1-1 Discussion: Using Research

Research is an important part of academics, but it is also used in your daily life. You use research to find a restaurant, look up reviews for products that you want to buy, write essays for your courses, or try to convince someone of something you believe in. Think about a time when you researched a topic. Was the purpose to teach or build someone’s knowledge? Maybe it was to disprove or support the truth or to explore new areas of a topic?

Discussing challenges that face our world often means investigating opinions and ideas different from your own. Remember to remain thoughtful and respectful toward your peers and instructor in your initial and response discussion posts.

Create one initial post and respond to at least two of your classmates.

For your initial post, address the following:

1. Introduce yourself to the class. Include your major and anything you would like to share about yourself.
2. Describe a time when you used research in your life. It might have been a school project, but it might also be research that you used in an everyday experience. When answering, consider the following prompts:
   1. What was the purpose of your research? For example, were you trying to learn more, to convince yourself or someone else to make a decision, or something else? What kind of research question helped you get started?
   2. What specific steps did you take to complete your research? Break your process down into at least three steps.
   3. Did you find any generative AI programs that were useful in your research process? If so, explain.
   4. Which parts of your process worked well for you? Did you have any trouble finding the information? If so, what did you do?

For your response posts, address the following:

1. What did you connect with in your peers’ posts? Share what got your attention about their experiences with research.
2. Follow up with your reactions to your peers’ research processes. What did you learn about research from their experiences? Is there anything from their own research processes that you can apply to yours?