Step 4 of A Research Process
- A Research Process
- Objectives
- Steps in a Research Process
- Managing an Extended Research Process
- Research or Empirical Research Studies
- Literature Reviews
Step 4: Organize the information
Know when to stop searching for information and start thinking about what your compiled information means. This is also one of the most important steps for ethically using information and avoiding plagiarism.
- make sure you write down where you found any information in case you have to review it again. You will also need this information for references and your list of works cited.
- using complete citation information when compiling information will save you time when writing your paper
- format your citations using standard formats
- for Web sites - print out what you find and write down the date you found it as well as the complete Web address (the URL)
- think over the ideas you read from the sources used, and write them down in your own words. This is called paraphrasing, and it will help keep you from plagiarizing
Do you have enough information to complete your research? If not, you may have to repeat several of the previous steps and/or extend the research process.