AP Research Unit 1 Cheatsheet: Question and Explore

Starting point: Examining others' perspectives and ideas stimulates curiosity and leads to questions.

• Narrow scope of interest
• Identify the problem or issue and its origins
• Situate it in a larger context

Effective research questions:

• Account for complexity of the problem
• Reflect multiple, divergent, or contradictory perspectives
• Lead to examination and discovery of connections

Revision cycle: Research questions require multiple revisions to ensure appropriate scope and feasibility (time, resources).

Scholars explore, explain, and create.

Purposes of scholarly inquiry:

• Address practical, theoretical, interpretive, or aesthetic problems
• Corroborate, challenge, or extend existing ideas

Situating your work: Inquiry must be situated within the broader scholarly community and demonstrate importance and relevance to that community.

Project goal emerges from: Your purpose (explore, explain, create) and must be feasible given time and resources.

Understanding comes from:

• Collection of information
• Experience
• External sources
• Cultural context
• Existing assumptions

Organization strategies:

• Brainstorming
• Concept mapping
• Prewriting
• Exploration of space
• Drafting

Key insight: Inquiry confirms or challenges your existing understandings, assumptions, beliefs, and knowledge.