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Topics in World History: Welcome to this Guide

How to Use This Guide

This guide has been created especially for you to help you conduct scholarly research for your assignments this year in your Topics class. Click on each tab to find information, tutorials, and even sample papers to give you an idea of how your finished paper should look.

What Exactly IS Research?

Research is:

  • Driven by a question or problem that guides the process
  • Seeking information with a clear goal in mind
  • A process, which works best when done step-by-step. The process is iterative
  • Collection and interpretation of data in an attempt to resolve the problem or answer the question
  • Going beyond facts and old ideas
  • Taking a new look at information and taking a stand

Vladimir Lenin

Lenin, Aleksandr Nikolaevic Samokhvalov / Bridgeman Art Library / Universal Images Group

What Exactly IS Research?

Research is not:

  • Copying and pasting information you find through a Google search
  • Combining a paragraph from one article with a couple of paragraphs from websites.
  • Writing a "report" or rearranging facts.
  • Rewording each phrase and citing each source. That's just a summary of facts with someone else's name on them and still can be classified as plagiarism.