Original Inquiry: A Guide to Research for Undergraduates
  • Publication Date: September 18, 2025
  • ISBN: 9781554816002 / 1554816009
  • 310 pages; 7" x 9"

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Original Inquiry: A Guide to Research for Undergraduates

  • Publication Date: September 18, 2025
  • ISBN: 9781554816002 / 1554816009
  • 310 pages; 7" x 9"

A complete toolkit for undergraduate research, guiding students from first questions to finished project.

Original Inquiry is a comprehensive interdisciplinary guide to research that introduces early undergraduates to inquiry-driven original research and the complex process of carrying out their own research projects.

Rather than focusing solely on the writing of a research paper, Original Inquiry engages students fully in the research process, helping them to build a sturdy foundation of skills with which they can better adapt to all manner of research challenges and, more broadly, foster good habits in information literacy.

Three sample sources are included in an appendix and annotated as if by a student researcher, illustrating how students might critically read and interact with sources in their own projects. Three model student projects are also included.

Students will learn to:

  • • Formulate—and refine—dynamic research questions
  • • Recognize and work with all manner of sources and scholarly materials
  • • Read and annotate sources effectively
  • • Evaluate source quality and types of evidence
  • • Build and organize a research archive
  • • Respond to evidence
  • • Synthesize research findings
  • • Emphasize significance in conclusions

Comments

“This book offers an engaging, pragmatic guide for undergraduates as they encounter the rewards and challenges of conducting original research. With clarity and precision, Original Inquiry demystifies the research process and shows how all students—when equipped with essential skills and habits of mind—can meaningfully contribute to the creation of new knowledge.” — Abigail Reardon, Executive Director, University Writing Program, The University of Chicago

“Timely, original, and thorough, Original Inquiry is a standout among research guides for its approach to undergraduate research…. It will be invaluable to programs incorporating experiential and project-based learning approaches. In an era of growing concern about AI, this book demonstrates how research can remain ‘original.’” — Wendy Hayden, Co-Director First-Year Writing, Hunter College, CUNY

“Matthew Vechinski recognizes that students can write well only when they are writing about something that matters to them…. With this book, your students will move beyond simply summarizing information like automatons and begin learning how to conduct research that creates new knowledge.” — Douglas O’Keefe, Auburn University

Introduction for Instructors

How to Use This Guide

  • The Why with the How
  • Where to Begin and Where to End: An Alternate Table of Contents
  • What to Expect in the Chapters
  • You’ve Got Options

1. Original Research and Inquiry

  • 1.1 Undergraduate Research as Original Research
  • 1.2 Research as a Conversation
  • 1.3 Original—To Whom?
  • 1.4 Inquiry: Curiosity with Purpose
  • 1.5 What Makes Research Original: Three Kinds of Knowledge
  • 1.6 Sharing Original Research

2. Developing a Research Interest

  • 2.1 Respecting the Time Needed for Discovery
  • 2.2 What Should You Research?
  • 2.3 Topics and Angles—and Adjusting Them
  • 2.4 Initial Research to Determine the Viability of Research Interests
  • 2.5 Consulting Tertiary Sources for Established Knowledge
  • 2.6 Web Browsing: What Are You Really Interested In?
  • 2.7 Familiarizing Yourself with Current Research Trends

3. The World of Sources

  • 3.1 Why Do Source Types Matter?
  • 3.2 Not All Sources Are the Same: Accuracy, Credibility, and Bias
  • 3.3 Source Types and Kinds of Evidence
  • 3.4 Primary, Secondary, Tertiary
  • 3.5 Popular, Substantive, Scholarly
  • 3.6 The Value of Dates
  • 3.7 Publication Considerations
  • 3.8 Varieties of Substantive Texts
  • 3.9 Varieties of Scholarly Texts

4. Reading for Original Research

  • 4.1 Identifying Original Research
  • 4.2 Uncited Common Knowledge, Premises, and Specialized Information
  • 4.3 Original Research Hidden by Tone and Point of View
  • 4.4 Recognizing Informal Citations and Interpreting In-Text Citations and Numbered Notes
  • 4.5 Quotations Appearing in Sources
  • 4.6 Reading and Writing Abstracts
  • 4.7 Anatomy of a Scholarly Article
  • 4.8 Originality in Substantive Sources

