Chapter 1 Objectives

This chapter introduces key aspects of the research process: understanding the assignment, types of research projects, and conducting preliminary research. While understanding the assignment may seem simple, it is frequently overlooked by students who often jump into research without a full understanding of the parameters of the project. This chapter will help you understand assignment prompts, guidelines, and expectations as well as types of literary research papers, intended audience, and the purpose of the project.

In Conducting Preliminary Research, we discuss all that goes into this early inventive stage of the research process. Topics include how to conduct “pre-research” to investigate possible topics, why it’s a good idea to talk with experts, how to understand what types of resources you will need and where to find them, time management, setting benchmarks, and more. Preliminary research sets the foundation for more in-depth research.

Our research projects start with a series of tasks. Each chapter will introduce a new task or set of tasks that – when completed – will provide you with most of the materials for your final research project. In this chapter, we have two sets of tasks: project tasks and organization tasks. The flow chart below provides you with pre-research project steps. Keep track of what you have done for each step and look back at the whole thing to see how the tasks relate to one another.

In addition to project tasks, you also should complete the following organization tasks; these tasks help you to organize yourself and your work and will set you up for success!