Original Inquiry: A Guide to Research for Undergraduates

A complete toolkit for undergraduate research, guiding students from first questions to finished project.

Original Inquiry is a comprehensive interdisciplinary guide to research that introduces early undergraduates to inquiry-driven original research and the complex process of carrying out their own research projects.

Rather than focusing solely on the writing of a research paper, Original Inquiry engages students fully in the research process, helping them to build a sturdy foundation of skills with which they can better adapt to all manner of research challenges and, more broadly, foster good habits in information literacy.

Three sample sources are included in an appendix and annotated as if by a student researcher, illustrating how students might critically read and interact with sources in their own projects. Three model student projects are also included.

Students will learn to:

• • Formulate—and refine—dynamic research questions
• • Recognize and work with all manner of sources and scholarly materials
• • Read and annotate sources effectively
• • Evaluate source quality and types of evidence
• • Build and organize a research archive
• • Respond to evidence
• • Synthesize research findings
• • Emphasize significance in conclusions