1 00:00:07,370 --> 00:00:11,475 >> How do we start our research for a term paper? 2 00:00:11,475 --> 00:00:15,060 One way is to map out our ideas and identify some 3 00:00:15,060 --> 00:00:18,615 of our key concepts to develop our research question. 4 00:00:18,615 --> 00:00:21,750 Let's try an example now, considering the topic, 5 00:00:21,750 --> 00:00:26,415 how do college students succeed and specifically get good grades? 6 00:00:26,415 --> 00:00:29,250 Let's brainstorm about some of the factors that 7 00:00:29,250 --> 00:00:31,980 might affect students success at college. 8 00:00:31,980 --> 00:00:34,965 One of the things we need is money, 9 00:00:34,965 --> 00:00:37,410 and there's several things that impact on how much money we 10 00:00:37,410 --> 00:00:41,970 have: jobs, loans, bursaries. 11 00:00:41,970 --> 00:00:47,330 Another factor that impacts on our success at college is our outside life. 12 00:00:47,330 --> 00:00:53,850 Some of the aspects of outside life are, family and friends. 13 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:03,450 Another idea to consider is our health. 14 00:01:03,450 --> 00:01:07,630 There are several factors that can impact on our health: exercise, 15 00:01:07,630 --> 00:01:10,790 sleep, and our nutrition. 16 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:21,625 Other contributors to succeeding at college are places for help. 17 00:01:21,625 --> 00:01:24,500 Where can I go for help? 18 00:01:26,060 --> 00:01:28,605 There are several of those. 19 00:01:28,605 --> 00:01:34,595 Libraries, writing or learning centers are some of the places for help. 20 00:01:34,595 --> 00:01:39,659 Another important consideration is our study habits. 21 00:01:40,010 --> 00:01:44,520 Time management is one important consideration here. 22 00:01:45,500 --> 00:01:49,100 Now, we've mapped out some of the main factors 23 00:01:49,100 --> 00:01:52,825 affecting succeeding at college and in particular good grades. 24 00:01:52,825 --> 00:01:56,020 Through the process of creating a concept map, 25 00:01:56,020 --> 00:02:00,200 we can see there are many factors that affect college students success. 26 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,265 There are many research topics that we could develop. 27 00:02:03,265 --> 00:02:06,725 Let's pick one example and look at health, 28 00:02:06,725 --> 00:02:11,630 and in particular sleep and how it impacts on college students success. 29 00:02:11,630 --> 00:02:14,390 Now, we can take the idea we developed in 30 00:02:14,390 --> 00:02:18,320 the concept map and create a research statement. 31 00:02:19,220 --> 00:02:22,540 Let's write the research statement as, 32 00:02:22,540 --> 00:02:25,925 I want to find information on whether there is a connection 33 00:02:25,925 --> 00:02:29,790 between sleep and the grades obtained by college students. 34 00:02:29,790 --> 00:02:32,090 Let's look at it closer. 35 00:02:32,090 --> 00:02:34,400 The major ideas in a sentence are 36 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:37,675 the building blocks we will use to research our topic. 37 00:02:37,675 --> 00:02:42,270 Sleep, grades, college students. 38 00:02:42,270 --> 00:02:47,090 Each of these words identifies a concept we will search. 39 00:02:47,090 --> 00:02:50,300 Let's now take these concepts and brainstorm 40 00:02:50,300 --> 00:02:53,765 about some synonyms or words that mean the same thing. 41 00:02:53,765 --> 00:02:58,445 The first concept, sleep or sleep deprivation. 42 00:02:58,445 --> 00:03:01,745 We want to build that with grades. 43 00:03:01,745 --> 00:03:04,400 We could also try the word success, 44 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:08,875 truncate it to find the word success or successes. 45 00:03:08,875 --> 00:03:13,070 Why don't we also try the phrase academic performance, 46 00:03:13,070 --> 00:03:16,100 which also refers to student success. 47 00:03:16,100 --> 00:03:19,410 We'll build that with an AND, 48 00:03:20,990 --> 00:03:24,940 college students or students. 49 00:03:32,900 --> 00:03:36,050 We can now take the search statement and bring it to 50 00:03:36,050 --> 00:03:39,845 the database and try researching for this topic. 51 00:03:39,845 --> 00:03:42,620 This gives you some ideas on how you can use 52 00:03:42,620 --> 00:03:46,380 concept mapping to start your term paper research.