaust–his writing of Night--impacted Jews’ faith?” This 2nd question is narrow, it’s significant, it’s researchable, and it relates directly to our text.
5. If you don’t already have index cards, make sure you have at least 10-20 of them for your research work.
6. Come prepared Thursday to discuss your worksheets, your refined/final question, possible research sources, and how you will begin writing about your topic!
Lit&Writing 