University of Phoenix Material

Organizing Ideas Worksheet

Step 1 – Locating relevant information

As part of an academic writing process, it is important to use scholarly articles to support your own thoughts about a topic. When you use those sources in your writing, you must record specific information about the articles you use in your topic discussion. Recording this information ensures you are prepared to give credit to the authors of those articles.

This week, you use the University Library to find two scholarly articles related to the broad topic, narrowed idea, and research question you selected in Week 1. In the academic databases available in our online library, the source information for articles is provided in the indexing details located toward the bottom of the article.

Review the below example of indexing details. The six pieces of source information for your articles you will need to record for this assignment (title, author, publication title, publication date, document URL or DOI, and database) are numbered and boxed in red. Eventually, you will need to record the issue number and/or volume number as well as the page numbers the on which the articles appear to complete the reference page citations in your essay.

Search for at least two articles in the University Library that are relevant to your topic. Once you have decided on the articles you want to use for your essay, locate the indexing details.

Complete the following template using the indexing details for the two articles you selected. Include a 3- or 4-sentence description of how each article relates to your topic and research question.

Article #1:

Author(s) names:

Article title:

Date written or published:

Journal or publication title:

Issue number and/or volume number (if provided):

Page numbers (if provided):

Database name:

URL (web address) or doi number:

Provide a 3- or 4-sentence description of how the article relates to your topic and research question:

Article #2:

Author(s) names:

Article title:

Date written or published:

Journal or publication title:

Issue number and/or volume number (if provided):

Page numbers (if provided):

Database name:

URL (web address) or doi number:

Provide a 3- or 4-sentence description of how the article relates to your topic and research question:

Step 2 – Research question responses

Use the research question you selected in Week 1 to identify three related perspectives from the articles that you identified in Step 1 of this worksheet. These perspectives should meaningfully respond to the research question you selected. Review the example below for additional guidance:

Example Research Question: What are three ways video games can help young players develop some important skills?

Example of Three Responses:

1.Develop academic skills in literacy and math.

2.Help young players develop decision-making and logic skills.

3.Help young players develop social skills.

Complete the template below using the research question you selected in Week 1 and the information from the articles you selected in Step 1.

Your research question:

Three responses to your research question (from the articles selected):

1.

2.

3.

Step 3 – Thesis Statement

Now that you have selected a research question, located relevant scholarly information, and identified responses to the research question, you are ready to create a thesis statement.

A thesis statement incorporates the responses to the research question, and it can be seen as the ‘forecast’ of the main ideas that will be presented in the essay. Below is an example of a properly written thesis statement.

Example Research Question: What are three ways video games can help young players develop some important skills?

Example of Three Responses:

1.Develop academic skills in literacy and math.

2.Help young players develop decision-making and logic skills.

3.Help young players develop social skills.

Example Thesis Statement: Video games help young players develop academic, thinking, and social skills.

Write your thesis statement in the box below using the information from Step 2.

Your thesis statement:

Step 4 – Topic sentences

As mentioned above, a thesis statement is a ‘forecast’ of the main ideas in the essay. Topic sentences at the beginning of each body paragraph in the essay introduce the main idea discussed in that paragraph and incorporate the responses to the research question.

In this step, you use the results from Steps 2 and 3 to develop three topic sentences. Review the example below of topic sentences that were developed from the video game idea.

Example Research Question: What are three ways video games can help young players develop some important skills?

Example of Three Responses:

1.Develop academic skills in literacy and math.

2.Help young players develop decision-making and logic skills.

3.Help young players develop social skills.

Example Thesis Statement: Video games help young players develop academic, thinking, and social skills.

Example of Three Topic Sentences:

1.One way video games can help young players is through the development of academic skills.

2.Video games can also aid in developing thinking skills in younger players.

3.Finally, video games can assist younger players in developing social skills.

Write your three topic sentences in the template below using information from your responses to the research question and your thesis statement.

Three topic sentences:

1.

2.

3.

* In Week 3, you will use the topic sentences you have created here to further develop your essay by creating body paragraphs with additional details for each main idea.