The Craft of Research

by Booth, Wayne C.

• ISBN13: 9780226065663
• ISBN10: 0226065669
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

With more than 400,000 copies now in print,The Craft of Researchis the unrivaled resource for researchers at every level, from first-year undergraduates to research reporters at corporations and government offices. Seasoned researchers and educators Gregory G. Colomb and Joseph M. Williams present an updated third edition of their classic handbook, whose first and second editions were written in collaboration with the late Wayne C. Booth.The Craft of Researchexplains how to build an argument that motivates readers to accept a claim; how to anticipate the reservations of readers and to respond to them appropriately; and how to create introductions and conclusions that answer that most demanding question, "So what?" The third edition includes an expanded discussion of the essential early stages of a research task: planning and drafting a paper. The authors have revised and fully updated their section on electronic research, emphasizing the need to distinguish between trustworthy sources (such as those found in libraries) and less reliable sources found with a quick Web search. A chapter on warrants has also been thoroughly reviewed to make this difficult subject easier for researchers Throughout, the authors have preserved the amiable tone, the reliable voice, and the sense of directness that have made this book indispensable for anyone undertaking a research project.

Author Biography

Wayne C. Booth (1921–2005) was the George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago.  His many books include The Rhetoric of Fiction and For the Love of It: Amateuring and Its Rivals, both published by the University of Chicago Press. Gregory G. Colomb is professor of English language and literature at the University of Virginia.  He is the author of Designs on Truth: The Poetics of the Augustan Mock-Epic. Joseph M. Williams is professor emeritus in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago. He is the author of Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. Together Colomb and Williams have written The Craft of Argument. Booth, Colomb, and Williams coedited the seventh edition of Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.

