What is a Research Project?

Universally speaking, a research project is conducted by a student on a topic chosen either by the teacher or independently by the student. While it often appears as one event, it is actually a two stage event. Stage 1 is the research event and Stage 2 is the project event.

A research project is the culmination of researching a topic, whether it is a current or historical event, a consumer product, a person, a people or cultural group, or any particular topic, and taking the gathered research or information and creating some type of project: a research paper, a DVD or video, or a multimedia presentation.

To begin a research project you must first identify your topic and form questions around that topic. The best questions are ones that will lead you to a deeper understanding of the chosen topic. If you are stuck on questions to ask, think of the classic news writer’s questions: Who, What, Where, When and Why. Once you have identified questions related to your topic, then you must identity information sources that will help you answer those questions.

When we first begin to research we immediately think of the Internet and its vast web pages, but true academic research requires more than just a basic Google search. Consider print sources, books and specialized encyclopedias, as well as fee based databases to which your school library provides access. Also consider blogs, pod casts, mp3 files and the traditional forms of information such as television, newspapers, radio, videos, DVDs, and people. Because so many venues of information exist, often times the key to good research is finding the “best” sources of information for your given topic. Once you have identified the best sources, then you must locate those sources and access the information within a source to answer your questions.

During this time of locating and accessing, a researcher has to do a lot of sifting to find the most accurate and reliable information. You might think of it as “sifting through the trash to find the treasures.” Once you have found the answer to your questions, compiled your notes and cited the source from which those answers came, then you must organize your information into a logical format for the required presentation.

The last step in the research project before turning anything into your teacher for a grade is to evaluate the project. To evaluate your project, ask yourself these simple questions: Did I answer all of the questions on my topic fully and completely? Did I present my answers in a format expected by the teacher?