WR122 Burnell

When you started your research, you did some freewriting, listing, outlining, or clustering. Your put some of those words into a search engine. You got some results and learned a bit more about your topic.

Now is the time to slow down and be intentional with your new topical knowledge.

By slowing down, you are going to more wisely use less time, and save yourself from research frustration. This activity will improve the effectiveness of your searches by generating a variety of search terms.

What is your argumentative topic?

• Tip: A good topic is interesting to you and narrow enough that you can do do some meaty exploration of it in a 3-5 page essay.

What are 2 - 3 core concepts in your question or topic?

• Tip: Core concepts are best described using nouns or short phrases (2 or 3 words that make up a single idea).

Reflect for 1 minute on what you've already read about your topic. What language and terms have authors used to describe the core concepts? What terms are new, or surprising?

Write down these terms, synonyms, and buzzwords related to each core concept. Put quotation marks around phrases.
 

• Tip: Don't use ​​​​​synonyms that don't make sense in the context of your topic. The best way to avoid irrelevant synonyms is to repeat your topic statement with the new word in it.

This exercise corresponds with the practice exercise we did in class. An editable or printable copy is linked below.