Table of Contents

Preface: The Aims of This Edition	p. xi
Our Debts	p. xv
Research, Researchers, and Readers	p. 1
Prologue: Becoming a Researcher	p. 3
Thinking in Print: The Uses of Research, Public and Private	p. 9
What Is Research?	p. 10
Why Write It Up?	p. 11
Why a Formal Report?	p. 13
Writing Is Thinking	p. 14
Connecting with Your Reader: (Re-)Creating Yourself and Your Readers	p. 16
Creating Roles for Yourself and Your Readers	p. 16
Understanding Your Role	p. 18
Imagining Your Reader's Role	p. 20
Quick Tip: A Checklist for Understanding Your Readers	p. 26
Asking Questions, Finding Answers	p. 29
Prologue: Planning Your Project-An Overview	p. 31
Quick Tip: Creating a Writing Group	p. 34
From Topics to Questions	p. 35
From an Interest to a Topic	p. 36
From a Broad Topic to a Focused One	p. 39
From a Focused Topic to Questions	p. 40
From a Question to Its Significance	p. 45
Quick Tip: Finding Topics	p. 49
From Questions to a Problem	p. 51
Distinguishing Practical and Research Problems	p. 52
Understanding the Common Structure of Problems	p. 54
Finding a Good Research Problem	p. 62
Learning to Work with Problems	p. 64
Quick Tip: Manage the Unavoidable Problem of Inexperience	p. 66
From Problems to Sources	p. 68
Knowing How to Use Three Kinds of Sources	p. 68
Locating Sources through a Library	p. 70
Locating Sources on the Internet	p. 75
Evaluating Sources for Relevance and Reliability	p. 76
Following Bibliographical Trails	p. 80
Looking beyond Predictable Sources	p. 81
Using People as Primary Sources	p. 81
Quick Tip: The Ethics of Using People as Sources of Data	p. 83
Engaging Sources	p. 84
Knowing What Kind of Evidence to Look For	p. 85
Record Complete Bibliographical Data	p. 85
Engaging Sources Actively	p. 87
Using Secondary Sources to Find a Problem	p. 88
Using Secondary Sources to Plan Your Argument	p. 92
Recording What You Find	p. 95
Quick Tip: Manage Moments of Normal Anxiety	p. 101
Making a Claim and Supporting IT	p. 103
Prologue: Assembling a Research Argument	p. 105
Making Good Arguments: An Overview	p. 108
Argument as a Conversation with Readers	p. 108
Supporting Your Claim	p. 110
Acknowledging and Responding to Anticipated Questions and Objections	p. 112
Warranting the Relevance of Your Reasons	p. 114
Building a Complex Argument Out of Simple Ones	p. 116
Creating an Ethos by Thickening Your Argument	p. 117
Quick Tip: A Common Mistake-Falling Back on What You Know	p. 119
Making Claims	p. 120
Determining the Kind of Claim You Should Make	p. 120
Evaluating Your Claim	p. 122
Quick Tip: Qualifying Claims to Enhance Your Credibility	p. 127
Assembling Reasons and Evidence	p. 130
Using Reasons to Plan Your Argument	p. 130
Distinguishing Evidence from Reasons	p. 131
Distinguishing Evidence from Reports of It	p. 133
Evaluating Your Evidence	p. 135
Acknowledgments and Responses	p. 139
Questioning Your Argument as Your Readers Will	p. 140
Imagining Alternatives to Your Argument	p. 142
Deciding What to Acknowledge	p. 143
Framing Your Responses as Subordinate Arguments	p. 145
The Vocabulary of Acknowledgment and Response	p. 146
Quick Tip: Three Predictable Disagreements	p. 150
Warrants	p. 152
Warrants in Everyday Reasoning	p. 153
Warrants in Academic Arguments	p. 154
Understanding the Logic of Warrants	p. 155
Testing Whether a Warrant Is Reliable	p. 156
Knowing When to State a Warrant	p. 162
Challenging Others' Warrants	p. 164
Quick Tip: Two Kinds of Arguments	p. 169
Planning, Drafting, and Revising	p. 171
Prologue: Planning Again	p. 173
Quick Tip: Outlining and Storyboarding	p. 175
Planning	p. 177
Avoid Three Common but Flawed Plans	p. 177
Planning Your Report	p. 179
Drafting Your Report	p. 187
Draft in a Way That Feels Comfortable	p. 187
Use Key Words to Keep Yourself on Track	p. 188
Quote, Paraphrase, and Summarize Appropriately	p. 188
Integrating Direct Quotations into Your Text	p. 189
Show Readers How Evidence Is Relevant	p. 190
Guard against Inadvertent Plagiarism	p. 191
The Social Importance of Citing Sources	p. 195
Four Common Citation Styles	p. 197
Work through Procrastination and Writer's Block	p. 199
Quick Tip: Indicating Citations in Your Text	p. 200
Revising Your Organization and Argument	p. 203
Thinking Like a Reader	p. 204
Revising the Frame of Your Report	p. 204
Revising Your Argument	p. 206
Revising the Organization of Your Report	p. 207
Check Your Paragraphs	p. 209
Let Your Draft Cool, Then Paraphrase It	p. 209
Quick Tip: Abstracts	p. 211
Communicating Evidence Visually	p. 213
Choosing Visual or Verbal Representations	p. 213
Choosing the Most Effective Graphic	p. 214
Designing Tables, Charts, and Graphs	p. 216
Specific Guidelines for Tables, Bar Charts, and Line Graphs	p. 220
Communicating Data Ethically	p. 226
Introductions and Conclusions	p. 232
The Common Structure of Introductions	p. 232
Step 1: Establish Common Ground	p. 235
Step 2: State Your Problem	p. 237
Step 3: State Your Response	p. 241
Setting the Right Pace for Your Introduction	p. 242
Writing Your Conclusion	p. 244
Finding Your First Few Words	p. 245
Finding Your Last Few Words	p. 247
Quick Tip: Titles	p. 248
Revising Style: Telling Your Story Clearly	p. 249
Judging Style	p. 249
The First Two Principles of Clear Writing	p. 251
A Third Principle: Old before New	p. 260
Choosing between Active and Passive	p. 262
A Final Principle: Complexity Last	p. 264
Spit and Polish	p. 267
Quick Tip: The Quickest Revision Strategy	p. 268
Some Last Considerations	p. 271
The Ethics of Research	p. 273
A Postscript for Teachers	p. 277
Bibliographical Resources	p. 283
Index	p. 313
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