Appendix A In Moody's Aging
Note:The following material is excerpted from Appendix A in Moody's book, Aging: Concepts and Controversies, published by Pine Forge Press, 3rd edition, 2000. This material is reprinted with permission from the author and publisher.
Research and writing can be intimidating to many students, especially in a field such as gerontology, which is a new subject to most. But research and writing needn't be frightening. Skillful research is the key to good writing, and careful thinking is the foundation for both.
Doing the background research for a term paper in gerontology is more than half the task of actually writing the paper itself. If you are successful in the research, you end up having other people do your work for you! Of course, that does not mean plagiarism or simply copying what other people have written without giving proper credit. But the trick in writing is to save yourself the trouble of reinventing the wheel. You want to avoid floundering around trying to rediscover a fact or idea that someone else has already worked out before …show more content…
You might begin to put together a hypothesis or a theme; for example, What is the relationship between pensions and retirement behavior?
When you ask yourself research questions, it is helpful if you write down some tentative answers. That's the first step toward making an outline, or a plan, for your work. Carrying out research is a bit like building a house. In constructing the house, it pays to put time into planning and thinking. You don't wait to draw up blueprints until you are halfway finished constructing the house. To write a term paper, you also need a plan. Write down your ideas first without worrying too much about whether your plan is adequate or complete; you're likely to change it later anyway. Then start consulting other sources.
Starting Your
Research and writing can be intimidating to many students, especially in a field such as gerontology, which is a new subject to most. But research and writing needn't be frightening. Skillful research is the key to good writing, and careful thinking is the foundation for both.
Doing the background research for a term paper in gerontology is more than half the task of actually writing the paper itself. If you are successful in the research, you end up having other people do your work for you! Of course, that does not mean plagiarism or simply copying what other people have written without giving proper credit. But the trick in writing is to save yourself the trouble of reinventing the wheel. You want to avoid floundering around trying to rediscover a fact or idea that someone else has already worked out before …show more content…
You might begin to put together a hypothesis or a theme; for example, What is the relationship between pensions and retirement behavior?
When you ask yourself research questions, it is helpful if you write down some tentative answers. That's the first step toward making an outline, or a plan, for your work. Carrying out research is a bit like building a house. In constructing the house, it pays to put time into planning and thinking. You don't wait to draw up blueprints until you are halfway finished constructing the house. To write a term paper, you also need a plan. Write down your ideas first without worrying too much about whether your plan is adequate or complete; you're likely to change it later anyway. Then start consulting other sources.
Starting Your