The Craft of Research

The Craft of Research is a book by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The book aims to provide a basic overview of how to research, from the process of selecting a topic and gathering sources to the process of writing results. The book has gone through three editions, and become a standard text in college composition classes. The book is a winner of the 1995-96 Critics' Choice Award.

Content

PREFACE

Research, researchers, and readers

1. Thinking in Print: The Uses of Research, Public and Private
2. Connecting with Your Reader: (Re)Creating Your Self and Your Audience

Asking questions, finding answers

1. From Topics to Questions
2. From Questions to Problems
3. From Problems to Sources
4. Using Sources

Making a claim and supporting it

1. Making Good Arguments: An Overview
2. Claims
3. Reasons and Evidence
4. Acknowledgments and Responses
5. Warrants

Preparing a draft, drafting, and revising

1. Planning and Drafting
2. Revising Your Organization and Argument
3. Introductions and Conclusions
4. Communicating Evidence Visually
5. Revising Style: Telling Your Story Clearly

Some last considerations

1. The Ethics of Research
2. A Postscript for Teachers
3. An Appendix on Finding Sources
4. General Sources
5. Special Sources
6. A Note on Some of Our Sources
7. Index

Editions in print

• Cloth 3rd Edition (2008) ISBN 978-0-226-06565-6
• Paper 3rd Edition (2008) ISBN 978-0-226-06566-3

Translations

Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Korean , Portuguese , Russian , Spanish , and Swedish .

External links

• The Craft of Research, 3rd Edition at the University of Chicago Press
• Interview with the authors
• Yale Library Research Guide