Original Research

I was asked to write about original research and if I have ever done original research before. When I was in high school we were supposed to do a research about something that we would like to add, take away or change about our school. My group and I came up with a survey to ask students and faculty about cell phones in our school. My group wanted to pass a "bill" to allow us to use cell phones during lunch and passing time. Our survey conducted of questions such as how often do you use your phone, what do you use it for, why should we have cell phones in school, why shouldn't we have cell phones in school, etc. The faculty thought that we shouldn't have cell phones because it was going to distract students from learning. The students obviously thought that we should. We weren't able to get it passed my senior year but 2 years later it was. Original research is different because it isn't someone else's work or thoughts. It is your own thoughts and ideas. I think that library research guides you to original research because you can get some ideas of what to do from library research but make it your own. A pro for library research is that it is factual and you can trust it. A con for library research is that you have to trust that it is factual because it wasn't your work. A critical thinking skill that involves both types of research is evaluation. The most important critical thinking skill in my opinion for library research is interpretation. You have to interpret the information that is given to you. I think that evaluation is the most important for original research because you have to evaluate what you came up with and trust that it can be believed.