Writing an Argumentative Research Paper

Conducting research for argumentative essays involves finding credible facts or evidence to backup your stance on the topic you chose. Researching your topic helps you to provide supporting evidence for your thesis. Evidence to support your claim will contain facts, statistics, examples, or expert opinions on the topic. Research both view points on the topic.

When conducting research look for the following sources:

•  Find books from reliable publishers on your issue.
•  Find articles in academic journals and well-respected magazines and newspapers on your issue.
•  Find information from government or educational sites. The site domains end in .gov or .edu.
•  Find information from reputable sources or people. Examples: specialist in field, scientist, or government documents
•  Find information from reliable databases such as Galileo where all articles and journal are peer-reviewed.

When doing research, it is important to find information that is reliable, accurate, and appropriate for your assignment. Some assignments may require you to use or limit certain sources such as:

• primary or secondary sources,
• specific types of periodicals, and/or
• Internet sources.

In all cases, you should evaluate the information before you use it in your assignments.

Evaluating sources involves recognizing that not all information you read is valid or credible especially when using online resources. The following links will give you a general breakdown of sources and the process of conducting research

• Evaluating Internet Information- USG Online Learning Library 

  A brief introduction about websites

   
• Bare Bones 101: A Basic Tutorial on Searching the Web 

  Lessons plans discussing how to search the web by the University of South Carolina

   
• Strategies for conducting Research 

  Information on conducting research by Pressbooks

   

  When looking online for credible websites look for sites ending in .Gov or .Edu, some .Org websites can be credible as well.

When looking for accurate, reliable, credible sources use the  Acronym CRAAP to help you decide if the information you are given is right for your research: 

Check out the following handouts and links for further assistance:

CRAAP Test Worksheet 

Use Google Advanced Search for more tailored search and to find credible sources. Note you will be able to limit your search to a particular domain such as .gov, .edu.  Use the google preference button    to get to the advanced settings.