5. Formulating Original Research Questions

  • 5.1 Directed yet Open to Discovery
  • 5.2 Avoiding Reference Questions
  • 5.3 Taking a Position versus Finding a Best Answer
  • 5.4 Big Questions, Small Questions: The Importance of Limited Scope
  • 5.5 Speculation and Recommendation: Questions that May Circumvent Original Research

6. Keyword Searches in Library Catalogs, Research Databases, and on the Web

  • 6.1 From Research Questions to Keyword Searches
  • 6.2 Entries in Catalogs and Databases
  • 6.3 Benefits of Filters and Sorting
  • 6.4 General and Specialized Research Databases
  • 6.5 Web Searches for Sources
  • 6.6 Adjusting Keywords along the Way

7. Annotation: Gathering and Responding to Evidence

  • 7.1 Why Annotate?
  • 7.2 Annotating PDF Files
  • 7.3 Highlight as Little as Possible: The High Bar of Quotability
  • 7.4 Restatements: Paraphrases and Summaries
  • 7.5 Responses: Talking Back to the Text
  • 7.6 Alternatives to and Supplements for Annotations

8. Research Beyond the Keyword Search

  • 8.1 Limitations of Keyword Searches
  • 8.2 Subject Terms Instead of Keywords
  • 8.3 Searching
  • 8.4 Citation Mining
  • 8.5 Tracing Citation Networks
  • 8.6 Looking to the Experts

9. Adjusting Your Inquiry and Filling Gaps in Your Research

  • 9.1 Narrowing or Broadening the Scope of Your Inquiry
  • 9.2 Avoiding Going Over the Same Ground Repeatedly
  • 9.3 Drafting a Single Answer to Your Research Question
  • 9.4 The Importance of Coverage
  • 9.5 Identifying Stakeholders and What They Want to Know

10. Organizing and Synthesizing Your Research Findings

  • 10.1 Answering Your Research Question with the Evidence You Have
  • 10.2 Clustering Sources and Grouping Evidence into Sets
  • 10.3 Recognizing a Single Answer to Your Research Question and Its Parts
  • 10.4 Sections: Titles and Introductions versus Content Headings
  • 10.5 Synthesis within Sections
  • 10.6 Reassessing Coverage, Managing Evidence Distribution, and Setting Remaining Research Priorities

11. Emphasizing Originality When Presenting Your Research Findings

  • 11.1 Reminding Yourself of What Makes Your Research Original—and Making It Known to Others
  • 11.2 Significance: Stakeholders, Audiences, and Purpose
  • 11.3 Significance: Present and Future
  • 11.4 Significance: Tone and Point of View
  • 11.5 Research-Centered Motivations for Affirming Significance
  • 11.6 Discussing Significance in Introductions
  • 11.7 Highlighting Significance at Transition Points
  • 11.8 Stressing Significance in Conclusions

Appendix A: Examples of Texts and Annotations

  • A.1 Annotated Tertiary Text: “The Benefits of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity”
  • A.2 Annotated Substantive Text: “Twilight of the Books: What Will Life Be Like If People Stop Reading?”
  • A.3 Annotated Scholarly Text: “‘I Felt Like Such a Freshman’: First-Year Students Crossing the Library Threshold”

Appendix B: Sample Research Products by Undergraduate Students

  • B.1 Essay: “The Inconvenient Truth of Vinyl’s Comeback in the United States”
  • B.2 Presentation: “Transit in Richmond: Considerations for the Local Government”
  • B.3 Research Poster: “The COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Influence on Drug Use Behavior Among a Cohort of Incarcerated Individuals”

Matthew James Vechinski is an associate professor and Coordinator of Academic Programming in the Department of Focused Inquiry and Associate Faculty Director of the Real-world Applications in Multidisciplinary and Project-based Studies program at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Key features:

  • • Emphasizes process over product, allowing for use in multiple disciplines for many kinds of assignments
  • • Centers discovery and knowledge creation
  • • Builds strong, adaptable information literacy skills
  • • “Key Terms and Takeaways” in every chapter
  • • “Putting Learning into Practice” sections offer exercises that apply chapter content to students’ own research
  • • “Progress Check” boxes address common research challenges